Daily Bulletin: One dead in Rajasthan's Churu as IMD issues heatwave warning; Rajnath Singh to visit Siachen; day's top stories

IMD issues heatwave warning as extreme temperatures claim one life in Rajasthan Several parts of the country reeled under heatwave conditions that claimed one life in Rajasthan’s Churu which recorded a maximum temperature of almost 49 degrees Celsius on Sunday, with the IMD saying there will be no respite for the next two days. [caption id=“attachment_6277271” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said heatwave conditions are likely to continue over the northern plains, and central and southern parts of the country for two more days and abate gradually. “Due to easterly winds at lower levels over northern parts of the country, the severity of the heatwave is very likely to decrease over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh today (Sunday) onwards,” it said. However, severe heatwave conditions are likely to persist over Madhya Pradesh and west Rajasthan on Monday, the IMD said. If the maximum temperature of a weather station in the plains crosses 45 degrees Celsius for two consecutive days, it is termed heatwave. And if the temperature breaches 47 degrees Celsius for two days, it is termed severe heatwave. Intense heat continued to paralyse normal life in Rajasthan where a farmer died of sunstroke Sunday, as Churu remained the hottest place with a maximum of 48.9 degrees Celsius. On Saturday too, Churu, in the western part of the desert state, was the hottest place in the country at 50.8 degrees Celsius. Rajnath Singh to visit Siachen Glacier today Newly-appointed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit the Siachen glacier and Srinagar on Monday to review security preparedness along the borders with Pakistan as well to take stock of anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir. In his first visit after taking charge of the defence ministry, Singh will first travel to the Siachen Glacier – the world’s highest battlefield – where he will interact with field commanders and soldiers, reports said. The defence minister will be accompanied by Army Chief General Bipin Rawat. From Siachen, Singh will go to Srinagar where Northern Army Commander Lt General Ranbir Singh and Leh-based 14 Corps Commander Lieutenant General YK Joshi are scheduled to brief him about the security scenario along the borders will Pakistan as well as on the anti-terror operations. Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP of ‘mixing’ politics with religion as ‘Jai Shri Ram’ row escalates West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday alleged that the BJP was mixing religion with politics by repeatedly using the ‘ Jai Sri Ram' phrase. The Trinamool Congress supremo also claimed that attempts were being made to propagate the ideology of hatred, which should be opposed. “’Jai Sia Ram’, ‘Jai Ram ji ki’, ‘Ram naam Satya hai’ etc have religious and social connotations. We respect these sentiments. But BJP is using religious slogan ‘Jai Sri Ram’ as their party slogan in a misconceived manner by way of mixing religion with politics (sic),” she said in a Facebook post. Mamata said she had no issues regarding any particular slogan being used in political rallies or events of a party. “I have no problem, regarding any particular slogan of political parties in their rallies, and for their party purpose. Every political party has their own slogan. My party has ‘Jai Hind, Vande Mataram’. The Left has ‘Inquilab Zindabad’. Others have different slogans. We respect each other,” the chief minister said. Mamata said she does not respect “this forcible enforcement of political slogans on others”. The chief minister has lost her cool twice in the last few weeks over people chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ at some places in the state while her motorcade was passing through. India lodges protest with Pakistan after guests ‘harassed’ at Ajay Bisaria’s Iftar party Guests invited to Indian High Commission’s Iftar party in Islamabad faced “unprecedented harassment and intimidation” due to enhanced security checks by the Pakistani officials who stopped some invitees on one pretext or other, the Indian mission said on Sunday, as it strongly protested the “ugly” incident and sought “urgent” investigation into the matter. Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria hosted the annual event on Saturday at Serena Hotel for which guests were invited from all over Pakistan. “The guests faced unprecedented harassment and intimidation at the hands of security agencies,” the Indian High Commission said in a statement . It said the guests who made to the venue from places as far as Lahore and Karachi were “intimidated and even physically stopped” from attending the party by Pakistani security forces, who had virtually laid the Serena hotel under siege. “A concerted campaign was launched by Pakistan’s security agencies in the days preceding the iftar function to reach out to the invitees to actively dissuade them from attending the event,” it said. Hosts England face Pakistan in Match 6 of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Eoin Morgan-led England will face Pakistan in Match 6 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 to be held in Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Monday. While the hosts thrashed South Africa by 104 runs in the tournament’s first match, Pakistan suffered a humiliating seven-wicket defeat to West Indies, after having been bowled out for 105. These two teams met each other in an ODI series prior to the World Cup, where the hosts were dominant in a 4-0 series win. Apple’s WWDC 2019 Developer conference starts today Apple’s annual developer conference — Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) — kicks off on 3 June, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. There are plenty of reasons to be excited — especially since the Cupertino giant’s focus on hardware has been slowly diminishing, making software and its services more vital.