THRISSUR l friday l november 27, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION India to get custody of Tahawwur Rana soon The extradition process of the co-conspirator of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks will begin in January, US told India 12th anniversary of the attack on mumbai This was conveyed to India the 12th anniversary of the attack on Thursday. Pakistani-Candadian doctor Rana, 59, is serving a 14-year-prison sentence in a Los Angeles prison in connection with another terror plot. It was on November 26, 2008 that 10 members of Lashkar-e-Toiba carried out 12 coordinated attacks in Mumbai. At least 174 died and 300 were wounded ■ 174 We will never forget, say twitterati On the 12th anniversary, several celebrities took to Twitter, saying “We will never forget”. Ratan Tata, who was heading the Tata Group at the time and ensured the Taj Mahal hotel’s restoration despite massive destruction to property, wrote: “The wanton destruction that took place 12 years ago will never be forgotten” Casualties in the 26/11 attack by pak-sponsored terrorists in 2008 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Haryana’s barricades & tear gas fail to stop Delhi Chalo march Water cannons no match for farmers’ resolve to reach the nat’l capital to register protest H a r p r ee t B a j w a @ Chandigarh There was plenty of action on the Punjab-Haryana interstate border on Thursday with Punjab farmers beginning their two-day Delhi Chalo agitation, as they broke through barricades on the Haryana side and pushed ahead despite the police using water cannons and tear gas to stop their onward march. The face-off at all entry points along the interstate border was anticipated, as Haryana has a BJP-led coalition government, and the Delhi Chalo agitation is against a bunch of farm laws the Modi government at the Centre steamrolled in Parliament. To start with, farmers broke the barricading at the Shambhu interstate border near Ambala on the Amritsar-Delhi National Highway after the police fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to disperse them, but to no effect. The agitators threw some barricades into the nearby Ghaggar river and made their way into Ambala, pushing trucks aside despite heavy deploy- Oxford vaccine faces questions over quality S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca has found itself facing a credibility test after the two entities acknowledged faulty human trials where participants were given two dosing regimens. Interestingly, the efficacy of the vaccine in volunteers who got a lower dose was found to be 90%, while it was only 62% among those who got full dose. The difference in doses given to the trial participants had left scientists perplexed but no explanation was offered for that. Also, the trial participants consisted of very few elderly individuals, but this information was not disclosed. Farmers from Punjab find a heavy police build-up impeding their progress to the national capital at the Shambu border during their Delhi Chalo protest march against the three new farm laws passed by Parliament, in Patiala on Thursday | PTI ment of security personnel, including the Rapid Action Force. After crossing Ambala, they broke police barricades near Tyora village in Kurukshetra, again making water cannons look like toy pistols. At multiple points on the interstate border, Haryana had placed boulders, heavy barricades and even parked trucks Heavy deployment of forces on Delhi border Haryana’s police and paramilitary forces have also been heavily deployed at the Singhu border with Delhi. Deployment of forces is equally heavy at the interstate border cities of Faridabad and Gurugram bang in the middle of highways to prevent the farmers’ march. Similarly, at the Tukar border of Pehowa in Kurukshetra, Punjab farmers broke open the barricades, throwing some of them into the Markanda river, to enter Haryana though the water cannons were firing away . Activists world over to protest skewed staff rights at Amazon E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Activists around the world, including India, will come together on Black Friday (November 27) to protest against e-tailing behemoth Amazon’s anti-union practices. Protests will be held across the world, including in New Delhi and Hyderabad, under the #MakeAmazonPay banner. Some of the organisations that have lent their support to the protests include Progressive International, Hawkers Joint Action Committee, UNI Global Union, 350.org and Greenpeace. The movement, endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Cornel West and other eminent activists, workers and supporters around the world, will embark on a day of action with protests to demand that Amazon pays its workers fairly and respects their right to join unions, pays its fair share of taxes, respects small businesses and commits to real environment sustainability . Action will take place across Amazon’s global empire, including its supply chain in countries like Brazil, Mexico, US, UK, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany Luxembourg, Italy Poland, , , India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Australia. “In India, Amazon is undergoing an antitrust probe.... But its labour practices in India deserve equal scrutiny Warehous. es are the new-age sweatshops, relying on over-stressed and underpaid workers with few protections. Today’s general strike in India shows that the people demand better than the government inviting yet more exploitation to the country by companies like Amazon, according to a press release from Progressive International’s India campaign lead. EXPRESS READ 3 killed as Nivar crosses coast Engg courses to be offered in regional languages soon Headload workers have no right to handle appliances: HC Chennai: At least three people were killed in Tamil Nadu and some low-lying areas marooned due to water-logging following heavy rains on Thursday as severe cyclonic storm Nivar made landfall near Puducherry. P5 New Delhi: From the next academic year, technical courses, including engineering programmes, will be offered in regional languages. The decision was taken at a high-level review meeting chaired by Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Thursday. Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday held that the headload workers cannot insist that they have a right to loading and unloading electric goods such as television sets and refrigerators as these require more diligent handling. L e g e n d l i v es o n Kannur hotel owns a Maradona museum M A RAJ E E V KUMAR @ Kannur On entering suite number 309 of Hotel Blue Nile, you feel an invisible presence of the ‘God of Football’ enveloping you. For the hotel, where Diego Maradona — who passed away in Buenos Aires on Wednesday — spent a couple of days eight years ago, has been turned into a museum. V Raveendran, the managing director of the hotel and an ardent Maradona fan, said that nothing has been changed or rearranged ever since the Argentine legend left the hotel. He considers himself fortu- V Raveendran watches the photographs of Maradona in his hotel | Express nate to have received a chance to host the football genius when he visited Kannur to attend a private function in October, 2012. “He was so warm, friendly and down to earth. As he couldn’t speak English, his secretary, a lady, had acted as the translator for his Spanish. But we could easily make out that he was delighted and excited to be in the midst of hardcore football fans,” Raveendran said. Maradona had stayed at the hotel on October 23 and 24. After he had left, the room was renamed Maradona Suite. The plates and towels he had used, the cigar stubs in the ashtray and even the soap tray have been left untouched. ● More on P5 A hotel in Kerala where Maradona stayed has kept a suite in his name which still has his memorabilia intact. My hosts put me up there as a great honour for a night. That was unforgettable. T P Sreenivasan More devotees to be permitted at Sabarimala temple E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram FACED with financial crisis and driven by an eagerness to run another smooth pilgrimage season after the confusion that had occurred over young women’s entry two years ago, the state government on Thursday decided to increase the number of devotees allowed daily into the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple. It is learnt that the number of devotees will be upped from the present 1,000 to 2,000 on week days and from 2,000 to 3,000 on weekends and holidays. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the committee on pilgrimage, chaired by Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta, based on a request by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). The health department strongly objected a major increase in the number citing the prevalent Covid situation. The order stating the exact numbers is expected to be issued on Friday . “The devotees will be at different points between Pampa and Sannidhanam and hence there won’t be crowding even if the numbers are raised. Currently there are times, especially in the evenings, when there would not be a single devotee in front of the sanctum sanctorum. We made the proposal in this context,” said TDB president N Vasu. “Precautionary measures are being followed. Not a single devotee tested positive so far,” he added. Raveendran seeks excuse, ED to serve third notice E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e  @ Kochi/T’Puram THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) may serve a fresh notice on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s additional private secretary C M Raveendran after he submitted a medical report and informed the agency that he cannot appear for interrogation on Friday The ED had issued Raveendran a second notice to . appear at its Kochi office as part of its probe into money laundering behind the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic channel. Raveendran is admitted to the intensive care unit at the Thiruvananthapuram MCH. Sources in the hospital said other than breathing troubles, that he ● More on P5 will not be discharged until Friday  .