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 ■ ■ KALABURAGI  MONDAY  JULY 15, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION Trump survives assassination bid Major security lapse as ex-US president shot in the ear at campaign rally; gunman killed AGENCIES FORMER US president Donald Trump survived an attempt on his life when a gunman fired multiple shots at him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening (US time), gracing past his right ear. While the 78-year-old presumptive Republican presidential nominee was left bleeding, the shooting killed one attendee and critically injured two spectators. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Trump was the target of the attack, which is being investigated as an attempted assassination. Trump was standing on a stage and addressing his supporters at the packed outdoor election rally in Butler town when bullets started flying. Video footage showed the former president grabbing his ear as he ducked to escape bullets. Trump was seen with blood on his ear and cheek as he was rushed off the stage by Secret Service agents. Secret Service snipers who were guarding Trump returned fire and killed the suspected shooter, who attacked from the rooftop of a building about 100 metres away from rally venue. While the motive of the attack is not clear yet, the FBI has identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The attack raised questions about the robustness of the security for the ex-president. That the shooter was able to reach an elevated platform with a gun, bypassing all security has baffled officials. , “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country It was God alone who pre... vented the unthinkable from happening,” Trump said in a social media post. US President Joe Biden termed the attack “sick” and spoke to Trump afterwards. He also cut short a weekend at his vacation home and flew back to Washington to deal P9 with the crisis. “THE state government can release 8,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu every day till the month-end, and not 1 tmcft (11,000 cusecs) as ordered by the the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC). We are bound to release the full quantum of 1 tmcft only if there is excess rainfall. This was suggested by our team of lawyers. They advised us that otherwise, the committee would feel we are stubborn,” said Chief Minister Sidaramaiah here on Sunday after holding an all-party meeting to discuss the issue. “We held a meeting on July 12 and decided not to release water. We also took a decision then to convene an all-party meeting to file an appeal before the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). We cannot release 1 tmcft as only 63% of our reservoirs in the Cauvery ba- Ex-CEO of Wakf Board booked for misuse of `4cr E N S @ Bengaluru FROM The High Grounds police have registered a case against the former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Karnataka State Board of Wakf for alleged misappropriation of over Rs 4 crore. The chief accountant of the Board, Mir Ahmed Abbas, filed a complaint against former CEO Zulfiqurulla, based on which the police registered an FIR on July 6. It is alleged that the state government had acquired a piece of land belonging to the Wakf Board and had paid Rs 2.29 crore. Besides, the board had received Rs 1.79 crore from the endowments department. On November 26, 2016, Rs 4,00,45,465 in the board’s bank account with the Benson Town branch of Indian Bank was transferred to the Chintamani branch of Vijaya Bank, to open a fixed deposit in the name of the CEO, Kar nataka State Board of Wakf. This was initiated by Zulfiqurulla without bringing it to the notice of the board, which led to a loss of Rs 8.03 crore, the complainant alleged. It was resolved to initiate criminal proceedings against Zulfiqurulla in a meeting on March 31, 2022 and he was issued a notice. He, however, did not give a satisfactory reply. The matter was taken up with the secretary of the minority welfare department, who directed the board to file a complaint against Zulfiqurulla on June 12, 2024, following which the complaint was filed. sin are full,” he said. “In the last two days, 20,000 and 19,000 cusecs of water was released respectively On Sunday . , 13,000 cusecs was let out. Only the water that cannot be stored for the safety of reservoirs has been drained,” he said. On Thursday (July 11), the CWRC had ordered Karnataka to release 20 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu, at the rate of 1 tmcft per day till the month-end. In a normal year, Karnataka has to release 9.4 tmcft of water in June and 31.24 tmcft in July , which totals to 40.43 tmcft. So far, over 5 tmcft has been released. Experts have cautioned the state government that it could invite the wrath and contempt of the two apex bodies of Cauvery river if water is not released. Sunday’s all-party meeting was attended by leaders from the ruling Congress, opposition alliance of BJP and JDS, farmer unions, legal experts and others. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz beat Serbia’s Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) to defend his Wimbledon title on Sunday | AP WELCOME TO THE ERA OF ALCARAZ S W A R O O P S W A M I N AT H A N @ Chennai THIRTEEN minutes into the men’s Wimbledon final, the contest promised to live up to the occasion. Carlos Alcaraz may have broken Novak Djokovic but the first game was taut with tension. Every point had a lot riding on it. There were 20 points, seven dueces, uncharacteristic errors from both, multiple second serves... a typical fare to open proceedings. That game was one of the few times this match remotely had the feel of a contest. In one of the great beatdowns of a bonafide legend in the Open Era, the Spaniard zoomed past Djokovic. The 37-year-old, vying to become the sole owner of most number of Majors across genders, was surprisingly flat. His siege mentality was missing and the Spaniard didn’t need a second invitation to defend his crown on grass. The Serb launched a fightback in the third set but it only delayed the inevitable. The near flawless third seed pushed it to a tie-break before one jaw-dropping drop-shot winner set P11 him on his way to paradise land. Retired High Court judge to investigate MUDA scam Bengaluru: The state government on Sunday issued a notification to constitute a single-man commission of retired High Court judge Justice PN Desai to investigate the MUDA scam. The Urban Development Department notification stated that the Desai commission has been constituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act. The commission will have all the powers to conduct the probe under the Code of Civil Procedure. The terms of reference for the commission will be released later. P4 Puri temple’s Ratna Bhandar opened after 46 years Bhubaneswar: Ratna Bhandar, the revered treasury of the 12th-century Jagannath Temple in Puri, was reopened on Sunday after 46 years for an inventory of valuables and the repair of its structure, officials said. The members of a committee set up by the state government for the purpose entered the temple around 12 pm, and after performing rituals, the treasury was reopened at 1.28 pm, the auspicious moment which was decided at a meeting in the morning, they said. P5 Govt may hike KSRTC bus fares after monsoon session AFTER increasing the price of milk and hiking sales tax on petrol and diesel, the Congress government is likely to increase KSRTC bus fares. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) reportedly passed a resolution on fare hike on Friday What could have triggered . the decision was dues of over Rs 1,000 crore that the state government has to pay KSRTC for allowing women to travel for free under the Shakti guarantee scheme. The government is likely to wait till the nine-day monsoon session, beginning on Monday to get over , to announce the fare hike, sources said. KSRTC Chairman SR Srinivasa, Gubbi MLA, said in Tumkauru on Sunday that the Corporation has proposed a 15-20 per cent ticket fare hike to the government. This is inevitable as the corporation has suffered The AR-15, the gun used by the attacker, is one of the most popular guns in the US and has been used in some of the country’s worst mass shootings. It is a semi-automatic weapon, meaning a user can fire multiple shots in quick succession. The gun fires high-velocity bullets that can travel at three times the speed of a handgun round, are accurate over long distances, reports said. It is affordable and easy-to-use Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi EXPRESS READ D EVA RA J B H I R E H A L L I @ Bengaluru AR-15: GUN BEHIND MASS SHOOTINGS WHO FIRED THE SHOTS AND WHY  20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks lived in Pennsylvania’s Bethel Park, an hour’s drive from the rally site  He was registered to vote as a Republican, but had donated $15 to a Democratic-aligned political action committee  Public Pennsylvania court records show no past criminal cases against Crooks  Motive remains unknown Donald Trump, ex-US president There is no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow this to be happening. I’m grateful to hear that he’s (Trump) safe and doing well Joe Biden, US president Deeply concerned by the attack on my friend, former President Donald Trump. Strongly condemn the incident. Violence has no place in politics and democracies Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Lured with job offer in Malaysia, Lucknow youth held captive, tortured in Myanmar K’taka can release only 8,000 cusecs, not 1tmcft, to TN every day: CM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru Former US president Donald Trump is rushed offstage by Secret Service agents moments after shots were fired at him in Butler, Pennsylvania | AFP In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united, and show our true character.... remaining strong and determined, and not allowing evil to win a loss of Rs 295 crore in the last three months, he said. Even North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) Chairman Raju Kage confirmed to reporters at Kagawad in Belagavi district that there is a plan to hike bus fares. “The corporation has suffered losses because of the Shakti scheme. Fuel prices and cost of bus spare parts too have gone up. The corporation has rented out its properties to run the show,” he said. But Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told TNIE that there is no proposal for such a hike. “KSRTC may have passed a resolution, but it will take at least a week to reach me. Let all the four transport corporations (KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC and KKRTC) send me a proposal then we will decide,” he said. The number of women beneficiaries using the Shakti scheme has gone up from 80 lakh to 1 crore, a 20 per cent increase, he pointed out. CONTINUED ON P5 MONSOON SESSION FROM TODAY The monsoon session will begin from today. The ruling Congress, and opposition BJP and JDS are gearing up for a head-to-head confrontation. The recent MUDA site scam will come to the fore. Apart from the MUDA scam, they are expected to raise issues like irregularities in the Maharshi Valmiki ST corporation that led to the resignation of minister B Nagendra. The nine-day session is expected to be chaotic. P4 THERE have been numerous reports about Indians being lured with fake job offers abroad and forced to work for a cybercrime racket based in Myanmar and Cambodia, but survivor accounts detailing the scale of horror have been few. This newspaper spoke to a youngster who ended up in Myanmar after being lured by an IT job opportunity in Malaysia. He managed to escape from the racket’s clutches after arranging a ransom for his freedom. “We got to know of IT sector jobs in Malaysia through a friend. We gave an online interview and within a few days, three of us got visas and tickets and were headed to Malaysia,” 25-year-old Sagar Chauhan from Lucknow told this newspaper. Sagar, Ajay and Rahul left India on over to men in uniform who claimed to be from the Myanmar Army . They eventually ended up at a MEGALAHPO well-appointed facility (which Sagar says was named Chuangishan), which had over 5,000 workers of difMYANMAR ferent nationalities including Sri (BURMA) Lanka, Pakistan and China. Sagar Sagar Chauhan said their boss was Chinese and spoke through an interpreter. Their March 27. They were to land in Thai- job was to convince rich people land’s Bangkok, which was a transit around the world to invest in various point. However, on reaching Bang- fraudulent schemes. “Those refusing kok, they were booked into a hotel, to work would be brutally beaten up and later that day, taken and kept in a dark room. for sightseeing. The folWhile Ajay and Rahul PRESS lowing day, they were SaCLUSIVE relented, I didn’t,”was ordered to get into a vegar added. Sagar hicle and were driven tortured. But a few days towards Myanmar. After about eight later he was told he could go home if hours of driving, they reached the he transferred `8 lakh. He reached Myanmar border. In Megalahpo on India on April 14. Ajay and Rahul are the Myanmar side, they were handed still there. MOEI RIVER