Kerala Congress leader makes sexist remarks while targeting Pinarayi Vijayan, apologises
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 24: Senior Congress leader K. Sudhakaran, has courted controversy over his anti-women remarks while targeting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Attacking Vijayan while addressing party workers at Kasaragod Wednesday, Sudhakaran had said the Chief Minister had failed to act as a man when it came to running his office and his tenure was worse than that of women.
"When Vijayan assumed office, I thought he will do much like a man, but it turns out that he is worse than women," Sudhakaran, a former MP and from the politically volatile northern district of Kannur, from where Vijayan also hails, had said.
As a row broke out, Sudhakaran Thursday apologised for his remarks, saying he had been "misquoted."
Pointing out that he respects women, Sudhakaran said his speech should have been heard in total, rather than using some words here and there.
In November this year, his comments that women of menstrual age would be blocked if they attempted to enter the Sabarimala shrine during the mandala puja had also sparked a row.
In 2011, the KPCC Working President had levelled charges of bribery and corruption against a sitting supreme court judge in a bar license case.
A group of apex court lawyers had petitioned the chief justice to initiate contempt against him for the remarks.
However, under pressure from his party, he later retracted his statement that he had witnessed the judge being bribed.
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First direct US-Venezuela commercial flight in 7 years to land in Caracas
Caracas (Venezuela) (AP): The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela is scheduled to land on Thursday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, seven years after the US Department of Homeland Security ordered an indefinite suspension, citing security concerns.
The resumption of a commercial flight between the two countries comes in the wake of the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, in early January.
It also comes a month after the US formally reopened its embassy in Caracas following the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country.
Flight AA3599 operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines, was scheduled to depart from Miami at 10:16 a.m. local time and arrive three hours later in the Venezuelan capital, returning to Florida later in the afternoon.
Earlier, the airline said a second daily flight between Miami and Caracas will start on May 21.
In late January, US President Donald Trump said he informed Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez that he would open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela, allowing Americans to visit.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they'll be safe there,” Trump said at the time.
The flights mark the resumption of nonstop travel between the US and Venezuela for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019. For the past seven years, passengers have relied on international airlines and indirect routes through neighbouring Latin American countries.
In January, when the airline announced the resumption of flights it said it would give customers the opportunity to reunite with families and pursue new business opportunities.
American Airlines was the last US airline flying to Venezuela. It suspended flights in 2019 between Miami and Caracas, as well as flights to the oil hub city of Maracaibo. Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017 amid a political crisis that forced millions to flee the country.
