KOCHI l friday l may 16, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Voyager 1 makes comeback as dormant thrusters revived NASA engineers have revived thrusters aboard Voyager 1, the farthest spacecraft from Earth, just before a planned communications blackout feat accomplished just in time: nasa revival process took lots of planning The feat was accomplished just in time, as a scheduled maintenance period for a crucial Earth-based antenna threatened to sever communication with the probe. The revived thrusters are the original roll thrusters, which have been dormant since 2004. These thrusters allow Voyager 1’s orientation in space and let it send data back to Earth ■ ■ Voyager 1 operates at an immense distance, beyond the heliosphere, and the team had to carefully plan and execute the revival process In addition to the risk, the team faced time constraint. A giant antenna in Canberra went offline on May 4. The antenna is the only one with enough signal strength to send commands to the probe 56,000 kmph is the speed at which the voyager moves in space 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 Put rogue Pakistan’s nukes under IAEA watch: Rajnath Says India brushed aside the neighbour’s nuclear blackmail during Op Sindoor India rebuts Trump claim on zero tariffs Di pak M on d al @ New Delhi Defence Minister Rajnath Singh offers sweets to an Army officer in Srinagar on Thursday | PTI M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday demanded IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) supervision over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, arguing they were not safe in the hands of the rogue nation. Pointing out that India was not deterred by Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail, he said Operation Sindoor sent a clear message to the terrorists in Pakistan that they no longer had a safe sanctuary . Addressing soldiers in Srinagar, Rajnath said the world has witnessed how irresponsibly Islamabad has issued nuclear threats to New Delhi several times. “I raise this question before the world: Are nuclear weapons safe in the hands of such an irresponsible and rogue nation? Pakistan’s nuclear weapons should be taken under the supervision of the IAEA,” Rajnath said. Pakistan had sought to play the nuclear card amid Operation Sindoor as media reports suggested that a meeting of their Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) — the highest decision making body on the use of nukes — would be held shortly While it sent the inter. national community into a tizzy, Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif later denied any proposal to call the meeting. Another lie peddled on social media that Pakistan’s nuclear facilities were hit during Operation Sindoor, was rebutted by the IAEA, which said there was no radiation leak. “Based on information available to the IAEA, there has been no radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan,” the IAEA said. Rajnath termed Op Sindoor as the biggest action ever taken by India against terror. I didn’t have a very strong relationship (with Nadeem). Things will not be the same again Neeraj Chopra, on his relationship with Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem after Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent Operation Sindoor M o r e o n Pag e 1 1 Work on CBMs to continue “Further to the understanding between the two DGMOs on 10 May, it has been decided to continue the confidence building measures so as to reduce the alertness level,” the Army said on Thursday Security approval revoked Aviation watchdog BCAS revoked the security clearance of ground handling company Celebi Airport Services India, a unit of Turkiye, in the “interest of national security” | P7 US President Donald Trump on Thursday said India has decided to drop all tariffs on US goods, a statement the latter immediately denied. “They [India] have offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs,” Trump has said while responding to a question in Doha on Apple’s plan to shift iPhone manufacturing to India. He told the Apple CEO not to shift manufacturing to India. India rebutted the claims. “Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on. These are complicated S Jaishankar ne gotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is. Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature,” minister of external affairs S Jaishankar said. Meanwhile, a commerce ministry official said every country negotiates with its national interests in mind. “Negotiations must balance sensitivities and strengths on both sides. The aim is always a mutually beneficial agreement, as mentioned in the joint statement.” SC raps MP minister for ‘irresponsible’ remarks 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 Thursday rapped Madhya Pradesh tribal affairs minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, against whom an FIR has been filed for his scurrilous remarks targeting Col Sofiya Qureshi, saying persons holding constitutional post must exercise utmost restraint. “What kind of statement you are making? Such a person holding a constitutional office should be responsible... when this country is going through such a situation (Operation Sindoor),” said a bench led by Chief Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai. The court’s remarks came when lawyer Vibha Makhija, appearing for Shah, mentioned a petition against the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order to register an FIR against the minister for his alleged remarks. Shah’s counsel said the minister’s comments were over-hyped and he was misunderstood, adding that he has already apologised fo r t h e c o n t rove r s i a l remarks. The bench declined to grant any stay on the FIR at this stage but agreed to hear the matter on Friday . 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Youth murdered in road rage, two CISF men held Duo suspended The deputy inspector general of CISF suspended the two personnel reportedly involved in the incident. An internal inquiry by a senior CISF officer has been initiated, said a release issued by CISF Hit, then dragged Ivin was reportedly hit by the car driven by the CISF personnel and dragged for nearly a kilometre while he was on the vehicle’s bonnet. After Ivin fell off the bonnet, he was dragged for almost another 50 metres tion between the two parties near the Government Higher Secondary School in NayathAn incident of road rage ended ode, around 8 km from the Koin the shocking death of a 24- chi airport. The CISF personyear-old man, Ivin Jijo, alleg- nel’s vehicle, which was driven edly at the hands of two Cen- by Mohan Kumar, was behind tral Industrial Security Force Ivin’s car and reportedly (CISF) personnel in Nayathode honked aggressively in an atnear Nedumbassery late on tempt to overtake. A minor colWednesday . lision ensued while they overThe CISF personnel involved took Ivin. This led to a heated — sub-inspector Vinayakumar argument. and constable Mohan Kumar, Eyewitnesses said after the both natives of Bihar atinitial altercation, Ivin tached to the Kochi airattempted to confront the port — have been arrested officials again. He began by the Nedumbassery porecording the confrontalice on charges of murder. tion on his phone, which Mohan is currently unappeared to have further dergoing treatment for rankled the CISF perIvin Jijo injuries suffered in the sonnel. Standing in aftermath of the incifront of their vehicle, dent, police said. he sought an explanation for T h e i n c i d e n t o c c u r re d their conduct. It was then, witaround 11 pm when Ivin, a na- nesses claim, the duo accelertive of Thuravoor near Anga- ated the car, causing Ivin to fall maly and a chef at a CAFS air- on its bonnet, and drove off — line caterers in Nedumbassery , dragging him for nearly a kilowas reportedly hit by the car metre. As residents gathered, driven by the CISF personnel Vinayakumar fled. He was later and dragged for nearly a kilo- nabbed by the police. metre while he was on the vehiElias, a resident who alerted cle’s bonnet. After Ivin fell off the police, said: “The left side the bonnet, he was dragged for of Ivin’s body was crushed in almost another 50 metres. the incident. We waited for an According to preliminary po- ambulance as we were afraid lice findings, the incident be- that moving him would worsen ● More on P4 gan with a minor road alterca- his condition.”  A BD U L N A Z E R M A @Thuravoor (Ernakulam) express read IUML names 2 women as nat’l office-bearers Kozhikode: The IUML has appointed two women as its national office-bearers — a first for the party. Fathima Muzaffer and Jayanthi Rajan were named the national assistant secretaries at the party’s national council held in Chennai on Thursday. P4 Man mauled to death by tiger in Kalikavu Malappuram: A rubber tapper was mauled to death by a tiger in Kalikavu, Malappuram, in the early hours of Thursday. The tiger grabbed Kalikavu resident Gafoor by the neck and dragged him into the jungle, said a fellow tapper. P4 Lawyer who attacked his junior arrested T’Puram: Police have arrested Beyline Das, a lawyer hailing from Poonthura, who is accused of beating up his junior lawyer. He had been on the run after the police booked him on the complaint of his junior. P4 Assam Rifles guns down 10 militants Guwahati: As many as 10 suspected militants were killed by the Assam Rifles in an encounter near the IndiaMyanmar border in Manipur’s Chandel district. P8