NAGAPATTINAM l saturday l october 04, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Church of England names first female Archbishop of Canterbury The Church of England on Friday named Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to hold the 1,400-year-old office To lead 85 mn anglicans in 165 countries As the principal leader of the Church of England, Mullally, 63, will now lead 85 million Anglicans across 165 countries. She will replace Justin Welby, who resigned last year over a child abuse cover-up scandal. Mullally is a former cancer nurse who worked as the UK government’s Chief Nursing Officer for England in the early 2000s. She became a priest in 2006 | 2018 To officially take charge in March 2026 ■ ■ Mullally will be known as Archbishop of Canterbury-designate till she is confirmed in January 2026 and officially takes charge in March She may face opposition from conservative churches in Africa and Asia, which rejected the reforms introduced a decade ago that made it possible for a woman to become the Archbishop of Canterbury When Mullally was appointed the first woman Bishop of London 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 Stern Army, IAF warning to Pak India won’t show restraint next time, says Army Chief; Pak lost 12-13 aircraft during Operation Sindoor M andar Pard ika r Thayil Jacob Sony George 7 M ay 1 9 2 8 - 3 O c t o b e r 2 0 2 5 TJS, That Legend Down the Corridor T here are journalists, and then there are journalists who get that rare prefix, ‘legendary’. TJS George belonged to this second order, an endangered tribe these days. Its list of card-holding members got rarer still when the man passed away today at age 97. , Behind him trails a career in letters that has spanned about as long as the life of the Indian republic, and as varied. From his erudition in Carnatic music that birthed a book on MS Subbulakshmi, and others on VK Krishna Menon as well as Nargis, it also contained landmarks in good old-fashioned print journalism, such as being the founding editor of Asiaweek in Hong Kong back in the 1970s—an act of pan-Asia ecumenism that would have resonated well today . That such an eminence was a living presence in the offices of The New Indian Express till the other day was a matter of honour and delight equally for all of us here. It was only in June 2022 that he laid his pen to rest after writing his last column, the Sunday Point of View, in his inimitable, no-holds-barred style—sharp, ironic, fearless. Over 25 years, he contributed 1,300 columns for these pages. Politicians, judges and powerful people feared and respected his pen, and treaded carefully around him. He was famously unpredictable. In our Bangalore office, when a VVIP dropped by wanting to meet him, we would exsantwana change nervous glances. If it bhattacharya was his column-writing Editor hour—always longhand, pen on paper—he would refuse to meet them, however important they might be. Siddaramaiah, the current chief minister, had a taste of that brusqueness when TJS admonished him in a humorous, schoolmasterly way on one such visit—for wasting time in a newspaper office instead of working among the people! No one took offence. Once at a function in Mysore, SM Krishna, then External Affairs Minister, vacated his seat for TJS when he saw him standing, but characteristically he refused. Such was the awe he inspired among Union ministers, high court judges, chief ministers. Even when his columns were scathing, the powerful usually held their peace—it was only their sycophants who protested. He had opinions, he took stands, and never wavered, even when it led to sedition charges in earlier years. The only man he openly admired was our founder, Ramnath Goenka. “I have no god,” he would often say A non. believer, or rather a believer only in humanity , and in journalism as a calling. He taught generations of journalists the importance of precision in language, and of calling a spade a spade. Outside the newsroom, George had deep interests in cities and food. He was fascinated by urban planning—often comparing the systematic grid of New York, where he and his beloved wife Ammu lived during his UN years, with the chaos of Bangalore’s house numbering. In his last few years, he spent his winters in Coimbatore, leaving the chaos of Bangalore behind him, to “best idlis, dosas and coffee”. Ultimatum sunday deadline for Hamas to agree to Trump deal US President Donald Trump said that “all hell will break lose” if Hamas doesn’t agree to his peace deal to end the war in Gaza by Sunday evening | P9 India flags PoK rights violation amid unrest M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi This time we will take a step forward and act in a manner that will make Pakistan think whether it wants to remain on the world map or not — Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi We clear evidence of one long-range strike with over 300 kms range hitting an AEW&C or SigNit aircraft, along with five hi-tech fighters - F-16 and JF-17 Air Chief A P Singh Two service chiefs on Friday used strong language to put Pakistan on notice, a day after Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said any misadventure from across the border in the Sir Creek sector will invite a decisive response. Addressing soldiers in Rajasthan, Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said Pakistan should stop sponsoring terrorism on its soil if wants to retain its place on the world map. “India practiced restraint during Operation Sindoor 1.0, but this time we won’t. This time we will take a step forward and act in a manner that will make Pakistan think whether it wants to remain on world map or not,” he warned. In Delhi, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh told the media ahead of the annual Air Force Day that the IAF destroyed around 12-13 aircraft during the Operation Sindoor, which included Chinese-made JF17s and F-16s procured from the US. He describing Islamabad’s claim of India’s losses as fanciful stories (Manohar Kahaniyan). Recalling the widespread destruction of Pakistani military assets both in the air and on the ground during Operation Sindoor in May he said, “radars at , least in four places, command For over a week now, largescale protests led by the Awami Reacting strongly to the on- Action Committee (AAC) have going unrest in Pakistan-occu- swept across PoK, with Rawalapied Kashmir (PoK), India on kot, Mirpur, Kotli and Neelum Thursday called on the interna- Valley among the worst-hit. The tional community to hold Paki- region has witnessed a complete stan accountable for its “hor- shutdown, with businesses rific human rights violations” closed and transport services and systemic exploitation of paralysed in what has been dethe region under its ilscribed as the largest legal occupation. civil uprising in PoK in External Affairs Minrecent years. istry spokesperson RanThe AAC has accused dhir Jaiswal condemned the Shehbaz Sharif govthe Pakistani military’s ernment of denying funbrutal crackdown on damental rights to the protesters across multipeople of the region, deRandhir Jaiswal manding an end to what ple areas of PoK. “We have seen reports on it calls institutional disprotests in several areas of Pa- crimination. The protests have kistan-occupied Jammu & also raised calls for the abolition Kashmir, including brutalities of 12 reserved seats in the PoK by Pakistani forces on innocent legislative assembly allocated to civilians. We believe this is a Kashmiri refugees living in Panatural consequence of Paki- kistan—seen by many as a tool stan’s oppressive approach and to manipulate regional politics. systemic plundering of reThe situation is volatile, with sources from these territories,” reports confirming at least 10 Jaiswal said. protest-related deaths and a “Pakistan must be held ac- near-total suspension of intercountable for its horrific human net and mobile services to suprights violations,” he said. press the unrest. J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi and control centres at two places, runways damaged at two places, three of their hangars in three different stations damaged… we have signs of one C-130 class of aircraft and at least 4-5 fighter aircraft (in one strike), most likely F-16s, because that place happened to be F-16 base with whatever was under maintenance at that time.” Besides, one SAM (Surface to Air Missile) system was destroyed in Pakistan. “We have clear evidence of one longrange strike of more than 300 km, which happened to be either an AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) or a significant aircraft. Along with that five hi-tech fighters between F-16 and JF 17 class (were shot down) — this is what our system tells us,” the Air Chief said. He refused to reveal India’s losses during Op Sindoor. “Let them find out,” he said. e x p r e ss r e a d Cough syrup issue Kanchi drug firm shut down by govt Chennai: A drug firm in Kancheepuram has been shut down after a batch of Coldrif cough syrup manufactured by it contained diethylene glycol, a nephrotoxic and poisonous substance. The cough syrup is suspected to be the cause of death of at least six children in Madhya Pradesh | P4 hoax Bomb threat to CM home, Raj Bhavan Chennai: The DGP office in Mylapore received an email on Friday claiming bombs had been planted at the residences of CM MK Stalin, Governor RN Ravi, actress Trisha, TVK chief Vijay and BJP TN headquarters. All threats were found to be hoaxes, police said | P4 conservation TN sanctions fund to protect 4 species Chennai: The state govt has sanctioned `1 crore for a new conservation programme aimed at protecting four lesser-known endangered species — lion-tailed macaque, Madras hedgehog, striped hyena, and hump-headed mahseer fish | P2 Karur stampede Madras HC forms SIT, slams Vijay for ‘poor leadership’ ‘MPs’ team to Karur is BJP’s cheap politics’ R S I V A K U M A R @ Chennai Orange sky People watch a fire burn at a Chevron refinery in El Segundo, California. A big explosion around 10 pm local time on Thursday produced a large orange blaze that could be seen from miles away | AFP US Senators question the hiring practices of TCS, 9 other firms S ana l S u d e v an @ Chennai h-1b hires replacing American employees? The Senators specifically asked TCS and other tech firms to clarify why they continue to hire foreign tech workers despite widespread layoffs in the US tech sector and whether American employees were displaced by H-1B hires Two US Senators have shot off a letter to the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), raising concerns about its hiring practices in the US and questioning its rationale for filing thousands of H-1B visa petitions after allegedly laying off local staff. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and ranking member Richard Durbin also questioned Cognizant, Amazon, Apple, Deloitte, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Meta, Microsoft, and Walmart, seeking details of their recruitment practices and wage parity between H-1B visa holders and American employees. In their letter to TCS CEO Krithi Krithivasan on September 24, Grassley and Durbin flagged “troubling employment trends” in the tech sector. “Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the tech sector’s unemployment rate was “well above” the overall jobless rate,” read the letter addressed to Krithivasan. Among Indian tech firms, TCS is the biggest beneficiary of H-1B visa with 5,005 approvals so far in 2025. “With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that (you) cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions,” the senators added. TCS had recently announced that it would lay off 12,000 employees globally in line with its plans to increase its investment in artificial intelligence. Expressing ‘agony’ and ‘anguish’ over the death of 41 people during the September 27 roadshow of TVK leader Vijay at Velusamypuram in Karur and the failure of the state government in taking stringent action against those responsible for the tragedy, the Madras High Court on Friday constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident. North Zone Inspector General (IG) Asra Garg will head the SIT which was ordered to begin the investigations forthwith. The court also strongly condemned actor Vijay and TVK for violations during the event and the manner in which they reacted post the event. “The leader (Vijay) has vanished and disappeared from the place of occurrence. Unfortunate to record that such a leadership is of poor quality ,” Justice N Senthilkumar said. He “strongly condemned” TVK for flouting the conditions set for conducting the event. The judge passed the No to cbi probe, rally on highway Madurai: The Madras HC has rejected the pleas for a CBI probe into the Karur tragedy, saying that investigation is at a nascent stage. It also directed TN not to allow meetings on the state or national highways till the state frames SOPs | P4 order to set up the SIT while disposing of a plea by PH Dinesh of Chennai seeking directions to the home secretary and DGP to take action against those responsible for the deaths and forbear the authorities from giving permission for roadshows by political parties until a standard operating procedure (SOP) is framed for such events.  P5 No bail for TVK leaders, HC seeks action against Aadhav R S i v ak u ma r & J e ga d e e swa r i Pan d ian @ Chennai/Madurai The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC on Saturday denied anticipatory bail to top TVK functionaries N Anand and CTR Nirmal Kumar in the Karur stampede related case, while the principal seat of the court in Chennai directed the police to take action against another senior TVK functionary Aadhav Arjuna for his “inflammatory” remarks laced with “se- ditious undertones” in a social media post. Justice N Senthilkumar, who questioned the police regarding further action against Arjuna after filing an FIR, also dismissed the anticipatory bail petition filed by N Sathish Kumar, TVK’s Namakkal district secretary. Kumar had moved the court after police booked him for allegedly damaging a private hospital in Namakkal during TVK chief Vijay’s rally there on September 27.  P5 E x p r e ss N e ws S e r v i c e @ Ramanathapuram Accusing the BJP of playing politics over the recent Karur stampede in which 41 people were killed, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday said the decision to send a delegation of NDA MPs to Karur is the saffron party’s ploy to “capitalise” on the incident in view of next year’s Assembly election. He sought to know why a delegation of MPs was sent to Karur so urgently to look into the cause of the stampede when such teams were not sent to inquire about CM MK Stalin the Manipur riots, Morbi bridge accident in Gujarat, or the Kumbha Mela stampede in Uttar Pradesh. “Of course, there’s no interest or concern. It is a petty act of seeking political gain in view of the 2026 election,” Stalin said at a government function held at Peravoor, Ramanathapuram. He alleged that the BJP, “which is used to riding on the back of others, is a parasite that survives on the blood of others”. “It is using the Karur stampede to find out who it can bring under its control. Irrespective of the masks that are worn, how many slaves that are conscripted, or who is enlisted afresh, as I said earlier, Tamil Nadu will remain out of control for you,” the DMK president said.  P5