kochi l monday l june 08, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Chennai-born architect behind Trump’s AI policies to leave job Sriram Krishnan is stepping down from his role as senior policy adviser for Artificial Intelligence to US President Donald Trump pushed for rollback of regulations on AI Criticised green card cap, drew maga ire Krishnan was an architect of the Trump administration’s ‘AI Action Plan’, which provided a blueprint to roll back regulation of the emerging technology and promote the construction of data centres across the US. He also was among tech advisers who helped craft an executive order limiting states’ ability to regulate AI, which Trump signed in December ■ ■ Born in Chennai in 1984, Krishnan earned his Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology from SRM University in 2005, before moving to the US two years later to join Microsoft Krishnan had courted criticism from Trump’s right-wing supporters over his calls to remove country-specific caps on green cards 42-yr-old Worked at Microsoft, Meta and X before joining the White House 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 Amid strain, 23 Oppn parties to meet today DMK decides to boycott citing Cong’s ‘betrayal’ in TN Chorus against latest cooking gas price hike TMC’s Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek with AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, in New Delhi on Sunday | PTI E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi OPPOSITION parties on Sunday criticised the Centre over the latest increase in domestic LPG prices, accusing it of further burdening households already struggling with a rising cost of living and inflation. However, the government maintained that despite the latest hike, domestic LPG prices in India remain lower than rates in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The government raised the price of a 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder by `29, taking it to `942 from `913 in Delhi. The hike comes nearly three months after an increase of `60 announced in March. The Congress alleged that the government was passing the burden of rising costs onto citizens.” CPM leader Pinarayi Vijayan called it an “anti-people” decision. As many as 23 Opposition parties are set to attend the crucial INDIA bloc meeting on Monday to devise fresh strategies to corner the BJP government on key national issues with an eye on the 2029 general elections, the Congress said. In a post on X, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said 23 political parties have confirmed their participation in the “INDIA janbandhan” meeting. “There are some parties who have expressed their inability to attend this particular meeting for their own reasons, even though they have conveyed their strong opposition to the Modi gover nment’s policies and actions,” Ramesh said. The meeting comes amid growing friction within the bloc, with the DMK and AAP opting to skip and others expressing concerns about the Congress’s conduct. While the gathering is being seen as an effort to deepen coordination among Opposition parties, particularly after the recent round of assembly elections and amid evolving political equations in several states, a Samajwadi Party leader told this paper that the DMK’s absence would be a major setback for the bloc. “The Congress will have to face several questions. Being the largest party, they failed to take other parties along,” he said. The DMK decided to boycott the meeting, citing Congress’s “betrayal” in Tamil Nadu by joining the TVK government. The meeting comes at the behest of the Trinamool Congress, which is facing an existential crisis. “Meeting with a common purpose and clear intent. INDIA united. Many parties look forward to meeting in the spirit of camaraderie,” TMC MP Derek O’Brien said. SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Manoj Jha, J&K CM Omar Abdullah, NCP’s Supriya Sule, VCK’s Thirumavalavan and others are expected to attend. TVK was not invited because it doesn’t have MPs. CPM will be represented by its Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas at the meeting. Lesson in laughter scripts final chapter Kochi: The Malayalam film industry and cultural fraternity. besides thousands of admirers, braved the rain to bid farewell to late actor Salim Kumar on Sunday. The mortal remains were brought to the Paravur Municipal Town Hall around 9am. The public homage lasted for more than four hours. The cinema veteran was then taken to his residence, Laughing Villa, where he was cremated with full state honours | P4 Chandu Kumar, son of the late actor Salim Kumar, kisses his father’s mortal remains placed on the funeral pyre at his residence in Paravur, Ernaklulam, on Sunday | A Sanesh trailblazer Pimenta, most powerful woman in football in an industry created by men for men. “It’s really male dominated and RAFAELA Pimenta has had a few in- it was even worse when I started,” sults thrown in her general direction says the 53-year-old who was at the over the decades. But the most pow- event as she had invested in their erful woman in football doesn’t let it new product, Total Chess. The Braaffect her anymore. “Couldn’t care zilian lawyer-turned-manager — less at this point,” she generally recognised tells this daily on the as one of the first fepress sidelines of the Norway clusive male ‘super agents’ Chess event last week. in football — will Pimenta, who managhave a number of es Erling Haaland among other star clients at the World Cup, befootballers, lifted the lid on what her ginning in the US, Mexico working conditions were like before and Canada from June 11, she worked up the ladder to carve i n c l u d i n g N o r w a y ’ s out a commanding space for herself Haaland. s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Oslo Pimenta hopes for better working conditions for women in football. “What I hope is that it gets easier for all women. That women will not care for this abuse and that we can keep holding our positions we achieved and push forward.” It’s a powerful message to think about as the men’s World Cup — the single most widely watched sporting event across the planet — is about to start in a few days’ time.  P11 Rafaela Pimenta | Michal Walusza / Norway Chess 7,613 lives lost on Kerala roads in 2 yrs; 6-9pm slot most fatal The number of fatalities saw a slight drop over the intervening period, from Kerala lost over 7,500 lives to road ac- 3,880 in 2024 to 3,733 deaths in 2025, even cidents in the two-year period to 2025, as the number of accidents rose from with the 6pm to 9pm window proving to 48,834 to 49,889, respectively showed the , be the most dangerous, the ‘Road Acci- SCRB data. The figures of those injured dent Analysis Report’ rose from 54,796 in 2024 released by the State Cause for concern to 56,922 in 2025. Crime Records Bureau Malappuram and PalYear Accidents Deaths Injuries (SCRB) has revealed. akkad emerged the most As per the data, 7,613 dangerous traffic corri2022 43,910 4,317 49,307 people lost their lives in dors in the state, claim2023 48,068 4,080 54,286 nearly one lakh road acing 649 and 638 lives recidents over the period, spectively over the 24 2024 48,834 3,880 54,796 averaging 10 fatalities a months under review. 2025 49,889 3,733 56,922 day A significant 21% of . Kasaragod and Idukki (Source: State Crime Records Bureau) the deaths occurred durwere comparatively safing the peak hours of er with 172 and 204 fa6pm to 9pm. In contrast, the time period talities respectively . between midnight and 3am saw the lowSurprisingly, though bad weather est accidents at 2.23% and fewest deaths takes the rap for mishaps, the data reat 1.86%. Overspeeding was the number vealed that a majority of accidents one cause of death, leading to 46% (81,534) and deaths (5,609) occurred dur● More on P4 fatalities. ing sunny/clear weather.  S h a n A S @T’Puram E X P RE S S RE A D Mystery man drives away KSRTC bus from Pkd Palakkad: An unidentified person drove away a KSRTC ordinary bus parked on Link Road outside the Palakkad KSRTC bus station in the early hours of Sunday. It was eventually traced near Mangalam Tower around 5.15 am. As per the police, the man hit two compound walls and a roadside tea shop near Melamuri, heavily damaging the right side of the bus | P4 Foreign honorary doctorate scam on rise Kochi: Fraudulent consultancies claiming to offer honorary doctorates from foreign varsities are increasingly targeting people in Kerala. The racket, operating mainly via social media, allegedly promises honorary doctorate degrees from “internationally reputed universities” for anywhere from I1.20 lakh to I2.5 lakh | P5