PHOTO: AP BELAGAVI  MONDAY  OCTOBER 07, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION T20 WORLD CUP: INDIA WOMEN GET THE JOB DONE AGAINST PAK After an upset loss against New Zealand, Harmanpreet & Co. enjoy relatively smooth sailing against neighbours on the back of a clinical bowling performance.... Arundhati, Shreyanka excel on bowling day Pakistan opted to bat first in Dubai but Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma were on the money in the powerplay. The pacespin combo of Arundhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil kept up the pressure, restricting Pakistan to 105/8. India got across the line but lie in fourth place thanks to a vastly inferior NRR. Up against Sri Lanka and Australia next It’s likely that India need to win both their remaining games to guarantee their progression to semis. They face Sri Lanka, who beat India in Asia Cup final, on Wednesday and Australia on Sunday. The No. 3 spot remains a musical chair for India. Harmanpreet was one drop in the first match. On Sunday, it was Jemimah Rodrigues’ turn | P11 -1.217 INDIA’S NET RUN-RATE AFTER THE PAKISTAN MATCH 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 Beirut sees its ‘worst day’ as Israeli attacks intensify Iran grounds flights amid threat of Israeli strike; 25 killed in Gaza Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut on Sunday | AP “significant strike” on Iran, possibly targeting its oil installations or nuclear sites, apart from military infrastructure. Israel has been pounding Lebanon and Gaza since Saturday night. Powerful explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs after midnight on Saturday, killing at least 23 people, Reuters reported. A BBC correspondent in the city described the night as “Beirut’s worst” since Israel started bombing the country two weeks ago. In Gaza, an Israeli strike on a Hindu group to hold Durga Puja indoors WITH anti-minority sentiments running high in Bangladesh, a prominent Hindu organisation has decided to hold Durga Puja celebrations inside an auditorium. “Considering the volatility of the present situation, Durga Puja in Ramakrishna Mission will be held inside the auditorium as hardliners have issued warnings against making sound,” a senior activist for minorities in Dhaka told this newspaper. The activist said the Hindus are living in a state of fear in Bangladesh after recent incidents of targeted attacks on them and other minority groups. Though the present government has assured pro- EXPRESS READ State will face snap polls before ’28: HDK Bengaluru: Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday said Karnataka may face snap polls before 2028. “We need not wait until 2028 for the elections as we may face them before that,” he said at an event here | P4 Hindu trusts should run temples: Pejawar seer Mangaluru: Pejawar Math seer and trustee of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Sri Vishwaprasanna Tirtha Swamiji, on Sunday said trusts should be set up in Hindu temples to prevent any irregularities | P5 5 people die as IAF air show ends in chaos Chennai: Five people died due to suspected dehydration while returning from an air show by the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the Marina beach in Chennai on Sunday. Over 300 people fainted during the event | P5 @ Hubballi/Ballari/Gadag mosque early on Sunday killed at least 21 people, Palestinian officials said. Displaced people were sheltering at the mosque that was struck near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another group of four persons were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town, AP reported. “We are in a new phase of the war,” the Israeli military said in leaflets it dropped over areas in northern Gaza. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones,” it said. P9 ANURAAG SINGH & DILIP SINGH K S H AT R I YA @ Bhopal/Ahmedabad IN a joint operation, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Delhi have busted a drug factory in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and seized mephedrone (MD) and raw materials worth `1,814 crore, authorities said on Sunday . According to sources, the joint team raided a factory in E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Mangaluru tection for puja pandals, none of those accused of attacking the homes and properties of the Hindus have been arrested, the activist said. “We feel the present regime doesn’t want any minorities to exist in Bangladesh. Hindus are being falsely implicated in criminal cases. But can we expect justice to prevail?” Professor Najmul Ahsan Kallimullah, a political commentator based in Dhaka, told this newspaper that, “The minority communities in Bangladesh are a troubled lot today The present . regime considers them as symp at h i s e r s o f t h e Aw a m i League.” In some areas, Puja committees have been reportedly asked to pay 5 lakh taka (INR 3.5 lakh) to set up puja pandals. THE Mangaluru city police have launched a search operation in Phalguni river on the suspicion of a businessman jumping into the river from Kulur bridge. BM Mumtaz Ali, 52, brother of former legislators BM Farooq and Mohiuddin Bava, left his house in Kadri around 3 am on Sunday. Half-an-hour later, he posted a voice message in his family WhatsApp group, suggesting that he is taking the extreme step and blamed a person for it. His daughter, who saw the message around 4.40 am, went in search of him and found Ali’s car in damaged condition at Kulur bridge and alerted the police. Mangaluru Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal, who rushed to the spot along with senior police officials, said that based on a missing person’s complaint, they have launched the search operation involving personnel from State Disaster Response Force, Fire and Emergency Services and the Coast Guard, suspecting that Ali may have jumped into the river. Ali was not traced till evening. He owned an industry in Baikampady and was active in the Dakshina Kannada Muslim Central Committee. NEXT HARYANA CM Lobbying starts in Congress even before election results P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi WITH less than 24 hours left for the Haryana assembly election results to be announced, the Congress party hopes to celebrate an early Diwali, going by the exit polls. However, it has an uphill task at hand —to nail down a chief minister’s name from among multiple contenders and to contain the party’s problem of infighting. The exit polls on Saturday forecast a smooth win for the Congress with most pollsters predicting 55 of Haryana’s 90 seats - comfortably ahead of the halfway mark of 46. Even as the exit polls were out, hectic parleys began in the Congress camp to decide the next Chief Minister. Among the CM hopefuls are Rajya Sabha MP and ex-Union minister Kumari Selja, for mer CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son and Lok Sabha MP Deepender Hooda, Rajya Sabha MP and AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, and state Congress chief Udai Bhan, a Hooda loyalist. Bhupinder Singh Hooda left for Delhi on Sunday evening where he will hold a meeting with the party leadership. On Monday, the veteran leader is likely to meet the senior leadership before he returns to his Rohtak residence. His arch-rival Selja, a prominent Dalit face of the party has , shied away from projecting herself as the CM candidate. Asked who would be the CM if the Congress comes to power, Hooda on Saturday reiterated that there is a laid down procedure in the party, according to which “the opinion of the MLAs will be sought and the high command will decide”. Dasanapura village of Hagaribommanahalli taluk in Vijayanagara district. In Davanagere district, 81-year-old Kulagatte Basavarajappa died after his house wall collapsed on him late on Saturday night. His son and daughter-in-law were also injured in the incident and are being treated at a hospital. They are out of danger. Met Department sources said 130 mm of rain that lashed in a few hours in undivided Ballari district and surrounding areas caused intense floods. Heavy rain was also reported in Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir and Kalaburagi districts. P5 A mining lorry submerged in flood waters after heavy rain lashed Ballari district on Saturday and Sunday | EXPRESS Rain floods apartment, fells trees in Bengaluru Bengaluru: Heavy rain affected normal life in many parts of the city on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Houses and residential complexes were flooded, a compound wall collapsed damaging many two-wheelers, 15 trees were uprooted, and many roads became rivers leading to bumper-to-bumper traffic stretching for kilometres after the city received heavy rain on Saturday night. NCB, Gujarat ATS bust Bhopal drug factory Ex-MLA’s bro missing, search on in river BANGLADESH Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi A M I T S U PA D H Y E THREE people were killed and over 150 houses damaged after heavy rain lashed several parts of North Karnataka on Saturday night. As predicted by weather agencies, several districts in North Karnataka came under the grip of heavy rain owing to a cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal. Two people were killed in Vijayanagara district on Saturday after a lightning struck them on Sunday The victims -- Narappa . Banakar (55) and Prashant Banakar (45) -- were both from AGENCIES IRAN on Sunday cancelled all flights till Monday amid concerns of Israel’s immediately retaliatory strike on Tehran’s October 1 missile attack on Tel Aviv. While Iranian media quoting officials said the flights have been cancelled due to operational restrictions, Tehran had earlier implemented restrictions on flights when it fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel. Meanwhile, Israel on Sunday intensified its bombardment of southern Beirut and northern Gaza, killing at least 50 people. The day also saw IDF unleash its heaviest bombardment on the Lebanon capital since it escalated its campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah last month. With October 7 marking the first anniversary of Iranbacked Hamas’s gruesome attack, West Asia watchers believe Israel is likely to step up its attacks to target the outfit’s sponsor Iran. Israeli officials have given ample indications in recent days that they are planning a Rain kills 3, damages 150 houses in N K’taka ‘MLAs, high command will decide’ On whether Selja would become the next CM, Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “This is democracy. Everybody should aspire. You can also aspire. But the MLAs will decide, the high command will decide” the Bagroda Industrial Area on the outskirts of Bhopal on Saturday and seized 907.09 kg of the banned drug following specific inputs from a person who was recently detained in Surat. A process was underway to manufacture a large amount of the contraband when the raid was carried out, sources added. Two persons identified as Amit Chaturvedi (57) from Bhopal and Sanyal Prakash Bane (40) of Nashik, Maharashtra were taken into custody . Bane was earlier arrested in 2017 in a MD drug seizure case in Maharashtra and served five years in jail. After his release, he conspired with Chaturvedi to manufacture and sell MD to make quick money The factory . was subsequently taken on rent and nefarious operations start- ed a few months ago. The joint raid by the Gujarat ATS and NCB also led to the seizure of around 5,000 kg of raw materials, including chemicals used for manufacturing MD. A preliminary probe suggested that the illegal unit had the capacity to manufacture 25 kg of MD per day officials said. , The Madhya Pradesh police was not officially informed about the raid, said a senior police official.