HYDERABAD l sunday l september 06, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l LATE CITY EDITION Putin, Zelenskyy agree to pause strikes during talks with U.S. The pause on strikes on Kyiv and Moscow from Saturday was tied to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s (pics) visit to Moscow and Kyiv russia says ‘no talk of new ideas’ Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed, in a clip from Tass News, that Kushner and Witkoff would meet Putin during their Moscow visit on Saturday, but said there was “no talk of new ideas” to end the conflict. The envoys’ trip comes as both Ukraine and Russia escalate aerial attacks, some 4.5 years after the Kremlin’s invasion of its neighbour ■ 53 u.s. push to stop war loses momentum ■ Washington’s push to end the fighting, now in its fifth year, has lost momentum as US attention has been focused for the past six months on its war with Iran and a protracted engagement in the Gulf | P9 The two US envoys were received in Moscow by envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who shared photos captioned “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers” Ukrainian drones shot down by russia on friday night 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 all 10 guilty in Naxal attack that wiped out C’garh Cong leadership E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy with Tata Consultancy Services CEO K Krithivasan and IT Minister D Sridhar Babu at the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Saturday WITH THIS ISSUE Tata firm to invest `70K cr, build 1 GW data centre in state A formal MoU was exchanged between the state government and TCS in the presence of HyperVault, a subsidiary of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy , Tata Consultancy Services IT and Industries Minister D (TCS), will develop an artificial Sridhar Babu, TCS CEO K intelligence (AI) data centre Krithivasan, and HyperVault campus with a capacity of up to AI Data Center Ltd MD and 1 GW on more than 250 CEO Deepesh Nanda. acres in Hyderabad, The state governinvolving an investment said the project ment of up to `70,000 would strengthen Telcrore. At full build-out, Thrilled to welcome angana’s AI and digitthe campus is expect- @TCS HyperVault al infrastructure ecoto Future City... ed to be among India’s system and spur largest and most ad- With an investment activity in power, coolof around `70,000 vanced AI infrastrucing, networking, concrore, a 250+ acre ture facilities and is campus and up to struction, engineering being described as the 1 GW capacity, the and operations. largest investment Describing the project will deal between a state project as “historic”, establish India’s largest AI data government and a prithe chief minister said centre campus vate sector company . that access to AI modHyperVault and its els and computing caA Revanth Reddy, partners will build pacity was becoming chief minister and operate infraakin to public infrastructure for frontier structure. He directed AI companies, hyperscalers officials to complete the project and global enterprises. The by June 2, 2028, Telangana Forproject is expected to generate mation Day . around 7,000 direct and indiHe said the Tata Group had rect jobs and will feature high- so far provided around 85,000 density, liquid-cooled comput- jobs and expressed hope that ing infrastructure, with green employment generated by the energy and water-neutral de- group in Telangana would cross sign principles. one lakh.  continued on p4 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Squeezed PLUS in the12 PAGES Middle PLUS 12 P AGES express read Murder accused to be extradited to India London: A UK-based pharmacist wanted in India to stand trial on charges of murder for targeting his ex-wife’s family in Hyderabad can be extradited to India, a London court ruled on Friday | P5 US strikes 3 oil tankers after Iran attack Washington: The US struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday after Iran launched ballistic missiles toward two Navy warships, including an aircraft carrier, US Central Command said | P9 Awaiting punishment A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Jagdalpur on Saturday convicted all 10 surviving Maoist insurgents, including three women, on trial for their role in the ghastly 2013 Jhiram Ghati massacre in south Chhattisgarh, known as one of India’s most politically catastrophic terror strikes. The court of special judge Ajay Singh Rajput found all the accused guilty of terror and mass murder, and will announce the quantum of punishment on September 16. The accused are lodged in Jagdalpur Central Jail in Bastar. The prosecution examined as many as 101 witnesses in the The convicts were identified as Pramila Modiyam, Chaitu Lekam, Sumitra Punem Modiyam, Mukka Mandavi, Kosa Kavasi, Aayata Markam, Madkami Deva, Joga Madkami, Banjami Sanna and Mahadev Nag. Kosa Kavasi’s brother Guddu claimed that Kosa and Mukka Mandavi had been falsely implicated in the case case. Defence counsel Arvind Choudhary said his team will appeal against the verdict in higher courts. The 10 individuals convicted for orchestrating and executing the bloodshed hailed from the Bastar region. On May 25, 2013, ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, a convoy of the Congress’ ‘Parivartan Yatra’ returning from a rally in Sukma was ambushed by heavily-armed Maoists in the dense forests of Jhiram valley between Darbha and Tongpal. The ambush wiped out virtually the entire top-tier leadership of the state Congress. Among the 31 killed were then- Revanth vows to defeat BRS leaders in their Sircilla, Siddipet strongholds A Se s h a c h a r y u l u @ Nalgonda Expressing confidence that the Congress would win both Sircilla and Siddipet Assembly constituencies — seats represented by BRS strongmen KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao respectively — in the next elections, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday announced that he would visit Sircilla by the end of this month. “After that, I will visit Siddipet in October. I challenge the Kalvakuntla family to face the Congress in the elections,” the chief minister thundered, addressing a massive public meeting at Nakrekal in Nalgonda district. “We are ready to settle the matter in Sircilla and Siddipet. Let the Kalvakuntla family brace themselves. We will give a fitting reply Let’s settle this . in the upcoming elections,” he said. BJP trying to steal votes to win in Telangana: CM Hyderabad: Accusing the BJP of stealing votes through the SIR of electoral rolls, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy alleged that the saffron party was bent upon doing the same in Telangana too in a desperate bid to come to power in the state | P4 Claiming that the BRS had no political future, Revanth said the Congress would retain power for a second consecutive term by winning 90 of the 119 Assembly seats in the state. He said ‘Indiramma Rajyam’ would continue for two terms, until 2034. Revanth also took a swipe at BRS president and Leader of the Opposition K Chandrasekhar Rao over his absence from the Assembly. He challenged KCR to attend the session and participate in a debate on the performance of the government. The chief minister said the government was ready to debate every issue in the Assembly and questioned why the Leader of the Opposition was not attending the sessions. He said employees could face dismissal if they failed to report for duty for 365 days, and alleged that KCR had received `22.24 crore in salary from the government without attending the Assembly . “Should he be dismissed or not? Wasn’t the salary KCR received paid from taxes collected from the poor?” Revanth asked. He said KCR should resign as MLA from Gajwel and face a byelection if he was unwilling to attend the Assembly He also . accused the former chief minister of confining himself to his farmhouse while his party criticised the Congress government.  continued on P4 PM taps Gen Z idiom, calls SRCC alumni the OGs I f r a h M u f t i @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi struck a distinctly Gen Z note as he addressed students at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in Delhi on the occasion of Teachers’ Day on Saturday, using contemporary phrases like “OG (original gangster)” and invoking popular culture while returning to the campus 13 years after his 2013 visit. Setting the tone early in his speech, Modi referred to SRCC’s alumni as trendsetters in their own right. “If I say it in Gen Z language, they are OG,” he said, pointing to their contributions across fields. He added, “Dhurandhar na ho, lekin dhoom toh machayi hai.” Modi also took aim at critics Those who saw the glass as half empty in 2013, when I had visited the SRCC, still choose to see it the same way today Narendra Modi, PM at SRCC Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with a boy in Delhi Metro en route to the Shri Ram College of Commerce for its centenary celebrations on Saturday | PTI of the government’s development initiatives during his address, calling them “naraz fufa (aggrieved uncle)” who oppose all projects by asking why they are needed. He told students, “Outside this campus, you will meet two kinds of people. One Poll panel likely to extend SIR process in state by 3 weeks E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad The SIR process in Telangana is likely to be extended by at least three weeks, with the ECI expected to issue an order shortly ac, c o rd i n g t o h i g h ly placed sources in the election commission. Telangana Chief Electoral Officer C Sudarshan Reddy confirmed to TNIE that he had written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) a few days ago seeking an extension of the ongoing Special In- tensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, but declined to d iv u l g e d e t a i l s o f t h e communication. The development comes days after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy also urged the ECI to extend the SIR timeline. “The ECI sought a response from us and we gave our feedback. Mostly, the SIR process will be extended by three weeks, with publication of the final electoral roll likely to be pushed to November,” sources in the CEO’s office said.  continued on P4 kind consists of people who positively transfor m the strength of society into the strength of the nation. The second kind is made up of people who become the naraz fufa whenever any work is started. Their favourite thing is to op- pose everything?” he said. “When we were building the world’s tallest statue, the fufa said, ‘What is the need for this?’ When we started working on the high-speed train, the fufa again said, ‘What is the need for this? When we introduced UPI, these same fufas asked, ‘Why UPI.’ When we built the new Parliament building, they again said, ‘What is the need for this?’” Modi said. Reflecting on SRCC’s legacy, Modi drew from his personal interactions with alumni across sectors. “Arun Jaitley studied here. Currently, my team includes Sanjeev Sanyal, who also studied here. In other words, SRCC members have made a name for themselves in every field,” he said. SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA @ Kathmandu The house had been buried under debris following the devastating floods. Shrestha was brought out alive from a window on the top floor. She had passed out when rescuers spot- The CBI has registered an FIR against Subhash Chandra for allegedly inflating his net worth to avail loans from LICHFL and defaulting on repayment | P7 JLR to slash headcount by 4K in UK as US levy bites @ New Delhi india spin a web Shafali Verma (L) celebrates the wicket of Muneeba Ali with Richa Ghosh (R) as Pakistan collapsed from 27/0 to 55 all out against India in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup on Saturday. India chased the total in 8.4 overs to win by seven wickets | bcci Toll crosses 1,300, including 85 children The woman rescued from her house in Betrawati, Nuwakot | Express Essel group founder booked by CBI eX p r e s s ne w s Se r v i c e Woman, 60, trapped in flood slush at home, rescued Rescue teams on Saturday pulled a Chinese national alive from a tunnel at the Upper T r i s h u l i - 1 H yd ro e l e c t r i c Project, nearly two weeks after the devastating flood that swept through Nepal’s northern districts, while rescuers separately saved a 60-year-old woman trapped inside a debris-buried house in Nuwakot. In the rescue operation in Betrawati, Nuwakot, an Armed Police Force team led by Inspector Suman B K rescued Chandika Shrestha from the top floor of a four-storey house owned by her husband, Anand Shrestha. Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh Patel, former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla, senior Congress leader and Salwa Judum architect Mahendra Karma, and former MLA Uday Mudliyar, alongside several party workers. The then Raman Singh-led BJP government handed over the probe to the NIA within two days of the attack. NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet on September 28, 2015, following arrest of two more suspects. In January 2019, the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the attack, alleging NIA had not investigated the larger conspiracy behind the attack. The death toll from the flash floods in Nepal reached 1,344 on Saturday as more bodies were recovered. They included 85 children, while 501 were found with body parts missing, officials said. As many as 1,030 bodies have been temporarily buried ted her but gradually regained consciousness. Her family had performed symbolic last rites assuming she was dead, after they could not find her for several days fol- lowing the flash floods. At the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydroelectric Project, the Chinese national, identified as Luhaitao, was rescued from about 225 metres inside the tunnel by a joint team involving the Nepali Army and foreign personnel. Further search and rescue operations at the hydropower project are continuing. The rescue comes a day after two Nepali workers, Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan, were pulled alive from a tunnel at the Trishuli-3A Hydroelectric Project after being trapped for nine days. The two rescues have raised hopes of finding more people alive. TATA Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is preparing to cut around 4,000 jobs in the United Kingdom (UK) over the next two years amid a drop in sales and rising costs. The luxury carmaker has taken a hit after the US slapped import duty on imports from the UK and a cyberattack in 2025 that led to a complete halt in operations. The planned job cut, reported by The Times, is part of JLR’s effort to deliver 1.7 billion British pounds (`21,700 crore) in savings and reduce its breakeven point to 300,000 vehicles. The carmaker has already told employees and trade union partners that it is opening a voluntary redundancy programme for salaried and management staff. JLR employs around 34,000 people directly in the UK across three sites in the West Midlands and another in Halewood, Merseyside. “Today we informed our col, leagues and trade union partners that JLR is opening a voluntary redundancy programme offering salaried and management team members the opportunity to leave the business. We will share further information with our colleagues first,” the company added. JLR’s profits fell by 10% in the quarter to June 2026, while pre-tax profit dropped by more than two-thirds to £109 million. US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 10% tariff on cars imported from UK hit its operations in its biggest market. North America accounts for 29% of JLR’s sales.