Kannur: 7 more people have been confirmed with Zika virus in Thalassery court. With this, the number of patients has increased to eight. The result of the test at Thiruvananthapuram Public Health Lab has come out. A week ago, around 100 people, including judges, lawyers and employees, were showing symptoms of illness in the Thalassery District Court.

Three courts were closed on Thursday and Friday due to the disease. About 100 people experienced the same symptoms. Some experienced red eyes and fever. Aedes mosquitoes, which spread diseases like dengue fever and chikungunya, are also behind the spread of the Zika virus., 

One death due to technical failure of Navy helicopter in Kochi. The accident took place on the runway of INS Garuda, the headquarters of the Southern Naval Command. The accident happened when the rotor blade of the helicopter hit the runway.

Chetak helicopter crashed during training. There were two people in the helicopter at the time of the accident. It is reported that they are safe. The accident happened around 2 pm. An official explanation from the Navy will be forthcoming.

Seven people were killed and several others injured in an explosion at a pharmaceutical company’s factory in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. Last day, there was an explosion at the Blue Jet Healthcare factory in MIDC, Mahad.

In the ensuing fire, the injured were taken to the hospital, but 11 people were missing. There were 57 workers in the company when the incident took place. 46 of them were rescued safely but 11 were trapped.

Officials said that seven bodies have been found and four people are still missing. It is concluded that all of them are workers of the plant. The bodies were burnt beyond recognition.

Thiruvananthapuram: Power Minister K Krishnankutty said that the electricity subsidy given by the government to the weaker sections will not be waived. He also stated that the government has not given any order to cancel the subsidy. At present, about 77 lakh consumers are getting the benefit of government subsidy. The government subsidizes the entire electricity charge for LT domestic consumers with an average monthly consumption of up to 30 units and a connected load of up to 500 watts.

LT household consumers with monthly consumption up to 120 units, LT household consumers living with the help of life saving appliances, LT household BPL consumers with monthly consumption up to 1000 watt with monthly consumption up to 50 units, LT agricultural consumers are getting government subsidy on electricity charges. The Minister informed that although there will be an increase in electricity rates, this subsidy will continue to be provided to eligible consumers.

Following the Kalamassery bomb blast, 54 cases were registered across the state for spreading messages and news through social media in a manner that promotes religious hatred and disrupts communal harmony.

Malappuram district registered the highest number of cases – 26. There are 10 cases in Ernakulam City, five each in Ernakulam Rural and Thiruvananthapuram City. Two cases each in Thrissur City and Kottayam and one each in Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Palakkad and Kozhikode rural districts have been registered.

The police have also found many fake profiles that have been spreading and sharing messages through various social media in ways that promote religious hatred. Social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, X and WhatsApp have been directed to find out the IP address used by them to take action against those who created fake profiles. Special teams working 24 hours a day have been appointed in the cyber cell division of all districts to track down such message spreaders and take further action.

Following the Kalamassery blast, the Chief Minister and the state police chief had issued special instructions to find those who were making fake messages and spreading them through social media. Based on this, cyber patrolling of social media and other legal actions are going on.

Warning of heavy rain in the state. Orange alert has been issued in three districts due to the possibility of heavy rain. Orange alert has been announced in Idukki, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. Yellow alert has also been declared in 9 districts except Kottayam and Kasaragod.

The Meteorological Department has predicted moderate rains for the next 7 days under the influence of the East-Northeasterly winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal over South East India.

Meanwhile, the Central Meteorological Department has warned that there is a possibility of heavy rain at isolated places in the state till November 6 and very heavy rain at isolated places today and tomorrow. Although there is a high wave alert and risk of sea attack on the Kerala coast and south Tamil Nadu coast. 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Marunadan Malayali editor and owner Shajan Skaria. The order of the Supreme Court is on a petition filed by the state government seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail in the case taken by the Nilambur police.

The state government has asked the Supreme Court that the accused should be taken into custody and interrogated to find out the source of the controversial news and for this the three-month bail granted by the High Court should be cancelled. But the Supreme Court did not accept the demand of the government. Moreover, the Supreme Court clarified that the reference given by the High Court in the anticipatory bail order should not affect the trial of the case.

Senior Advocate Jayant Muthuraj and Standing Counsel Nishe Rajan Shonkar appeared for the State Government. The Nilambur police registered a case against Shajan Skaria on the complaint filed by the Chairman of the Nilambur Municipality Standing Committee Skaria. In August, the High Court granted three-month bail to Shajan Skaria.