Israeli jets bomb Gaza after rocket barrage from strip amid fallout over Arab deals

News Network
September 16, 2020

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Palestinian resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip have traded strikes with the Israeli military as the signing of contentious normalization treaties between Tel Aviv and two Arab regimes provokes another flare-up in the blockaded territory.

Palestinian Arabic-language Ma’an news agency, citing local sources, reported that Israeli fighter jets and helicopters bombed a training base run by the Hamas resistance movement northwest of Beit Lahiya town early on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses confirmed that huge explosions were heard in the northern Gaza Strip before the site caught fire.

The sources noted that Israeli warplanes carried out four air raids against the site, while three others were launched by choppers.

Later, Israeli jets targeted another Hamas-run site in an area located between Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip and Khan Yunis in the southern sector of the Palestinian enclave.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in either attack.

The raids came shortly after Palestinian resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of rockets into the Israeli-occupied territories.

Reacting to the news of the fresh flareup, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the overnight rocket fire was meant to undermine Israel's deals with Arab states.

"They want to prevent peace, they won't. We will hit everyone who tries to harm us, and we will extend a hand of peace to all who reach out to us to make peace," Netanyahu said in a statement

‘A message of resistance’

Following the Israeli warplanes’ latest bombardment of the enclave, Hamas issued a warning to the Tel Aviv regime.

"The occupation (Israel) will pay the price for any aggression against our people or resistance sites and the response will be direct," said the resistance group in a statement.

"We will increase and expand our response to the extent that the occupation persists in its aggression," Hamas added on Wednesday.

The Palestinian rockets triggered sirens in the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod, potentially sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis rushing to bomb shelters just as Netanyahu was signing agreements at the White House with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani.

Two people were reportedly injured and several more treated for shock after a rocket slammed into a street in Ashdod, according to Israeli media.

Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, view the US-brokered deals as a betrayal of their cause.

Mohammad al-Hindi, a senior official with the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad resistance movement, said “the Gaza rockets are a message that this great vanity of the United States and Israel will be shattered by the Palestinians and that the final word is for those in the right.”

Hamas also said in a statement that the Palestinian nation “insists on continuing its struggle until it secures the return of all of its rights.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also protested the normalization deals with Israel, stating they will not foster peace in the Middle East as long as the United States and the Israeli regime do not recognize the rights of the Palestinian nation to establish an independent and sovereign state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since June 2007, after Hamas, which has vowed to resist Israeli occupation, won the elections and rose to power in the enclave.

Since imposing the siege, Israel has also waged three wholesale wars against Gaza, killing and wounding thousands of Palestinians in each.

The crippling blockade has caused a sharp decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the strip.

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News Network
November 22,2025

The Karnataka government has announced a 50% rebate on pending traffic and transport fines. The discount is available from November 21 to December 12.

The rebate applies to all traffic e-challans and violation cases booked by the RTO between 1991–92 and 2019–20. Officials clarified that the offer is not applicable to pending tax dues and is restricted only to traffic-violation fines.

Across Karnataka, more than 4 lakh RTO cases remain pending, including those involving transport vehicles. While thousands of vehicle owners have already cleared their dues, the department expects to generate substantial revenue through this limited-period rebate.

How to Pay and Avail the Discount

There are three ways to check and pay your pending fines:

1. Through Mobile Apps
Available on both Play Store and App Store:
•    Karnataka State Police (KSP) app
•    KarnatakaOne app
•    ASTraM app

Steps:
•    Enter your vehicle number in any of the above apps
•    Verify the photo/details of your vehicle
•    Pay the fine with the 50% discount applied

2. Visit a Traffic Police Station

You can pay your pending fine at any nearby traffic police station.

3. Visit the Traffic Management Centre (TMC)

•    Location: First Floor, Infantry Road, near Indian Express, Bengaluru

Transport Commissioner Yogeesh A M said, “We don't issue e-challans, so there's no online payment system.”

The department estimates ₹52 crore in pending RTO fines up to March 2020. “With the 50% rebate, we expect to collect around ₹25 crore if all dues are cleared,” he added.

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News Network
December 5,2025

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New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said. 

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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News Network
December 2,2025

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Bengaluru: 'Nati koli saaru' (country chicken curry) considered one of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s favourites along with steaming hot idlis was on the breakfast menu at Deputy CM D K Shivakumar’s residence on Tuesday, according to official sources.

The spread also included 'nati koli' fry, vada and pongal, among other items, they said.

In an apparent show of unity, Siddaramaiah visited Shivakumar’s residence for breakfast, just days after the two leaders shared a meal amid a simmering power tussle in the state Congress.

Siddaramaiah drove to the Deputy CM’s residence in Sadashivanagar, where he was received by Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh, who is a former Congress MP.

Suresh and Kunigal MLA H D Ranganath, a relative of Shivakumar, joined them for breakfast, which featured a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

Speaking to reporters later, Siddaramaiah said Shivakumar had invited him during his visit to the CM’s residence for breakfast on Saturday.

Asked about the difference between the two meals, the chief minister said, "At his (Shivakumar’s) house it was non-veg, while at my house it was veg. He is a vegetarian, I am a non-vegetarian. I had not prepared non-veg. I told DK to get chicken from the village as you won’t get the original in Bengaluru."

Shivakumar said he had initially invited Siddaramaiah to his residence, but the CM had suggested visiting his place first and reciprocating later. "It was a vegetarian breakfast at the CM’s house on Saturday," he noted.

"Today, I invited him (the CM) to my house. He enjoyed the breakfast, which had his Mysuru taste," Shivakumar added. At this point, Siddaramaiah remarked that Shivakumar’s wife is also from Mysuru.

Saturday’s breakfast at Siddaramaiah’s official residence, held as part of efforts by the Congress high command to ease tensions in the leadership dispute between the two, reportedly included idlis and sambar, according to official sources.

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