Within a year US embassy may come up in Jerusalem: Netanyahu

Mysuru, Nov 12: Zameer Ahmad Khan, the Tourism and Waqf minister of Karnataka, who stirred a controversy by addressing the Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy as ‘Kaala Kumaraswamy’ has tendered apologies for his remarks.

Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Tuesday, Minister Zameer stated that he will apologise if remarks have hurt JD-S workers.

“We both are very close. Then, in a total of 24 hours, we were together for 14 hours. He used to fondly address me as “kulla” (shorty) and I used to address him as “kariyanna” (blacky, kaalia),” Minister Zameer stated.

“I am not addressing him as ‘kaalia’ for the first time. I have not said something highly derogatory. It is being made as big in the backdrop of elections. With love, he used to call me a shorty and I called him a blacky. If I had caused pain to anyone by my words I apologise,” he said.

He further stated: “Kumaraswamy had said that he didn’t want the votes of the Muslim community. But now they are attempting to purchase Muslim votes. Against this backdrop, I have made the remark.”

Minister for Home G. Parameshwara stated on Tuesday, “Minister Zameer and Kumaraswamy are close friends. Their comments against each other are not significant.”

Zameer Ahmad Khan, the Tourism and Waqf minister of Karnataka stirred a controversy on Monday as he addressed the Union Minister as ‘Kaala Kumaraswamy’.

JD-S on Tuesday demanded a public apology and resignation of Minister for Waqf and Tourism Zameer Ahmad Khan over his ‘racist’ remarks.

“Remember, there is no place here for your divisive policies. You have insulted the people by making ethnic, racist and discriminatory statements. You should apologize to the people of the state and resign,” the JD (S) demanded in the post.

Union Parliamentary Affairs and Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju reacted sternly to the racist jibe and stated, “I strongly deplore Congress Minister Zameer Ahmed calling Union Minister and former Chief Minister of Karnataka Kumaraswamy as 'Kaalia Kumaraswamy'.

The media office in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli regime has been waging a genocidal war since last October, says as many as 188 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the onset of the brutal military onslaught.

The office provided the figure on Saturday, naming four journalists as the most recent victims of the onslaught.

It identified the foursome as Zahraa Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Mustafa Khadr Bahar, and Abdel Rahman Khadr Bahar.

The office said it “strongly condemns the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation and holds it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

“We call on the international community, international organizations, and those involved in journalistic work worldwide to take action against the occupation, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to halt the genocide and the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the office said the Israeli regime had bombed the tents sheltering journalists and displaced persons at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the ninth consecutive time.

The atrocity that claimed the lives of two people and injured 26 others came as part of “the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals, civilians, and displaced persons,” it said.

The media office held the regime and the United States, its biggest ally, as well as other countries aiding the genocide fully responsible for such systematic crimes.

At least 43,552 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 102,765 others wounded since the launch of the war that followed a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The fatalities include 44 people, who were killed across the coastal sliver, in the most recent phase of the military onslaught.

As many as 24 of the victims were killed in the northern part of the territory, where the regime has markedly intensified its deadly attacks for weeks.

They included an eight-year-old child and a five-year-old one, who lost their lives after Israeli warplanes targeted a group of minors filling up jerry cans with water alongside their mother at the Jabalia Refugee camp.

Gaza’s heath ministry, meanwhile, said a number of victims remained under the rubble and in the streets following Israeli airstrikes, saying ambulances and civil defense teams could not reach them due to the sheer extent of the destruction caused by the raids and obstruction caused by the regime.

Also on Saturday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a United Nations-backed assessment, warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza amid escalated Israeli aggression and the regime’s near-total siege of the targeted areas.

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.

The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

The Israeli military, however, questioned the report's credibility.

"To date, all assessments by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground," the army said in a statement, denouncing "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

Washington: The race between Democratic leader Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump for the White House has been truly unprecedented as it saw drama, tragedy, political comebacks, fierce rhetoric and a historically razor-tight contest.

As the fight reaches its crescendo with the big election day just a few hours away, many political observers billed the unpredictable race for the 47th President of the US as the most consequential one in decades while appearing to project a grim picture for the country’s future under a Trump presidency.

In her final days of campaign, Vice President Harris focused on a message of hope, unity, optimism and women rights whereas Trump remained fiercely combative in targeting his Democratic rival and even suggested that he may not accept the election outcome in case of a defeat.

Overall, it has been a roller-coaster ride for both 60-year-old Harris and 78-year-old Trump.

Trump received his party’s nomination in March and formally at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July — in a historic comeback after remaining in political wilderness for months following several court cases.

In effect, he became the first former president to get the nomination for the top office on the planet after being convicted of a felony.

“Trump has made one of the biggest political comebacks since Richard Nixon’s in terms of the political struggles that he has had in the last four years,” Communication Strategist Anang Mittal said.

Just days ahead of the RNC, Trump was shot at during a rally in Pennsylvania. He suffered an upper ear injury. Minutes later, a bleeding Trump raised his fist in defiance, images that drew a lot of emotional support from his die-hard supporters.

For Harris too, it has been a dramatic ride after Biden ended his re-election campaign in July, nearly weeks after he came under severe scrutiny following his incoherent performance at a televised debate with Trump.

While dropping out from the race, Biden, 81, endorsed Harris to succeed him as the Democratic candidate.

Finally in August, the Democratic National Convention formally nominated Harris as the party’s candidate for the presidential election.

The presidential election will be a chance to “move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past”, she said in a powerful speech at the Convention.

If Harris wins, she will become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to become the US President.

In the overall campaign, Harris has been projecting the election as the one to protect the country’s fundamental freedoms, safeguard constitutional values and ensure women’s rights.

On his part, Trump has maintained his signature aggressive rhetoric and promising to rebuild the economy and rid the US from illegal immigrants.

However, there has been strong criticism of the Republican leader’s roadmap to repair the economy.

"Donald Trump is offering a vision of crony rentier capitalism that has enticed many captains of industry and finance,” said Joseph E Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate economist, in a column in Project Syndicate.

"In catering to their wishes for more tax cuts and less regulation, he would make most Americans’ lives poorer, harder, and shorter,” he said.

With election day just a few hours away, there is no clarity on who has a better chance of winning the race.

"The elections are very close. They (the outcome) may change on the basis of a few thousands votes here or there. I think the big issue will be voter turnout tomorrow. That will determine the outcome in certain swing states,” said Executive Director of the US chapter of Observer Research Foundation Dhruva Jaishankar.

Kapil Sharma, a non-resident senior fellow at Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programmes, also echoed similar views.

“This election is probably one of the closest elections that I can remember. I have been working in Washington for over 30 years and I don’t recall an election being this tight,” he said.

More than 78 million Americans have already cast their votes as of Sunday, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab that tracks early and mail-in voting across the US.