kozhikode l monday l november 21, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION elon Musk restores Donald trump’s twitter account The decision was taken on Sunday after Twitter users narrowly voted to reinstate the ex-US president’s account Don says he would keep away from it over 15 million take part in Musk’s poll Trump, who last week announced his presidential bid, said he would stick to his own platform Truth Social, founded in 2021, and sees no point in returning to the Musk-run platform. Even if Trump is eventually lured back to Twitter, there will be constraints like the obligation to wait for six hours before reposting his content from Truth Social ■ ■ More than 15 million people – some 6% of daily Twitter users — voted on whether to reinstate the former president’s profile, with about 51.8% in favour and 48.2% against The controversial account appeared to be back online as of Sunday morning with the last tweet dated January 8, 2021 88 million users were following trump when his account was suspended 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 World’s grandest sporting carnival kicked off in Doha as hosts faced Ecuador in the first match Tharoor emerges central figure in state Cong C y n t h i a C h a n d r a n @ T’Puram Fireworks go off at the Al Bayt Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Sunday | ap Qatar opens to World  With American actor Morgan Freeman’s dulcet voice and an Arabian theme with camels, the opening ceremony began with a promise of “everyone is welcome.”  No leaders of major Western countries were seen at the ceremony.  The presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi shows how far Qatar has come since the boycott that saw its sole land border and air routes cut off for years as part of a political dispute. Contenders in action Euro big guns England and Netherlands will be in action on Monday along with African champs Senegal. Talking points ahead of Monday’s FIFA World Cup matches... Can England go one step further? Mane a huge miss for Senegal Netherlands seek grand return There’s no dearth of talent in the England squad and the hopes are high this time. In last year’s Euros, they reached their first major final in 55 years. They will be hoping that Harry Kane & Co can do a repeat of 1966. With France, Brazil & Argentina in the mix, that will be a difficult task but it will be unwise to rule them out. Sadio Mane is a household name in his country. A leader by definition, he was instrumental in the team’s success. In his absence, the team will be hoping youngsters like Krepin Diatta will step up. The young guns tested from the word go as they face Netherlands in their opening match. The Oranje are back after failing to qualify for 2018 tournament in Russia. Coach Louis van Gaal, despite his illness, has been a massive figure and the players will be determined to go deep into the tournament. It will also be first major tournament for captain Virgil van Dijk (31), who missed the Euro 2020 last year, due to ACL. Group B: England vs Iran | 6.30pm; Group A: Senegal vs Netherlands (9:30pm) USA vs Wales (Tue, 12:30am). Gaal’s gallant fight E X P R ESS R EA D Inquiry launched into farmer’s torture Kollam: The forest department has launched a probe into the custodial torture of farmer and activist Sandeep Mathew, 39, at Kadamanpara forest station. The principal chief conservator of forest has been asked to submit a report within three days. The move came amid criticism that the accused officer was transferred to the nearby forest station | P5 Gangrape of model: Hotel staff quizzed Kochi: The police team probing the gangrape of a 19-year-old model in a moving SUV, has collected CCTV visuals from the hotel where the four accused allegedly spiked her drinks. Police officials said they also questioned the hotel’s staff. They will soon move the court seeking the custody of the accused | P4 Louis van Gaal has had a very traumatic year. In April, after his team the Netherlands, qualified for the World Cup, he revealed that he was suffering from an aggressive form of prostate cancer and that he had undergone chemotherapy sessions. But here at the World Cup, he wants to produce one last grand hurray before he fades from view in a sport that offers little time for reflection and emotion. Samindra Kunti, who has followed Dutch soccer closely, gives us a peek into the man and his mission from Doha... Full Coverage: Page 11 Modi slams Rahul for walking with Medha DILIP SINGH KSHATRIYA @ Ahmedabad PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted the Congress for letting anti-Narmada activist Medha Patkar take part in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, alleging the grand old party wants to destroy Gujarat. Addressing a meeting as part of the BJP’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections, he questioned the moral ground on which the Congress can votes when its leader is walking should-to-shoulder with a person who stalled the state’s development for decades. While canvassing for BJP candidates in the day, he appealed to voters not to waste their votes on the Congress, which, he alleged, doesn’t have a roadmap for development. He added that other parties in the country were compelled to speak about development during elections thanks to the BJP’s development policies. Medha Patkar had joined the Yatra last week in Maharashtra and photos of Rahul speaking to the activist with his hand on her shoulder were tweeted by the Congress, drawing flak from the BJP . Earlier, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had also raised Patkar in the poll campaign, highlighting her association with the AAP . Gujarat will vote in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8. Shashi Tharoor, apparently eyeing the chief ministerial post in the 2026 assembly polls, kicked off his Malabar tour on Sunday. The move, coming close on the heels of his running for the AICC president’s post, has made him the central figure in the Congress in Kerala, and has started polarising party leaders and workers for and against him. Tharoor’s supporters cry foul at the “unannounced ban” imposed on him by the state leadership, while his detractors accuse him of staying away from the party’s agitations against the LDF government in which ‘controversies over tour unwanted’ Tharoor launched his tour visiting writer M T Vasudevan Nair at his residence in Kozhikode. Taking the tirade against him in the Congress sportingly, he termed “unwanted” all the controversies connected with his tour. several workers were injured in clashes with the police. Meanwhile, the Congress leaderships, both at the national and state level, are peeved at Tharoor for creating a parallel setup within the organisation. Tharoor launched his tour visiting writer M T Vasudevan Nair at his residence in Terror angle to autorickshaw blast in M’luru, say cops D i v ya C u t i n h o @ Mangaluru A mysterious low-intensity blast in a moving autorickshaw in Mangaluru on Saturday got a twist with the Karnataka Police on Sunday confirming that it was an act of terror. The blast occurred around 4.40 pm on Saturday near Naguri in Mangaluru. The accused had hired the auto to go to Pumpwell, a locality in the city . By the time the vehicle moved a few metres, the blast occurred, the rickshaw driver said. According to the police, the accused was carrying a pressure cooker with an improvised explosive device inA cooker with detonator, side it. Items resemwires and batteries found bling an electric cirat the blast site | pti cuit, wires, nuts, bolts and batteries were SIM taken with found at the blast site, Ooty man’s ID which led the police to conclude that it was a Coimbatore: The prime suspect in the terror incident.“The blast is an act of terblast had stayed in ror with intention to Tamil Nadu for a cause serious damfew days in age,” Karnataka DiSeptember. He had rector General & Inalso used an Ooty spector General of native’s ID to buy a Police Praveen Sood SIM card | P5 tweeted. Police sources said the accused was carrying a low-intensity IED, and as such, the impact of the blast was low. “Maybe he is inexperienced and could not make a strong IED. He might have wanted to plant it somewhere and it went off during transit,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity. ADGP, Law and Order, Alok Kumar said the police have gathered strong evidence against the accused, but refused to reveal his identity . Data Leak Details of over 33,000 Kannur University students in Dark Web Hacker leaks name, email, password, Aadhaar Card no & other information | P4 name sake In U-14 tennis tourney, Novak Nadal turns heads A i s h w a r ya P r a b h a k a r a n @Kochi Keralites are no strangers when it comes to giving interesting names to their kids, mostly after famous personalities from sports, films and global politics. So, we have people like Marx, Lenin, Maradona and the like among us. For this same reason, a 12-year-old participant has become a popular figure at the Under-14 district championships under way in Kochi. The young tennis player is named Novak Nadal, after the two legends of the game, Serbian player Novak Djokovic and Spanish player Rafael Nadal. Interestingly, Novak Nadal’s parents named him even before they knew that he too, like his namesakes who share 43 Grand Slam titles between them, will show an interest in tennis! “Sanoj, my husband, is a huge tennis fan and Novak and Nadal are his favourites,” said Seeliya Kunhimon, the boy’s mother. Officially named Novak Nadal Sanoj, the youngster studies at Indian Public School, Kochi. However, it’s not just his father’s love for tennis that prompted the parents to name the kid after the famous players. “Ours was an inter-religious marriage. Sanoj is a Hindu and I am a Muslim. We did not want our child’s name to be after a religion,” Seeliya said. Novak Nadal, however, is not amused by the attention he is getting. “I do like playing tennis. I am not a pro, but I play decently, and above all, I enjoy it,” he said, adding that he wanted to make a ca- My name has always made me stand out in any group, especially among those who are familiar with tennis players Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal — Novak Nadal reer in sports. “I like playing tennis and football. So, I am yet to decide on the sport,” said Nadal. Coincidentally Nadal developed , an interest in tennis while watching his father enjoy the matches on television. The desi Novak Nadal started tennis training at age 4. “Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are my idols too. I enjoy their games. I wish to meet them and play a match with them,” said Nadal. “My name has always made me stand out in a group, especially among those who are familiar with the two tennis players,” he said with a smile. The tennis tournament, organised by the Ernakulam District Tennis Association, will end on November 27. Kozhikode. Taking the tirade against him in the Congress sportingly he termed “unwant, ed” all the controversies connected with his tour. However, Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan, who spearheads the Tharoor camp, was unrelenting. Demanding that Tharoor, with the tall stature he has, should be made the face of the Congress in the state, Raghavan urged the party leadership to order a probe into the “unannounced ban” on the Thiruvananthapuram MP. The Kozhikode district unit of the Youth Congress had announced a seminar on ‘Sangh Parivar and Challenges to Secularism’ with Tharoor as the main speaker. But they backtracked on the programme without citing any reasons. The Tharoor camp sees this as a result of the party leadership’s intervention. However, the Kozhikode Jawahar Youth Foundation organised the seminar on the same topic on Sun● More on P4 day  . Sudhakaran seeks probe into ‘fake news’ of his resignation E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram The police should expedite their probe to find the people behind the forged letter and take appropriate action. Congress will support and cooperate with the police in the investigation K Sudhakaran, state Cong prez Cong fails to build on Bharat Jodo Yatra high Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra helped energise Congress workers and leaders. But the delay in revamping of the state-level organisation threatens to douse the enthusiasm | P5 Congress president K Sudhakaran has met state police chief Anil Kant in Thiruvananthapuram seeking a comprehensive probe into the “fake news” that he had resigned. He also sought action against the media outlets that circulated the news. After his remarks that Jawaharlal Nehru had accommodated communal f ascism kicked up a row, news of him allegedly sending his resignation letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had been circulated by a news channel and portal. In the letter he handed over to Kant, Sudhakaran demanded a probe to nab the culprit who circulated the news, which, he said, was aimed at tarnishing his image. The Kannur MP also de- manded action against the news channel and online portal under IPC Sections 465 (punishment for forgery), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document which is known to be forged). “The police should expedite their probe to find the people behind the forged letter and take appropriate action. Congress will support and cooperate with the police in the investigation,” he said. Earlier, leaders close to Sudhakaran had said he suspected the role of a senior Congress leader, who had been in the race for the KPCC president post which ultimately went to the Kannur MP in the letter fi, asco. They also alleged that the other leader had been “trying every trick up his sleeve” to get the party president post.