Meloni moment as Pak PM bats for Nobel to Don Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif speaks as US President Donald Trump and Britain’s PM Keir Starmer, flanked by Italian premier Georgia Meloni, watch during the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh early on Tuesday. It was a facepalm moment for Meloni as soon as Sharif pitched Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize KOLLAM l wednesday l October 15, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 Hijab row: Minister holds school guilty E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi Giving a new twist to the hijab controversy, Education Minister V Sivankutty said on Tuesday that a departmental probe into the row has found “serious faults” on the part of the school authorities. The minister’s social media post appeared on a day when a delegation of Congress leaders, including Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden and Tripunithura MLA K Babu, met the student’s family and convinced them to follow the dress code pointing out that it may cause communal divide in society . Meanwhile, the girl’s father P M Anas said his daughter will attend school on Wednesday and the family has not decided whether to wear a headscarf or not. “The deputy director for education in Ernakulam has investigated the issue and reported that there has been serious dereliction of duty on the part of the school that prevented the student from attending classes for wearing a headscarf. This is violation of the educational rights law. The report says that it is a violation of the fundamental right of a citizen guaranteed by the Indian Constitution,” the minister said in the social ● More on P4 media post. Min served vallasadya prior to deity; thantri says rituals violated E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Pathanamthitta Amid allegations that Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, along with other dignitaries, was served the Ashtami Rohini Vallasadya before it was offered to the deity the thantri of Aran, mula Sree Parthasarathy temple has stated that this year’s ritual was conducted “entirely against temple tradition”. The event, held on September 14 at the temple and inaugurated by the devaswom minister, was attended by Agriculture Minister P Prasad and other top officials. In a letter to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), temple thantri Parameswaran Vasudevan Bhattathirippad insisted that public atonement rituals must be performed to rectify the lapse. The thantri said the feast was served ahead of the ritual ‘Nivedyam’ (offering to the deity), which is a serious breach of custom. The thantri has suggested remedial rituals, asking the members of the Palliyoda Seva Sangham, the temple advisory committee, devaswom assistant commissioner and devaswom administrative officer to present themselves before the deity and perform the ‘ennappanam’ ritual, a purification ceremony. In his letter, the tantri emphasised the importance of strict adherence to temple customs, warning that Devaswom Minister V N Vasavan, Agriculture Minister P Prasad and others at the Ashtami Rohini vallasadya held on September 14 | file pic such violations should not be allowed to recur. The thantri’s letter comes in the backdrop of allegations that the traditional feast was served to guests, including minister, before it was offered to the deity during the Ashtami Rohini vallasadhya, an important ritual associated with Lord Krishna. However, the Palliyoda Seva Sangham had termed the charges baseless. Speaking to TNIE, Bhattathirippad confirmed that he had responded to a query from the Aranmula assistant devaswom commissioner regarding the reported lapses in the ritual. “He wrote to me saying the feast was reportedly served early and asked whether a rectifi, cation ritual was necessary. I replied explaining the custom behind the Ashtami Rohini Vallasadya. This is not an ordinary feast — it is deeply connected to the deity and follows ancient traditions,” he said. ● More on P4 Amid rift buzz, BJP’s first list out Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary and former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav get tickets r a m a s h a n k a r @ Patna Amid speculations that the NDA seat-sharing deal has left him grumpy Janata Dal (Unit, ed) chief Nitish Kumar on Tuesday gave away tickets, bypassing the earlier practice of announcing names of candidates at a press conference. On the same day BJP which , , is now on an equal political pedestal as the JD(U) in terms of seats contested, released the first list of 71 candidates, nine of whom are women. Springing a surprise, the BJP denied a ticket to Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, a seven-term legislator, while fielding Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary in a direct election after over a decade. Chaudhary has been fielded Dad Lalu proposes, son disposes RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav late on Monday night gave away party tickets to 10 candidates at his home, but was stopped when his son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav insisted that the ticket distribution should take place only after consultation with alliance partners. The candidates were then asked to return their tickets, though enthusiastic ones like Sunil Singh, who quit JD(U) to join the RJD, went ahead and filed their nomination | P8 from Tarapur in Munger while his colleague and deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha will contest from Lakhisarai. Rajiv Kumar Singh of the JD(U) had won the Tarapur seat in the by-election held in 2021. This time, the seat has gone to BJP . Samrat Chaudhary, a member of the legislative council (MLC), recently hogged the limelight after Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor accused him of misleading courts about his real age to get reprieve in a murder case. Nand Kishore Yadav, a veteran MLA from Patna Sahib has been replaced by new candidate, Ratnesh Kushwaha. Former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, who lost to RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Patliputra, has been fielded elephant population down 18% j i t en d r a c h o u b e y @ New Delhi INDIA’S elephant population has plummeted by approximately 18% since the 2017 census, marking the third consecutive decline since 2012. The steepest drops occurred in the Northeast Hills, Brahmaputra floodplains, and Central India, with Karnataka retaining the highest elephant numbers, followed by Assam. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), responsible for the census, adopted a new DNA- based mark-recapture technique for the 2021-2025 estim at e, re n d e r i n g d i re c t comparisons with prior counts impossible. Unlike previous methods—direct counts, waterhole surveys, footprint mapping, and thermal imagery—the new approach establishes a fresh baseline for future monitoring. The latest estimate pegs India’s Asian elephant population around 22,446 (range: 18,255–26,645), a loss of over 4,000 elephants since 2017’s count of 27,312, which was down 3,000 from 2012. The Western Ghats host the largest population at 11,934 (down from 11,960 in 2017), followed by the Northeast Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains at 6,559 (down from 10,139). The Shivalik Hills report 2,062 elephants (slightly down from 2,085), while Central India and the Eastern Ghats have 1,891, a sharp decline from 3,128. from Danapur, the seat currently held by criminal-turned politician Ritlal Yadav. Sources said the JD(U) boss is peeved over a few seats allotted either to the BJP or the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas). LJP has got 29 seats, despite not having a single MLA. It appears that Kumar, who is known to dump allies and forge new coalitions at will, was angry that his party was not given the lion’s share in the seat deal. It was not clear at the time of going to press how many JD(U) candidates got tickets during the day. However, prominent among those who did are minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, state JD(U) chief Umesh Kushwaha (Mahnar) and gangster-turned-politician Anant Kumar Singh. express read $15 bn Google AI hub joint venture in Vizag New Delhi: Technology giant Google on Tuesday announced a partnership with Adani Enterprises and Airtel to develop India’s largest AI data centre campus and new green energy infrastructure in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The new hub will bunch AI infrastructure, data centre capacity, energy sources, and an expanded fiber-optic network at one place. Google’s investment of about $15 billion (USD) over five years (2026– 2030) will create 5,000–6,000 direct jobs. 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