Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released a list of 21 candidates who will contest from Karnataka against the Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Former Minister A Manju, who left Congress and joined BJP will contest from Hassan constituency from the party ticket, Dr. Umesh Jadhav from Kalburgi, Devendrappa has secured ticket from Bellari while A. Narayanswami will contest the polls from Chitradurga constituency.

Udupi-Chikmagalur-Shobha Karandlaje, Mysore-Kodagu-Pratap Simha, Vijayapura-Ramesh Jigajinagi, Uttara Kannada-Ananthkumar Hegde, Bengaluru North-DV Sadananda Gowda, Chikkaballapur-BN Bache Gowda, ​​Bangalore Central-PC. Mohan, Chamarajanagar-V. Srinivas Prasad, Tumkur-GS Basavaraju, Dakshina Kannada-Nalin Kumar Kateel, Shimoga-BY Raghavendra are among others who will contest the election on BJP ticket.

Davangere-GM Siddheshwar, Dharwad-Prahlad Joshi, Haveri-Shivakumar Udasi, Bidar-Bhagwant Khuba, Bagalkot-PC. Gaddigowder, Belgaum-Suresh Angadi have also secured tickets for the upcoming election.

Of the 28 constituencies in the state the party has announced candidates for 21 seats while candidates for 7 other constituencies are yet to be announced.

Seven constituencies where the party has not yet named its candidates include Mandya, Kolar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore South, Koppal, Raichur and Chikkodi.

In constituencies like Udupi-Chikmagalur, Mysore-Kodagu, Uttara Kannada, Vijayapur and Bengaluru North rumors were rife that the party will not give tickets to sitting MPs and would change the candidates, but the high-command has persisted with the sitting MPs and have announced tickets to them.

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Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.

The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.

At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.

According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.

An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.

“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.

The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.

Police have since launched a search for the suspects.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.

The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.

According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.