tirupati l monday l march 03, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur EDITION london, paris, kyiv to work on ceasefire plan for Ukraine war The three countries will present the new ceasefire plan to the United States, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday Starmer stresses restoring peace talks ‘european force to be sent to ukraine’ The European leaders are in London to discuss ending the war. The meeting has been overshadowed by the extraordinary scolding of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy by Donald Trump, who lambasted him on Friday. Starmer said he is currently focused on being a bridge to restore peace talks, rather than “ramp up the rhetoric” ■ ■ Sunday’s summit is likely to include talks on establishing a European military force to be sent to Ukraine to underpin a ceasefire. Starmer said it would involve “a coalition of the willing” Next steps: Arming Ukrainians, including a European element to guarantee security and providing a “US backstop” to check Putin €200 bn likely to be released by eu to fund ukraine’s efforts 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 No rift among Cong leaders in Kerala, says Rahul Gandhi E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday sought to dispel the notion there is a rift among the party’s leaders in Kerala following its MP Shashi Tharoor’s recent remarks praising the achievements of CPM-led government in the state, saying they stand united. His comment came in the wake of a meeting between the Congress’ central leadership and the party’s leaders from Kerala at Indira Bhawan on Friday to discuss the strategy and the way forward ahead of next year’s assembly polls. Followng Tharoor’s remarks, the Congress brass had issued a warning that strong action will be taken against those making comments that go against the party’s interests. Posting a picture of the Kerala leaders’ interaction with the media after the meeting on Facebook, Rahul wrote: “They stand as one, united by the light of purpose ahead.” His post was accompanied by the hashtag “Team Kerala’. The three-hour meeting at Tharoor u-turn on Kerala story Days after his praise of the growth of Kerala’s startup ecosystem, Shashi Tharoor has taken a U-turn, saying the growth of startups should not remain “confined to paper” alone the Congress’s Indira Bhawan headquarters here on Friday had discipline, unity and the strengthening of the state organisation as its running theme. Sources said at the meeting, Gandhi asked leaders to be very careful and not to do or say anything that does not toe the party line. Eci response Concern over similar EPIC nos allayed M U K E S H RAN J AN @ New Delhi THE Election Commission of India (ECI) has moved to calm concerns over duplicate voter ID numbers, clarifying that identical EPIC numbers don’t indicate fake voters. The issue came to light after several social media posts flagged the issue and claimed that electors in different states were being assigned similar EPIC numbers. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also raised similar concerns. In its response, ECI said while some electors may share the same elector photo identity card (EPIC) number, their demographic details, assembly segment, and polling booth information differ, and that they can only cast their votes at their designated polling stations. The duplicate EPIC numbers were caused by a decentralized and manual mechanism used before the electoral roll database was shifted to the ERONET platform. To address this, the ECI has said it will assign unique EPIC numbers to electors, ensuring that any cases of duplicate EPIC numbers are rectified. Spl court orders FIR against Buch Anti-Corruption Bureau told to book ex-Sebi chief, 5 others for alleged stock market fraud A day after Madhabi Puri Buch demitted office as the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), a special court here directed registration of an FIR against her and five others in connection with alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations. The order was passed by special judge Shashikant Eknathrao Bangar on Saturday on a petition filed by Thane-based journalist Sapan Shrivastava. Seeking a court-monitored investigation, the petitioner alleged large-scale financial fraud, corruption, and regulatory violations in the listing of a company . The court said prime-facie it shows there have been viola- NARENDRA S E T HI @Dehradun THE bodies of the last four trapped labourers were pulled out from the site of the avalanche-hit Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Chamoli on Sunday taking the , Ex-CID chief Sunil Kumar suspended P h a n i n d r a Pa pa s a n i @ Vijayawada Unbeaten India march on Men in Blue beat New Zealand by 44 runs to finish on top of Group A on Sunday. A look... Varun Chakravarthy(L) celebrates a wicket on Sunday | AP Rushikonda Beach loses Blue Flag tag, restoration process on Us h a P e r i @ Visakhapatnam In the wake of cancellation of Blue Flag certification for Rushikonda Beach in Visakhapatnam, the only Blue Flagcertified beach in the State, officials have clarified that the revocation is temporary, not permanent. The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) revoked the Blue Flag due to concer ns re g arding parking, s e c u r i t y, a n d s t r ay d o g management. Addressing the matter, Visakhapatnam Collector MN Harendhira Prasad told TNIE, “The Blue Flag India sent a notification regarding temporary revocation due to certain issues such as parking, security, and dog menace. We have taken corrective measures, and will complete the audit by Tuesday, March 4. Once we submit the compliance report, the certification will be restored within this week.” According to an official release, the process leading to the temporary suspension began with a control visit on June 29, 2024, by Blue F lag India representatives. This visit resulted in observations and suggestions for improved facilities and services, which were subsequently addressed, leading to the beach’s certification for 2024-25 in October 2024. However, the beach’s popularity particularly during , festivals, led to significant challenges in traffic and visitor management. “Rushikonda Beach consistently attracts high crowds, especially during weekends and festivals like Dasara, Diwali and Sankranti,” the press release explained, noting the resulting in traffic congestion.P4 The Blue Flag India sent a notification regarding temporary revocation of tag due to certain issues. We took corrective steps MN Harendhira Prasad, Collector FEE main concerns Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) revoked the Blue Flag due to concerns regarding parking, dog menace, security Varun takes fifer In what was his first game of the tournament, Varun Chakravarthy took five wickets for 42 runs and in the process helped India defend the target of 250. On the slowish Dubai surface, the spinner from TN rattled thje New Zealand middle-order to ensure India remain unbeaten. There is prima facie evidence of regulatory lapses and collusion, requiring a fair and impartial probe Special judge S E Bangar Officials allegedly permitted listing of a firm that failed to meet regulatory norms, leading to market manipulation and loss for investors Court to monitor Court sees cognisable offence, to monitor the investigation & has sought status report within 30 days tions and there are documents to support the same; therefore, the Anti Corruption Bureau should file an FIR against the accused, it ordered. Apart from Buch, the officials against whom the court has ordered registration of the FIR are three whole-time members of Sebi--Ashwani Bhatia, Ananth Narayan G, and Kamlesh Chandra Varshney -- BSE chief executive Sundararaman Ramamurthy and former BSE chairman Pramod Agarwal. Responding to the court or- Avalanche toll rises to 8, rescue act over foreign trips In a significant development, the State government has suspended former AP CID chief and Director General rank officer PV Sunil Kumar for allegedly making repeated foreign visits without prior permission during the previous YSRCP regime. Chief Secretary K Vijayanand issued orders, suspending Sunil Kumar. He was directed not to leave the headquarters (Vijayawada) without obtaining prior permission from the government. With this, the number of suspended IPS officers rose to five. Soon after the TDP-led NDA came to power in the State, former Intelligence chief PSR Anjaneyulu, former CID chief N Sanjay, former Vijayawada CP Kanthi Rana Tata and former Vizag Range DIG Vishal Gunni were suspended, citing irregularities and criminal misconduct, violating the All India Services (Discipline and P4 Appeal) Rules, 1969.  The complaint S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i & B e n n K o c h u v e e d a n @ Mumbai proteas face Black Caps test With the loss against India, New Zealand finished second in Group A. They will be flying to Pakistan, along with South Africa who topped the Group B, where the two teams play the second semifinal in Lahore on Wednesday. Semifinal line-up India vs Australia, Dubai, Tuesday South Africa vs New Zealand, Lahore, Wednesday death toll to eight as authorities ended the nearly 60-hour rescue operation. Army doctors said 46 workers who were rescued on Saturday have been brought to the military hospital in Jyotirmath. Two of them have been referred to AIIMS, Rishikesh. Three of the workers are in critical condition. The body of the last missing worker has also been retrieved, said Army PRO Lt Col Manish Shrivastava. The avalanche hit the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath. der, Sebi said it will challenge the order. In a statement issued on Sunday the markets regula, tor said it was not given a chance to represent itself and that none of the officials named in the petition was in their current positions when the alleged misdeeds happened. Terming the complaint ‘frivolous’, Sebi alleged that the petitioner is known for filing such petitions in the past. “The applicant is known to be a frivolous and habitual litigant, with previous applications being dismissed by the Court, with imposition of costs in some cases,” it said. Echoing similar views, the BSE said: “The application is frivolous and vexatious in nature,” adding that the court has not issued any notice or granted any opportunity to place the facts on record. mlc poll counting today The counting of votes for one teachers’ segment and two graduates’ MLC seats will be taken up amid tight security on Monday