27 Chinese warplanes enter Taiwan's air defence zone after Nancy Pelosi’s departure

Mangaluru, Sept 8: BJP corporator Sudheer Shetty Kannur, who represents the Kodialbail ward of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), has been elected mayor for 24th term at an election held on Friday.

With the post of mayor for 24th term in MCC was reserved for the general category, the BJP with majority in the council selected Shetty. The BJP had bagged 44 seats in the election to MCC council held in 2019. While the Congress has a strength of 14 corporators, SDPI has two elected members in the council.

Naveen D'Souza of the Congress contested against Shetty for the mayor's post.

The BJP candidate Shetty bagged 47 votes, (including three votes of MLAs D Vedavyas Kamath, Dr Y Bharath Shetty and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel). SDPI candidates remained neutral in the election.

The election of deputy mayor was unanimous as the post was reserved for SC Women category. BJP corporator from Panambur - Bengre ward Sunitha, who was the lone contestant for the post, has been elected as deputy mayor unanimously. Neither the Congress, nor the SDPI have SC women candidates to contest for the post.

While BJP corporators Divakar Pandeshwar and Premanand Shetty were the mayors in the first and second years, respectively, Jayanand Achan was elected in the third year. Sudheer Shetty will be the mayor of Mangaluru till September 7, 2024.
 

Bengaluru, Sept 14: The Karnataka police have registered an FIR against anchor Sudhir Chaudhary for “conspiring to disrupt communal harmony” in a show hosted by him on the Aaj Tak news channel during which he talked about the state government’s commercial vehicle subsidy scheme.

Chaudhary was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for promoting enmity between groups by the Sheshadripuram police in Bengaluru, based on a complaint filed by an official of the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation.

In the show, Chaudhary had allegedly claimed subsidies were being provided only for minorities in Karnataka and not for Hindus, the FIR said. “The show claimed that the scheme meted injustice to poor Hindus in the state” and “conspired to disturb communal harmony in the state,” according to the FIR.

While Chaudhary is accused number one in the case, the chief editor and the organiser of Aaj Tak are accused number two and three respectively.

After the show was aired on the channel on September 11, the Karnataka government had threatened legal action against the anchor for deliberately spreading misinformation on government schemes. The schemes offered subsidies for members of the minority community to buy commercial vehicles.

An advertisement published in a newspaper about the scheme had also triggered a row as BJP MPs alleged that the scheme highlighted ‘minority appeasement’ under Congress rule.

On its part, the government maintained the scheme has been in existence for several years under different development corporations meant for the welfare of various communities. Similar schemes existed for other groups too, the government said, adding that the subsidy scheme for minorities existed even under the Bharatiya Janata Party rule.

Karnataka IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge had posted on X after the show was aired, saying it was “deliberate & malicious” and that the government would take necessary action.

The decision to file an FIR against the anchor was criticised by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, who accused the Karnataka government of going on a “witch-hunt” against the anchor for asking legitimate questions about the implementation of a government scheme.

“This state led witch-hunt is a direct assault on the freedom of press. Whether it’s political opponents or independent media that asks uncomfortable questions, the Congress Govt is going after everyone by abusing the law,” Surya said in a post on X.

United Nations, Sept 20: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the issue of Kashmir during his address to world leaders at the high-level 78th session of the UN General Assembly session.

"Another development that will pave the way for regional peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia will be the establishment of a just and lasting peace in Kashmir through dialogue and cooperation between India and Pakistan,” Erdogan said in his address to the General Debate Tuesday.

"As Turkiye, we will continue to support the steps to be taken in this direction,” he said.

His comment comes weeks after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi during which both the leaders discussed strengthening trade and infrastructure relations.

Erdogan said it was a matter of pride that India was playing a role at the United Nations Security Council. He said he favoured making five permanent and 15 'temporary' members as permanent members of the UN Security Council.

"Those 20 (5+15) should be permanent members of the UNSC in rotation. But as you know, the world is bigger than five. When we say the world is larger than five, what we mean is that it's not only about the US, UK, France, China and Russia," he said.

In recent years, the Turkish leader has referred to the issue of Kashmir in his address to world leaders at the high-level UN General Assembly session.

Last year, Erdogan raked up the issue of Kashmir during his address to world leaders at the high-level UN General Assembly session here.

“India and Pakistan, after having established their sovereignty and independence 75 years ago, they still haven't established peace and solidarity between one another. This is much unfortunate. We hope and pray that a fair and permanent peace and prosperity will be established in Kashmir,” Erdogan had said.

In 2020, Erdogan in his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate had made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir. India had at that time termed it as “completely unacceptable”, saying Turkey should learn to respect the sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply.