Daily Bulletin: IMD withdraws red alert for Kerala; Asian Games begin; 8.2 magnitude quake rattles Fiji, and other top stories

IMD withdraws red alert for all districts in Kerala IMD has withdrawn red alert for Kerala for Sunday, reported DD News, bringing relief to rain-battered state which saw over three hundred people killed this monsoon season. Only three districts —Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Ernakulam — are on orange alert. All other districts have been issued yellow and green alert, hinting likely rainfall at some places. On Saturday, 33 more deaths were reported even as around 50,000 people were rescued in different parts of the state, and red alert continued in 11 districts following prediction of more rains. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state has suffered a loss of Rs 19,512 crores due to floods. Body of three-year-old girl found in Madhya Pradesh’s Burhanpur Body of a 3-year-old girl was found in Burhanpur on Saturday. The police said that ‘as  per postmortem report there is a strong possibility of sexual assault’. The cause of death isn’t known yet, further investigation is underway, ANI said. [caption id=“attachment_4987021” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ashes to immersed in rivers today Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ashes will be immersed in various rivers across the country, starting with the Ganga at Haridwar today. The immersion ceremony at the holy city on Sunday will be attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat among others, BJP leader Bhupender Yadav. According to ANI, Vajpayee’s daughter Namita and granddaughter Niharika arrived at Smriti Sthal in Delhi today to collect ashes of the former prime minister. 8.2 magnitude quake rattles Fiji A massive earthquake measuring 8.2 on the Richter Scale struck Fiji Islands region on Sunday, ANI said. The quake, that struck at 12.19 am (GMT) earlier measured 7.9, but the United States Geological Survey upgraded the magnitude to 8.2. The epicentre of the quake was located 281 km northeast of the Ndoi Island in Fiji at a depth of 560 kilometres. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that no tsunami was expected due to the earthquake’s depth. There were no reports of casualties and damage so far. Fiji is located in the Ring of Fire, an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean, which is vulnerable to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the news agency added. Congress forms task force to take on BJP over Rafale deal According to ANI, Congress President Rahul Gandhi has constituted a six-member task force to look into the alleged Rafale scam, ahead of the 2019 general elections. The party has prepared a strategy to expose the ‘scam’. Sources told the news agency that the the task force members have been personally selected by the party president. It will be headed by senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy and supervised by national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Other members in the task force include Arjun Modhwadia, Shakti Singh Gohil, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Jaiveer Shergill and Pawan Khera. The task force will aim at building a narrative against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) based on the allegations against the deal. Economic growth higher during NDA: NITI Aayog VC Dismissing reports about higher economic growth during the UPA Government’s regime, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said that the economic growth or Gross Domestic Product under Narendra Modi government has been higher than previous governments, according to ANI. He added that in the past four years strong foundations have been laid for “sustained high and inclusionary growth” for the future. “Growth rate under four years of Modi government is still higher than the growth rate of last four years of UPA. This is being managed despite the pernicious legacy of massive NPAs, de- leveraging of commercial bank credit and uncertain global trade environment,” Kumar said on Twitter. Science behind Kerala Floods Kerala’s floods have been a terrible example of what appears to be a growing problem — erratic weather events. The rains this year have not only been higher than the past three years, but come in brief and intense downpours which requires massive preparedness and pre-warning. The long-term trends in the state’s monsoon have turned from below average to significantly higher than normal since 2015, and don’t indicate a dip anytime soon. Imran Khan likely to address Pakistan today Newly sworn-in Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would address his country on Sunday evening, Geo News quoted sources as saying. On Saturday, Khan took oath as the 22nd Prime Minister of the country at the President House in Islamabad. He was administered the oath by Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain. Amazon Alexa update Amazon Alexa devices with displays have been updated with an ability to play video stream recaps from select smart home cameras. These camera history feeds are supported on Echo Show, Echo Spot, Fire TV, and Fire Tablets.​ Koffee with Karan returns Filmmaker Karan Johar will be back with the next edition of popular celebrity chat show Koffee With Karan, and has already started working on it. Karan took to Twitter to tease his fans and followers about the upcoming edition of the show. “Time to wake up and smell the…Coming soon,” Karan posted with an emoji of a coffee cup. This will be the 6th season of the talk show. Asian Games 2018, Day 1 The Indian contingent has a packed schedule on the first day of the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. The women’s hockey team, the 10m rifle and pistol shooters, wrestlers like Sushil Kumar and Bajrang Punia and the men’s badminton team, led by HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will be in action on Sunday. India vs England, 3rd Test, Day 2 India bounced back well after the crushing loss at Lord’s, posting 307 on board at the end of Day 1. But with the conditions well suited for batting, the onus is on debutant Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin to help the side post a total around 375-400. With inputs from ANI