Desperate to return home, Indian expat walked 1,000 km to Dubai court

Bengaluru, Jun 26: Karnataka recorded 445 new Covid cases, majority of whom were contacts of earlier positive cases, breaching the 11,000 mark to settle at 11,005, an official said on Friday.

"New cases reported from Thursday 5 p.m. to Friday 5 p.m., 445," said a health official on Friday.

In the past 24 hours, 10 patients succumbed to the virus in Karnataka, three in Bengaluru Urban and one each in Kolar, Dharwad, Shivamogga, Bagalkote, Bidar, Kalaburagi and Ballari.

Like everyday, contacts of earlier cases outnumbered domestic returnees in the number of infections, constituting 39 per cent.

Positive cases with domestic travel history numbered 65, a mere 15 per cent and majority to Maharashtra.

There were also 21 cases with international travel history to countries like Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

On Friday, cases spiked in Bengaluru Urban, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Raichur, Gadag, Chamarajanagar, Udupi, Yadgir, Mandya, Uttara Kannada, Bagalkote, Shivamogga, Kolar and Mysuru.

Among the new cases, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 144, followed by Ballari (47), Kalaburagi (42), Koppal (36), Dakshina Kannada (33), Dharwad (30), Raichur (14), Gadag (12), Chamarajanagar (11), Udupi (9), Yadgir (7), Mandya, Uttara Kannada, Bagalkote, Shivamogga and Kolar (6 each).

Mysuru (5), Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu (4 each), Hassan and Bengaluru Rural (3 each), Vijayapura, Tumkur and Haveri (2 each) and Bidar, Belagavi, Davangere, Ramanagara and Chitradurga (1 each).

As many 144 patients are suffering from Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and 19 from Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

In all, 5.68 lakh samples have been tested so far, of which 5.41 lakh tested negative.

Meanwhile, 178 patients are admitted in the ICU.

Of the total 180 deaths, Bengaluru Urban has accounted for 81, followed by Bidar (16), Kalaburagi (15), Ballari (9) and Dakshina Kannada (8), among others.

Jan 14: A day after it moved the Supreme Court against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Kerala government on Tuesday said it would continue its fight against the legislation as it "destroys" the secularism and democracy in the country.

The CPI(M)-led government had on Monday moved the apex court challenging the CAA and sought to declare it as 'ultra vires' of the Constitution. State Industries Minister E P Jayarajan told reporters here that the state has moved the apex court and will explore all options to fight the Act.

"The state government will to go to any extent and continue its fight against CAA. This Act destroys democracy in the country. This will only help in implementing the RSS agenda, to drive the nation through a fascist regime, and destroying the secularism and democracy in the country. The RSS and the Sangh Parivar cannot implement this law just by using muscle power," Jayarajan said.

Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran tweeted that the state became the first in the country to approach the top court against the Act. "Kerala government files lawsuit against the unconstitutional CAA. Kerala becomes the first state in the country to go to the Supreme Court against CAA.

"Kerala leads the way," he said in the tweet. In a suit filed in the apex court, the Kerala government has sought to declare that the CAA 2019 was "violative" of Article 14 (Equality before law), 21 (Protection of life and personal liberty) and 25 (Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion) of the Constitution.

It also claimed that the law was violative of the basic principle of secularism enshrined in it. The state Assembly had on December 31, 2019, passed a unanimous resolution against the CAA and became the first state to do it.

Mangaluru, Jan 20: A suspicious unattended laptop bag with the suspicion of containing “something harmful” was found abandoned at the Mangaluru International Airport on Monday.

The bag was found kept in the rest area meant for the passengers outside the airport. According to reports, two men came in auto and left the bag near the ticket counter, which is near the VIP vehicles parking area.

The bag, which was lying unattended near the entrance of the airport was removed from the spot by the airport security personnel at 8.45 am.

Bomb detection squad personnel has rushed to the spot and shifted the bag to a safe zone, said Mangaluru Commissioner of Police P S Harsha.