Massing of Russian troops around Ukraine WAR CLOUDS gather russia UK starts 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 ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l tuesday l january 25, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 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 Stringent curbs in Just 9.4% seats to Yadavs in SP’s first list for UP capital after spike in hosp admission N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow Only 20 people allowed in functions; gyms, cinemas and swimming pools to be closed utmost attention 47.7% tpr on Monday was the highest ever reported in the state Thiruvanthapuram first district to be classified as Category C, which calls for the maximum focus Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directs officials to focus on strengthening containment measures in the the capital Governor Arif Mohammed Khan cancels Wednesday’s ‘At Home’ reception Ernakulam, seven other districts, included in Category B E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram WITH the number of Covid patients who seek hospital admission increasing sharply, the state government has decided to impose stringent restrictions in Thiruvananthapuram from Tuesday The capital became the first dis. trict to be classified as Category C, which calls for utmost focus as per the latest guidelines. Eight districts, including Ernakulam, will now fall under Category B. The classification of districts into A, B and C, based the number of people admitted in hospitals in a week, will be effective from Tuesday . A Covid review meeting held on Monday decided to close down cinema halls, swimming pools and gyms in Thiruvananthapuram. Only 20 people will be allowed to attend weddings and funerals. No public function is allowed. Religious functions should be held online. Only final semester graduate and postgraduate students are allowed to attend classes offline. All other classes will be switched to online mode. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who chaired the meeting, directed officials to focus on strengthening containment measures in the district by coordinating with local bodies. Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, meanwhile, cancelled Wednesday’s ‘At Home’ reception at Raj Bhavan. As many as 26,514 persons contracted Covid in the state on Monday Only 55,557 samples . were tested and the test positivity rate of 48% was the highest ever in the state. Thirteen deaths were reported. Out of the 2,60,271 patients, nearly 10,000 are admitted in hospi● More on P2 tals.  Under attack from the ruling BJP for distributing party tickets ‘under the table’ but not making the names public, the Samajwadi Party on Monday released a list of 159 candidates for the first three phases of polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 10, 14 and 20. As expected, party chief Akhilesh Yadav is the candidate from Karhal in Mainpuri district. While sitting MLA Nahid Young achievers Bal Puraskar awardees from south Deviprasad Banita Dash Aswatha Biju Remona Evette Pereira Mridangam exponent Palaeontologist Young scientist Ace dancer Telukunta Virat Chandra Syed Fateen Ahmed Gurugu Himapriya Vishalini N C Mountaineer Pianist Young patent Bravery Page 4, 7 holder Hasan has been re-nominated from Kairana, the SP’s Rampur MP Azam Khan has been fielded from his pocket borough of Rampur. Both Hasan and Azam Khan are in different jails. The party again fielded Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam from Suar in Rampur. Abdullah’s election was declared null and void by the Allahabad High Court in the previous Assembly (2017) on charges of forging age documents. Having woven a bouquet of e x p r e ss r e a d Black Monday wipes out L9 lakh cr of investors Mumbai: Investors in Indian stockmarkets lost I9.07 lakh crore as key indices fell for the fifth 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. Every member can vote in SNDP Yogam polls: HC Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday said every member of SNDP Yogam had the right to vote at any polls conducted by the organ-isation. While it observed this does not nullify the Yogam’s elections held earlier, the court said the decisions taken at the meetings to restrict voting rights won’t be legal. P5 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav alliances with smaller OBC outfits for the first time to woo the non-Yadav OBCs, the SP walked the talk by giving them 48 seats (30%). Interestingly, just 15 (9.43%) in the list of 159 are Yadavs. One name that stands out in the list is of Umar Ali, the sonin-law of Maulana Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in Delhi. Umar will contest from Behat on the SP ticket. The other big name is S h iv p a l Ya d av, u n cl e o f Akhilesh and chief of Pragatisheel Samajwadi PartyLohia. Pay `10L to Chandy: Court to VS in defamation case E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram THE principal sub court here on Monday ordered CPM veteran V S Achuthanandan to pay `10.10 lakh as compensation in a solar scam-related defamation case filed by senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy . The case was filed in 2014 after Achuthanandan alleged in a TV interview that Chandy who , was the chief minister then, had floated a company to fleece money in the name of solar power production. Judge Shibu Daniel also directed Achuthanandan, who was the then the leader of Opposition, to pay a 6% interest for the amount with retrospective effect. Chandy himself had testified before the court in 2019 that the allegation against him was baseless and had created an image before the public that he was corrupt. Reacting to the latest development, a jubilant Chandy said he stood vindicated. While maintaining that truth had prevailed, he recalled the various cases the CPM had filed against him over the last few years. “Truth has prevailed. Look at the series of cases which have ennded in favour of me. Since I had not committed anything wrong, I went ahead as per my conscience,” he said. Chandy was represented by for mer Thiruvananthapuram district public prosecutor A Santhosh Ku● More on P4 mar.  DILEEP CASE No extension of deadline to finish trial: SC E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea by the Kerala government seeking extension of the deadline for completing trial against Dileep in the actor abduction case. However, the trial court is at liberty to submit an applicationfor extension of time if felt CB tries to necessary, a establish bench of Jus- veracity of t i c e s A M audio clips K h a n w i l k a r The crime branch and C T Ravi- team probing k u m a r s a i d the case of the while dispos- alleged threat to i n g o f t h e harm the officers is examining petition. the veracity of The apex the audio clips court had set reportedly of actor February 16, Dileep. P5 2022 as the deadline to complete the trial against the actor. The state had approached the court seeking extension of the same by six months. Dileep had filed an application opposing the request. “The application by the state seeks more time to complete the trial. We are not delving into the nature of objections. We dispose of this application and leave it to the discretion of the trial court to take an appropriate view in this matter,” the order said. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Dileep, said the state is conducting a media trial against his client. “Let the trial court do justice,” the bench remarked.