Cops raid slaughterhouse; arrest 3; seize 3 cows, 200kg meat, 3 vehicles

Dubai, Feb 11: An Indian national has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in the UAE, bringing the total number of confirmed infection cases to eight, the country's health ministry has said.

The death toll in China's coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 1,016 while the confirmed cases of infection have soared to 42,638, Chinese health officials said on Tuesday.

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said on Monday that the Indian national was infected after he interacted with a recently diagnosed person.

"The Ministry of Health and Prevention announced today the eighth confirmed case of new coronavirus in the UAE, which is an Indian national who had interacted with a recently diagnosed person," it said in a tweet.

On Sunday, the ministry said that the two new patients, a Chinese national and a Filipino, had been diagnosed with the disease and were receiving medical care as per the highest health standards available in the country.

It said that all health facilities will continue to report any new cases suspected to have coronavirus.

Last week, a family of four who arrived from Wuhan for a holiday in Dubai were diagnosed with coronavirus. A fifth patient, who also arrived from the Chinese city, was confirmed to have been infected with 
the virus, but is reportedly in a stable condition.

China and countries around the world are scrambling to contain the spread of coronavirus which fiirst surfaced in Wuhan city in the Central Hubei province of China. Apart from China, two deaths have occurred in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Besides Germany, Britain and Italy, other European nations with cases of the virus include France, Russia, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Spain.

New Delhi, Mar 6: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking framing of a proper mechanism to deal with alleged misuse of the sedition law by the government machinery. A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar dismissed the plea filed by a social activist and said it was open for the petitioner to approach the appropriate authority.

At the outset, the apex court told advocate Utsav Singh Bains, appearing for the petitioner, that he could not seek quashing of an FIR in a sedition case filed against the management of a Karnataka school for allegedly allowing students to stage an anti-CAA and anti-NRC drama.

Bains told the bench that he was not just pressing for a prayer to quash the FIR but the petitioner has also sought a direction for framing of a proper mechanism to deal with the alleged misuse of the sedition law.

"Let the affected party come and we will hear them. Why it should be done at your instance," the bench said, refusing to entertain the petition.

The petition had sought quashing of the FIR against the principal and other staff of the Shaheen School at Bidar who have been booked under sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code.

The plea had also sought an apex court direction for a proper mechanism to deal with alleged government misuse of the sedition law.

Section 124A of the IPC says that "whoever brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards... the Government shall be punished with imprisonment for life...".

The plea had sought a direction to the Centre and the Karnataka government "to quash the FIR registered in connection of seditious charges against the school management, teacher and a widowed parent of a student for staging a play criticising CAA, NRC and NPR."

The petition had claimed that the police "also questioned students, and videos and screenshots of CCTV footage showing them speaking to the students were shared widely on social media, prompting criticism."

The drama was staged on January 21 by students of the fourth, the fifth and the sixth standard.

The sedition case was filed based on a complaint by social worker Neelesh Rakshyal on 26 January.

The complainant alleged that the school authorities "used" the students to perform a drama where they "abused" Modi in the context of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.

Mangaluru, Jul 18: Days after Air India operated a flight from Qatar to Mangaluru,  the Karnataka Cultural Foundation (KCF) chartered a flight from Doha to this coastal city to repatriate the stranded NRIs. The flight landed at Mangaluru International Airport on July 16.

This KCF operated flight left the Hamad International Airport Doha at 9:35 am and reached Mangaluru international Airport at 16:10 pm on Thursday. 

The flight had over 174 NRIs, included pregnant women, patients in need of urgent medical treatment, senior citizens, and those who were stuck with expired visit visa and job loss. With the timely intervention Dr Arathi Krishna has helped a patient to make his approval from embassy, who had to leave for medical treatment on emergency basis.

Starting from the registration of travellers, KCF has provided all with the necessary documental, health-related information and each of them have been met by KCF representatives along with snacks and PPE kit to be worn during the journey as a precaution against the spread of the pandemic. 

Organization workers were constantly in touch with each of its passengers, supporting them for their safety and serve them during journey and stay at the hotels and this will continue until the quarantine is completed.

KCF, the proud organization of Kannadigas has been working in the public sphere, and this initiative of charter flight and their dedication on this have been praised by travellers.

On their successful charter, KCF thanks Dr Arathi Krishna, former vice-chairman of Karnataka State NRI Forum for her extensive support on acquiring relevant documental clearances. Sindhu B Rupesh, the deputy commissioner of Mangaluru, Dr Yathish Ullal, assistant commissioner of Mangaluru, Meena Nagaraj, the nodal officer, Bengaluru, are also praised for their timely approvals and permissions for this charter.

The untiring efforts, hard works by the workers and leaders of SSF, SYS and Karnataka Muslim Jama-ath have been appreciated and background supports by Moulana Shafi Sa-adi, the member of Karnataka state Waqf Board is also remembered by KCF Qatar.

The members of KCF Qatar have been tirelessly working behind this grand success, the chairman Abdul Raheem Saadi and general convener Muneer Magundi have thanked all its members, including Embassy officials and Indigo Airlines for all cooperation.