Daily Bulletin: Karunanidhi's funeral post Madras HC order; NCLAT to hear Tata-Mistry feud, and other top stories today

Karunanidhi passes away at 94: Draped in Tricolour, DMK patriarch Karunanidhi’s mortal body is kept at the Rajaji Hall in Chennai for party cadre, the general public and political leaders to pay last respects to the Tamil leader. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi are also expected to arrive on Wednesday and pay their respects to Karunanidhi ahead of burial rites with full State honours. Meanwhile, the state government’s rejection to give him burial space at Marina Beach has created a furore, and the burial will take place after the Madras High Court gives its verdict on the issue. Support for his burial at Marina Beach has come from politicians as well as actors, with many requesting the state government not to play politics over the issue. [caption id=“attachment_4914821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] DMK supporters react after party president M Karunanidhi passed away in Chennai on Tuesday. PTI[/caption] Rahul Gandhi to meet Congress leaders: With 9 August marking the second anniversary of the Maratha mobilisation that started in 2016, senior Congress leaders from Maharashtra will discuss the ongoing agitation of the Maratha community for reservation with Rahul today in Delhi. Many Congress MLAs announced last week that they would resign from the Assembly to put pressure on the government to accede to the demand. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis accepted the demand for reservation, and also put on hold the “mega recruitment drive” for 72,000 government jobs till the quota comes into force. However, the Sakal Maratha Samaj, which is leading the protest all over Maharashtra, has refused to call off the stir, demanding that the government announces a time-bound programme to implement the reservation. The reservation stir is likely to intensify with the Maratha community refusing to call off the protests. Crucial hearings in the Supreme Court: The apex court will be hearing a few crucial cases, including the total ban on firecrackers and Mumbai dance bar owners challenging the stringent rules imposed on their operation, on Wednesday. Tata-Mistry feud: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will on Wednesday hear ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry’s appeal on the NCLT order in his case against the conglomerate. The counsel for the conglomerate was not present on Tuesday to put forth his arguments before the bench. Mistry had approached the NCLAT last week, after the NCLT dismissed his plea challenging his removal. Chelsea’s signing of Arrizabalaga: Chelsea are set to sign Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for a world record fee of £71.6 million, making him the most expensive goalkeeper in history as a replacement for the Real Madrid-bound Thibaut Courtois. The deal would eclipse the £66.8 million Liverpool paid Roma to sign Alisson Becker. Johnny Depp’s film City of Lies in trouble: Johnny Depp’s crime-thriller City Of Lies, directed by Brad Furman, has been pulled off its 7 September release date. The film based on the true story behind the investigation into the murder of rap star Notorious BIG, also stars Forest Whitaker. The film has now been pulled from release a month after Depp was sued by a location manager involved in the production who said the actor punched him. Xiaomi Mi A2: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi will launch yet another budget to mid-range smartphone, the Xiaomi Mi A2 in India. The smartphone is the successor to the Mi A1, which saw great success in terms of sales last year. Announced at event held in Spain in July, its highlight is the software, which features stock Android inside thanks to the Android One programme. While the Android One programme ensures timely software updates, the performance-oriented device also features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC paired with 4GB and 6GB RAM options. All that’s left to be revealed is its price tag, which is expected to hover around the Rs 17,000 mark. Baidu CEO confident against Google**:** After reports of Google returning to China surfaced last week, the search giant’s biggest rival in China wasn’t too happy about it. Baidu CEO Robin Li took to Chinese social media website Weibo and wrote from his official account saying, “Google decides to return to China, we are very confident we can just PK and win again.” PK is gamer lingo for player kill, often used in multi-player role-playing games. While the CEO seemed quite confident about taking down Google if it shows up in China, internet users did not feel the same way with an online poll suggesting that 86 percent of users would pick Google over Baidu. Even the news about Google considering its return to China was good enough to drop Baidu’s stocks by 7.7 percent.