Noted actor, dramatist and Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad passed away in Bengaluru this morning due to multi-organ failure. 

He was 81. 

Coming to fame as Kannada playwright in the 1960s, he went on to become a critically acclaimed actor and filmmaker during the later years. Besides the Jnanpith award, Karnad was also conferred the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. 

Vamsha Vruksha, Ek tha Tiger, Nagamandala and Malgudi Days are some of the movies and TV serials in which he played a role and Odakalu bimba, Taledanda and the fire and the rain are some of the plays written by him.

In Tennis, world number two Rafael Nadal has lifted the French Open Men's Singles title for the 12th time. 

In the summit clash played at Paris last night, the Spaniard defeated Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to win at the Roland Garros for the third straight year. 

The 33-year-old became the first player to win 12 Singles titles at the same Grand Slam and has now won 18 majors overall.

Nadal is now just two titles behind Roger Federer's all-time record of 20 majors and is three ahead of world number one Novak Djokovic. 

Nadal also took his Paris record to an astonishing 93 wins and just two losses. The win also gave Nadal an 82nd career title and 950th match win.   25-year old Thiem suffered his second Grand Slam final defeat after he lost to Nadal in three sets in last year's title clash.

With an eye on China’s pro-active moves in the Indian Ocean region, India will strengthen defence partnerships with at least two key projects in the Maldives as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the island nation in his first bilateral visit in the second term. Modi and Maldives President Ibrahim Solih will jointly inaugurate two projects – the Coastal Surveillance Radar System and the Composite Training Centre of the Maldives National Defence Forces.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale described the two as “important projects”, valued at about Rs 180 crore, which will be remotely inaugurated by the two leaders. This is part of weaning away Maldives from Beijing, as China has made deep inroads into the Maldivian establishment during the Abdulla Yameen regime.

A massive fire broke out at a chemical factory in Jagannath Ghat near Howrah Bridge in Kolkata at around 2.30 am Saturday. At least 20 fire tenders were deployed to the spot. There are no reports of injuries or casualties so far.

West Bengal fire and emergency service minister Sujit Bose is present at the spot.

The New Orleans-born musician died on Thursday, according to a message posted on his official Twitter account.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer combined the genres of blues, pop, jazz, boogie woogie and rock and roll.

A statement said: "Towards the break of day June 6, iconic music legend Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr, known as Dr John, passed away of a heart attack."

The musician "created a unique blend of music which carried his hometown, New Orleans, at its heart, as it was always in his heart," it continued.

"The family thanks all whom shared his unique musical journey & requests privacy at this time. Memorial arrangements will be announced in due course."

IT Industry icon Azim Premji will retire as Executive Chairman of Wipro with effect from 30th July this year. He led the company for 53 years. 

The company said in a statement that he will continue to serve on the board as Non-Executive Director and founder Chairman.

His son Rishad Premji, Chief Strategy Officer and a board member, will take over as the Executive Chairman of the company. 

The board announced that Chief Executive and Executive Director Abidali Z Neemuchwala will be re-designated as CEO and Managing Director of Wipro. 

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan reviewed the status of Nipah Virus disease in New Delhi yesterday.

An official release said, a total of 316 contacts are being followed up on daily basis. It said one positive case admitted in Ernakulam is now conscious and having mild fever and six symptomatic contacts have been admitted in the quarantine facility at Medical College and all the samples were found to be negative. 

The Ministry said, on the basis of the epidemiological investigation, team from National Institute of Virology Pune and Animal Husbandry are investigating bats and other animals in the vicinity of confirmed case residence.

Indian Air Force has further intensified and expanded search for the AN-32 aircraft which went missing on Monday. The Fighter aircraft, C130, Helicopters, aircraft carrying specialised sensors, satellites and all possible civil, police and local administrative agencies have further expanded search based on human and sensor inputs.

Indian Navy aircraft P8i will again fly a sortie today morning as the weather is likely to improve slightly.

Search parties have set out on foot in likely directions to locate the aircraft and its occupants. These parties have been encountering thick forests as they tirelessly search every part of a very difficult terrain. The search by parties on foot and night capable aircraft continued through the night and satellites data is being analysed regularly.

The aircraft, with 13 people on board, lost contact with ground agencies after taking off from Jorhat airbase in Assam on Monday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will embark on a two-day visit to Bhutan from today.

Disclosing this to reporters in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Raveesh Kumar said, this is Mr. Jaishankar's first overseas visit after assuming charge of the Ministry.

Mr. Kumar said, during the visit, Mr Jaishankar will call on Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and meet his counterpart Tandi Dorji.

 Replying to a media query, Mr. Raveesh Kumar said, India has ruled out any bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, (SCO) Summit at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. Mr Modi will attend the annual summit on 13th and 14th of this month.

The government has effected changes in the Committees of Union Cabinet and included Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in most of the Committees. On Wednesday, the government had reconstituted eight Cabinet Committees. These are, Appointments Committee, Cabinet Committees on Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Security, Investment and Growth and Employment and Skill Development.
 
According to a release issued by Cabinet Secretariat, Rajnath Singh's name has been included in four more committees which are Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Investment and Growth and Employment and Skill development. Earlier, Mr Singh was the part of only two Committees-Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Security.