THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l tuesday l july 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION India’s crude basket at lowest level since start of west asia war India’s crude oil basket averaged $67.88 per barrel so far in July, below the $69.01 per barrel recorded in February, before the start of the West Asia war Down sharply from $113.49 per barrel in mar July purchase price lower than fy26 avg Crude oil prices had surged sharply during the West Asia conflict that began on February 28, with the crude oil basket averaging $113.49 per barrel in March. It moderated to $106.23 per barrel in May and further declined to $83.22 per barrel in June. It has averaged $67.88 per barrel in July, the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data showed ■ ■ According to the PPAC data, India’s average purchase price of crude oil so far in July is lower than the FY26 average of $70.99 per barrel Though the crude purchase price has fallen, a cut in fuel prices is unlikely to happen soon with the government indicating prices must be stable at the pre-war level for months before that can happen $62.20 per barrel in December was the lowest purchasing price in fy26 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 Lift on Balogun ban sparks outcry Early exit for Selecao USA’s Folarin Balogun was set to play the last 16 tie against Belgium despite being sent off in 2-0 win against Bosnia thanks to “phonecalls,” before Brazil got eliminated. A look... Belgium appeal rejected FIFA has dismissed Belgium’s challenge over the eligibility of Balogun after they decided to suspend his one-game ban. “The RBFA is not a party to the proceedings and, has no standing to appeal the decision,” FIFA stated Former MLA ‘stuck’ in court over blocked road traffic E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ T’Puram In a curious development, a court in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday ordered CPM leader and former Alappuzha MLA P P Chitharanjan and two others to stay in the court until it dispersed for the day as punishment for unlawful assembly and obstruction of traffic during a protest march in 2025. The Thiruvananthapuram Judicial First Class Magistrate Court V sentenced him to “stay in court till the rising of the court” after he pleaded guilty of the offences charged against him. Magistrate Tania Mary Jose handed over the nominal punishment along with a fine of `1,600. Chitharanjan and two other co-accused, P M Waheeda and N K P P Chitharanjan R a m a c h a n dran, were handed down the punishment by lunch and they spent around three hours in the courtroom to comply with the order. The incident related to the case happened on January 17. Chitharanjan had inaugurated the protest march organised by the Kerala Co-operative Employees Union (CITU) from Palayam to the Secretariat. The march was organised seeking better wages and job protection for co-operative hospital employees. Chitharanjan said he had inaugurated the march and since his name was published in the programme notice, he was booked. “The sentencing came around 1pm. We were allowed to proceed for lunch. Upon returning, we sat on the court bench till the court called it a day he told TNIE. ,” i started this process, says Trump US President Donald Trump said that he called FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to review red-card decision on Balogun. Then, FIFA stated that his red card has been lifted and instead ordered a probationary period of a year under Article 27 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code A late brace from Erling Haaland against Brazil sealed Norway their first quarterfinal spot with a 2-1 win. Following elimination, superstar Neymar announced his international retirement. Haaland and Co will face England in the quarterfinals, who beat a strong Mexico side at the daunting Estadio Azteca in Mexico City Today’s matches (Round of 16): Argentina vs Egypt | 9.30 PM; Switzerland vs Colombia | 1:30 AM* ( *IST Wednesday) T’Puram: With its credibility taking a serious hit following allegations of recruitment scam, the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) has ordered a probe by its interval vigilance cell into the irregularities reported in the recruitment exam conducted for various key posts in the Planning Board. The decision was taken during a meeting of the PSC members on Monday. P4 u d ayan k i s hor e @ New Delhi ‘AI won’t kill jobs, only professions’ J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi I NDIA is yet to meaningfully benefit from the global ‘China+1’ supply chain shift and remains a difficult place for foreign investors to do business, according to Ruchir Sharma, chairman of Rockefeller International. Speaking to TNIE in a wide-ranging interview, he said the world risks overestimating the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI). “We are in an AI bubble,” said Sharma, adding that and one of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it will ‘kill jobs’. “Technology doesn’t kill jobs. It kills professions,” the prominent global investor and author said. “Every technological revolut i o n d e s t roy s certain professions but creates entirely new ones. We tend to focus on what’s being destroyed rather than what’s being created.” He pointed to historical technological shifts Five years from now, the belief that the entire world order is going to be built solely on AI will look wrong Ruchir Sharma, chairman, Rockefeller Int’l and the Jevons Paradox— technological progress increases efficiency and so over, all consumption goes up rather than decreases—as reasons to believe AI will create new forms of work even as it automates existing roles. “I don’t believe the world is going to be defined by an ‘ I or A bye-bye’ mindset.” He then clarified: “I am a huge believer in AI as a technology It is go. ing to be transformative. But the current view is far too unifocal.” On India’s AI ambitions, Sharma said partnerships with countries from France to Japan are important but can’t quickly bridge India’s infrastructure gap. “The winners are the countries producing AI infrastruct u re ( f ro m semiconduc- tors to data centres)”, he said. While India’s strength has been “software, not hardware,” AI leaders invest 3-4% of GDP in technology and R&D, compared with about 1% in India. On manufacturing, Sharma offered a blunt assessment of India’s performance in attracting global supply chains. “The big beneficiaries of China+1 (a supply chain strategy where companies keep part of their manufacturing operations in China but move some production to another country) have been Vietnam and South Korea. We have not seen anything really on that front in any meaningful way .” He said India’s biggest obstacle is the domestic business climate. “At the end of the day , India is a very tough place to do business,” Sharma said, citing coordination challenges across different levels of government. He also warned against complacency “There is this under. lying attitude that ‘where else will the money go?’ It has to come to India because the market is so large. I think that prevents the most ef ficient policymaking.”  (Edited excerpts of interview on op-ed page on Thursday) YouTube is a dynamic platform where millions of videos are uploaded every hour. It is impossible to proactively monitor the videos uploaded on the platform Google, in Delhi HC Behind the petition Lawyer Vaibhav Singh had filed the PIL against unauthorised sharing of court proceedings on April 13 by several Opposition leaders and journalists, in which Arvind Kejriwal had sought recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the liquor policy case. The other respondents in the case include Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, AAP leaders Sanjeev Jha, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Jarnail Singh, and journalist Ravish Kumar SOCIAL media behemoths Google and Meta on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that they cannot be burdened with an obligation to police millions of videos uploaded on their platforms worldwide. They submitted that they were only intermediaries and neither create nor control third-party content, and cannot be “compelled to proactively monitor their platforms for unlawful content”. While Google said it was impossible for it to proactively monitor “millions of videos uploaded on the YouTube every hour throughout the world”, Meta said there were over 2.9 billion users of Facebook, and over 1.5 billion users of the Instagram Service worldwide and it was “impracticable (if not impossible) for Meta to locate or identify the contents posted on them without URLs.” The submissions were made in affidavits filed by the social media companies before a bench of justices V Kameswar Rao and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora in a PIL concerning circulation of videos of hearing in Arvind Kejriwal’s recusal plea on April 13. The court had earlier ordered takedown of the video from YouTube and Facebook/Instagram, owned by Google LLC and Meta respectively, which was complied with. The petitioner later moved the court alleging that the video in question was resurfacing on the platforms, and sought a direction to prevent their recurrence. Both Google and Meta opposed the submission, claiming that YouTube and Facebook/Instagram were merely intermediaries under the IT Act, and that the liability if any “rests with the publisher , , or uploader of the content”. Meta in its submission ter med monitoring of content on Facebook or Instagram as “impracticable”. The bench deferred hearing on the petition till August 27. Govt crackdown on aides of environment minister Yadav S u m it K u m ar Singh @ New Delhi High command draws the line on PM SHRI PSC internal vigilance cell to conduct probe PIL against sharing court proceedings and recordings on social media Express exclusive E x p r e s s Re a d T’Puram: The Congress leadership has conveyed its strong objection to the state’s decision to implement schemes such as PM SHRI, a development that could offset CM V D Satheesan’s and IUML’s efforts to move ahead with the centrally sponsored programme. The scheme sparked a row after the UDF government was accused of taking a political and ideological U-turn from its declared position. P4 Can’t police videos: Meta, Google to HC gone with the rain Debris blocks a newly opened section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway following a landslide amid heavy rain in Pune and neighbouring districts on Monday. The weather office issued a ‘red alert’ for the district, warning of further rain ahead | PTI | P8 In a significant crackdown, the Union government recently purged the private secretary and two additional private secretaries from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. All three were part of minister Bhupender Yadav’s team. Mass transfers/sacking of a minister’s aides does not happen frequently Sources said a . similar action is afoot against the aides of three other ministers. Three separate office orders issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on July 3 to effect the changes. The first order “terminated with immediate effect” the appointment of Ayush Saran, Additional Private Secretary to Yadav. The second order repatriated Shailesh Kumar Singh, a Central Secretariat Service officer, who also served as Additional Private Secretary to minister Yadav, to his parent cadre at the Department of Personnel and Training, with what the order described as an “extended cooling off ” period before further posting. The third order sent Amar Singh, an Indian Revenue Serv- ice officer from the 2010 batch, who served as the minister’s Private Secretary, back to his parent cadre at the Department of Revenue “on administrative ground”. The orders were copied to the Prime M i n i s t e r ’s O f f i c e (PMO), the Cabinet Secretariat, the Department of Personnel and Training and others. In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second innings from 2019 to 2024, around 102 officers and personal staff of various ministers were removed and transferred, sources said. Trust president Nritya Gopal Das (R) on his way to the meeting in Ayodhya| PTI Rai resignation okayed, interim gen secy named N a m ita B aj pai @ Lucknow THE Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Monday accepted the resignations of Champat Rai as its general secretary and member Anil Mishra in the wake of alleged embezzlement of donations. Trustee Krishna Mohan has been named as interim general secretary . Trust Treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri announced the decision after a crucial meeting on Monday and named trustee Krishna Mohan as interim general secretary. Both leaders had resigned on June 27 following allegations of theft of Ram temple donations. Krishna Mohan, 74, a former Indian Forest Service officer and RSS’s eastern UP Kshetra Sanghchalak from Hardoi, had filed the police complaint that led to the FIR and arrests. Giri said the temple Trust would meet again on July 22 to decide on the appointment of a new trustee. He also announced the formation of a three-member panel to identify a CEO for the Trust, comprising retired judge Pramod Kohli, retired Lt Gen Vishnukant Chaturvedi and trustee Suresh Haware. Meanwhile, special invitee Gopal Rao Nagarkotte, who has been in the eye of a storm over the theft controversy, was debarred from the Trust. Giri described the donation theft as a matter of “deep embarrassment” for the Trust, saying the controversy had cast a shadow over a temple built after a centuries-long struggle. However, he rejected claims of missing valuables, and said detailed records of donated items exist. “Some people claimed that many valuable items donated have disappeared. We have registers of about 2,800 donated items. These records are available, and we are prepared to show them,” he said. AMMA Revathy, Padmapriya quit Amid the crisis within AMMA, Revathy and Padmapriya resigned from primary membership of the association, saying it had increasingly become shaped by “patriarchy and power politics”. P4 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Detained in false Pocso case, 20-year-old alleges custodial torture E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ P’thitta A 20-year-old man who was detained over an alleged sexual abuse of a minor, a case that later turned out to be fake, has now come out against the pol i c e, a l l e g i n g c u s t o d i a l torture. The Koodal police in Pathanamthitta had on Friday registered two cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act on a complaint by a 13-year-old girl, alleging that she was sexually harassed by several persons, including her classmates. The allegations were later found to be false following the girl’s medical examination and her statement before a magistrate. In his complaint submitted to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, the youth, a heart patient, alleged that he was subjected to torture by a police team led by the Koodal Sub-Inspector. According to the complaint, officers arrived at his house in plain clothes, forcibly took him away in a car and repeatedly interrogated him despite his insistence that he neither knew the girl nor the other persons named in the case. He further alleged that the officers ignored his repeated pleas that he had undergone heart surgery recently and physically assaulted him. “The police beat me on the soles with canes, stamped on my feet with their boots and pulled me up by my ears,” the complaint stated. His brother also alleged that the police had initially detained him by mistake before taking the 20-year-old into custody . Speaking to TNIE, Pathanamthitta district police chief R Anand said a probe has been ordered into the allegation of custodial torture. “The man was taken into custody for interrogation based on the victim’s statement. The officers had completed all procedural formalities for interrogation as well. However, there is a complaint of torture during interrogation. Hence, a special branch DySP has been assigned to probe the complaint. Further action will be taken based on the probe report,” he said. The officers ignored repeated pleas that I had undergone heart surgery recently. They beat me on the soles with canes, stamped on my feet with their boots and pulled me up by my ears — Complainant Earlier, the Koodal police had questioned six persons, including four minors, in connection with the Pocso case. Apart from the 20-year-old complainant, the parents of other youths questioned by the police have also demanded an inquiry into the manner in which the probe involving their children was conducted. The allegations have sparked protests, with the CPM and the DYFI staging a demonstration in front of the Koodal police station on Monday  ● More on P4 .