The last rites of George Fernandes will be performed after his son arrives from the US, the former defence minister's wife Leila Kabir said on Tuesday.

A number of leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajanth Singh, BJP president Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, visited the bereaved family at their residence in New Delhi's upscale Panchsheel Park to pay their respects.

"I wish to inform my fellow countrymen that George Fernandes, my husband who was former defence minister and Member of Parliament, passed away today in the early hours. He was suffering from Alzheimer's," she said.

A lifelong socialist despite his political adventurism that included cabinet posts in two ideologically opposite governments where he ousted Coca-Cola in 1977 and oversaw the Kargil war in 1999, Mr Fernandes died at his home on Tuesday. He was 88.

His body was taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for embalming, Ms Kabir said in a statement.

She said the last rites will be conducted soon "after our son, Sean Fernandes, arrives in India (from the US). As soon as Sean arrives, we will finalise the timing of the last rites and will inform all".

Air India is resuming its services from New Delhi to the holy city of Najaf in Iraq after 25 years. Talking to AIR News, Indian Ambassador to Iraq Dr Pradeep Rajpurohit said, the services will commence from the 14th of next month, and it is initially being planned for twice a week. Najaf is a city some 160 kilometres from Baghdad. It is an important pilgrimage place considered sacred by Shia Muslims.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned High Commissioner of Pakistan Sohail Mahmood in New Delhi last night. Mr Mahmood was summoned in connection with the telephonic conversation initiated by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. 

The External Affairs Ministry said, the Foreign Secretary conveyed New Delhi's condemnation in the strongest terms of the latest brazen attempt by Islamabad to subvert India's unity and violate sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

Terming the act as deplorable, the Ministry said, Mr Gokhale told the Pak envoy that the move has violated all norms for the conduct of international relations even by Pakistan's own standards.

Mr Gokhale said, Pakistan has yet again confirmed that it officially abets and encourages individuals associated with terrorism and anti-India activities. The act, he said, has exposed to the entire international community Pakistan's duplicity in professing their desire for normal relations with India on the one hand, while openly inciting anti-India activities on the other.

The Foreign Secretary reiterated India's position on Jammu and Kashmir. He said, J&K is and will remain the integral part of India, and Pakistan has no locus standi in matters related to the state.

The Pakistan High Commissioner was categorically informed that India expects Pakistan to immediately desist from such actions.  Mr Gokhale said, persistence of such behaviour will have implications.

Dubai-based businessman Rajiv Saxena, the co-accused in 3,600-crore rupee AgustaWestland chopper deal case, and corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar have been extradited to India from United Arab Emirates. The extradition comes as a boost to the Indian agencies investigating corruption in two separate cases involving Saxena and Talwar.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned Saxena multiple times in the AgustaWestland scam and had arrested his wife from Chennai airport in July, 2017. She is now out on bail. The ED had alleged that Rajeev Saxena, his wife and their two Dubai-based firms routed the proceeds of crime and further layered and integrated in buying the immovable properties/shares among others.

Talwar is being probed for allegedly concealing income of more than 1,000 crores and also for facilitating aviation contracts during the UPA regime. 

Last month, the UAE government had extradited Christian Michel, a British national and alleged middleman in the VVIP chopper deal scam.

The opposition will seek to corner the BJP-led NDA on a range of issues including Rafale, problem of farmers and unemployment during the Budget session of Parliament beginning Thursday with the government expected to push its legislative agenda that includes the triple talaq bill and citizenship (amendment) bill.

The Congress has issued a whip to its members ahead of the session, which will be the last before the Lok Sabha elections slated for April-May. It will conclude on Feb 13.

The government will present interim budget on February 1 and it is expected to be a full budget and not a vote-on-account. 

The session will begin with address by President Ram Nath Kovind to the joint sitting of the two Houses.

Apart from the vote of thanks to the President's address, the government's legislative agenda includes replacing three ordinances with bills. 

These include the triple talaq Bill, companies (amendment) Bill and Medical Council (Amendment) Bill. 

The government is keen to get the triple talaq Bill passed. It is also keen to get the citizenship (amendment) bill passed though almost all BJP allies in the north east are opposed to it. 

Speaking to reporters after an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the government "should not bring full Budget in the name of interim budget and confine itself to only vote-on-account."

Russian chess grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, regarded as one of the strongest players in the world, announced on Tuesday he was retiring from professional competition.

Kramnik, 43, made waves in 2000 when he defeated defending champion Garry Kasparov at the World Championship. Currently ranked seventh by the World Chess Federation, he became the undisputed world champion in 2006.

“I already decided to finish my professional chess career a couple of months ago and now, after having played my last tournament, I would like to announce it publicly,” he said on the website of the Tata Steel Chess tournament that ended in the Netherlands on Sunday.

He said he was quitting to focus on chess education projects.

Russian chess grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, regarded as one of the strongest players in the world, announced on Tuesday he was retiring from professional competition.

Kramnik, 43, made waves in 2000 when he defeated defending champion Garry Kasparov at the World Championship. Currently ranked seventh by the World Chess Federation, he became the undisputed world champion in 2006.

“I already decided to finish my professional chess career a couple of months ago and now, after having played my last tournament, I would like to announce it publicly,” he said on the website of the Tata Steel Chess tournament that ended in the Netherlands on Sunday.

He said he was quitting to focus on chess education projects.

2018 European Championships silver medallist Mimi Hristova helped Punjab Royals take an unassailable 5-3 lead over UP Dangal and enter the final of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4 here on Tuesday. Before Mimi, Bajrang Punia, Dato Marsagishvili, Nitin Rathi and Anita won their respective bouts to hand Punjab Royals an unassailable 5-3 lead with one bout to go in the tie.

Mimi was trailing 0-2 with less than a minute to go for the final whistle, but she came back strongly to edge past Sarita 5-2 and clinch the tie in Punjab’s favour. Jitender spoilt a little bit of Punjab’s fun by defeating Amit Dhanker 5-0 in the men’s 74kg category in the inconsequential last bout of the evening.

Earlier, Olympic bronze medallist Dato Marsagishvili put Punjab Royals ahead winning the men’s 86kg category bout 4-2 against last year’s European U-23 silver medallist Irakli Misituri of Up D angal in a closely fought bout.

Renowned Hindi writer Chitra Mudgal, Dogri writer Inderjeet Kesar, Kannada writer KG Nagarajappa and Kashmiri story writer Mushtaq Ahmad Mushtaq were among 24 writers, who were honoured today with the Sahitya Akademi Award 2018. President of the Sahitya Akademi Chandrasekhar Kambar presented these awards at a function in New Delhi. The awards were given for 24 different languages.   The award was given to Chitra Mudgal for her book 'post box no 203 Nalla Sopara', which was based on the life of a transgender. Inderjeet Kesar got the award for his Dogri novel- Bhagirath based on challenges faced by human beings. K. G Nagarajappa bagged the award for Anushreni- Yajamanike which is a collection of Kannada essays. Mushtaq  Ahmad Mushtaq received the award for his collection of  18 Kashmiri short stories - Aakh.  An Indian Information Service officer Mushtaq Ahmad is presently posted as Head of the Regional News Unit at Radio Kashmir Srinagar. 

President Xi Jinping's high profile anti-graft campaign has not made much of an imapact as China's ranking on perceived corruption has fallen to 87, below India's 78, according to the annual index by global watchdog Transparency International.

Xi, who took over power towards the end of 2012 and is currently in his second five-year term as president, has made fighting corruption in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and the military a major objective of his rule.

Over 1.3 million officials at various levels including former security czar, Zhou Yongkong, and over 50 top generals of the People''s Liberation Army (PLA), including two vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC) - the overall high command of the Chinese military - have been sacked and punished.

The campaign was also carried out amid allegations that Xi effectively used it to consolidate his power base within the party and the military.

China slipped by 10 ranks to 87th place in Transparency International''s 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

India rose by three points to 78. Vietnam too figured high at 117 while Singapore moved up three spots to third place, behind first-placed Denmark and New Zealand, with the top spot signifying the least corrupt nation.