Student held for derogatory Facebook post against Tipu Sultan

Bengaluru, Apr 20: The cumulative positive cases of COVID-19 in Karnataka stand at 408, including 16 deaths and 112 people discharged.

Karnataka's Department of Health and Family Welfare in a media bulletin said: "As of 5 pm on April 20, cumulatively 408 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state. It includes 16 deaths and 112 discharges."

Out of the remaining 280 cases, 278 COVID-19 positive patients including one pregnant woman in isolation at designated hospitals are stable, and two are in ICU, added Health and Family Welfare Department.

"18 new cases have been confirmed for COVID-19 in the State from Sunday 5 pm to Monday at 5 pm," added the department.

Kasaragod, June 2: As Kerala commenced fresh academic year with online classes from Monday, a ninth-standard student at Malappuram district in North Kerala ended life allegedly owing to lack of online study facilities like television connection and a smartphone at her house.

Devika, daughter of Balakrishnan, hailing from a Dalit community at Valancherry, about 25 kilometres from Malappuram town, ended her life.

Balakrishnan told the media that he could not recharge the television connection owing to financial crunches. He was working as a daily wage worker and owing to COVID-19 and lockdown, he was not having much work these days. 

The family also did not have a smartphone or computer. The family members alleged that Devika was quite upset as she could not attend the virtual class that began on Monday. She was a student of a nearby government school.

Local police said that Devika, who was the eldest among four children of Balakrishnan, was suspected to have self-immolated using kerosene at a premise close to her house on Monday evening. The cause and provocations were still being probed only. No suicide notes were recovered yet.

Bengaluru, Feb 13: UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid quit the Boris Johnson government as part of a cabinet reshuffle unfolding on Thursday and has been replaced by Rishi Sunak, reports said.

Indian-descent Sunak, 39, who is married to Akshata, the daughter of Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, was Chief Secretary to the Treasury since July 2019.

An analyst with Goldman Sachs before joining politics in 2014, Sunak, whose grandparents were from Punjab and emigrated to the UK from east Africa, is MP from Richmond (Yorkshire). He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in the Theresa May government.

Pakistani-descent Javid, who became the first Asian to become a Cabinet Minister when he was made Secretary of State of culture, Media and Sports in the David Cameron government in 2014 after stints as Economic Secretary to the Treasury (2012-13) and Financial Secretary (2013-14), was earlier the Home Secretary in the the Theresa May government.

He had then cleared absconding businessman Vijay Mallya's extradition to India in February last year following the decision by the Westminister Magistrates Court in December 2018.

Javid, who ran for Conservative Party leadership after May quit but lost to Boris Johnson, was made Chancellor by the later. In the reshuffle on Thursday, he was offered to retain his post if he fired all his advisors but declined and quit, the BBC reported.