MADURAI l wednesday l november 20, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION In a first, Kyiv fires LONG-RANGE u.s. missiles into Russian region Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine fired six US-made missiles into Bryansk, five of which were shot down and one damaged Ukraine yet to confirm the escalation Putin lowers nuclear use threshold Fragments from a missile fell on an unspecified military facility, the Russian ministry said, adding that the falling debris sparked a fire but didn’t inflict any damage or casualties. The announcement comes shortly after Washington lifted curbs on Ukraine using US-made longer-range missiles to strike Russia. Ukraine didn’t immediately confirm the news | P9 ■ ■ Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lowered Russia’s threshold for using nuclear weapons. According to the revised nuclear doctrine, a conventional attack on Russia by any adversary nation that is supported by a nuclear power, will be considered a joint attack And, such an attack could trigger a nuclear response from Russia 300 km range of the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) used against Russia CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI India: Set new finance goal on climate justice S V Krishna Chaitanya EXPRESS IN BAKU W ith COP29 negotiations reaching a critical stage, India on Tuesday demanded clear answers from developed countries on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance. Delivering the national statement, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, said all NCQG decisions for climate finance must reflect the principles of climate justice and equity . He called for ambitious and unambiguous outcomes that address the evolving needs of developing countries, including adaptation, mitigation, and loss-and-damage funding. Singh reminded developed nations of their responsibility under the Paris Agreement to provide suf ficient financial resources to enable the Global South to meet its development goals while addressing climate challenges. The next round of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is due in 2025.  Continued on: P9 Visa relaxation, resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra on the cards India, China look to resume direct flights, dialogue Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi BUILDING on the recent progress made on de-escalating border tension, India and China on Tuesday sought to stabilise the relationship and take it to the next level. T h re e m a j o r d e c i s i o n s emerged during the meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio, Brazil: to resume special representativelevel talks on boundary issues, direct flights between India and China, and the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. The other steps discussed include data sharing on trans-border rivers and media exchanges. The meeting was the first high-level engagement between India and China after the completion of the disengagement process in Depsang and Demchok along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh last month. According to the MEA, Jaishankar and Wang agreed that the disengagement in border areas contributed to peace and tranquility. “The discussions focused on the next steps in India-China relations,” it said. In the meeting, Jaishankar told Wang that India is against unilateral approaches to establish dominance and it does not view its relationships through the prism of other nations. “On the global situation, the external affairs minister noted that India and China have both differences and convergences,” MEA said. For his part, Wang proposed visa relaxation to encourage people-to-people interaction. Noting that the next year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two Asian giants, the Chinese minister said both countries should plan commemorative activities and encourage visits in various fields and at different levels. Direct India-China flights and the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. The 22nd round of special representative-level talks were held in New Delhi on December 21, 2019. India’s representative for the dialogue is NSA Ajit Doval while the Chinese side is headed by Wang. R s i v akuma r @ Chennai External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi | PTI India, UK to resume FTA talks in 2025 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said trade talks with India will relaunch, following his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit. The UK will seek a new strategic partnership with India, including a trade agreement and cooperation in various areas Modi, Albanese meet in Rio, hold talks Modi met Australian PM Anthony Albanese in Rio. “PM Albanese has accepted India’s invitation to attend the Quad summit next year. We spoke about partnership in defence, critical minerals, space. PM Albanese has assured us in protecting interests of our students in Australia,” Modi said Nagpur heat 2 TN cab drivers held for kidnap, rape of 17-yr-old Express News Service @ Chennai Two cab drivers were arrested on Sunday by the St Thomas Mount All Women Police for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl who had left her aunt’s house in Nandambakkam after a tiff with her. The accused were booked under the Pocso Act and remanded in judicial custody on Monday . The victim was sent for a medical examination and has been sheltered at a rescue home, sources said. According to police, the girl had completed Class 12 in Tiruvannamalai where she lived under the care of her grandmother. Her parents had passed away several years ago. After completing her schooling, she came to Chennai to live with her aunt, police said. On the afternoon of November 12, the girl left her aunt’s house and ventured out alone after she got into an argument with her.  Holding that the institution of the Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award is against the singer’s wish and mandate as reflected by her will, the Madras High Court has restrained conferment of the award on popular Carnatic musician T M Krishna. The Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award, which is a mirror award conferred to the recipient of the Sangita Kalanidhi Award of the Chennai Music Academy every year, has been instituted by the English daily The Hindu. The court, however, held that there is no bar on presenting the cash prize of `1 lakh to Krishna without using the name of Subbulakshmi in any form. The court also allowed the conferment all-party meeting on November 24 Ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament, the Centre has scheduled an all-party meeting on Nov 24. Some Opposition parties are reportedly unlikely to attend | P7 A day before polling in Maharashtra, a purported video of BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawade at a five-star hotel went viral on Tuesday amid allegations by the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) that he was distributing `5 crore in cash among his party leaders and workers at Nalasopara (Virar) to buy votes. The police registered two FIRs against Tawde and others in connection with the incident. The first FIR named them for assembling at a hotel in violation of the poll code, while the second one accuses them of luring voters by offering inducements. Tawade refuted the allegation saying he was in the hotel to guide party workers about election procedures. He said he was on his way from Wada in Palghar district to Mumbai when a BJP leader called him for tea at the hotel at Nalasopara where this incident took place. Polls 2024 “I am ready for any probe. The Election Commission of India can conduct the probe and find out the truth. The Opposition must understand facts before making allegations,” Tawade said. For its part, the poll body said it recovered `9 lakh from the hotel, not `5 crore. The matter came in light after BVA workers barged in the hotel, claiming they got a tipoff that Tawade was with BJP leaders to distribute `5 crore to buy the votes in the area. “Our workers not only caught Tawade with a bundle of cash but also seized two diaries with entries on whom the money was given to buy votes. We hope that the poll body and police would conduct a fair probe,” BVA head Hitendra Thakur said. His party is contesting three seats in Palghar and Vasai-Virar. Loan app case: ED arrests 2 Chinese men in TN E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday stated that they have arrested two Chinese nationals — Xiao Ya Mao and Wu Yuanlun — on N ove m b e r 1 3 f ro m Tiruchy under the pro, visions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in a case booked against digital loan apps operated by Chinese nationals that indulge in disbursing short-term, high-interest instant loans through various of Sangita Kalanidhi Award, instituted by the Music Academy on Krishna. , Justice G Jayachandran passed the interim order on Tuesday while dismissing an application filed by Music Academy praying for rejecting the plaint moved by Subbulakshmi’s grandson V Shrinivasan challenging the conferment of the award on Krishna. The petitioner had alleged that Krishna had made disparaging comments against Subbulakshmi. The judge also pointed out that instituting the award in her name goes against her will. “The best way to honour a departed soul is to honour and respect her wish and not disrespecting it,” he said, adding that if any person has reverence and regard for Subbulakshmi, after knowing her desire and mandate, (they) should not continue to give the award in her name. “Similarly if anybody truly and honestly respects the sentiments and wishes of the departed soul, he/she should not receive awards instituted against her wish and mandate,” he said. The judge restrained the English daily from conferring the Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award till the disposal of the case. The Music Academy, however, can present the Sangita Kalanidhi Award to Krishna, the court ruled.  Security personnel deployed to maintain law and order amid curfew, in Imphal | PTI PC post gives Biren Day before poll, Tawade in cash row ammo to rap Cong Su d h i r Su r ya w an s h i @ Mumbai A polling official carries election material on the eve of voting for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, in Nagpur on Tuesday | PTI hc bars conferment of ‘ms award’ on singer krishna `3.54 crore brought in through crypto wallets The ED said that cryptocurrency wallets were created by the Chinese nationals on online platform WazirX by using identities of dummy directors, and `3.54 crore was brought in through these wallets between August 2020 and December 2020 mobile applications. The Sessions Court in Chennai remanded them to judicial custody till November 29, the central agency said. ED had initiated a probe based on FIRs filed on complaints regarding loan apps that charge exorbitant rates of interest, processing fees (20%30% of amount), and threaten borrowers who fail to repay. The probe revealed that the Chinese nationals had formed two companies — Toucolor Technologies Private Limited and Truekindle Technology Private Limited — in 2020. They had also forced two employees to become dummy directors, while they ran the entire operation from the background. The companies were providing online short-term, instant micro loans of `5,000-`10,000 through mobile apps, which required borrowers to share personal and bank information and also grant access to their contact list, personal photos and videos. Borrowers were forced to take fresh loans from if they couldn’t repay pushing , them into a debt trap.  the Union home minister during the then Congress governA social media post by Conment and O Ibobi was the chief gress leader P Chidambaram minister here, they brought a on Tuesday gave embattled MaMyanmarese foreigner nipur Chief Minister N Biren Thanglianpau Guite, who himSingh some ammunition to self admitted in one of the inblame the grand old party for terviews that he contested an the ongoing crisis in the state. MP election in Myanmar. That The Congress distanced itperson is the chairman of Zomi self from ChidambarRevolutionary Army, am’s post on X, now which is banned in Mydeleted, calling it his anmar,” Singh said. personal remarks. Wo r r i e d over Whatever we are Chidambaram said, seeing in Manipur Chidambaram’s state“Rushing 5,000 MORE ment on regional autoday is the central armed police tonomy, Ibobi said he creation of the Congress. They jawans is not the anspoke to party chief swer to Manipur crisis. cannot wash their Mallikarjun Kharge. “I ...It is more under- hands of the crisis told Kharge Ji it could standing: that the Biren Singh, Manipur be his (Chidambaram’s) Meitei, the Kuki-Zo personal views but this chief minister and the Naga can live will create a lot of mistogether in one State only if understanding in Manipur. Afthey have genuine regional t e r K h a r g e J i s p o ke t o autonomy .” Chidambaram Ji, he deleted the Singh wasted no time in hitpost,” the ex-CM said. ting back. “He (Chidambaram) Meanwhile, hundreds of Kuis the root cause of Manipur ki-Zos took out a rally in Chucrisis and the Congress is the rachandpur carrying empty cofcreator of what we are seeing fins in solidarity with 10 tribals in the state today When he was . killed on November 11. P r a s anta M a z um d a r @ Guwahati express read TN leaders oppose LIC’s ‘imposition of Hindi’ Chennai: CM Stalin and TN leaders slammed LIC’s website for ‘imposing’ Hindi after it failed to show other languages. Later, LIC blamed it on a “technical glitch” and said English page is back | P5 Biometric attendance mandatory in TN univs Chennai: To stop unauthorised absence of faculty in colleges, the higher education department has directed universities to install biometric attendance systems on campuses | P4 Three days and counting: Air India flight leaves flyers stranded in Phuket Express News Service @ New Delhi OVER 100 Delhi-bound Air India passengers faced a harrowing three-day ordeal in Phuket after the flight, originally scheduled to depart on November 16, was cancelled due to operational and technical setbacks. The disruption left travellers stranded, sparking outrage and criticism. The trouble began when the crew exceeded their flight duty time limitations on November 16, leading to the flight’s cancellation. Efforts to resume operations the next day with another crew failed when the Airbus A320 experienced technical issues mid-flight, forcing it to return to Phuket after two-anda-half hours in the air. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has since demanded a detailed report from Air India. Meanwhile, 80% of the stranded passengers have reportedly been flown back to India on alternative flights on November 17 and 18, airline sources said. The remaining 31 passengers are also scheduled to depart. Many passengers shared their frustration over delays. “Pathetic services. Flight AI377 returned to Phuket after flying 3 hours above Phuket. More than 150 passengers stranded. No satisfactory reply from airlines,” Shubham Maurya posted on X. Initially passengers were in, formed of a six-hour delay on November 16. They boarded the flight after prolonged waiting, only to be deboarded later. The same aircraft was prepared for departure the next day but , glitches persisted. “Air India regrets the inconvenience to passengers of Flight AI377... While our staff made effort to minimise their inconvenience, providing all on-ground assistance including hotel accommodations and meals, some guests were also re-accommodated on available flights. Passengers were also offered options for full refunds,” said an airline official.