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Udupi: Karnataka Kreedakoota-2025, a sports event organised by the Youth Empowerment and Sports Department, Karnataka Olympic Association, and the District Administration, will be held in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts from January 17 to January 23.

The event will feature 1,373 athletes participating in a variety of sports, including kayaking, canoeing, archery, cycling, wrestling, boxing, hockey, lawn tennis, table tennis, Kabaddi, Judo, and athletics.

Deputy Commissioner Vidya Kumari K addressed a press conference on Monday, providing details about the events in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.

According to her, while volleyball, basketball, and swimming competitions will take place in Dakshina Kannada, events like kayaking and canoeing will be held in Brahmavara’s Swarna River, and archery will take place at the MJC Ground in Manipal.

Marena Sports Complex in Manipal will host lawn tennis and table tennis matches, she added.

The opening ceremony will take place on January 17 in Mangaluru and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be inaugurating the event.

The closing ceremony will be held in Udupi on January 23, with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and Home Minister G Parameshwar attending.

The district administration, in collaboration with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, has made provisions for accommodation and food for the participants, said the DC.

She also said the synthetic track at the Mahatma Gandhi District Stadium in Ajjarakad is undergoing repair work after its 10-year durability period ended in 2023, to provide athletes better infrastructure.

Despite the announcement of a ceasefire deal, Israel has intensified its airstrikes and artillery shelling on Gaza, especially its residential buildings, killing more than 100 Palestinians.

Gaza’s civil defense said on Friday at least 101 Palestinians, including 27 children and 31 women, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza since the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.

The attacks have also left more than 264 injured, according to the rescue agency.

Most of the killings came in Gaza City.

The report comes as Israeli attacks have shown no sign of slowing on the ground, with dozens of strikes reported on Friday.

In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, nine members of a Palestinian journalist’s family, including women and children, were killed.

Two more Palestinians were killed in a separate Israel airstrike in the Jabalia al-Balad area, in the north of Gaza. 

Jabalia has come under fierce attack since the Gaza ceasefire announcement this week. On Thursday, at least 20 were killed in one attack in the area.

At least five others were also killed in another attack that targeted a home, east of Khan Younis City, in Southern Gaza on Friday.

To the west of Khan Younis, three people were killed in attacks on tents housing displaced people.

Another tent was targeted in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, killing one person.

That's while Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene his cabinet later on Friday to approve the long-awaited ceasefire.

Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,788 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 110,453 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The ceasefire, announced on Wednesday, consists of three phases and would come into effect on Sunday over 42 days.

The truce deal stipulates that a large-scale prisoner exchange will occur, including the release of 1,000 prisoners from Gaza and hundreds of detainees serving lengthy sentences.

The first stage involves the release of 33 captives, including "children, women, female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick," as well as a gradual, partial withdrawal of invading Israeli units.

Udupi: A resident of Karkala in Udupi district has accused five individuals of defrauding him of nearly Rs 2 crore under the guise of business partnerships.

Dawood Hakim, a resident of Ennehole in Marne village, Karkala, has filed a complaint stating that he operated a mobile sales and service business on Karkala Market Road for 15 years. He had known the accused for over two decades and trusted them implicitly.

According to Dawood, the accused convinced him to invest in multiple business ventures, including land dealings and a travel business, promising substantial returns and partnership benefits. Believing their assurances, Dawood reportedly handed over cash, gold, and a vehicle.

However, the promised profits never materialized, and the accused allegedly failed to return the money or assets. Dawood claims this deception has caused severe financial distress to him and his family, amounting to a loss of around Rs 2 crore.

A case has been registered at the CEN police station, and investigations are underway.