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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l july 09, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION Modi, Putin hold informal talks ahead of summit Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for winning a third consecutive term in office, as the two leaders hugged when they met in Moscow on Monday and spoke over a round of tea. “Welcome to Russia, my dear friend, very happy to see you,” said Putin. “Tomorrow we will have official talks, but today we will have an informal round like one does at home,” said Putin, who hosted a dinner in the prime minister’s honour. Modi thanked Putin for inviting him to his house. “I am happy to be at your house where we can sit and chit-chat. Thank you,’’ said Modi. The PM was received at the Moscow airport by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Manturov. While driving through Moscow, members of the Indian community waved at him, chanting ‘Modi, Modi’. This is Modi’s first visit to Moscow in five years (the last time was in 2019 when he visited Vladivostok). Modi and Putin will take part in the 22nd India Russia Summit on Tuesday . “Looking forward to further deepening the special and privileged strategic partnership between our nations, especially in futuristic areas of cooperation,” Modi posted on X after reaching Moscow. “The focus of the visit is the economic agenda, which includes energy, trade, manufacturing and fertilisers. Besides, Modi will reiterate that a solution to the Ukrainian war cannot be found on the battlefield,’’ according to a source. 5 jawans killed in Army convoy ambush in Kathua F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar Terrorists ambushed an Army convoy on Monday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, killing five soldiers and injuring five others. It comes after the two-day-long twin encounters in Kulgam in south Kashmir ended on Sunday night in which eight people, including six terrorists and two soldiers, were killed. Sources said a band of heavily armed terrorists ambushed the convoy on Machedi Kindli-Malhar road near Badnotta village in Kathua district around 3.30 pm. The terrorists fired automatic guns and lobbed grenades towards the army vehi- cles. “In the attack, four soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer were killed and six sustained injuries,” an official said. After the ambush, there was a brief exchange of gunfire before the terrorists slipped into a nearby forest. The injured were rushed to a military hospital. Doctors said the condition of two of them are critical. One of the soldiers died in hospital. The Army, local police and the Central Reserve Police Force have launched a massive search operation to track down the terrorists. The team of elite para commandos rushed to the area to assist the security forces in the hunt for the terrorists.The security forces were using reel craze Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at his official residence at Novo-Ogaryovo, in Moscow on Monday | PTI On Tuesday, Modi will lay a wreath on the ‘Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ followed by a visit to the Rosatom Pavilion. He will have a restricted meeting with Putin in the afternoon before delegation-level talks. The two leaders, however, will not make any statements to the press afterwards. “No joint communication with the media is foreseen. But we expect an extended exchange of views at both the private and extended sessions, which will largely compensate for the lack of statements to the media,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the state-owned TASS. Modi will leave for Vienna later in the evening. Employment in 27 industries rises 3.31% in 2022-23, says new RBI data | P10 Youth goes missing in stone quarry pond E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar In a tragic incident, a physiotherapy student went missing while attempting to save his friend from drowning in a water-filled stone quarry at Tapang area of Khurda district on Monday afternoon. The incident happened when a group of four students from a Pahala-based educational institute was reportedly shooting reels (videos for social media) at the quarry . The depth of the quarry, , declared unsafe, varies from 10 ft to over 100 ft at some points. A team of Odisha Fire and Emergency Service rushed to the spot with advanced water proof camera to trace the youth. Search operation which started around 1.30 pm continued till 8 pm. The fire fighters, with assistance from Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), scanned the quarry using scuba sets and mobile light Continued on P5 towers.  A soldier injured during Monday’s attack being taken for treatment | PTI drones and other surveillance equipment to track down the terrorists, who are suspected to be part of a group whose two members were killed in an encounter by security forces in Kathua last month. Two terrorists and a CRPF jawan were killed in that attack. Immediately after the Monday’s attack, senior officers visited the area to take stock of the situation. “The officials are probing what kind of rifles and ammunition was used by the militants. They are also probing whether armour-piercing bullets were used to pierce the bullet-proof vests of the Army men,” sources said. In the twin encounters in Madergam and Chinigam villages in Kulgam district that began on July 6 and ended on Sunday six terrorists , of Hizbul Mujahideen and two soldiers, including a para commando, P7 were killed.  Make NEET disclosure on leak: SC S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n ty @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday directed the CBI to file a status report on the probe into the NEET-UG paper leak case, sharply observing the sanctity of the examination process has been breached. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said if the segregation between the beneficiaries of the fraud and untainted candidates is not possible, then a retest has to be held. It directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducted the test, to make full disclosures on the nature of the leak, the places where the paper was leaked, and the time lag between the leak and the conduct of the exam. The next date of hearing is July 11, Thursday . Let us not be in self-denial. Self-denial is only adding to the problem... That the sanctity of the exam has been breached is beyond doubt. The question is how widespread is the leak Supreme Court bench “If we come to the conclusion that the time lag between the leak and the actual exam is limited, that will be a circumstance which will militate against the retest,” the CJI said. The bench proposed the constitution of a multi-disciplinary team comprising renowned experts to ensure measures are taken to obviate any further breach in NEET. “The court shall decide if someone else needs to be added to the committee to ensure it has a diverse pool of domain expertise and data analytics.” The bench pose a volley of questions to the NTA and Centre as to when were the questions were framed, when were they printed, when were they transported and how were they stored prior to exams. “If the leak was on social media like Telegram, WhatsApp, it would spread like wildfire. So, we also have to see the balance with the time of leak like if it was May 5 morning before students went for exam... After all we are dealing with the lives and careers of 23 lakh students,” CJI Chandrachud said. The court said it will scrutinise whether the breach took place at a systemic level, whether it affected the integrity of the exam process and whether it was possible to segregate the beneficiaries from the untainted candidates.