thrissur l Sunday l june 16, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition Zelenskyy hopes peace meeting in swiss resort will make history 50 heads of state expected to attend Switzerland, which is hosting the peace summit, said more than 50 heads of state and government will join the meet at the B’rgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne. Russia and China and a bunch of other nations will not participitate. The US has sent Vice President Kamala Harris to the event. An official from India will be attending the summit | P9 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the summit brought the focus back on the war. Joint efforts can stop it and establish peace Host has three items on the agenda ■ Switzerland has three items on the peace summit agenda: nuclear safety of the Zaporizhzhia power plant; humanitarian assistance and exchange of PoWs; and food security, which has been disrupted because of war ■ Putin wants any peace deal to be built around Ukraine’s neutral status and limits on its armed forces, while delaying talks about Russia-occupied areas 100 delegates are attending the peace summit in the swiss resort 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 A mid se l f ie dip l o ma c y India-Middle east corridor gets g7 shot Agencies If the Group of Seven summit in Italy was all about heavy-duty diplomacy it had , its moments of fun as well. Like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni taking a selfie video with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tagging it as Meloni and sharing it from her official X handle as well as her Instagram account. Her four words as caption — Hi friends, from #Melodi — broke the internet with 23 million views in 10 hours. Modi attended the summit at t h e i nv i t a t i o n o f h o s t Meloni. As for the business end of the summit, the G7 industrialised nations committed themselves to promoting concrete infrastructure initiatives such as the IndiaM i d d l e E a s t - E u ro p e Economic Corridor (IMEC) in their communique at the end of the meet, also attended by Modi. The communique also reiterated the commitment to a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ based on the rule of law. “We will further promote concrete G7 PGII (Partner- Italian PM Giorgia Meloni takes a selfie with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the G7 summit in Italy | PTI ship for Global Infrastructure and Investment) initiatives, flagship projects, and complementary initiatives to develop transformative economic corridors for quality infrastructure and investment, such as the deepening of our coordination and financing for the Lobito Corridor, the Luzon Corridor, the Middle Corridor, and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corri- dor, also building on the EU Global Gateway, the Great Green Wall Initiative, and the M at t e i P l a n fo r A f r i c a launched by Italy,” the communique read. The IMEC envisages a vast road, railroad and shipping network among Saudi Arabia, India, the US and Europe to ensure integration among Asia, the Middle East and the West. The IMEC was firmed up on the sidelines of the G20 summit in India last year. Will protect families of Kuwait fire tragedy victims, says NBTC owner E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi NBTC Group founder K G Abraham offered a public apology on Saturday three days after 49 peo, ple, including 45 Indians, died in a massive fire that broke out in a six-storey building where the company’s employees were housed in Kuwait. He, however, stressed that there was no overcrowding in the apartments or irregularities in the building permits. He said the company will protect the families of the victims, including providing educational support to students. “We are sorry We are so sorry I was crying . . at home hearing about the tragic accident. They are our people. They are like our family Some . of them had been working with WITH THIS ISSUE Second Coming PLUS 12 PAGES B i j u E Pa u l & M a n o j V i s w a n at h a n @Alappuzha Amid the spread of Avian Influenza, popularly known as bird flu, among domestic birds in three districts, the death of crows, cranes and hawk in Alappuzha district is causing concern. Experts have warned that the spread of the disease to wild birds can pose a threat to humans, particularly in the backdrop of the infection confirmed in a fouryear-old child in West Bengal. Around 25 crows were found dead in in Muhamma panchayat of Alappuzha district two days ago and a few cranes were found dead in the Cherthala area. On Saturday the carcass of a hawk was , found in the district and its samples have been sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Disease (NIH- us for 25-27 years,” Abraham, a native of Pathanamthitta, told a press conference in Kochi. “We have not done any wrong. We believe this did not happen because of our mistake. Still, we will take the responsibility They . were working with us. They built our company he said. ,” 8 Maoists, 1 STF jawan killed in C'garh encounter e j a z k a i s e r @ Raipur Eight fighters of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), including three women, and a jawan were killed in a gunfight at the forested terrain of Maad region of Narayanpur district, about 400 km south of Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday . Besides the jawan, two other 14 dead Bird flu concern spreads as after tempo falls crows, cranes found dead into alaknanda 26 tourists were travelling from Gurugram to Tungnath -Chopta in Uttarakhand | P8 K G Abraham, founder of NBTC Group, turns emotional during a news conference in Kochi | T P Sooraj He said the firm will give `8 lakh each to the families of the deceased. “Further, there is insurance coverage for all the employees. This will ensure that the families receive four years’ salaries of the victims. We will also provide jobs to the dependents of the victims, as per their educational qualifications,” he said. Denying reports that there was overcrowding in building, Abraham, who founded the NBTC Group in 1977, said the building had a total of 24 apartments (four on each floor). “Each apartment has three rooms. Managers would occupy a room and two engineers share a room. International law allows us to give accommodation for four persons a room, or four cubic metres/person,” he said. ● More on P5 SAD), Bhopal for testing. According to the animal husbandry department, 29,589 birds were found dead at 19 places spread over the districts of Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam during the past two-and-a-half months. The outbreak was reported in the state on April 16, 2024. As part of the efforts to contain the outbreak, the department has culled 1,09,250 domestic birds, including ducks and broiler chicken. Besides, 14,732 eggs and 15,221 kg of poultry feed were destroyed. “We have taken steps to contain the disease. The spread of the disease to wild birds like crows is worrying. According to reports, the virus is spread by migratory birds. We have formed a team of experts to study the cause for the spread,” Minister for Animal Husbandry J Chinchurani told TNIE. ● More on P5 EXPRESS READ Varkala Cliff portion collapses T’Puram: Putting the state’s tourism potential at major risk, the famed Varkala Cliff has been witnessing recurring collapses. On Friday, a significant portion of the cliff collapsed near Edava Beach and the tourism stakeholders are worried. In the past few months, the Varkala Cliff — the iconic geological monument — has experienced as many as 15 minor and major landslips, raising serious concerns. P2 Vizhinjam Port gets customs nod T’Puram: The Vizhinjam International Seaport has received customs clearance to operate as an international seaport. The clearance under Section 7A of the Customs Act allows the unloading of imported goods and loading of export goods. Now clearances under Sections 6 and 45 in addition to the Port Code are pending. With the customs nod, Vizhinjam will have major chances to become an international transshipment hub, said Minister V N Vasavan. P2 security officials sustained injuries, said Sunderraj P, Bastar’s Inspector General of Police. The injured jawans have been airlifted to a hospital in Raipur and are said to be out of danger. All three belonged to the Special Task Force (STF). The deceased jawan was identi- fied as Nitish Ekka. He is a resident of Jashpur district. Based on intelligence inputs about the presence of senior Maoist members, a joint operation was conducted by the District Reserved Guards, the STF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Border Security Force on Saturday morning, Sunder- raj said. The operation continued throughout the day along the Kutul, Farasbeda and Kodtameta jungles resulting in the death of the Maoists and jawan, he added. The bodies of the radicals have been recovered but are yet to be identified. Security forces are continuing to comb the area.
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