Washington, Aug 26 : John McCain, a proud naval aviator who survived years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and going on to become a Republican congressman, senator from Arizona and a two-time contender for presidency, has died after a battle with a malignant brain tumour. He was 81.

McCain, died on Saturday at 4.28 p.m. at his ranch near Sedona, Arizona, his office announced in a statement on Sunday. The son and grandson of Navy admirals, he was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone.

He was diagnosed last year with the tumour, called a glioblastoma, for which he had been treated periodically with radiation and chemotherapy since its discovery in 2017.

His family had announced earlier this week that he was discontinuing medical treatment. During three decades of representing Arizona in the Senate, he ran twice unsuccessfully for president, reports The Washington Post.

He lost a bitter primary campaign to George W. Bush and the Republican establishment in 2000.

McCain then returned to win the nomination in 2008, only to be defeated in the general election by Barack Obama, a charismatic Illinois Democrat who had served less than one term as a senator.

The Arizonan warrior politician, who survived plane crashes, several bouts of skin cancer and brushes with political oblivion, often seemed to be perpetually waging a race against time and his own mortality while striving to ensure that his five-and-a-half years as a Vietnam prisoner of war did not stand as the defining experience of his life.

McCain had not been in Washington since December 2017, leaving a vacuum in the corridors of the Senate and the television news studios he roamed for decades, CNN said.

In recent months, he was not completely quiet, however, blasting President Donald Trump in tweets and statements that showed while he was ailing he had lost none of his appetite for the political fight.

The Senator repeatedly made clear that he saw Trump and his "America First" ideology as a departure from the values and traditions of global leadership that he saw epitomised in the US.

McCain's most dramatic break with Trump came nine days after the Senator announced on July 19, 2017, that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He returned to the Senate chamber, with an incision from surgery still fresh above his left eye, and turned thumbs down on a Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.

His no vote, along with those of two other Republicans, sent his party's signature legislative goal hurtling toward oblivion.

He also questioned why Trump was solicitous of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he regarded as an unreformed KGB apparatchik.

In one of his final public acts, he blasted Trump's cozy summit with Putin in July, blasting it as "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory".

McCain had been planning his funeral services over the last year and his family made clear that Trump was not invited, a position that has not changed, family friends said on Saturday.

Obama and Bush were asked to give eulogies. In a memoir published in May, McCain wrote that he hated to leave the world, but had no complaints.

"It's been quite a ride. I've known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make peace," McCain wrote.

"I've lived very well and I've been deprived of all comforts. I've been as lonely as a person can be and I've enjoyed the company of heroes. I've suffered the deepest despair and experienced the highest exultation. I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times."



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New Delhi (PTI): Every word uttered by a minister has to be with a sense of responsibility at a time the country is undergoing "such a situation", the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it reprimanded Madhya Pradesh's Vijay Shah who is facing an FIR for his remarks targeting Col Sofiya Qureshi.

"What sort of statements are you making? You are a responsible minister of the government," Chief Justice of India B R Gavai told Shah. The bench, also comprising Justice Augustine George Masih, will on Friday hear Shah's plea challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court's May 14 order directing an FIR against him for the comments.

"When this country is undergoing such a situation, every sentence or word uttered by a responsible minister has to be with a sense of responsibility," the CJI told Shah's counsel.

"Persons holding such a constitutional office are expected to exercise a degree of restraint," the bench observed.

Senior advocate Vibha Datta Makhija, appearing for Shah, mentioned the matter for urgent listing and said the high court had taken suo motu cognisance and asked for registration of an FIR.

Makhija said the petitioner, the state's tribal affairs minister, has expressed remorse.

"It was a statement which was misunderstood as well. That I can justify to your lordships," she said. "He (Shah) never meant what is being made out by the media," she added.

"Now the FIR is already registered," the bench said.

The senior counsel said the petitioner was seeking a stay on the FIR because he was not heard by the high court.

"I (Shah) am just praying that till I am heard, no action be taken," Makhija said.

The bench asked why the petitioner had not moved the high court seeking relief.

"Merely because somebody is a minister, should we entertain it," the bench asked, adding, "Go and apply before the high court."

When Makhija urged the apex court to see the high court's order, the bench said, "We will have it tomorrow."

In the meanwhile, the senior counsel said, no further action be taken against Shah.

She said the matter was listed for hearing before the high court today.

"Nothing is likely to happen in 24 hours," the bench said, adding that the petitioner can inform the high court that the matter is listed for hearing in the apex court on Friday.

Shah hit the headlines after a video, which was distributed widely, showed him allegedly making objectionable remarks against Col Qureshi, who gained nationwide prominence along with another woman officer, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, during media briefings on Operation Sindoor last week.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court castigated Shah for passing "scurrilous" remarks and using "language of the gutters" against Col Qureshi, and ordered the police to file an FIR against him on the charge of promoting enmity and hatred.

"On the basis of what has been observed herein above, this court directs the Director General of Police of Madhya Pradesh to register forthwith an FIR against minister Vijay Shah for offences under sections 152, 196(1)(b) and 197(1)(c) of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)," the high court said.

After drawing severe condemnation, the MP minister said he is ready to apologise 10 times if anyone is hurt by his statement and that he respects Col Qureshi more than his sister.

An FIR was registered against Shah in Indore district on Wednesday night following the high court's order, an official said.

The FIR was registered under sections 152 (acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India), 196 (1)(b) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, language, or other similar characteristics) and 197(1)(c) (statement or action that causes or is likely to cause disharmony, enmity, or hatred between different groups) of the BNS.