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 ■ ■ 800 chennai l tuesday l september 02, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION The 6.0 earthquake that struck near Afghanistan’s Jalalabad on Sunday night has killed 800 people, a Taliban government spokesman said on Monday, adding most of the casualties were in Kunar province Badakhshan Afghanistan DEAD AND COUNTING AS MASSIVE QUAKE JOLTS Afghanistan Kunar Province Jalalabad Kubul 2,500 injured Rescue operations are underway and medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have reached the affected area, a health ministry spokesman said. The casualties could go up as many are feared trapped under the rubble 8 27 The earthquake occurred at a depth of just 8 kilometres. Such shallow quakes tend to cause more intense surface shaking The quake’s epicentre was 27 kilometres east-northeast of Jalalabad. This placed it close to populated areas, including towns in Kunar province 11.47 pm On Sunday was when the earthquake struck, catching many people while they were sleeping. This led to the high death toll 3,00,000 PM raps double standards on terror at SCO summit Jt declaration condemns Pahalgam attack, calls for perpetrators to be brought to justice J ayanth J aco b @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping | PTI Modi, Putin add to strategic bond J ayanth J aco b @ New Delhi In a strong display of personal rapport and strategic alignment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a bilateral meeting on Monday amid US pressure over India’s Russian oil imports and growing international calls for an end to the war in Ukraine, with Modi expressing support for recent peace efforts and urging all sides to move forward constructively . The meeting took place on the sidelines of the SCO summit, where Modi and Putin walked hand-in-hand toward Chinese President Xi Jinping in a striking image of diplomacy in an increasingly polarised and ready-to-realign global order. Calling each other “dear friend”, Modi and Putin held their one-on-one conversation inside the Russian leader’s arWe welcome moured Aurus limousine, a rare all recent gesture reserved for chosen efforts to friends and trusted allies. bring peace “Even in the most difficult situ(in Ukraine) ations, India and Russia have aland hope that all relevant ways walked shoulder to shoulsides will der,” Modi said, and added that move forward their close relations are significonstructively cant for global peace, stability and prosperity . Narendra Modi, Putin echoed the sentiment, prime minister highlighting a “friendly and trusting” foundation that would guide future cooperation. Addressing Modi, he said, “Dear Prime Minister, my dear friend, Russia and India have for decades maintained special relations of friendship and trust, which is the foundation for our future relationship.” Putin said the India-Russia relations are “politically non-partisan and have the support of the majority of people in both countries”. The personal warmth and intent to step up the ties came amid rising tensions in India-US relations, particularly over Washington’s tariff response to India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude. With the global power centres shifting, Modi’s meeting with Putin sent a calibrated message of India pursuing a multipolar strategy, balancing ties with Russia, engaging with the West, and calling for lasting peace in Ukraine. With his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif in attendance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday used the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to deliver a pointed warning against cross-border terror, calling the recent Pahalgam attack “an open challenge to every country that believes in humanity”. Without naming Pakistan, Modi condemned “open support for terrorism by some countries” and urged SCO member states to take an unambiguous stand. “No double standards on terrorism will be acceptable,” he said, warning that the menace must be opposed “in all its forms and colours”. The comments come amid renewed concerns in India over Pakistanbased terror networks and their transnational enablers. “For the past four decades, India has been bearing the grave scars of ruthless terrorism,” Modi said adding that the “ugly face of terrorism” was once again visible in the Pahalgam attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent tourists in April. The SCO summit’s joint declaration later echoed Modi’s tone, with member states condemning the Pahalgam attack and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. It also mentioned two terror attacks in Pakistan. “We must state it clearly and in one voice: double standards on terrorism are unacceptable. Together, we must oppose terrorism in every form and manifestation. This is our responsibility towards humanity,” the prime minister said. While terrorism dominated Modi’s address, he also delivered a veiled message on sovereignty concerns in regional connectivity projects, a likely reference to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which runs through Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK). Without naming any initiative, Modi said connectivity must be based on “respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states,” a long-standing Indian position that implicitly critiques China’s Belt and Road projects passing through disputed territory . “We believe that every effort towards connectivity must uphold the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity . This is also enshrined in the core principles of the SCO Charter. Connectivity, that bypasses sovereignty, ultimately loses both trust and meaning,” Modi said. Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed NATO expansion and what he called the 2014 “coup in Kiev” as root causes of the Ukraine conflict. Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, took aim at “bullying behaviour” in the global order, calling for a rejection of bloc politics and Cold War mentalities, a stance widely interpreted as criticism of US dominance. fresh meltdown: Don says India trade a disaster E x press N e w s S er v ice @ New Delhi US President Donald Trump, in his latest meltdown, coming just hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, called the India-US trade relationship a “totally onesided” disaster for the US. He then claimed New Delhi offered to cut tariffs on US goods to ‘nothing, but it was getting late. “We do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump said beacuse of India’s “high tariffs”, the trade relationship has been a “totally one-sided disaster” for Donald Trump the US. Trump claimed India has now offered to cut tariffs to nothing, adding, “they should have done so years ago”. It was not just Trump who had a meltdown. His top trade advisor Peter Navarro, who has consistently criticised Delhi, claimed Brahmins are profiteering from Russian oil purchase. “I would just simply say the Indian people, please understand , what’s going on here. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people,” he said in an interview. SC RULING TET must for teachers to remain in service 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 Monday ruled that the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) is a mandatory requirement for appointment as teachers and for teachers in service to seek promotions. A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih said in their verdict that teachers with more than five years to retire, must qualify for the TET within two years to remain in service. Otherwise, they may quit or apply for compulsory retirement with terminal benefits, it stated. The court offered relief to those who have less than five years to retire, saying they need not qualify the TET. The bench delivered the verdict after hearing a batch of petitions, including those from Tamil Nadu and India assures aid India has started delivering relief materials for earthquake-affected people in Afghanistan, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar assuring his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi of more supplies Maharashtra, regarding whether the TET is mandatory for teaching service. One of the appellants, Anjuman Ishaat-e-Taleem Trust (a recognised minority education society), had also moved the SC against the State of Maharashtra in the case. The question of whether the State can mandate TET for minority institutions and how it would affect their rights was referred to a larger Bench by the top court. Estimated population of the city of Jalalabad, according to municipal authorities. Its larger metropolitan area makes it a significant urban centre near the quake’s epicentre CM in Germany TN inks 3 MoUs worth `3,200 cr, targets 6,250 jobs E x press N e w s S er v ice @ Chennai Tamil Nadu has attracted fresh investment commitments worth `3,201 crore during Chief Minister M K Stalin’s visit to Germany as part of his week-long trip to Europe on Monday, underscoring the state’s commitment to bolster its position as a hub for advanced engineering, clean energy, and mobility manufacturing. The CM also held talks with senior executives of BMW Group in Munich, exploring prospects to expand the comCM MK Stalin pany’s footprint in TN’s automotive sector. Three German companies— KnorrBremse, Nordex Group and ebm-papst — signed memoranda of understanding in Düsseldorf for projects that are expected to create about 6,250 jobs. CM Stalin said that the MoUs signed with the German firms, along with meaningful engagement with BMW leaders, reflect the world’s growing confidence in the state. P7 An injured person is carried to a hospital in Mazar Dara, Kunar province | AP Poor construction Buildings in Afghanistan tend to be low-rise constructions, mostly of concrete and brick, with homes in rural and outlying areas made from mud bricks and wood. Many are poorly built | P13 ‘Vote theft H-bomb’ coming, says Rahul bomb is on the way People are . soon going to find out the realAS the two-week-long Voter ity of vote theft. I want to tell Adhikar Yatra wound up in the the youth of Bihar, vote theft Bihar capital on Monday, Con- means ‘snatching away rights, gress leader Rahul Gandhi said democracy, and employment. his party would soon drop a They will take away your ra‘hydrogen bomb’ of revelations tion card and other rights,” on the alleged vote theft, follow- said Gandhi, as the crowd ing which Prime Minister Modi chanted “Vote thieves, leave the would not be able to show his chair” — a slogan adopted durface to the nation. ing the march. Addressing a mamMaintaining that moth rally here, Ganvote theft was an attack dhi escalated his fusilon the Constitution and lade against the the rights of people, Election Commission Gandhi said the same saying votes were stoforces that killed Malen in the Maharashtra hatma Gandhi are now Rahul Gandhi Assembly elections, trying to kill the Conand with evidence, his stitution. “But we will party showed how ‘vote theft’ not allow that to happen at any was done in the Mahadevapura cost,” he asserted. Assembly segment in KarnaBraving the scorching heat, taka’s Bangalore Central Lok tens of thousands of supportSabha seat. ers gathered at the ‘Gandhi se “I want to tell the BJP people. Ambedkar’ march, waving Have you heard of anything fl a g s o f R J D, C o n g re s s, bigger than an atom bomb? It is CPI(ML), CPI(M), CPI, and VIP a hydrogen bomb. BJP support- with a battle cry against the ers, be prepared, a hydrogen Modi government and the EC. P R E E T H A N A I R @ Patna