Daily Bulletin; Karnataka CM Yediyurappa's cabinet expansion; Chandrayaan-2 to enter lunar orbit; day's top stories

Karnataka cabinet expansion set for today as BS Yediyurappa gets go-ahead from Amit Shah Having run the Karnataka government without a cabinet for 22 days, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has finally received the go-ahead from BJP national president Amit Shah to undertake the exercise on Tuesday. “BJP legislative party meeting will be held on Tuesday at 10 am at the Conference Hall, Vidhana Soudha. And the cabinet expansion will take place on the same day post-noon,” Yediyurappa tweeted. The chief minister further tweeted that mostly all the new ministers will be sworn in by noon on Tuesday. Before leaving for Delhi on Thursday, Yediyurappa had said he would hold talks with Shah and finalise the much-awaited expansion of his cabinet. BJP sources told PTI that there was a possibility that 13 ministers would take the oath Tuesday against the approved strength of 34 and that the rest of the positions would be filled later. The delay was because the party was not able to finalise the names. Earlier, too, Yediyurappa had been to Delhi, but nothing could be ironed out. The major challenge, party sources said, was the caste equation as there are 39 Lingayat MLAs, to which the chief minister also belongs. After call with Narendra Modi, Donald Trump dials Imran Khan, asks to ‘moderate’ anti-India-rhetoric US president Donald Trump has in a telephonic conversation urged Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to “moderate rhetoric” with India over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in an effort to reduce tensions. Trump’s call with Khan — the second in less than a week — came soon after a 30-minute conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, during which the Indian leader raised the issue “extreme rhetoric and incitement to anti-India violence” by leaders of Pakistan. Trump spoke by telephone with Khan to discuss “the need to reduce tensions and moderate rhetoric with India over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” the White House said in a readout of the call. During the conversation, Trump “reaffirmed the need to avoid escalation of the situation, and urged restraint” on both sides, the White House said. The two leaders also agreed to work towards strengthening US-Pakistan economic and trade cooperation, it added. In his telephonic conversation with Trump, Modi highlighted the importance of creating an environment free from terror and violence and eschewing cross-border terrorism without exception, a Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) release said in New Delhi. “In the context of the regional situation, the prime minister stated that extreme rhetoric and incitement to anti-India violence by certain leaders in the region was not conducive to peace,” it said. ISRO to inject Chandrayaan-2 into lunar orbit today In a significant milestone for India’s Moon mission, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will fire Chandrayaan-2’s liquid engine on Tuesday to insert the spacecraft into a lunar orbit. [caption id=“attachment_7036391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File Image of Chandrayaan 2. ISRO[/caption] “It’s tomorrow morning (tentatively between 8.30 am and 9.30 am). It’s challenging,” ISRO Chairman K Sivan said on Monday on the operation to put the spacecraft in an orbit around the Moon. Following this, there will be further four orbit manoeuvres to make the spacecraft enter into its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from Moon’s surface, ISRO has said. Subsequently, the Vikram lander will separate from the orbiter on 2 September according to the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency. Two orbit manoeuvres will be performed on the lander before the initiation of powered descent to make a soft landing on the lunar surface on 7 September, ISRO said. Chandrayaan-2, launched on 22 July by GSLV MkIII-M1 vehicle, had entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on 14 August after final orbit raising manoeuvre of the spacecraft was successfully carried out. The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu, near Bengaluru. Sunanda Pushkar death case: Court to hear arguments on charges against Shashi Tharoor today A Delhi court last month had said it will hear from 20 August arguments on charge likely to be framed against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a case related to his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death. Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj fixed the date while disposing of an application by Tharoor seeking a direction to the prosecution and the Delhi Police not to share the charge sheet as well as any document on record in the case with any person not related to the case. The court said there were already provisions in the law, which restrained the prosecution and the Delhi Police from sharing official documents with any other person to whom it is not authorised to communicate such document or classified information. “No further direction is required to be passed restraining them from sharing the charge sheet and documents of this case with any third person or stranger,” the court said. It, however, said the prosecution was at liberty to seek advise of any expert to equip itself to address arguments on charge. “The experts consulted by the prosecution shall not share this chargesheet with any other third party or stranger and the prosecution shall serve a copy of this order on such expert consulted by it for information and compliance by the said expert. Realme 5-series to launch in India today Realme is gearing up to launch the next generation of devices called the Realme 5 and 5 Pro. As per Realme’s website, the launch of this new Realme 5-series lineup will be held today at 12.30 pm in New Delhi. From a recent tweet by the company’s official account, Realme 5 Pro will be a part of this series and it will come with a 48 MP camera sensor on the rear. Both smartphones will also feature a quad-camera setup. IndiGo, SpiceJet to shift operations to Delhi’s T3 terminal from 5 September SpiceJet and Indigo Airlines would shift their flight operations to T3 terminal from 5 September due to expansion works at T2. “SpiceJet to shift its operation from T2 to T3 entirely; while IndiGo to partially move its operation from T2 to T3…This will result in the passenger load at T2 to reduce by 27 per cent,” Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates the Delhi airport, said in a press release. The movement will take place with effect from 00:01 hours on 5 September. IndiGo 5000 series flights will shift to T3 terminal. GoAir will continue its domestic operations from T2 terminal. Veteran music composer Khayyam passes away Veteran composer Khayyam, best known for his music in classic films such as Umrao Jaan and Kabhi Kabhie, passed away after a prolonged illness at a hospital on Monday. He was 92. Mohammed Zahur Hashmi, popularly known as Khayyam, was admitted to Sujay Hospital in suburban Juhu a few days ago owing to breathing issues and other age-related illnesses. “He died at Sujay Hospital around 9.30 pm,” a family friend said. According to the composer’s spokesperson, Khayyam’s mortal remains will be kept at his residential complex from 10 a.m. onwards for people to pay their last respect. Thereafter, his funeral will take place with full state honours, the spokesperson said.