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Sushma Swaraj arrives in Saudi Arabia on 3-day visit

Agencies
February 7, 2018

Riyadh, Feb 6: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today arrived in Riyadh on her maiden visit to Saudi Arabia during which she will inaugurate the Janadriyah festival of the Gulf Kingdom, which is home to over three million Indians.

During the three-day visit, Ms Swaraj will meet with the Saudi leadership and discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

She will also participate at the inauguration of the prestigious National Heritage and Culture Festival 'Janadriyah', at which India is the guest of honour country.

The festival, organised by the National Guard, exhibits Saudi Arabia's rich tapestry of culture and heritage.

"Warm welcome reflecting our relationship! EAM @SushmaSwaraj received by Saudi officials and Indian Ambassador Ahmad Javed on her arrival at Riyadh airport. Saudi Arabia is India's valued strategic partner," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Ms Swaraj will inaugurate the Janadriyah festival on Wednesday.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh had earlier said that India's participation in the festival will be multi-faceted.

"We will have an Indian pavilion where we will project a number of Indian themes and projects. The pavilion will comprise glimpses of traditional and modern India," he said.

Saudi Arabia is home to more than 3 million Indian people and ties between the two countries are on an upswing in the last few years especially after the landmark visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Gulf Kingdom in April 2016.

Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest trade partner after China, the US and the UAE. The country is a major source of India's energy requirement as it accounts for almost one- fifth of India's crude oil requirement.

The volume of bilateral trade during 2016-17 was recorded at USD 25.079 billion, a slight decrease from the USD 26.71 billion in 2015-16.  

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Abu Safwan
 - 
Wednesday, 7 Feb 2018

WELCOME MAM..Please try to cancel the new family levy system.  Also inform the Indian School authorities not to increase the school fees for the childrens. Thank you very much

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News Network
January 30,2020

Jan 30: One positive case of novel coronavirus has been found in Kerala. The student was studying at Wuhan University in China. The patient is stable and is being closely monitored.

This is the first case of coronavirus that has been reported in India.

Until now, there have only been many suspected cases across the country. A total of eight patients, five of them in Mumbai, are under observation in Maharashtra for suspected coronavirus infection. Six patients were already under observation and two more people, who complained of cough and mild fever, symptoms similar to the coronavirus, were put under medical watch on Tuesday evening.

One suspected case each has been reported in Rajasthan and Chandigarh.

Novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes. However, the virus that has so far killed 170 people and affected 7,000 in China is a novel strain and not seen before.

It has emerged from a seafood and animal market in Wuhan city and is suspected to have spread to as far as the United States.

According to the World Health Organisation, the common symptoms of the novel coronavirus strain include respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 11: The move by rebel ruling Congress MLAs in Madhya Pradesh to trigger the crisis for the party's government in the state appears to have been in the making for at least close to a month as Karnataka BJP leaders were sounded about hosting them in Bengaluru in advance, sources said.

They also indicated that the 19 rebel MLAs would stay in the city for at least two weeks till an alternative government takes charge in Madhya Pradesh.

A senior Karnataka BJP leader, in charge of the Madhya Pradesh legislators' stay in Bengaluru, received a communication from the party's central leaders about the move nearly 15-20 days ago, the sources involved in the development said on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.

The leader had even gone to New Delhi in the third week of February to meet BJP's central leaders in this regard, they said.

In a massive setback for the Congress, its prominent youth leader Jyotiradtya Scindia quit the party and in a coordinated rebellion on Tuesday 21 MLAs loyal to him resigned in Madhya Pradesh, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.

As many as 19 Madhya Pradesh MLAs, including six ministers, said to be loyalists of Mr Scindia who appeared set to join BJP, are camping at a resort in Bengaluru. Two of them are women, the sources said.

The MLAs on Tuesday sent their resignation letters via e-mail to Raj Bhavan in Bhopal from Bengaluru.

According to the sources, eight legislators, including an independent, have been staying in the city for about a week now. Of them two - one from Congress and the other an independent MLA - had gone back.

The six were joined by 13 legislators, who landed in the city by a chartered flight on Monday, and all of them are put up in a villa.

The senior Karnataka BJP leader, also an MLA, is looking after their stay and related arrangements on the directions of the party high command, the sources said. Their stay here may be for a couple of weeks.

"There will be a no-confidence motion, and then there will be a trust vote of the new alternative government that will be formed. So they may have to stay here for some time. They may be moved out of their current location," they said.

The Madhya Pradesh legislature session is expected to begin on March 16.

The sources also said the six legislators staying in the city since last week were shifted a couple of times within the city.

Congress in Madhya Pradesh, under the leadership of Kamal Nath, had come to power in December 2018 by ousting the BJP by a narrow margin.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 6,2020

Bengaluru/Mangaluru, Aug 6: Battered by torrential rains, several parts of Karnataka are facing a flood-like situation for the third consecutive year, putting lives and property at risk. 

Several districts of the state's coastal, Malnad and north interior regions are receiving heavy rains and the showers are expected to continue, while there are reports of landslides in hilly areas of Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru districts.

With flood-like situation in several parts of the state, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who is currently undergoing treatment for COVID-19 infection at a private hospital here, has ordered immediate release of Rs 50 crore for emergency relief.

"In wake of heavy rains in several parts of the state, I have instructed the Chief Secretary to review the situation and issued instructions to DCs (Deputy Commissioners) to closely monitor the situation & take necessary measures. Also ordered immediate release of Rs 50 crores for emergency relief purposes," he tweeted last night.

A statement released by the CMO on Thursday said, Yediyurappa has directed the district in-charge Ministers to take precautionary measures in the wake of heavy rainfall across the state.

He instructed the ministers to remain in their constituencies and tour the damaged areas and also directed them to undertake relief distribution and other necessary measures.

"Rs 50 crore has already been released and if necessary more funds would be released. The ministers can take decisions regarding emergency works," he added.

Revenue Minister R Ashoka said he had spoken to Deputy Commissioners of all the districts and given them necessary instructions to respond immediately to the situation.

He has called for a meeting of the disaster management authority later today.

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he will be holding a meeting with the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) regarding relief and rescue measures to be taken.

Parts of districts in coastal and Malnad regions are currently under red alert and rains are likely to continue there.

Officials said, "... depending on the situation we will downgrade the alerts, it (rains) is likely to reduce during the next couple of days...wind speed is also high some parts, it may also reduce."

In Kodagu district along with widespread rains, landslides have also occurred.

There have been landslides at Brahmagiri, near Talacauvery, the origin of river Cauvery.

"At least four to five people- including the Talacauvery temple priest and family are currently missing... rescue teams have reached the spot," officials said, adding that sensing danger the priest had been asked to vacate the house earlier but he did not.

This is the third consecutive year that Kodagu is facing floods and landslides.

Several parts of north Karnataka, especially the border district of Belagavi are also facing flood situation as inflow has increased in Krishna river and its tributaries due to heavy rains in neighboring Maharashtra and also in the district.

With inflow increasing in Tungabhadra river, there is flood like situation in parts of Ballari district also.

There is a similar situation in Uttara Kannada district that is battered by rains and heavy winds.

The swollen Gangavali river has caused flood like situation in parts of the district.

Due to continuous rains in coastal and Malnad region several rivers including Netravati are swollen and gates of the dams have been opened.

There are also reports of heavy rains and wind causing destruction to crops in parts of Dharwad and Haveri among other districts.

The Karnataka government had recently said it has identified 1,989 villages and over 51 lakh people in 19 districts as flood prone.

As a temporary arrangement for those who will be affected by floods, as many as 1,747 relief centres have been identified- they are schools, anganwadi centres, community centres among others, Minister Ashoka had said recently.

In August 2019, Karnataka witnessed one of its worst natural calamities when heavy floods affected 103 taluks in 22 districts, killing more than 80 people and displacing nearly seven lakh people.

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