UDUPI, India (Reuters) - A series of religious laws promoted by India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party in the southern state of Karnataka, including a ban on the wearing of hijabs, is raising concerns the divisive measures will stoke sectarian tensions more prevalent in the country’s north. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently banned wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka, the only one of India’s five southern states it rules. A proposal to make religious conversions largely illegal is being considered by the local legislature. The moves have become an issue of contention involving India’s Muslim minority. Opposition parties and many political analysts accuse the BJP of fomenting tensions in Karnataka to consolidate its appeal to majority Hindus, like they say it has elsewhere in the country.

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BEIJING (Xinhua) -- The United States should reflect deeply on and address the problem of systemic racial discrimination and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of ethnic minorities, including people of Asian descent, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday. Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily press briefing that both the so-called “China Initiative” and the anti-Asian words and deeds in the United States are manifestations of systemic racial discrimination and reflect deep-seated problems of the U.S. society. Survey results show that in 2020, hate crime cases targeting the Asian community in the United States increased by 76 percent. A quarter of young Asians were the target of racial discrimination and bullying, Wang said. “These shocking numbers have aroused widespread concerns in many Asian countries and the international community,” Wang added.

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ROME (AP) - Italian and Greek boats rushed to evacuate 290 people on board a ferry that burst into flames near Corfu in the Ionian Sea early on Friday. The Greek coastguard said later that 11 people were missing and rescuers were trying to reach two people trapped on the Euroferry Olympia. The ferry had left Igoumenitsa in Greece for the Italian port of Brindisi when fire broke out on a car deck. The captain told everyone to leave and the ferry was engulfed in flames. The Greek coastguard said 239 passengers and 51 crew had been on the ferry, owned by Italian firm Grimaldi Lines. Italian officials said 277 of those on board were brought to safety and a Corfu hospital said five of them were being given treatment. Two people were trapped in the hold and a Greek Super Puma helicopter was sent to the area in an attempt to airlift them off the ship.

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WASHINGTON (The Hill) - Reports of sexual assaults at U.S. military academies have significantly increased over the past academic year, according to a Department of Defense report released Thursday. The Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies (MSA), Academic Program Year (APY) 2020 – 2021, which contains numbers of reported instances of sexual harassment and sexual assault, found that figures increased during the 2020-2021 school year as students returned to in person settings. Reports especially spiked at the Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

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BRASILIA (AFP) - Ahead of more heavy rain, residents of several neighborhoods in the devastated Brazilian city of Petropolis were called to evacuate, just two days after flash floods and landslides killed 117 people. Sirens warned neighborhoods in the hillside tourist town to leave, with residents still shocked from the rivers of mud that buried homes and swept away cars and trees. At least two streets were already closed after landslides containing “rocky blocks.” The new rainfall comes with dozens still reported missing in the city, located some 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, and as the first funerals of identified victims took place.