cHENNAI l wednesday l february 05, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l VELLORE EDITION counterpunch: China announces retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports China countered President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products with levies of its own on multiple US imports as well as a probe on Google 15% tariff on coal, lng; 10% on crude oil impact on u.s. exports may be limited China said it would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the US. The tariffs would take effect next Monday. “The US’s unilateral tariff increase violates rules of the WTO,” China’s State Council Tariff Commission said in a statement | P9 ■ ■ The impact on US exports may be limited. Though the US is the biggest exporter of LNG globally, it does not export much to China. In 2023, the US exported only 2.3% of its natural gas to China China also placed two US companies on an unreliable entities list: PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and Illumina 2018 was when Trump first began the tariff war with ChinA 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 Boy dies of GBS; TN says no need to panic Ahead of Delhi polling, Modi What is GuillainBarre Syndrome? S i n d u j a J a n e @ Chennai After a nine-year-old boy from Thirvur in Tiruvallur district died due to GuillainBarre Syndrome (GBS) — a rare autoimmune condition that affects the peripheral nervous system — health department officials have collected water samples and conducted medical camps in the locality However, they stressed . that GBS is not a new disease and sporadic cases do occur. According to officials, they have taken these measures to rule out the possibility of a cluster. They said that no one else in the area, including the members of the deceased boy’s family, have shown ILLEGAL STAY Assam gets it for failing to deport foreigners s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday lambasted the Assam government for its failure to deport individuals declared as foreigners, while ordering the state to initiate deportation proceedings against 63 whose nationalities were known. A two-judge bench led by justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, held that once individuals are declared foreigners, they should be deported immediately. “Are you waiting for some muhurat to deport those detained persons who are held to be foreigners?” the court asked the Assam government’s counsel. The bench said it’s for the Centre to decide where the foreigners should go, adding Assam cannot continue to detain them indefinitely . The top court was hearing a case of petitioner Rajubala against the Central government over the issue of deportation of declared foreigners. “Once you declare a person foreigner, then you have to take the next logical step. You cannot detain them till eternity. Article 21 of the Constitution is there. There are many foreigner detention centres in Assam. How many have you deported?” the bench questioned. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he would sit with the Union Ministry of External Affairs officials and find a solution. The court also directed the Assam government to ensure better conditions in detention centres and form a committee to inspect facilities fortnightly. Additionally, the Central government has been given a month’s time to clarify how to handle ‘stateless’ individuals. GBS is a rare autoimmune condition in which a person’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves Causes Health officials conducting a medical camp in Tiruvallur district | Express symptoms of GBS or other bacterial or viral infections. Highlighting that there are no indications at the moment that the case could be part of a cluster, officials stressed that there is no need for panic. The boy had suddenly developed difficulty in walking and soon became paralysed, but did not present with any other symptoms, official sources said. He was initially taken to a nearby Primary Health Centre (PHC) on January 22.  P5 Don sends first deportation flight to India US military flight with 205 undocumented Indians aboard to land in Amritsar today J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi THE US on Tuesday deported 205 people, mostly from Punjab, on a military plane as it stepped up its efforts to remove illegal migrants. The C-17 military aircraft, which took off from Texas in the wee hours on Tuesday, will make a refuel stop at the Ramstein airbase in Germany before landing in Amritsar on Wednesday . While there was no official word either from Washington or New Delhi about the deportation flight, sources said the deportees were verified before they were put on the plane. A recheck of the passengers’ nationalities will be done once the flight lands in Amritsar. Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said state government officials will receive the deportees and set up counters for them. This is the first time the US is using a military plane to deport people: last October, a chartered flight was used to fly back Indians who were staying in the US illegally . A spokesperson of the US embassy in New Delhi said the crackdown would send a clear message, that illegal migration is not worth the risk. Tough action against illegal immigration was one of the major poll promises of Donald Trump. “All illegal entry will be immediately halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of illegal aliens back to the places from which they came,” he said during his inauguration speech. Following a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, Trump said the Indian PM “will do what’s right” regarding illegal Indian immigrants in the US. India’s stated position is that it does not support illegal migration and will take back its citizens, upon verification, if they are found to be staying in other countries illegally . Indications are that there could be more such repatriation flights. At least 20,407 undocumented ‘Indians’ could be impacted by the crackdown, with 17,940 being paperless individuals with final removal orders, according to the US Department of Homeland Security Another 2,467 individuals . are currently in detention under the Enforcement and Removal Operations division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These figures, last updated in 2022, may have increased significantly . Punjab govt to be ‘friendly’ with deportees Chandigarh: Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said on Tuesday that the state government would be friendly with the illegal immigrants who land at the Amritsar airport on Wednesday after being deported from the US. “However, criminal antecedents, if any, would be checked and due action taken. We do not know yet about their identity and their cases but we are in touch with central agencies,” he said While causes of Guillain-Barre Syndrome is not fully understood, most cases follow an infection with a virus or bacteria Symptoms First symptoms of GBS include weakness or tingling sensations, which usually start in the legs treatments Supportive care Immunological therapies hc nod for hindu outfits’ protest in Madurai Permitting Hindu outfits to conduct a peaceful protest on the Thiruparankundram hill conflict, the Madurai bench of Madras HC on Tuesday observed that the state government could have handled the issue in a better way | P4 tears into Rahul, Kejri in LS P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi A day after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s fiery speech in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the grand old party and said his government has helped as many as 25 crore Indians “defeat poverty and come out of it” in the last 10 years. Replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks on the President’s address, Modi said such achievements happen when “we sacrifice our lives for the poor in a planned way”. He reiterated his commitment to the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. Rebutting Rahul’s charges on ‘rising unemployment’ and the ‘Make in India’ programme’s failure to revive production, Modi listed his gover nment achievements in different sectors like education, foreign policy, MSMEs and job creation. While Rahul spoke about data localisation and artificial intelligence, Modi said, “Our focus is on double AI. One AI is artificial intelligence and the other aspirational India.” Rubbishing Rahul’s allegations on Chinese encroach- Constitution rap Hitting out at Rahul’s Constitution pitch, the PM said, “those who walk with Constitution in their pockets forget Muslim women. We ended triple talaq, gave women their rights. We live by the Constitution.” Urban Naxal lingo Have three members of a SC or ST family served as members of Parliament together at any point in time ever? PM’s broadside against Sonia’s family ment, Modi observed that “some don’t feel mature enough if they do not talk about foreign policy though it might hurt the country .” “If they have an interest in foreign policy, want to understand it, and aim to do something in this field in the future, they should definitely read a book, JFK’s Forgotten Crisis, on the subject,” he said without mentioning its author. Slamming Rahul for his demand for a caste census, the PM said some people had made it fashion to talk about caste. “For the last 30-35 years, MPs E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai HIGH-STAKES dELHI POLLS TODAY Polling officials collect election material at a distribution centre on the eve of the Delhi Assembly elections | PTI HC pulls up SIT for harassing TN journos R SIVAKUMAR @ Chennai The Madras High Court on Tuesday restrained the Tamil Nadu police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) from harassing journalists by issuing repeated summons, grilling them with unnecessary questions about their families and seizing their electronic devices — including mobile phones — in connection with the case over the leaking of the FIR in the sexual assault of a student inside the Anna University campus. The HC ordered the SIT to return the seized electronic devices while directing the journalists to cooperate with the investigations. The court also questioned why the SIT has not examined the police officers responsible for registering the FIR and uploading it to the official website. Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan passed the orders while hearing a batch of petitions filed by the affected journalists, belonging to mainstream television channels and a newspaper. The judge posed a series of questions to the government advocate K M D Muhilan who represented the SIT. “How many people have you examined other than the journalists? Have you examined the officer who authored the FIR and uploaded it,” he asked.  P5 Love, luxe and loot: Luck runs out for interstate thief in Bengaluru up with him when he was arrested by Bengaluru police on January 20 for stealing gold MEET Panchakshari Sangayya and silver ornaments worth Swami, a 37-year-old thief with `12.25 lakh from a house in a taste for the high life. Madiwala. A state-level kickboxSwami’s ar rest reer and black belt in kavealed a staggering crimrate, Swami had a peninal past — over 150 cases chant for gifting lavish of robbery and theft presents to his loved across Telangana, Maones, including a `3 harashtra, Gujarat and crore palatial house to Karnataka. He had been his bar dancer girlP S Swami arrested twice before, in friend and a `22 lakh 2012 and 2016, and had aquarium to a well-known Bol- spent six years in prison. But lywood actress. But law caught despite his notoriety he contin, @ Bengaluru Illustration: Mandar Pardikar from across parties were demanding constitutional status for the OBC Commission. It’s we who gave it constitutional status,” he emphasised. With Delhi going to elections the next day, the PM’s speech mostly revolved around criticism of the Aam Aadmi Party government and the alleged corruption charges against it. Targeting former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, he said, “some people are focused on building jacuzzi and showers”, while the BJP government is working to provide tap water to every home in the country . 18-year-old at Kilambakkam kidnapped & assaulted by 3 art of deception Express News Service In a veiled attack on Rahul, he said, “Some openly speak the language of urban Naxals and attack the Indian state. They don’t understand Constitution or democracy.” ued to evade the law, shifting his base to Bengaluru to avoid detection. His life of crime began in 2003 when he stole a laptop at the age of 15. By 2009, he had turned into a professional, using his ill-gotten gains to fund his lavish lifestyle. When he turned 24, he came in contact with the Bollywood actress. Police believed he would spend up to `15 lakh for every visit to the actress. He gifted her the pricey aquarium on one of her birthday . Besides this, he had also con- structed a palatial building for his girlfriend, a bar dancer in Kolkata. “He had met her at a bar and had fallen in love. He constructed the bungalow costing `3 crore for her using his ill-gotten money police said, adding that ,” Swami was married but his wife deserted him. His latest arrest was made possible by CCTV footage and technical evidence, which led police to recover 181 gm of gold biscuits and 333 gm of silver ornaments, worth `12.25 lakh. He was picked up near the popular Madiwala market. Police said he had melted all stolen gold ornaments and converted them into gold biscuits. Police recovered a fire gun that he used to melt gold. Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda said, “He had stolen gold and silver ornaments weighing 410 gm from a locked house in Madiwala. He gained entry by breaking open the door locks. After his release from a jail in Maharashtra in October last year, he committed this theft in Madiwala on January 9.” An 18-year-old woman from Assam, who was waiting for a bus near the busy Kilambakkam terminus on Monday night, was allegedly kidnapped in an autorickshaw and sexually assaulted inside the vehicle by three men, including the auto driver, at knife-point. Tambaram city police are combing through CCTV footage to identify the men and two special teams have been formed. Sources said the woman managed to contact the police after the men put her in another auto passing by and asked that driver to drop her off at Koyambedu. That auto driver is believed to have helped her contact her relatives in Chennai who, in turn, reached out to the police. Meanwhile, the police control room had also been alerted by passersby who saw her struggling in the first auto after she was abducted, sources said. Police managed to rescue her near Koyembedu around midnight. According to a source, the young woman, who is employed as a domestic worker in Salem, had come to Chennai to visit her relative in Madhavaram. She got down from a bus in Kilambakkam at around 11 pm and was waiting to board a bus to Madhavaram. When she was unable to spot a bus, she came out of the terminus where she was allegedly abducted by the auto driver who sexually assaulted her with two of his friends. Based on her statement, the Tambaram City Police have registered a case. The woman was sent for medical examination and is currently undergoing counseling. While there is a separate police station inside the Kilambakkam bus terminus, sources said that as the abduction occurred on the road outside the facility it might have evaded immediate detection. Multiple attempts to contact Tambaram police, including Tambaram city police commissioner Abin Dinesh Modak, were in vain.