US senator, India's long-time friend John McCain dies battling cancer

John McCain. Pic/AFP

Influential US Senator John McCain, a Vietnam war hero and a towering figure in the American political scene, who turned out to be a prominent critic of President Donald Trump has died following a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer.

He was 81. McCain, a six-term senator from Arizona, who was a friend of India, had been suffering from a malignant brain tumour, called a glioblastoma, for which he had been treated periodically with radiation and chemotherapy since its discovery in 2017.

According to a statement from his office, McCain died on Saturday at 4.28 p.m. local time. "My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the place he loved best," his wife Cindy said.

In an editorial he wrote for CNN ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington in 2016, he'd said that it was remarkable how much bipartisan support the US-India relationship enjoys on Capitol Hill.

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