Mangaluru Chalo: Cops scuttle bike rally as BJP defies ban

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.

Mangaluru, May 24: A youth committed suicide by jumping into River Netravati from the old bridge at Panemangaluru on the outskirts of the city. 

The deceased has been identified as Nishant, son of Chandrahasa Moolya, a resident of Kolakeeru, near Kalladka in Bantwal taluk. 

When Nishant jumped to river, a few Muslim youths - identified as Shameer Goodinabali, Mohammad, Tauseef, Mukhtar, Zahid and Arif - also jumped to river in an apparent bid to rescue him. 

Though they managed to take an unconscious Nishant out of the water, he breathed his last without responding to any treatment. Jurisdictional Bantwal town police visited the spot later.

Meanwhile, a few locals captured the video of Muslim youths' attempt to rescue a Hindu youth on Eid al-Fitr amidst covid-19 lockdown. The video went viral within hours. 

Social media platforms including WhatsApp and Facebook flooded with messages appreciating the courage of Muslim men, who endangered their lives to save a Hindu youth on Eid day.

Beijing, Feb 18: Police in China have arrested a prominent activist who had been a fugitive for weeks and criticised President Xi Jinping's handling of the coronavirus epidemic while in hiding, a rights group said Tuesday.

Anti-corruption activist Xu Zhiyong was arrested on Saturday after being on the run since December, according to Amnesty International.

China's ruling Communist Party has severely curtailed civil liberties since Xi took power in 2012, rounding up rights lawyers, labour activists and even Marxist students.

The death this month of a whistleblowing doctor who was reprimanded by police for raising the alarm about the deadly new virus before dying of it himself triggered rare calls for political reform and freedom of speech.

The "Chinese government's battle against the coronavirus has in no way diverted it from its ongoing general campaign to crush all dissenting voices," said Patrick Poon, China researcher at Amnesty International, in an emailed statement.

Another source, who spoke to news agency on the condition of anonymity, said Xu had been arrested in the southern city of Guangzhou.

Guangzhou police did not respond to requests for comment.

Xu went into hiding after authorities broke up a December gathering of intellectuals discussing political reform in the eastern coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian province, prior to the coronavirus crisis.

Over a dozen lawyers and activists were detained or disappeared after the Xiamen gathering, according to rights groups -- and Xu's detention appears linked to his presence at the meeting, explained Poon.

But while on the run, Xu continued to post information on Twitter about rights issues.

On February 4 Xu released an article calling on Xi to step down and criticised his leadership across a range of issues including the US-China trade war, Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests and the coronavirus epidemic, which has now killed nearly 1,900 people.

"Medical supplies are tight, hospitals are filled with patients, and a large number of infected people have no way to be diagnosed," he wrote. "It's a mess."

"The coronavirus outbreak shows just how important values like freedom of expression and transparency are -- the exact values that Xu has long advocated," Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, told news agency.

But the disappearance of Xu illustrates how the Chinese state "persists in its old ways" by "silencing its critics", she said.

Xu -- who founded a movement calling for greater transparency among high-ranking officials -- previously served a four-year prison sentence from 2013 to 2017 for organising an "illegal gathering".

"That he was a fugitive for so many days while continuing to speak out, that in itself was... a kind of challenge to (Chinese authorities)," said Hua Ze, a long-time friend of Xu who told AFP she lost contact with the Chinese activist on Saturday morning.