Daily Bulletin: PM to address nation in 47th Mann Ki Baat; John McCain dies at 81; PV Sindhu in action at Asian Games today

Narendra Modi to address nation in 47th edition of Mann ki Baat Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation in the 47th episode of his monthly radio programme Mann ki Baat on Sunday. It will be broadcast on the entire network of All India Radio and Doordarshan at 11 am today. It will also be streamed on the YouTube channels of the Prime Minister’s Office, AIR and DD News. [caption id=“attachment_4975151” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reuters[/caption] US senator John McCain dies at 81 US senator John McCain, a celebrated Vietnam war hero known for reaching across the aisle in an increasingly divided America, died Saturday following a battle with brain cancer. He was 81. “Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4.28 pm on 25 August, 2018. With the senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family,” his office said in a statement. Former president Barack Obama, the Democrat to whom McCain lost the presidency in the 2008 elections, said, “We are all in his debt.” Kerala, After The Floods: Onam celebrated in relief camps Kerala’s major annual festival Onam was marked by sombre mood on Saturday with nearly six lakh displaced people still in relief camps even as the toll in the monsoon rose to 293 and 15 people missing. The usual celebrations like pookalam (floral carpets) and preparing feasts were missing in many rain-affected areas while comparatively subdued elsewhere. The nature’s fury at its worst also saw the best faces of humanity as people from different religions came together to provide shelter to their brethren in a mosque which was turned into a relief camp, hosting Onam celebrations in Alappuzha district. The state government has cancelled official Onam celebrations in view of the monsoon fury. Yet, 5.97 lakh men, women and children in schools, colleges, convention halls, mosques and churches, which are doubling up as relief camps, got together to celebrate the festival in whatever manner they could. Asian Games 2018, Day 8 On Sunday, India’s star badminton players PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will be in action. Both of them will play their women’s singles quarter-finals matches. Indian men’s hockey team will play South Korea in a group game, while Hima Das will also aim for gold in women’s 400m event. India will also take part in the semi-finals of Bridge men’s and mixed team events. Defence Acquisition Council clears procurement of 111 utility helicopters  In a major decision, the defence ministry on Saturday approved procurement of 111 utility helicopters for the navy at a cost of over Rs 21,000 crore. They said the ministry cleared procurement proposals worth nearly Rs 46,000 crore which included the acquisition of the helicopters. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the ministry’s highest decision-making body on procurement. Unnao rape case: Body of witness who died recently exhumed The body of Yunus, a witness in the Unnao rape case who died recently, was exhumed on Saturday night and sent for post-mortem examination. Yunus was a witness in the case registered after the death of the father of a minor who was allegedly raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. The rape victim’s father died in April after being beaten up, allegedly by Sengar’s brother and others. The victim’s uncle had alleged foul play after the death of Yunus last week. Delhi court rejects Arvind Kejriwal’s plea to restrain police from sharing info with media in Delhi chief secretary assault case A Delhi court on Saturday rejected a plea moved by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs seeking to restrain police from sharing with the media information in the chargesheet in the case of alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in February. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal rejected the plea and reserved for 18 September the order on whether to take cognisance of the chargesheet and summon Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others as accused in the case. Rahul Gandhi sets up three Congress committees on poll-related issues Gearing up for the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress on Saturday formed three crucial committees to look after coordination, manifesto and publicity in the polls, with the old guard maintaining its position in the core set up under party president Rahul Gandhi. He formed the key nine-member Core Group Committee comprising AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala and KC Venugopal. While all those in the Core Committee have worked under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, those in the publicity and manifesto committees comprise old-timers as well as some fresh faces. The 19-member Manifesto Committee comprises veterans like P Chidambaram, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Union ministers Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, Shashi Tharoor and Kumari Selja, besides former Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma. Neha Dhupia debuts baby bump on LFW ramp Actress Neha Dhupia, who is expecting her first child with actor-husband Angad Bedi, showed off her baby bump while walking for designer Payal Singhal at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Winter/Festive 2018 in Mumbai.