Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Police on Monday took into custody nearly 20 activists of the Youth Congress for allegedly attempting to show black flags to the convoy of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa here.

The activists were protesting against the recent "illegal" detention of Kerala journalists at Mangalore when they went to cover death of two persons in suspected police firing during the protest over the controversial amended Citizenship Act.

Yediyurappa, who reached the International Airport in the evening, was in the town on a personal visit.

"We apprehended the activists before they could show black flags. The chief minister will leave the town tomorrow," police said.

The youth activists of the Congress were detained when they were attempting to show black flags to the Karnataka chief minister while he was on the way back from Padmanabhaswami temple.

The state has been witnessing widespread protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act.

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Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.

It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.

An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.

An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.

Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.