Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: Ahead of bypolls, Zameer Ahmed Khan apologises for dark-skinned remark about HDK, and more

After coming under attack from NDA partners BJP and JD(S) for his remarks on the colour of the skin of Union Minister for Major Industries and Steel and former CM H. D. Kumaraswamy, Karnataka’s Minister for Housing, Wakf and Minority Welfare B. Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan apologised for his comments.

While trying to downplay the comment and arguing that he has not done any wrong, Mr Khan claimed that he used to call Mr Kumaraswamy ‘kariyanna’ (black coloured person) and the former CM would call him ‘kulla’ (short person) when they were on good terms during his stint in the JD(S). Rejecting the demand of the JD(S) to quit over the ‘racist’ remark, the Minister said, “Why should I resign? What wrong have I done?”

Former vice-chancellor of Bangalore University Prof. M.S. Thimmappa (83) passed away in a private hospital in Bengaluru early morning on November 12. He suffered a brain injury due to a fall in the bedroom on the morning of October 11. He was admitted to a private hospital and had been undergoing treatment. He was also under treatment for prostate cancer over the past one year.

Prof. Thimmappa served as the registrar of Bangalore University for two terms from 1996 to 2000, and as its vice-chancellor from 2002 to 2006. As a professor of psychology, he taught thousands of students, guided numerous doctoral and M.Phil students. He was known for his magnetic personality, effective interpersonal communication, and warm relationships.

Amazon has announced the launch of its first Amazon Future Engineer Makerspace in Bengaluru, aimed to empower more than 4,000 students with technological skills by 2025. Partnering with The Innovation Story, this initiative aims to provide underserved students in classes 5 to 12 with immersive, hands-on learning experiences in coding, robotics, AI, and 3D printing.

Different programmes are available for students of all levels for free. There are short 3–4-hour programmes for beginners to learn basic robotics and coding, and longer 6-hour programmes that will dive deeper into advanced robotics, programming, prototyping, and design over the course of two days. For advanced students, there are multi-month programmes to help them become experts.

4. Two killed after BMTC bus hits truck parked on Yelahanka flyover in Bengaluru