Massing of Russian troops around Ukraine WAR CLOUDS gather russia UK pulling out embassy staff from Ukraine, US directs relatives of mission staffers to leave NATO rushes additional ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe Kyiv Luhansk ukraine Ireland says it won't allow Russia's upcoming war games off its coast Donetsk Newly arrived units * Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 ■ COIMBATORE l tuesday l january 25, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION Crimea* Troops 6,000 4,000 1,000 Russia, however, maintains it has no intention to invade Ukraine P9 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 Just 9.4% seats to Yadavs in SP’s first list for UP are Yadavs. However, the party treaded cautiously in signalUnder attack from the ruling ling the minority vote bank and BJP for distributing party tick- drawing Dalits by giving both ets ‘under the table’ but not Muslims and SCs a respectable making the names public, the chunk of 31 (19.5%) and 29 Samajwadi Party on Monday (18.23%) seats, respectively Be. released a list of 159 candidates sides, nine Brahmins and Banifor the first three phases of yas each as also seven Thakurs polls in Uttar Pradesh on Feb- have been fielded. ruary 10, 14 and 20. One name that stands out in As expected, party chief the list is of Umar Ali, the sonAkhilesh Yadav is the in-law of Maulana NDA’s first candidate from Karhal Ahmed Bukhari, the Muslim in Mainpuri district. Shahi Imam of Jama nominee While sitting MLA NaMasjid in Delhi. Umar hid Hasan has been rewill contest from BeApna Dal’s nominated from Kai- Haider Ali Khan hat on the SP ticket. rana, the SP’s Rampur (32) became the The other big name is MP Azam Khan has Shivpal Yadav, uncle first Muslim been fielded from his candidate fielded of Akhilesh and chief pocket borough of by the NDA in the of Pragatisheel SamaRampur. Both Hasan UP polls. He hails jwadi Party-Lohia. and Azam Khan are in from the Rampur Shivpal will contest different jails. royal family that from his traditional The par ty ag ain seat and Yadav family is a with the fielded Azam Khan’s Congress. He got bastion Jaswantnagar son Abdullah Azam a Congress ticket in Etawah district on from Suar in Rampur. but defected to the SP symbol. Abdullah’s election The party has acApna Dal | P8 was declared null and commodated 18 turnvoid by the Allahabad coats — 7 from BJP, 9 High Court in the previous As- from BSP and 2 from Congress. sembly (2017) on charges of BJP defector Dharam Singh forging age documents. Saini has been fielded from NaHaving woven a bouquet of kur though the import from alliances with smaller OBC Congress, Imran Masood, badly outfits for the first time to woo wanted it. They have since the non-Yadav OBCs, the SP patched up. Another BJP defecwalked the talk by giving them tor Swami Prasad Maurya 48 seats (30%). Interestingly, failed to get a seat for his son just 15 (9.43%) in the list of 159 Utkrisht from Unchahar. N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow Black Monday wipes out `9 lakh cr investor wealth RA M SA H GA L @ Mumbai Investors in Indian stockmarkets lost a whopping `9.07 lakh crore on Monday as key indices fell for the fifth straight day in tandem with the meltdown in global shares. The Sensex slipped 1545.67 points or 2.6% to end at 57491.51 points on Monday, while the broader Nifty shed 468 points to close at 17149.10, led by foreign institutional investors selling `3,752 crore worth of shares Young achievers Bal Puraskar awardees from south Telukunta Virat Chandra Banita Dash Mountaineer Young scientist Aswatha Biju Remona Evette Pereira Palaeontologist Deviprasad express read HC questions State over chief of police panel Chennai: The Madras High Court on Monday asked the State govt whether a retired High Court judge was appointed to head the fourth police commission based on a court order, or by amending the rules. When the Advocate General said it was based on a court order, the HC sought a copy of the order and posted the matter for January 31 | P4 Ace dancer Syed Fateen Ahmed Mridangam exponent and domestic investors buying just `75 crore of shares. Some buying at the lows helped the Sensex to close 507 points above the day’s low while the Nifty closed 151 points above its intraday low. Such was the ferocity of the fall that all of the Sensex’s 30 constituents ended in the red and just two of the Nifty 50 shares closed in the green. The FIIs have sold shares worth `12,543 crore in the calendar year to date and `42,534 Pianist NATIONWIDE Jan 23 Jan 24 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Gurugu Himapriya Bravery Vishalini N C Page 7 Young patent holder 3,33,533 3,06,064 2,59,168 2,43,495 525 439 tamil nadu Jan 23 Jan 24 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 30,580 30,215 24,283 24,639 40 46 Jab-o-meter Take your shot January 23 27,56,364 doses January 24 49,52,290 doses Total doses 1,62,77,06,092 62000 61000 61308.91 60754.86 60098.82 59464.62 59037.18 60000 59000 Crash course sensex 58000 57000 57491.51 56000 55000 17 Jan 18 Jan 19 Jan 20 Jan 21 Jan 24 Jan crore in the fiscal year so far. Relentless selling by foreign portfolio investors amid a rise in global inflationary expectations and fears of a rate hike by the US Fed is behind the 1200plus fall in the Nifty since January 17. The combined loss of investors over the past five days is a massive `19.5 lakh crore. Global markets are likely to remain choppy this week in view of rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and USled Nato over Ukraine. Class 10, 11, 12 boards in TN likely in May EX P RESS NEWS SER V I C E @ Chennai Board examinations for Classes 10, 11, and 12 will be conducted this year, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi confirmed on Monday . As announced in the last week of December, the exams will tentatively be held in May The min. ister had then said the State would conduct two revision tests — in January and March. But these may be delayed as schools are shut due to the pandemic. “Online classes have been conducted in full swing from the beginning of the academic year. So board exams will definitely be held. The priority as of now is to complete the syllabus,” said the minister. Last week, the State government suspended in-person classes for students of Classes 10-12 till January 31. In the first week of January, Chief Minister MK Stalin said students of Classes 1-9 would move back to online education. Students of Classes 10-12, meanwhile, were asked to go to school for vaccination and classes. The revision exams were then deferred until further notice. Talking about the suicide of a schoolgirl from Ariyalur, the minister clarified that forced conversion was not the reason, and those responsible would be penalised. “An unbiased probe will be initiated. The warden, who has been arrested, helped the girl’s family financially many times. But if she is guilty, stringent action will be taken,” he said. CM to Gadkari ‘Helping NHAI to expedite all road projects’ E x p r e ss N e ws S e r v i c e @ Chennai Taking exception to Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari’s remarks on issues faced by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in implementing projects in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday expressed “surprise” and said his government has put in its best efforts to support NHAI’s projects and helped resolve many long-pending issues. The government gave “very high importance” to NHAI projects as it fully realises the significance of road c o n n e c t iv i t y for an industrialised State like Tamil Nadu, the CM said. Speaking at an event on Budget 2022 a few days ago, Gadkari said NHAI was facing major problems in Tamil Nadu. “Road development projects in Tamil Nadu have hit a roadblock due to problems like sourcing aggregate material and forest clearances. I request the CM to cooperate with us,” Gadkari had said. Stalin, in his letter, said many of the issues causing delays are legacy issues. Earlier too, Gadkari had written to him and he had replied on the steps taken by his government, the CM said. Continued on: P4