"Will Divide Karnataka": P Chidambaram On BJP's Citizen's Registry Promise

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday cautioned the people of Karnataka against the BJP poll manifesto promising Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) by calling these topics "a pernicious agenda" of the ruling party to divide and polarise the state.

BJP's election manifesto for Karnataka released on Monday said: "We will implement the UCC in Karnataka based on the recommendations given by a high-level committee which is to be constituted for the purpose. We will introduce the National Register of Citizens in Karnataka and ensure speedy deportation of all illegal immigrants in the state."

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Chidambaram termed the UCC and NRC as the "pernicious agenda that is creeping into the south of India" and said they (BJP) are looking for a gateway in Karnataka".

The former Union minister also said he was not worried about anything else in the BJP's manifesto as "those are irrelevant".

"I am concerned deeply about the promise of the UCC and the NRC. This will divide Karnataka, this will polarise Karnataka. This will create social conflict," he said.

According to Chidrambaram, the BJP will try to enter other states including Tamil Nadu (using UCC and NRC).

"We will fiercely resist these pernicious ideas entering Tamil Nadu. But my humble appeal to the people of Karnataka is fiercely resist and stop the entry of this sinister, pernicious agenda into Karnataka," the Congress leader asserted.

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Toy Seller Arrested For Sexually Harassing 7-Year-Old In Delhi Mall: Cops

A 30-year-old man working as a toy salesman at V3S Mall in southeast Delhi has been arrested for allegedly molesting a minor, police said on Tuesday.

The incident which occured on Sunday came to light on Monday after the victim reported the matter to the police.

The accused is a resident of Sarita Vihar in South East Delhi.

On April 30, a PCR call was received regarding the molestation of a minor girl (7) in a toy shop in V3S Mall by one of the salesmen.

During the inquiry, police found that the minor had come to the mall with her grandmother. "While the grandmother went to the washroom, the girl walked inside the shop where the accused allegedly molested her," police said.

The girl was counselled by the Delhi Commission for Women. She was medically examined at Hedgewar Hospital in the national capital, police said.

A Case was registered under sections 354 of the Indian penal code and Section 10 of the Prevention of Children from sexual offences (POCSO) Act, police said.

"The accused was arrested from the mall on the instance of the victim," police said adding that further investigation is underway in the matter.

More details are awaited.

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Tinder Exits Russia Over "Human Rights"

The company behind dating app Tinder is leaving Russia, more than a year after the invasion of Ukraine saw a wave of international companies close or suspend their Russian operations.

Match Group said on Monday that it will quit Russia by June 30 because "we are committed to protecting human rights."

The Texas-based firm made the disclosure in its annual impact report, a summary of how the company is meeting goals on the environment, human rights and good governance.

"Our brands are taking steps to restrict access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023," it said.

Most major Western companies have ended or suspended their operations in protest to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as Chinese companies expand their presence.

And as it seeks to reduce its dependence on the west, Russia has been shoring up its domestic technology sector in recent years.

Tinder's exit also comes when Russia has been strengthening laws to regulate the tech sector, against a backdrop of growing political repression.

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Stones Pelted At Vande Bharat Train In Kerala, Window Glass Broken

An incident of stone pelting was reported on the newly launched Vande Bharat Express train in Kerala, informed officials.

According to Southern Railway officials, the incident was reported when the train was travelling between Tirunavaya and Tirur. The train was going to Thiruvananthapuram from Kasargod.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off Kerala's first Vande Bharat Express at Thiruvananthapuram Central Station on April 25.

"No one was injured. The windshield of one coach was damaged. Police have registered a case. We have decided to strengthen train security," said Southern Railway.

Earlier on April 6, a fresh incident of stone pelting was reported at the Vande Bharat Express from Visakhapatnam, informed officials

This is the third incident of stone pelting in the last three months.

According to officials, a coach window glass was broken due to the pelting of stones by miscreants.

"Stone pelting was reported between Khammam and Vijayawada railway stations while coming from Secunderabad. The incident happened on Wednesday evening in South Central Railway zone premises," stated a Waltair Division Railway press note.

Earlier in January, stones were pelted on the Vande Bharat train in Visakhapatnam city of Andhra Pradesh during maintenance. The glass pane of a coach of Vande Bharat Express was damaged near Kancharapalem in Visakhapatnam.

According to Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Anup Kumar Sethupati, "Some unknown persons pelted stones at Vande Bharat train as it reached Visakhapatnam for maintenance and train run. Stones were pelted on train coaches while it was going to the coach care centre for maintenance from Visakhapatnam station.

Earlier on March 12, an incident of stone pelting on Vande Bharat Express train was reported from West Bengal in which window panes of a coach of the high-speed train were damaged, Eastern Railway said in a statement.

The incident was reported to have taken place near Farrakka in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

In January 2023, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) informed that two window panes of the Vande Bharat Express train were left damaged after stones were allegedly pelted on the two coaches near the Phansidewa area of the Darjeeling district. This was the second attack as earlier in the same month the Vande Bharat Express window panes were broken as stones were thrown at the train connecting Howrah to New Jalpaiguri near Malda.

The RPF Commander had informed that the incident happened near the Phansidewa area in the Darjeeling district.

"Windows of coach C3 and C6 of Vande Bharat Express were found damaged due to stone pelting. It was found, windows were damaged near Phansidewa area in Darjeeling district when the train was moving towards New Jalpaiguri," he had said.

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US Says No Plans To Add New Members To Quad At This Time

There is no plan to add new members to the Quad at this point in time, the White House has said ahead of the summit of Quad leaders in Australia later this month.

Head of State from Quad countries -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi from India, and US President Joe Biden – are scheduled to meet in Australia on June 24.

"The Quad was established two years ago. The Quad is still a relatively young partnership. There are no plans for new members at this time," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.

Quad members, she said, have agreed that for now, they'll focus on cementing the quad's many strengths.

"However, the Quad welcomes opportunities to work with a wide range of Indo-Pacific partners, such as through its Indo-Pacific partners on maritime domain awareness, which is delivering cutting edge maritime domain awareness technology around the region," she said.

"The May 24th Sydney Summit will showcase other opportunities for the Quad to partner around the region on climate, global health, infrastructure, and more. The Quad's top priority is ensuring it is well-positioned to deliver for the Indo-Pacific. And so, there's no conversation on extending or expanding at this time," Jean-Pierre said.

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Twitter Down For Thousands Of Users: Report

Twitter Inc's services were down for thousands of users on Monday, according to outage-tracking website Downdetector.com.

There were more than 3,600 incidents of people reporting issues with the social media platform led by Elon Musk, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources including user-submitted errors on its platform.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Users on Reddit complained that the website was logging them out unexpectedly and were not able to sign in.

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Non-Bailable Warrant Against 3 UP Professors Over 'Casteist Slurs': Cops

A non-bailable warrant has been issued against a professor and two former professors of the Allahabad University following a complaint from an assistant professor, police said here on Monday.

Deepshikha Sonkar, the assistant professor in the department of economics, got a case lodged in August 2016 against the then head of the department, Professor Prahlad Kumar, Professor Manmohan Krishna and Professor Javed Akhtar under sections 354C (voyeurism), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at the Karnalganj police station.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivkuti Rajesh Kumar Yadav said a non-bailable warrant has been issued against the three professors.

In her complaint to the police, the assistant professor had said Mr Kumar, Mr Krishna and Mr Akhtar had hurled casteist slurs at her and had also exploited her.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the university Jaya Kapoor said after his retirement, Krishna had become the chair professor of Niti Aayog at the university, Mr Kumar had retired, while Mr Akhtar is still a professor.

She added that Sonkar's complaint was taken seriously by the then vice-chancellor in 2016 and a probe committee was formed. The committee had found the complaint baseless, Ms Kapoor said, adding that Ms Sonkar did not answer the questions sent to her by the panel nor could she produce any evidence to corroborate her allegations.

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