Coimbatore l Monday l July 29, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Fears of Israel-lebanon war as 12 killed in israel-held golan Israel on Sunday vowed to ‘hit the enemy hard’ after rocket fire from Lebanon killed 12 youngsters in Israeli-annexed Golan Heights ‘Hezbollah has crossed all red lines’ Call for calm as Israel strikes lebanon A rocket strike Saturday at a football field killed at least 12 children and teens, Israeli authorities said. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike, but the Lebanese group said it has nothing to do with the attacks. “There is no doubt Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that,” Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli media | P9 ■ ■ Israel’s military said on Sunday it had hit Hezbollah targets “both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon” Iran warned Israel of “unforeseen consequences” if it attacks Lebanon. Western powers including France and Britain have called for calm. Those dead in Golan were aged between 10 and 16 22 Israeli soldiers killed near border with lebanon since OCtober last 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 karma, Bhagavad Gita Delhi coaching centre and the legend of Manu Bhaker deaths: Owner held, sent to judicial custody I 5 NE Manu Bhaker is India’s first woman shooting medallist at the Games. It is also India’s first medal in the 10m air pistol event Overall, this is India’s fifth medal in shooting in the history of the Games and first since Gagan Narang in 2012. Others to have won include Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Abhinav Bindra and Vijay Kumar Green signal UltraTech board clears acquisition of India Cements A r s h a d K h a n @ New Delhi THE board of directors of India’s largest cement maker UltraTech Cement on Sunday approved the purchase of 32.72% equity stake held by the promoters and their associates in Chennai-based India Cements Limited (ICL). UltraTech, an Aditya Birla group firm, will pay `3,954 crore at `390 a share to buy the entire 28.42% stake of ICL promoters — Srinivasan N, Chitra Srinivasan, Rupa Gurunath, and S K Asokh Baalaje—and 4.3% stake from Sri Saradha Logistics. This share purchase will trigger a mandatory open offer at `390 a share. The open offer, which will allow UltraTech to add another 26% stake, will be done subsequently after obtaining regulatory approvals. UltraTech had made a financial investment in ICL to acquire 22.77% equity at `268 per share in June 2024. Billionaire investor Radhakishan Damani and his associates had offloaded shares worth `1,889 crore in the deal. “Post this financial investment, the promoter group approached us as they wanted to sell their holding in the company UtraTech said. ,” Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group, said: “Every investment in a core sector like cement accelerates economic activity and drives progress. These investments have also facilitated India’s nationwide infrastructure upgrade.” New Guvs for eight states and one Union Territory The President, following the recommendations from the Centre, on Saturday night appointed new governors for Telangana, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Punjab and Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry | P7 T is perhaps more than just providence that Manu Bhaker won a medal in the town of Chateauroux, where a river named Indre flows. After all, religion, spirituality and philosophy were all vital ingredients in this story It is difficult to not . be a touch philosophical when talking about the 22-year-old’s bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol final. She had secured a quota in the 25m pistol event and qualified for the 10m event only through trials. On Sunday , she won India’s first shooting Olympic medal since 2012 (London). Fittingly, Manu kept speaking about inspiration after her feat. Much of that inspiration came from that profound book of 700 verses – The Gita. In the final, Manu was calm. There were also occasional glances at Jaspal Rana, her coach sitting among the audience. “One look at him and that gives me courage,” she said. Karma is what she believes to get in but not about getting in, more so after the Tokyo out. Use your information. Just Games where public criticism do it. Win or you die. So she caused her to hit the nadir. “I won,” Rana said.The pre-Olymread a lot of Gita,” she said. pic training rituals, according “One of the famous quotes is to Manu, was even more chalArjuna’s ‘karma pe dhyan do, lenging than the actual Olymaur phal ke chinta mat karo’ pics. “Perhaps, that has made (focus on the work but me stronger,” she said. don’t worry about the One such ritual inreward). The same was volves Manu meeting running through my TNIE @ olympics specific targets or a mind from last night fine. “For example, he (Saturday). I told mysometimes sets a tarself ‘whatever hapget, and if you score pens, I’ll handle it’.” that much, then fine. If Manu and her coach not, for the deficit in spoke about several points (for example, if Indraneel Das motivating parables, the target is 582 and Paris verses, and anecdotes. you score 478), you he doesn’t believe in have to give 40 euros or getting an external psycholo- 400 euros, depending on the sitgist. “My coach is my psycholo- uation.” They donate the entire gist,” she had said earlier. Just proceeds or buy gifts and disbefore the final, the duo were tribute it. talking about Abhimanyu – ArOne over, two to follow. She juna’s son. How he knew how to will pair with Sarabjot Singh in enter the ‘chakravyuh’ but did the mixed 10m air pistol event not know how to exit. “So we before the 25m event later on in talked about how he knew how the week.  P11 Bangladesh braces for more student protests Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi Though the authorities in Bangladesh have claimed that the situation is under control, the country remains tense with the student groups saying they preparing to resume protests over civil services job quotas. Some analysts have gone as far as suggesting that what began as a student protest is turning into a revolution. Students Against Discrimination, the student group that has led the protests, said on Sunday that they would end their weeklong protest moratorium. The group is demanding that the police free all student leaders arrested over protests. Mobile internet restored The mobile internet connection was restored in Bangladesh on Sunday, 10 days after it was restricted by the authorities across the country to stop the spread of fake news. The mobile internet connectivity was restored at around 3.00 pm local time However, reports say the police are pressing with covert action against protest leaders. Block raids are happening on a daily basis and youngsters are being rounded up and put in detention. “The situation is tense even now as on the pretext of ‘block raids’ young people are being rounded up and put under detention in cells,” Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, a political commentator in Bangladesh, told this newspa- per. Reports said, fully armed police are knocking at the doors in random order to comb out and arrest those considered as troublemakers. “For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, there were helicopters used during the protests,’’ Kalimullah said. However, the protesters are standing firm with their demands one of which is that “visible actions” be taken against those responsible for the deaths of protesters. “From being a mere student protest this is soon turning into a revolution against the gover nment,” Pinaki Bhattacharya, exiled Bangladeshi activist told this newspaper. (The government) is maintaining power through brutal force,” Bhattacharya said. At least 9,000 people have been arrested nationwide since the unrest began, according to Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest daily newspaper. Home minister Asaduzzaman Kha said 147 people had been killed in clashes so far in the government’s first toll. This newspaper contacted Bangladesh officials in Delhi but got no response. UJWAL JALALI @ New Delhi A day after three young IAS aspirants, all in their 20s, were killed after they got trapped in a pool of water that rushed into the basement of a civil service coaching centre in central Delhi following heavy rains, the police arrested the owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh. The accused were produced before a local court, which sent them to 14-days of judicial custody . The three IAS aspirants who lost their lives in the tragedy are Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala. Initial police investigation revealed that the coaching institute was “illegally operating” a library in the basement area. A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the BNS, including culpable homicide and arrested the accused owner, who was even present at the spot at the time of the incident. DCP (central) M Harsh Vardhan said they received information around 7 pm that the Students protesting over the deaths of 3 IAS aspirants, in Delhi | Parveen Negi TN man hacked to death by girl’s brothers over inter-religious love an’s family rejected the marriage proposal from Asif ’s family about eight months ago. But In a dispute over the relation- the two continued their relaship between two youngsters of tionship, and this led to the different religions, four woman’s family threatpeople, including two ening Asif on multiple brothers of the woman, occasions. hacked the 25-year-old According to sources, man to death in front of on F riday evening, his workplace near while Asif was on duty Elakkiyampatti on Friat the hotel he was emday evening. The Dhar- J Mohammed Asif ployed at, the woman’s mapuri B1 police arresttwo brothers — Janaraned all four suspects on Sunday . jan (27) and Janaamsapriya (27) According to police, J Mo- — along with two of their hammed Asif had been in a re- friends from Nallampalli — lationship with a 25-year-old Goutham (28) and Pirithivalawoman from Omalur. The wom- vam (24) — confronted Asif, express news service @ Dharmapuri Minister K N Nehru, Salem Collector R Brinda Devi and MP T M Selvaganapathy offer flowers to the water gushing out of the shutters at Mettur on Sunday | Express Mettur water level touches 109ft, 12K cusecs released e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai The Mettur dam was opened for irrigation on Sunday after the water level in the dam went up to 109 feet due to increase in inflow from Karnataka. Continuous rainfall in the Cauvery catchment areas in the neighbouring state has contributed to significant spike in water inflow over the past one week. Initially, 12,000 cusecs is being released from the dam and depending on inflow, the quantum of water released will be increased gradually, sources said. The dam could not be opened on the customary date of June 12 as the storage level was low due to Karnataka’s refusal to release Cauvery water as per the monthly schedule stipulated by the Supreme Court. Following instructions from Chief Minister M K Stalin, Mu- nicipal Administration Minister K N Nehru opened the sluice gates of the dam in the presence of District Collector R Brinda Devi, Salem MP T M Selvaganapathy and senior officials. Minister Nehru and others offered flowers to the flowing water. The decision to open the dam was taken at a highlevel meeting chaired by Chief Minister M K Stalin at the secretariat in which Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan, collectors of delta districts, and senior officials took part. An official press release said the inflow into the Mettur dam has been increasing since July 17 and the storage level stands at 109.20ft (77.30 tmcft). The four dams across the Cauvery in Karnataka are overflowing and a surplus water of 1.48 lakh cusecs is being released from these dams into the river.  P5 basement of a UPSC coaching institute in Rajender Nagar had been flooded with water with the possibility of some students trapped in it. “Immediately the local police responded to the call and reached the spot i.e. the basement of the coaching institute,” the DCP said. The entire road outside the Rau Choaching Centre was submerged with at least 2 feet deep water. Parallely, the Fire Brigade w a s i n t i m a t e d wh i c h rushed 7 rescue vehicles to the spot and began pumping out the water. But as the street was already waterlogged, the basement kept on flooding, ultimately delaying the rescue operation. The NDRF was then intimated which dispatched its divers after which they retrieved the first body of a woman at 10.40 pm, the second at 11.10 pm and the third around 1 am. Locals said the torrential rains had waterlogged the entire area and gushing waters broke down the airtight gate of the basement after which the water entered the basement at a very high speed. stabbed him and hit him on the head with an iron rod before fleeing the scene. Asif ’s colleagues attempted to stop the accused, but they managed to escape in a car. Asif was immediately sent to the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead, sources added. Following the incident, upon orders from SP N Stephen Jesupadham, four special teams were formed under DSP A Sivaraman and investigation began. Police identified the accused based on CCTV footage recovered from the hotel premises. 3 murders in 2 days, oppn slams govt on poor law and order Three political functionaries — Jakson (37), R Badmanabhan (48) and Selvakumar (52) — belonging to Congress, AIADMK, and BJP, respectively, were hacked to death by unidentified assailants in three different incidents in Tamil Nadu in the last two days. While AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and state BJP president K Annamalai on Sunday condemned the murders and lambasted the state government over deteriorating law and order in the state, police ruled out political motive behind the murders and said they were all due to personal enmity | P4 TN to assess learning ability of Class 5 kids online S u ba s h i n i V i jaya k u m a r @ Chennai For the first time in Tamil Nadu, an online assessment through direct interaction will be conducted for Class 5 students in around 150 government elementary schools across the state between July 29 and August 1 to understand their learning ability in subjects like English and Tamil. “The assessment is being done to understand if the syllabus, pedagogy and teachers’ engagement under the Ennum E z h u t h u m s c h e m e h ave reached the students. Based on the results, we will decide on conducting a midline survey,” an official said. Under the initiative, led by the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), officials will interact directly with the students via Google Meet to assess their learning ability, an official circular said. Students will attend the assessment using the tablets previously distributed to headmasters and teachers in gov- ernment elementary schools. Four schools from each district have been selected for the process. About 600 students will take part in the exercise. “Officials have informed us that the Google Meet link and the list of selected students will be provided a day before the test,” a headmaster said. T h e E n nu m E z h u t h u m scheme, launched in June 2022, aims to ensure that elementary Officials have informed us that the Google Meet link and the list of selected students will be provided a day before the assessment Headmaster of a government elementary school students achieve basic literacy and numeracy. Under it, students are divided into three categories — Arumbu, Malar and Mottu — depending on their learning abilities rather than the classes they belong to. The scheme was expanded to Classes 4 and 5 during the academic year 2023-24. In September 2023, SCERT conducted an evaluation of students of Classes 1 to 3 across the state. While that was carried out by a third party, the upcoming assessment for Class 5 students will be conducted by personnel from the department, said official sources.