Morning Digest | Former Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh passes away, Anti-Taliban forces say they’ve taken three districts in Afghanistan’s north, and more

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Kalyan Singh died on Saturday after prolonged illness, said the hospital in Lucknow where he was receiving treatment since July. He was 89.

With COVID-19 cases declining in the State, the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday announced relaxations from the lockdown. The government has allowed schools for classes 9 to 12 and all colleges including polytechnics to function from September 1 on a shift basis.

At the Friday’s meeting of 19 opposition parties, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren raised questions on whether the emphasis on the Pegasus cyberattack was misplaced and spoke of the challenges of effectively communicating the issue to the general public with any political impact. With three States going for polls early next year, many within the Congress and other parties feel that the strong focus on the issue may not be helping the Opposition’s cause and it could even turn out to be a second Rafale.

For the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad, who has been recuperating from several health issues at his older daughter’s residence in New Delhi, the tussle between his two MLA sons is posing new challenges to his health, family and the party. The siblings — older son Tej Pratap Yadav and younger Tejashwi Yadav, whom Mr. Prasad has already declared as his heir apparent — are currently locked in fierce tussle for control of the party and have thrown the ball in their father’s court to resolve the discontent between them.

Forces holding out against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan say they have taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley where remnants of government forces and other militia groups have gathered.

The United States on Saturday urged its citizens in Afghanistan to avoid traveling to the Kabul airport for now, citing “potential security threats” near its gates.

In a landmark visit, the three Service Chiefs together visited the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla in Pune, their alma mater, on August 20 and 21, during which they reviewed the ongoing training of cadets and the available training and administrative infrastructure, the Army said on Saturday.

A war of words erupted between Sajad Lone’s Peoples Conference (PC) and Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference (NC) on Saturday, a day after the virtual meeting of 19 Opposition parties, chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, stayed silent on the issue of reading down of Article 370.

The Mehsana-Bathinda natural gas pipeline project passing through Rajasthan is set to create new investment opportunities in the State and make existing industries competitive. The work has been initiated for developing new industrial areas to promote sector-specific clusters near the gas pipeline route.

Two suicide bombings in the space of just over one month have cast doubt on the future of China’s ambitious projects in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, with renewed concerns over the safety of Chinese personnel in the region.