Two cars washed away in Chikkamagaluru floods; 50-yr-old man dies, two rescued

Bengaluru: Karnataka has declared a holiday for state government offices, schools and colleges on Wednesday, December 11, in the wake of a state funeral for former chief minister S M Krishna, who passed away in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The last rites of Krishna, 92, will be held at his native village of Somanahalli in Mandya's Maddur taluk.

A government order stated that the holiday would apply to private aided educational institutions too.

Besides, the government has declared three days of mourning (December 10-12), during which no public entertainment programmes would take place, while the national flag would fly at half-mast.

S M Krishna passed away at his residence on December 10, 2024. The 92-year-old veteran politician was ailing for quite some time, a family source said.

A charismatic leader with a modern outlook, he not only laid a strong foundation for the growth of IT and BT industries in Karnataka but also managed to get them onboard with the government to build “Brand Bengaluru” at the international level.

He held several prominent positions throughout his career as External Affairs Minister, Maharashtra Governor, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Minister in the Karnataka government.

Although known for his tech savviness, flamboyancy, style and the Western outlook, the Congressman-turned-BJP senior leader was a hardcore Bengalorean who loved the city’s trees and flowers. SMK also had a love for tennis. Even when he was Chief Minister, he would visit the tennis court to play the game two to three times a week. 

Mangaluru, Dec 16: A tragic incident unfolded at Someshwara beach on Monday when a woman, participating in the Pinda Pradhana ritual for her late brother-in-law, lost her life after drowning.

The deceased, Usha (72), was the wife of the late Jagadish Bhandary from Derebail. She had traveled to Someshwara with her relatives to perform the ritual for her brother-in-law, Karunakar Bhandary, who had passed away recently.

After completing the ceremony, Usha and her relatives went for a sea bath as part of the rites. Tragically, Usha slipped and was swept away by the strong waves. Though her relatives cried out for help, locals who rushed into the sea could only retrieve her lifeless body. She was declared dead when brought to shore.

Usha had retired after a 40-year career as an assistant secretary at the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA). She is survived by her daughter.

The body has been sent to K S Hegde Hospital in Deralakatte for postmortem, and a case has been registered at the Ullal police station.

The Israeli regime has announced the occupation of some 6,000 acres of Palestinian territories in the West Bank as part of the illegal entity’s land grab policy, marking the largest annexation by the Tel Aviv regime in decades.

Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich was cited by the regime’s Channel 14 on Friday as declaring the confiscation of 24,000 dunums (5930.5 acres) of the occupied West Bank and classifying them as what he claimed to be “state lands.”

Stressing that the decision covers nearly half of the land confiscated as “state lands” since the Oslo Accords in 1993, the broadcaster said the announcement is a dramatic step that is expected to affect regional planning and change the face of the region.

“At the right time, today we completed a complex process to announce 24,000 dunums of new state lands in the West Bank,” Smotrich said.

“This process creates a settlement sequence, builds land reserves for Israel to develop settlements, infrastructure and roads, and guarantees that we will continue to strengthen the settlements, and we are here to stay,” he added.

In a post on X, the Israeli finance minister also wrote, “More than 23,000 dunams of land for the benefit of the settlement in Yosh. We determine facts on the ground and thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state!”

According to Channel 14, the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, east of occupied al-Quds, would be expanded by approximately 2,600 dunums (642 acres) to the south to create a settlement chain linked to the illegal settlement of Kedar.

Other illegal settlements such as Migdal Oz and Susya in the southern West Bank and Yafit in the Jordan Valley will also be expanded.

The Israeli channel also quoted Smotrich as claiming that the decision was a “historic achievement that contributes to strengthening settlement activity and expanding land designated for infrastructure and settlement projects.”

Last month, the far-right minister claimed that next year would see the application of “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds, with international law viewing both as “occupied territories” and considering all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion in July and declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and al-Quds.

The latest Israeli land garb comes as the regime has ramped up its aggression against Palestinians across the West Bank since October 7 last year, when it launched a genocidal war against the Gaza Strip. The occupation has since claimed more than 44,500 lives in the besieged enclave.