Daily bulletin: SC to hear Article 35A; Karnataka urban local body polls; Indian women's hockey team in Asian Games final; day's top stories

Supreme Court to hear Article 35A today: Heavy security has been put in place across Kashmir ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on Article 35A on Friday. The Valley remained tense and observed a complete shutdown on Thursday. Curfew-like restrictions were also imposed in old Srinagar city as a precautionary measure. Protests have been held across the length and breadth of Kashmir over the past month in support of continuing Article 35A.

Karnataka Urban Local Body Polls to be held today: Elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Karnataka is underway after being postponed by two days. Elections will also be held in three major city corporations, in Mysuru, Tumakuru and Shivamogga as the Karnataka High Court cleared a case regarding reservation of wards in these constituencies. All the three major political parties in the state, i.e. the Congress, the JD(S) and the BJP have fielded candidates in the 2,574 wards in 105 local bodies going to the polls. The JD(S) and Congress, which are in a coalition in the state government, are pitted against each other in the ULB polls. Over 36,03,691 people are expected to exercise their franchise in over 3,897 polling stations. For the first time, the Election Commission has offered NOTA (None Of The Above) option in the ULB polls.

Asian Games, Day 13: India had a good outing in athletics, clinching as many as seven gold medals to take India’s gold tally to 13. On Friday, Indian women’s hockey team will look to defeat Japan in the final and come home with a gold. Also, boxers Vikas Krishan and Amit Phangal will be in action. Both boxers will aim to win their semi-final bouts.

Tejaswi Yadav, Rabri Devi to appear before CBI court for IRCTC scam: Tejaswi Yadav, Rabri Devi along with 14 other accused to appear before special CBI court of Arvind Kumar, Patiala House Courts at 10 am on Friday. Court had summoned the accused after cognizance of the chargesheet against them by the court. According to the charge sheet, between 2004 and 2014, a conspiracy was hatched in pursuance of which BNR hotels of Indian Railways, located at Puri and Ranchi, were first transferred to the IRCTC and later, for its operations, maintenance and upkeep, it was given on lease to Sujata Hotel Private Limited, which is based in Patna.

India vs England, 4th Test, Day 2: Indian bowlers did the job on the opening day, bowling out England to 246 in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers taking three wickets. Indian openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan added 19 runs in four overs before stumps. They will look to take the lead on Day 2 without losing too many wickets, the key batsman being Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.

IFA 2018, Day 2: Day 1 of IFA 2018 saw the launch of a slew of products from Acer and Dell as well as the unveiling of Sony’s new flagship for 2018, the XZ3 smartphone. Day 2 is expected to see Lenovo unveiling its entire laptop lineup for the last quarter of 2018 and an assortment of smart home accessories. Expected launches include the ThinkPad X1 Extreme laptop, C630 2-in-1 convertible, the C930 Yoga Book, and most interesting of all, a replica of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber. Later in the day, we can also expect demos of Sony’s new Aibo robot.

GDP data at 5.30 pm today: The Central Statistics Office will release gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimates for the April-June quarter at 5.30 pm on Fridday (31 August 2018). According to a Reuters poll, few economists expect a slight slowdown in growth in the first quarter of 2018 due to greater global economic uncertainty and domestic political risks from national elections scheduled for May 2019.

Convert RK Studios into film museu, says Sanjay Nirupam: Mumbai Congress on Thursday demanded that the iconic RK Studios in Chembur, founded by legendary Bollywood actor Raj Kapoor, should be converted into a film museum for posterity. In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam said the government should acquire the massive studio, which was gutted in a fire and has now been put up for sale by the Kapoor family.