chennai l friday l june 14, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 40 l late city EDITION National interest: Germany primed for big Euro kick-off France, Portugal start as favourites The three-time champions look to shake-off their listless recent tournament performances as the doors open for 2024 edition of Euros. A look Holders Italy in the Group of Death Thanks to their depth, France, 2018 World Cup champions and 2022 runners-up, begin as favourites. The side is stacked with world-class performers, including Kylian Mbappe. Portugal, which is having a Golden Generation of sorts, rivals France in terms of squad depth. Can Cristiano Ronaldo, fresh of an underwhelming season in Saudi, win a second Euro? ■ ■ After failing to advance to the last WC, Italy, the defending European champs, enjoyed a serene qualifying campaign. However, they find themselves in a challenging group with Spain, Albania and Croatia Other teams that have a chance include England, who can lay claim to having the best players of Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga 24 Number of teams in the 2024 event. The final is set for July 14 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 blaze: 7 Tamils NEET grace marks axed, retest offered Kuwait 50 killed, special among Those who take the fresh exam on June 23 will lose their pre-compensatory score, govt tells the Supreme Court S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Centre on Thursday cancelled the grace marks awarded to 1,563 students who took the NEET-UG entrance exam for medical courses following a national uproar and gave them the option of taking a retest on June 23. Those who take the retest will lose their pre-grace marks; those who don’t will get to retain their score minus the compensatory marks. The decision came after a four-member panel examined the controversy and suggested remedial measures to allay the fears of the students, the government told the Supreme Court. The committee was of the view that the award of grace marks on grounds of loss of time while taking the test resulted in a skewed situation as it had to be limited to the questions that remained un-attempted. The National Testing Agency (NTA) Non-bailable arrest warrant out against BSY E X PRESS N E W S SERVICE @ Bengaluru A POCSO trial court in Bengaluru on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against former Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa. Judge N M Ramesh passed the order after hearing an application filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing a POCSO case registered against the veteran BJP leader. In its plea, the CID stated that Yediyurappa, 81, did not appear before it despite summons. Police booked Yediyurappa under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and Section 354A of the IPC based on a complaint filed on March 14 by the mother of a 17-year-old girl that he sexually assaulted the girl on February 2 at his residence. The complainant, 54, was a cancer patient and she died last month. Yediyurappa has denied the charge and filed a plea in the Karnataka High Court seeking the quashing of the case against him. He has also sought anticipatory bail. The HC is likely to take up both petitions on Friday . W I T H T H I S I SSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 40 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) No concrete evidence of rigging: Pradhan “No concrete evidence of any kind of rigging, corruption or paper leak has been found so far in the NEET. The kind of politics being done on this issue is only an attempt to spread confusion and it affects the mental peace of the students,” Union education minister Drarmendra Pradhan said | P7 had earlier granted compensatory marks to students in six centres who had complained of loss of time. It created a furore amid allegations of paper leaks and other malpractices in some places. A vacation bench comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta termed the NTA’s decision fairly reasonable and refused to stall the counselling for NEET-UG, scheduled to commence from July 6. They, however, said all the admissions will be subject to the outcome of the petitions that sought cancellation of the exam held on May 5 on the grounds of question paper leak and other malpractices. The bench also said it cannot expand the scope of the Centre’s decision to those students who had not approached the court yet. Advocate Kanu Agrawal, appearing for the Centre, said the retest results will be out on June 30, so those candidates too can appear for counselling. When the NEET-UG result was declared on June 4, as many as 67 students had a perfect score of 720. Thursday’s decision brought down that number to 61. The court ordered the NTA to file its reply by July 8 on the allegations of malpractices adopted by some students who took the NEET-UG exam. Around 24 lakh candidates took the exam. Its result was expected on June 14 but was announced on June 4. Students shout slogans against the alleged irregularities in NEET-UG entrance exam, in Kolkata on Thursday | PTI Power tariff may go up Pema Khandu by 5% in TN from July takes oath as Arunachal CM Last year, the state absorbed 2.18% tariff hike for domestic consumers as subsidy, but no such proposal has been announced so far this year. This will be the third tariff hike in TN after the DMK govt assumed charge in 2021 S G URUVA N MIKA N ATHA N @ Chennai The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) is likely to increase the power tariff by 4.83% from July 1 for domestic, commercial, and industrial users as per the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation-linked tariff revision approved by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) in 2022. “The per-unit charge of power, which currently stands at `4.60 in the state, will go up to `4.83 after the tariff hike,” an official said. Last year, on July 1, the tariff was increased by 2.18% as per the CPI-linked revision but the state government absorbed the tariff hike for domestic consumers as subsidy But no such proposal to protect do. mestic consumers from tariff hike has been announced by the state government so far this year. This will be the third tariff hike after the DMK government assumed office in 2021. In September 2022, TNERC had approved a methodology for a CPI index-linked multiyear tariff revision subject to a cap of 6% for financial years 2023-24 to 2026-27. The tariff revision will take effect from July 1 every year till 2027. Data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation show that the country’s retail inflation stood at 4.83% (provisional) in April this year. The power tariff hike will be based on this. A senior Tangedco official told TNIE, “There is no need to file a fresh petition to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) for the tariff revision since the commission has already approved the multiyear tariff revision in 2022.” By end of this month, TNERC will issue orders regarding the revision that will take effect on July 1, the official added. CONTINUED ON P7 Doval gets third consecutive term as NSA RA J ESH KUMAR THAKUR @New Delhi Spymaster Ajit Doval was reappointed National Security Advisor (NSA) for a third consecutive term and so was bureaucrat P K Mishra as the principal secretary to the prime minister with effect from June 10, the government said on Thursday . Their terms will be co-terminus with that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or until further orders, whichever is earlier, a government statement said. Both will continue to hold the rank of cabinet minister in the table of precedence. They accompany Modi whenever he goes abroad, like he did on Thursday for the Group of Seven summit in Italy The appointments indicate . T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai revision for all consumers Homes too may’ve to pay more Ajit Doval (left) and P K Mishra the PM’s trust in these top officers. After retirement as Intelligence Bureau director in 2005, Doval founded the Vivekananda International Foundation, a public policy thinktank. He worked with the IB for more than 33 years in different roles and in areas like the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. Modi picked him as the country’s fifth NSA in 2014. During his first tenure, Doval is believed to have played a pivotal role in the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the Uri terror attack. As for Mishra, he served as additional principal secretary in the PMO in Modi’s first term as prime minister. In September 2019, he was elevated as principal secretary to the prime minister. Mishra is a 1972 batch retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre. Besides, two other appointments of former IAS officers of Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh cadres — Amit Khare and Tarun Kapoor — were made as advisors in the Prime Minister’s Office for two years. express read Three passengers killed, 16 injured as bus topples HC fixes `20K stipend for junior lawyers in Chennai Old woman vendor allegedly dies during eviction drive Tenkasi: Three passengers, including a four-year-old boy, died and at least 16 others were injured as a private bus toppled after a lorry crashed into it on the Thirumangalam-Kollam National Highway at Elathur near Tenkasi on Thursday | P7 Chennai: The Madras HC has asked the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to instruct all advocates to pay `20,000 per month as stipend to junior lawyers in Chennai, Madurai, and Coimbatore and `15,000/month to those in other parts of TN | P2 Chennai: A 63-year-old woman fruit seller died after corporation officials and police allegedly chased her during an eviction drive on Thursday on NSC Bose Road in Parry’s Corner. M Krishnaveni used to reside on the platform with her mentally ill son | P3 aircraft to bring bodies Pema Khandu took oath as Arunachal Pradesh CM for the third time in a row. Amit Shah and Nadda were among BJP leaders who were present | P10 Tamil Nadu Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Gingee KS Masthan on Thursday confir med that at least seven Tamils were among the 50 victims killed in the blaze at the residential building at Mangaf in Kuwait on Wednesday. The bodies will be brought to Kochi on a special flight on Friday, sources said. The deceased were identified as Ramu Karuppannan (64) of Ettivayal in Ramanathapuram district, Mohammed Sharief (36) of Tindivanam in Villupuram district, Bhunaf Richard Ray (28) of Peravurani in Thanjavur, G S iv a s h a n k a r ( 4 8 ) o f Ro ya p u r a m i n C h e n n a i , K Chinnadhurai (42) of Muttom in Cuddalore, V Mariappan (41) of Vanaramutty in Thoothukudi, and E Raju (53) of Tiruchy district. Chief Minister MK Stalin late on Thursday announced a solatium of `5 lakh each to the families of victims. The CM expressed condolences and said the bodies of the victims would at least 24 Keralites dead, says NORKA The Kuwait fire has claimed the lives of at least 24 Keralites. While 23 bodies have been identified, those bodies that have not been identified yet will be subjected to DNA test and it may take two weeks for the procedure to be completed, said NORKA principal secretary Dr K Vasuki | P7 be brought to India by a special flight on Friday. The state government has made arrangements for handing over the bodies to their relatives, he said. The Commissionerate of Non-Resident Tamils (NRT) is collecting the details of those who had suffered injuries and are getting treated in Kuwait hospitals. Appropriate help would be provided to the injured through the Indian Embassy in Kuwait, Stalin said. NRT Commissioner B Krishnamoorthy said the special flight will land in Kochi. Tamil Nadu would make arrangements to move the bodies to the victims’ homes from Kochi, officials said. P7
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