tadepalligudem l sunday l may 04, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Australia PM Anthony Albanese wins a second three-year term Albanese’s steady leadership resonated at a time of global tumult, with voters deserting hard-nosed opposition leader Peter Dutton housing crisis, healthcare sway voters dutton’s praise for trump a costly error US President Trump cast a long shadow over the six-week election campaign, sparking keen global interest in whether his tariff-induced economic chaos would influence the result. Albanese has promised to embrace renewable energy, tackle a worsening housing crisis and a creaking healthcare system, while Dutton wanted to slash immigration ■ ■ Some pre-vote polls showed Dutton leaking support because of Trump, who he praised as a “big thinker” on the global stage Albanese’s government has embraced the global push towards decarbonisation, warning of a future in which iron ore and polluting coal exports no longer prop up the economy | P9 36 day campaign was a largely staid affair, with a few exceptions 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 Committed to take firm, decisive action against terrorists and their ecosystem, says Modi Further squeeze Addl structure on Indus will India stops direct & indirect Pak imports, draw attack: suspends mail services, denies port access Pak minister J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi north goa Six dead, 80 injured in temple fest stampede Su d h i r s u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai AT least six people died while 80 sustained injuries in a stampede that broke out at a temple festival at Shirgaon in North Goa early Saturday morning. The state government ordered a magisterial inquiry , headed by Revenue Secretary Sandeep Jacques, into the tragedy at Shirgao village, and transferred five officials including the district collector and superintendent of police. The stampede occurred at around 3 am when thousands of devotees thronged the narrow lanes leading to the temple of Goddess Sree Lairai Devi for an annual festival, police said. The village is located 40 km away from Panaji. “At least 30,000 to 40,000 people had gathered, and some were standing on a slope. A few persons fell, causing others to tumble and fall on each other,” DGP Alok Kumar said. About 50 people fell on the slope, and the stampede was confined to that spot, he added.Thousands of devotees from Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka had congregated to attend the annual festival. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish over the tragedy “Saddened . by the loss of lives due to a stampede in Shirgao, Goa. May the injured recover soon,” the PM wrote on X. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced `10 lakh solatium for the family members of every deceased and `1 lakh to the injured. Express News Service Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday vowed unwavering and decisive action against terrorists and their backers, condemning terrorism as the gravest threat to humanity, after his meeting with visiting Angola’s President Joao Lourenco here. Meanwhile, as part of continuing economic and diplomatic measures following the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, including a Nepalese citizen, India halted all imports from Pakistan, suspended mail services, and denied port access to Pakistani vessels with immediate effect. “Government of India has decided to suspend the exchange of all categories of inbound mail and parcels from Pakistan through air and surface routes,” Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister for Communication said. India also imposed a ban on both direct and indirect imports from Pakistan and barred Pakistani ships from accessing Indian ports. A newly introduced provision in the Foreign Trade Policy said that “the direct or indirect import or transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan is prohibited with immediate effect until further orders.” The notification said the provision was imposed in the interest of national security An. other order from the Directorate General of Shipping said that any ship flying the Pakistani flag will be prohibited from vis- Amid escalating tensions over the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned on Friday that Islamabad would “strike” if India built any structure on the Indus River, violating the Indus Waters Treaty . Speaking to Geo News, Asif said that building any infrastructure on the river would be considered an act of “Indian aggression”. The warning came after India held in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty as part of its broader response to the terror attack in Pahalgam. Asif emphasised that any attempt by India to build o n t h e r ive r would be met with strong opposition. “Cer- Khawaja Asif, tainly, if they Pak def minister attempt to build any structure, we will strike it. Aggression is not just about firing cannons or bullets; it has many faces. One of those faces is (blocking or diverting water), which could lead to deaths due to hunger and thirst.” Asif added: “If they make any architectural attempt, then Pakistan will destroy that structure.” However, Asif said for now, Pakistan would take the issue to the appropriate for u m s, a n d t h e r e l ev a n t stakeholders. The Indus Waters Treaty was , signed on September 19, 1960, between India and Pakistan. @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi with J&K CM Omar Abdullah in New Delhi | PTI Pak test-fires Abdali missile Lanka searches Chennai flight Pak wife draws CRPF wrath Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of the Abdali surface-tosurface missile with a range of 450 km. India saw it as a blatant act of provocation Sri Lankan police searched a flight arriving in Colombo from Chennai after being tipped off that a suspect linked to the Pahalgam attack could be on board. The filght was later cleared. No one was arrested The Central Reserve Police Force sacked its jawan Munir Ahmed for concealing his marriage with a Pakistani woman, as his action was found to be detrimental to national security, official sources said iting Indian ports. Although trade volumes are low, it has become a casualty following the terror strike, as India began imposing economic costs on Pakistan due to the cross-border links involved in the attack. Direct trade had already sharply declined after India revoked Pakistan’s Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status following the Pulwama attack in 2019. India’s imports from Paki- Species looks alike sea slug found in Visakhapatnam coast after 160 years U s h a P e r i @ Visakhapatnam A biodiversity documentation exercise during the City Nature Challenge in April this year, has led to what could be the rediscovery of a sea slug species not recorded for over 160 years. Marine biologist Sri Chakra Pranav, who is also the founder of the East Coast Conservation Team (ECCT), came across a translucent, ethereal-looking nudibranch while surveying the coastal waters of Visakhapatnam. Speaking about the discovery with TNIE, Pranav said the sea slug did not match any of the photo records or species previously documented by the ECCT. “After verifying our data and not finding any match, we referred to historical records, and found an exact match in a Brit- ish journal published in 1864 by zoologists Joshua Alder and Albany Hancock. The species they had documented, Phidiana unilineata, appeared identical to what we observed,” he said. The nudibranch was reportedly first recorded in Visakhapatnam itself by Alder and Hancock during their study of marine slugs along the South Indian and Sri Lankan coastlines. Since then, there have been no recorded observation or documentation of this species, making the recent sighting potentially significant. Pranav was supported on the field by Dr Deepu Visweswar and Chandra Sekhar, members of the ECCT, while Vishal Bhave, a nudibranch expert, helped in identification. He noted that more research is needed to confirm the rediscov- Mosque in Shimla to be brought down Harpreet Bajwa @ Chandigarh THE Shimla Municipal Corporation Commissioner’s Court on Saturday ruled that all five floors of the disputed Sanjauli mosque are unauthorised, and ordered the demolition of the entire structure. A section of residents of Sanjauli and Hindu outfits had launched an agitation to press for the demolition of the mosque, claiming that it was unauthorised but no action was taken by the Corpora- stan have been minimal in recent years, with some goods routed through third-party ports like Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo to bypass trade restrictions. In 2023-24, India imported just USD 3 million worth of goods from Pakistan. However, with India halting all trade, Pakistan, heavily reliant on India for pharmaceuticals, is now urgently seeking alternative sources for its pharmaceutical requirements. tion during the past 15 years. The court had on October 5, 2024, ordered the demolition of the top three “unauthorised” floors and asked the Waqf Board to produce documents of sanctioned plans of the remaining two floors. This decision follows the Waqf board failing to present the mosque’s revenue records during the court hearing. The lawyer of the Waqf board argued that the mosque originally existed before 1947 and was rebuilt after demolition. But the court of Commissioner Bhupender Kumar Attri ques- tioned why necessary permissions, including architectural plans, were not obtained from the municipal corporation for the reconstruction. Commissioner Attri ruled that the mosque had been built without necessary permissions, including a building permit, a no-objection certificate and a sanctioned map. He ordered demolition of the lower two floors in addition to the three floors that were ordered to be demolished last year. E a rl i e r, t h e H i m a c h a l Pradesh High Court had directed the municipal commissioner to decide the case by May 8. Phidiana unilineata, sea slug species, found in Vizag coast in 2025 (right) The species discovered in 1864 | express ery scientifically “This species . may be endemic to the Visakhapatnam coast. The region between Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam has rare rocky shorelines that support the growth of hydroids, which are a food source for these sea slugs,” Pranav explained.  P4 express read Transmedia City to come up in AP Vijayawada: In a landmark move to position Andhra Pradesh as a global hub for entertainment, tourism and digital innovation, the State government on Saturday signed an MoU with Creativeland Asia (CLA) to conceptualise and operationalise CreatorlandIndia’s first Transmedia Entertainment City | P3 WITH THIS ISSUE Fatal Medicine PLUS 12 PAGES LG’s third plant in India to come up in Sri City with `5k cr Nethaji Kumaramangalam @ Tirupati LG Electronics is set to invest `5,001 crore on a new manufacturing plant at Sri City, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tirupati district. The ground breaking ceremony for the plant will be held on May 8. In an interview with TNIE, Ravindra Sannareddy Found, er and Managing Director of Sri City, said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh have made concerted efforts to get LG to Andhra Pradesh. LG, which currently operates manufacturing units in Pune and Noida, is setting up its third plant in India, and the first in South India in Sri City . The proposed facility at Sri City will manufacture a wide range of consumer electronics, including refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, televisions, and compressors. Commercial production is expected to commence within the next two to three years, he explained. To support the project, the State government has announced various incentives, including a 100% water supply subsidy for 20 years, and Ravindra Sannareddy, Sri City MD waiver of stamp duty and registration charges. The new plant is expected to benefit both Rayalaseema and the neighbouring Nellore districts, significantly boosting employment and industrial activity in the region, he said. Sri City unique features Sri City which was launched , on August 8, 2008, is a uniquely positioned industrial hub with access to four seaports and two international airports, making logistics seamless. Spanning over 8,000 acres in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, it is India’s first and largest green, multi-product integrated business city  P4 . Sebimore regulations chief’s take on More regulations do not necessarily mean better and effective monitoring, says Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey | P10