Malayalam actor Mamukkoya, who acted in ‘Byari’, dies in hospital after cardiac arrest

Gaza City, Sept 20: Israeli occupation forces have killed three Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank, and another Palestinian in a separate incident in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Palestinian health officials said the West Bank assault took place on Tuesday in the Jenin refugee camp, with some 20 others also injured.

The officials did not identify the martyred Palestinians.

The 25-year-old Palestinian man killed in Gaza was identified as Yousef Salem Radwan.

He was shot dead by Israeli forces at the border fence east of Khan Yunis, in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The victim was shot in the head. At least nine others were injured, one of them critically.

Separately, two others were injured from live bullets east of Jabalya in the north of Gaza and many others suffered from suffocation after inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli soldiers.

Protests at the Gaza border have been taking place for several days against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails and the repeated desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Israeli settlers.

This came as Israeli forces brutally assaulted Muslim worshipers at one of the main entrances to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds.

The assault took place as the occupation soldiers beat up three worshipers, including an elderly man and an elderly woman, near Bab as-Silsila (the Chain Gate) on Sunday morning.

Earlier in the day, Israeli occupation troops intensified their presence around the al-Aqsa Mosque complex, restricting the access of Muslim worshipers to the sacred site and preventing the entry of Palestinian citizens.

They also allowed scores of Israeli settlers to enter the compound in separate groups.

The Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department, which is in charge of al-Aqsa Mosque affairs, said in a statement that Israeli forces had permitted the provocative settler incursion.

The regime soldiers also assaulted Muslim worshipers and tried to forcibly evacuate them from the al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard, it noted.

Israeli settler incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque and violence against Palestinians have been on the rise since the far-right extremist cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office last December.

This is while only Muslims are allowed to pray in the al-Aqsa Mosque complex under a status quo arrangement originally reached more than a century ago. Non-Muslim visitors are allowed visits at certain times and only to certain areas.

Mohammad Hamadeh, the spokesman for Hamas in occupied al-Quds, recently emphasized that the break-ins into the al-Aqsa are a continuation of the occupiers’ acts of aggression.

He also stressed that the Palestinian resistance would go on until the decline and elimination of the usurping regime.

A warning that Mallikarjun Kharge issued to the Congress leaders and ranks on Sunday underlines the gravity of the crisis: “If you don’t work hard, democracy will perish, constitutional rule will be over.”

While Kharge was exhorting the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) to gear up for the battles ahead, Rahul Gandhi explained how to go about it: “Avoid irrelevant issues, don’t fall into the BJP’s trap. Listen to the voice of the people and ensure these voices are crystallised into policies and guarantees. That’s how the Congress system is designed.”

The Congress strategy will be evolved on these critical counsels. The election strategy for five states was discussed at the extended CWC meeting on the second day. The party issued a statement after the meeting, exuding confidence about victory in all the states. Kharge asked the workers to ensure outreach to voters aged between 18 and 25 and explain to them the ideology and history of the Congress.

Later, addressing a massive public rally in Hyderabad, the Congress launched six guarantees, telling the voters to trust the party that fulfilled its commitment to create the state of Telangana.

Sonia Gandhi, who was instrumental in creating Telangana, was asked to launch the guarantees. Rahul and Kharge entreated the voters to judge the party on its track record, reminding them how all the guarantees were fulfilled within the first three months in the neighbouring Karnataka.

The guarantees for Telangana are: Rs 2,500 for every woman per month, free bus travel for women across the state, gas cylinder for Rs 500, Rs 5 lakh for every homeless person for construction of a house, Rs 4,000 per month for senior citizens, Rs 10 lakh health insurance for the citizens, Rs 15,000 per acre for farmers every year and Rs 12,000 for agriculture workers.

Rahul spent most of his time at the public rally on trying to convince the people that the BJP, K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s BRS and Asaduddiun Owaisi’s AIMIM have a partnership and work as a team. He recalled how the BRS helped the Narendra Modi government in Parliament and outside on every critical occasion over the last nine years. He said the ED-CBI and income tax, which have been targeting all Opposition leaders, kept aloof even as thousands of crores were looted in Telangana.

He said the new state was not created to empower the KCR family, and his government must be ousted to empower the poor, farmers, workers, women and youth. He accused Owaisi of disturbing the Congress in all states to help the BJP. Amidst loud cheers, he declared: “Nobody can save the KCR government now, not even Modi.”

Kharge also concentrated on explaining to the people how the Congress track record inspires confidence, recalling the nation-building process in the initial decades after Independence and recent schemes like the MGNREGA and the Food Security Act. He said the politics of Modi and KCR rests on lies — both these leaders make false promises to mislead the voters. He said KCR pushed a surplus-budget state into financial bankruptcy.

Bengaluru, Sept 13: Former Karnataka Chief Ministers B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP and H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) -- will not be attending the 'special emergency meeting' called by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday to discuss the issue of releasing Cauvery river water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu. 

The meeting was convened at short notice following the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) on Tuesday recommending that Karnataka release 5,000 cusecs of water every day for the next 15 days to Tamil Nadu.

Bommai and Kumaraswamy said they are preoccupied with prior commitments but made their stand clear on the issue.

The Chief Minister's office said late on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, ministers of the Cauvery basin region, former chief ministers of all parties, senior ministers of the state cabinet, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members were invited to participate in the emergency meeting.

While Yediyurappa is travelling to attend the BJP central election committee meeting in the national capital, Bommai too said, he will not be able to participate in the meeting as he is visiting his home constituency of Shiggavi in Haveri district to take part in an event.

'The state government invited late last night for a meeting to discuss the Cauvery dispute. However, I am not able to attend the meeting called by the government, as I have to participate in the pre-scheduled event in my constituency,' Bommai said on 'X'.

'Our stand on the Cauvery issue is clear. The state government should not release water to Tamil Nadu for any reason. The state government should make the Supreme Court and the CWMA (Cauvery Water Management Authority) understand the ground situation in the state,' he added.

Kumaraswamy too said he will not be able to attend the meeting as he has to attend a pre-scheduled event in Hassan.

Questioning the recommendation or direction to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu, he urged the state government to reject it.

Terming CWRC's recommendation as 'unjust', he said because of water scarcity in the Cauvery basin area, Karnataka government asked farmers not to cultivate crops; there will also be shortage of drinking water in the days to come.

Further, hitting out at the state government for releasing water to TN all these days, despite Karnataka facing scarcity, Kumaraswamy said, "It doesn't have the basic understanding or guts or courage to protect the interest of the state...they don't have commitment towards the people. What will they do for drinking water in the days to come, from where will they provide it to the people of Bengaluru?" Also, pointing out that there is no distress formula on water sharing till now, he expressed his displeasure about Cauvery bodies, and alleged that people of Karnataka are repeatedly being subject to oppression.

Following the CWRC's recommendation, Siddaramaiah on Tuesday held an emergency meeting regarding the next steps to be taken. Shivakumar, several senior ministers and officials including Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, and Chief Minister's Legal Advisor A S Ponnanna participated in the meeting.

Shivakumar made it clear that Karnataka is in no position to release Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, as it doesn't have enough water storage, due to lack of adequate rainfall in the river basin region.

He had said that the matter is next going to come before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), in a couple of days, and Karnataka will vehemently put forward its stand before it.