Kerala

Kannur, Apr 15 (PTI) A local BJP leader, also a school teacher, was arrested on Wednesday on the charge of sexually abusing a 10-year-old student nearly a month ago, police said.

Kuniyil Padmarajan (45), a BJP panchayat president and district leader of National Teachers' Union (NTU), the teachers' wing of the BJP, was arrested from a Poyilur area near here when he tried to escape after seeing the police," an investigating officer told PTI.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 15 (PTI): Amid the nation-wide lockdown, the first flight from Kerala to the UK took off on Wednesday evening with 268 tourists who had been stranded in south India since the coronavirus pandemic put a check on public transportation.

The British Airways plane left the state capital at 7.30 pm with London as the destination and Kochi as a stopover to pick up 158 passengers. As many as 110 tourists boarded from here,apress release said on Wednesday night.

Kochi, Apr 14 (PTI) The Indian Navy's Naval Aircraft Yard here has developed a smart evacuation pod for evacuation of COVID-19 patients safely from remote areas such as islands and ships.

The indigenously designed and fabricated an Air Evacuation Pod (AEP) will help the evacuation team to safely shift coronavirus-infected persons from ships and islands in a fully sealed patient transfer capsule.

Kochi, Apr 8 (PTI): Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac on Wednesday flagged concern over high interest rate for market borrowing and urged the Centre to allow the states to directly borrow from the Reserve Bank.

In a Facebook post, Isaac said Kerala on Tuesday received the first tranche of Rs 6,000 crore through the market borrowing for the current fiscal.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 7 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday hailed the services of nurses and said the world comes to know about the state through their work.

He also expressed the state's gratitude to nurses and midwives for their sacrifices and contribution and said Kerala was proud of them.

Kochi, Apr 4 (PTI) France on Saturday evacuated 112 French citizens stranded in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in a special Air India flight, official sources said here.

The Embassy of France had made a request to the Kerala government to facilitate the journey of the French citizens stranded due to the lockdown announced by the central government to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.

Kannur/Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 28 (PTI) A video of Kannur Superintendent of Police forcing three people to do sit-ups for violating lockdown went viral on the social media on Saturday, prompting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to express his displeasure saying such incidents would "tarnish" the good work being done by the force.

The Home Secretary has sought report from the DGP on the matter, Vijayan, told reporters in the state capital.

Kochi, Mar 29 (PTI): The The liturgical celebrations of the Holy Week from April 5 would be low-key and held without the presence of the faithful and would be livestreamed in view of the lockdown as part of measures to prevent spread of coronavirus, the Syro-Malabar Church has said.

"We are in the 21-day lockdown announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The celebrations of the Holy Week should be limited in respect of the restrictions imposed by the state government and the civil authorities," the Syro- Malabar Church said.

Kochi, Mar 29 (PTI) A Kerala couple who spent 21 days in a government medical college hospital fighting novel coronavirus infection, on Sunday hailed the medical care provided at the facility and said they were grateful to the doctors and nurses who brought them back to life.

"All should cooperate with the government and the Health Department in the implementation of lockdown," said Robin from Chengalam in Kottayam district.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 28 (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has drawn the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the action of Karnataka police in blocking a key state highway ferrying essential commodites to the state and urged him to immediately intervene in the matter

In a letter to Modi, the Chief Minister pointed out that the Thalassery-Coorg State Highway 30, connecting Kerala with Coorg in Karnataka via Veerajapetta, was a key highway on which cargo lorries ferry essential commodites to Kerala.