Outrage over Mumbai’s law and order after attack on Saif Ali Khan; celebrities demand action

Bengaluru, July 16: BJP MLA and former Minister Byrathi Basavaraj has been booked in connection with the murder of a realtor, in front of his mother, police said on Wednesday (July 16, 2025).

The assailants came in a car and murdered Shivaprakash alias Biklu Shivu, a rowdy sheeter, in Bharathi Nagar in the city on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) night. The former Minister has been booked along with others, based on a complaint filed by the mother of the deceased, police said.

Shivaprakash's mother, Vijayalakshmi, in her complaint, said that she saw eight to nine people assaulting her son with iron rods and machetes. When his friend tried to intervene, they hit him too with an iron rod.

"As I screamed, people from around began gathering. Those unknown individuals murdered my son and fled from the scene in a white Scorpio vehicle and a two-wheeler. I can identify them if I see them," Ms. Vijayalakshmi said in her complaint.

Top police officials, including DCP D. Devaraj and Joint Commissioner Ramesh Banoth, visited the spot and confirmed that Shivakumar had a long criminal record with 11 cases registered against him and a rowdy sheet opened in 2006.

The police registered a case against Mr. Basavaraj along with Jagadeesh, Kiran, Vimal and Anil. The former minister has been added as accused number 5 in the FIR, police said.

On February 11, Mr. Jagadeesh and Mr. Kiran encroached on Shivaprakash's property in Kitaknoor and evicted the two female security guards from there, Ms. Vijayalakshmi alleged.

The accused had been calling him on the phone and threatening her son, she charged.

Bogotá, July 16 Defying the United States threats, ministers from more than 30 nations have packed Bogotá’s San Carlos Palace to charge the Israeli regime with genocide over its October 2023-present brutal military assault against the Gaza Strip.

The dramatic display of international solidarity saw dozens of high-ranking officials from across the globe convene inside the stately palace on Tuesday, determined to hold the regime accountable for, what they unequivocally called, a “war of genocide.”

The two-day emergency summit, organized under the auspices of The Hague Group -- a coalition co-chaired by Colombia and South Africa -- had representatives, ranging from such countries as Algeria and Brazil to Pakistan and Spain, in attendance.

The participants described the drive as a coordinated effort to stop the Israeli atrocities.

Behind closed doors, ministers and envoys, meanwhile, engaged in intensive sessions aimed at drafting collective measures to pressure the regime -- steps expected to be unveiled by Wednesday’s closure.

“There is nothing to negotiate about,” insisted Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied territories, who addressed officials during private talks.

“Israel needs to withdraw from Gaza totally and unconditionally. Then it owes huge reparations to Palestinians for what it has done.”

‘History in the making’

Albanese did not mince words on stage either, telling the press that the Bogotá gathering might well “go down as the moment in history that states finally stood up to do the right thing.”

She called the event “the most significant political development of the last 20 months,” underscoring the unprecedented breadth of the coalition.

The alliance was set up last year with backing from Progressive International, an organization founded in May 2020 to unite, organize, and mobilize progressive forces around the world.

Soon after the onset of the convention, the US attacked the surge in multilateral momentum against the regime, its most important regional ally, which it has been providing with unprecedented political, military, and intelligence support towards further brutalizing Palestinians.

The State Department issued a tirade, accusing The Hague Group of trying to “weaponize international law as a tool to advance radical anti-Western agendas” and warning that the US would “aggressively defend our interests, our military, and our allies.”

Just last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio slapped sanctions on Albanese, denouncing, what he termed, her “illegitimate and shameful efforts” to push for International Criminal Court action against the Israeli regime. “Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” he fumed.

Inside the palace, however, the mood remained defiant.

Former US foreign affairs officer Annelle Sheline, who resigned earlier this year over Gaza, attended the summit to lend her support.

“These are sovereign states who have every right to uphold their obligations under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” she said. “This is not the weaponization of international law. This is the application of international law.”

Kozhikode, July 15: Last-minute efforts to halt the scheduled execution of an Indian nurse in Yemen on July 16 are underway, under the leadership of a Sufi scholar there, at the behest of influential Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, informed sources said here on Tuesday.

A meeting between representatives of Musliyar and Sufi leader Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz, and the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi -- the Yemeni national allegedly killed by nurse Nimisha Priya in 2017 -- is expected to be held at Dhamar on Tuesday, they said.

The development follows after the 94-year-old Musliyar, who is officially known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad and holds the title of Grand Mufti of India, held talks with religious authorities in Yemen.

The meeting with the family will take place on Tuesday at 10 am, Yemeni local time.

Kanthapuram's office said a close relative of the deceased Talal -- who is also the Chief Justice of the Hodeidah State Court and a member of the Yemeni Shura Council --has arrived in Dhamar, Talal's hometown, to take part in today's talks, following the advice of Sheikh Habib Umar.

"The fact that he is a follower of Sheikh Habib Umar's Sufi order and the son of another prominent Sufi leader offers great hope. Along with persuading the family, he is also expected to meet the Attorney General to initiate urgent efforts to postpone the execution scheduled for tomorrow," it said.

"We see the agreement of the family to hold talks with representatives of the Sufi spiritual leader as a positive signal towards our efforts to halt the scheduled execution for the time being," a source said.

Sources said Talal's murder is not just an emotional issue for the family, but also among the tribes and the residents of the Dhamar region.

This is why no one had been able to establish contact with the family until now. "It was only through Kanthapuram's intervention that communication with the family became possible for the first time," they said.

The family agreed to the talks following the advice of Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz.

"Today's discussion is focused on reaching a final decision regarding the acceptance of blood money. As efforts continue to convince the family, Kanthapuram has also requested the Yemeni authorities to temporarily defer the execution scheduled for July 16 --a request the Yemeni administration is expected to consider today," a source said.

Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Palakkad district in Kerala, is facing execution on July 16 for the murder of Mahdi, her Yemeni business partner.

She was sentenced to death in 2020, and her final appeal was rejected in 2023.

She is currently imprisoned in a jail in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

The Centre on Monday had informed the Supreme Court that the government could do "nothing much" in the case.

Attorney General R Venkataramani had informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that the government was doing "utmost possible".

"The Government of India is trying its best," Venkataramani said, "and has also engaged with some sheikhs who are very influential people there."