VTU Mangaluru division inter-collegiate football tourney gets underway at PACE

Mangaluru, Jun 8: Trading licenses granted to commercial establishments in the coastal city will be revoked if 60 percent of their signages are not in Kannada, warned the commissioner of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC).

"According to the language policy of the government, all commercial complexes, industries, business houses, organizations, trusts, counseling centers, hospitals, laboratories, entertainment centers, and hotels are required to display 60% of Kannada language on their name boards as a mandatory requirement," stated MCC commissioner C.L. Anand in a statement released on Friday.

He noted that the civic body has received complaints regarding some entrepreneurs violating the rules. "In the forthcoming days, it will be mandatory to prominently display Kannada language at the topmost position on the name boards of all industries and shopping complexes. Failure to comply will result in the cancellation of the trade license by the MCC, without prior notice," he added.

After nearly two months of high-pitch campaigning and a hectic poll schedule of 7 phases, exit polls numbers have started coming in. According to five pollsters so far, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government is coming back to power with a landslide victory while the Opposition’s I.N.D.I.A. bloc managing somewhere between 125 and 150. 

Meanwhile, in a U-turn, Congress-led I.N.D.I.A. bloc has decided to participate in exit poll debates. Track all the latest updates on exit polls results as we provide you with minute-by-minute updates on the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls predicted by exit polls.

While the numbers vary, five exit polls are predicting that the INDIA bloc will be left far behind. None, though, have yet put the NDA across its dream score of 400 of 543 Lok Sabha seats. 

Exit Polls do not always get it right.

An aggregate of five exit polls indicates that the NDA will get 365 seats, the INDIA bloc will get 142 seats.

The maximum number of seats predicted for the NDA was 362-392, in the exit poll by Jan ki Baat. It predicts the Opposition bloc will get 141-161 seats.

It is followed by India News-D Dynamics, which is predicting that the NDA will get 371 seats and INDIA 125 seats.

The lowest score for the NDA comes from Republic TV-P MARQ – 359, and a corresponding higher score for the INDIA bloc, 154.

Iran’s interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has called for an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, and end the Israeli genocide. 

“During a telephone conversation with Ahmed Attaf, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Algeria, I talked about the latest developments in the Gaza war, the Zionist regime’s crimes in Gaza and Rafah, as well as mutual cooperation between Iran and Algeria,"  Bagheri Kani wrote in a post published on the social media platform X on Friday.

“While thanking the Algerian President [Abdelmadjid Tebboune], Minister of Foreign Affairs and other Algerian officials for their kind messages over the martyrdom of [late Iranian President] Ayatollah [Ebrahim] Raeisi and [late Foreign Minister Hossein] Amir-Abdollahian, I supported the efforts and initiatives of the Algerian government at the behest of Muslim countries in presenting a draft resolution to stop the Zionist regime’s assaults,” he added.

Bagheri Kani also underlined the need for an urgent and joint action by Muslim states to stop Israeli crimes against Palestinians, and step up delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Accordingly, I called for an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the proposal was welcomed,” he said. 

Israel launched its onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after Palestinian fighters launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the regime on October 7.

Nearly 36,300 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.