kannur l tuesday l October 21, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Internet services cut for hours by Amazon cloud outage Many popular internet services and some banks went offline for hours on Monday due to an outage in Amazon’s crucial cloud network issue resolved after over four hours AWS, the cloud leader Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+, Perplexity AI, Airbnb, Snapchat, & Duolingo were hit. Messaging apps such as Signal and WhatsApp were also affected in Europe, a website monitoring internet problems said. Amazon Web Services (AWS)’s maintenance site fixed the underlying DNS issue over four hours after they became aware of “increased error rates” hitting multiple services ■ It is followed closely by Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud ■ AWS handles nearly a third of the planet’s cloud infrastructure market, powering millions of apps and websites around the world ■ AWS said Monday’s problem appeared to originate in one of its critical infrastructure zones located in the US state of Virginia 8.5 mn devices were affected in a 2024 outage due to faulty update by ‘CrowdStrike’ 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 g ra n d a l l ia n ce Rift widens as Cong, RJD field candidates against each other R a m a s h a n k a r @ Patna Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Navy personnel aboard INS Vikrant during his Diwali visit, off the coast of Goa and Karwar | PTI Coordination of forces brought Pak to its knees during Op Sindoor: PM Modi celebrates Diwali with Navy officers and sailors aboard INS Vikrant off Goa coast R a j e s h K u m a r T h a k u r @New Delhi In keeping with his longstanding tradition of celebrating Diwali with the armed forces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again marked the festival with service personnel on Sunday and Monday This year, he . celebrated Diwali with Navy officers and sailors aboard the INS Vikrant, off Goa coast. During his visit, the Prime Minister interacted with the Navy’s bravehearts, sat with them and shared meals, cementing not just an official connection but an emotional bond with the naval personnel, symbolising his role as a guardian of the nation. Addressing the sailors and officers, he said on Monday that the exceptional coordination among the three armed Prez to travel by 4WD to Sannidhanam E X P R ESS NE W S SE R V I C E @ Pathanamthitta President Droupadi Murmu, who is scheduled to visit Sabarimala on Wednesday will , travel by a four-wheel drive via Swami Ayyappan Road, making her the first head of state to reach Sannidhanam in a vehicle. According to sources, the decision was taken in view of her health and security constraints in the hilly terrain. In 1973, then President V V Giri reached Sannidhanam using the dolly service. In fact, dolly service was introduced in Sabarimala for his visit. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and police have intensified preparations and security arrangements ahead of the high-profile visit. TDB president P S Prasanth said arrangements have been completed at Nilakkal, Pampa, and Sannidhanam, and pilgrim entry will remain unaffected till October 21. Regular darshan will continue even on the day of the President’s visit, though Special Protection Group (SPG) protocols will be in force. On a four-day visit to Kerala, the President will arrive at Thiruvananthapuram Airport on Tuesday evening and will fly to Nilakkal by helicopter on Wednesday She is expected to . reach Nilakkal by 10.20am. From there, she will proceed to Pampa by road and then travel to Sannidhanam.  ● More on P5 forces — fear instilled by the Navy, extraordinary skills of the Air Force and bravery of the Army — forced Pakistan to its knees during Operation Sindoor in no time. On Atma Nirbharta, he said, “We are proud that our armed forces have made rapid strides toward self-reliance in the past decade. Our armed forces made a list of thousands of items and decided that these will no longer be imported. As a result, most of the essential equipment for the forces is now being produced within the country .” Further highlighting the achievements in the defence manufacturing sector, he said, “Defence production in over 11 years has more than tripled. Just last year, it crossed a record of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. PM: India on verge of eradicating Naxal terror Panaji: India is on the verge of eradicating Maoist terror and over 100 districts freed from this scourge will celebrate Diwali with dignity this year, the PM said. He said security forces have achieved significant success against Maoists, reducing their influence to just 11 districts, from 125 districts a decade ago. Since 2014, on average, one new indigenous warship or submarine is being added to the Navy every 40 days.” He said, “Our missiles like BrahMos and Akash proved their capabilities in Operation Sindoor as well. BrahMos — just the name alone creates fear. Now, several countries around the world want to buy these missiles. Bharat is now building the capacity to export weapons and defence equipment for all three services. Our goal is to place Bharat among the world’s top defence exporters. In the last decade, our defence exports have grown over 30 times! Behind this success is the huge role played by our defence startups and indigenous defence manufacturing units.” Pointing out the Navy’s vital role in securing maritime routes, he said, “Today 66% of , the world’s oil supply and 50% of global container shipments pass through the Indian Ocean. In securing these routes, the Indian Navy stands guard like the sentinel of the Indian Ocean.” The rift within the opposition Mahagathbandhan widened on Monday after the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) released a list of 144 candidates, hours after the Congress finalised five more names, taking its tally of candidates to 61 for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. The RJD’s final list sets the stage for a direct contest between the two major partners of the ‘grand alliance’ — part of the INDIA bloc — in five seats. They will also have to contend with the CPI, another key ally, in three-four seats if an agreement is not reached. This has led to confusion among workers of the various parties. Alliance leaders said that there is still scope for an agreement as the last date of withdrawal of names for the second phase is Wednesday. In the meantime, RJD put to rest rumours that it would contest Kutumba, held by Congress state president Rajesh Ram. On Monday, Ram filed his papers from the constituency . Both the RJD and the Congress have fielded candidates in Narkatiaganj, Lalganj, Vaishali, Sultanganj and Kagalgaon. Similarly, the Congress and the CPI have fielded candidates in Bachhwara, Kargahar, Biharsharif and Rajapakar. However, in a relief to the JMM pulls out Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has decided not to contest the Bihar election. The party had earlier announced plans to contest six seats. Alleging a political conspiracy, the JMM blamed its allies, the RJD and the Congress, for its withdrawal. Mukesh Sahani-led Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) candidate for Gaura Bauram, Santosh Kushawaha, RJD chief Lalu Prasad issued a letter clarifying that the seat has been allotted to VIP. Santosh is the brother of Mukesh. Interestingly, the CPIML, which is contesting 20 seats, and the CPM, which is contesting four constituencies, don’t feature in intra-alliance contests. CPM sources said senior leaders are holding talks with the Congress over allotment of seats. The RJD list includes Tej a s h w i P r a s a d Ya d av (Raghopur), Alok Mehta (Ujiarpur), Mukesh Raushan (Mahua), Akhtarul Islam Shahin (Samastipur) and Bhola Yadav (Bahadurpur). The party is mainly relying on its traditional ‘M-Y’ (Muslim-Yadav) vote share. But it has given a substantial number of tickets to OBCs, EBCs and upper castes. The party has also named 20 women candidates. Welfare pensions likely to be hiked ahead of polls M S V i d ya n a n d a n @ T’Puram Election season is upon us. And, in an apparent move to woo voters ahead of the two back-to-back polls, the state government is considering a hike in social-security pension. Though it is yet to take a final call on the amount, there are indications that there would be an increase of `100-200. The LDF, in its 2021 assembly election manifesto, had promised to raise the pension amount from `1500 to `2,500. But, the new government could not carry out any increase owing to the financial constraints that stemmed from restrictions on off-budget borrowing by the Union government. The last time the pension was revised was in 2021, when the last budget of the first Pinarayi Vijayan government announced a `100 hike. “The government has not made any final decision so far. But there would be an increase shortly The poll promise would . have been realised much earlier if not for the Union government’s restriction on borrowing,” a source in the government said. The government is exploring the possibility of hiking pensions ahead of the upcoming local-body elections. The state has around 62 lakh beneficiaries of welfare pension schemes, including socialsecurity pensioners and welfare fund board pensioners, who get `1,600 a month. The numbers may vary every month, depending on the number of people who meet the mustering requirements. As per the government order for pension payment in September, the state had 48.80 lakh social security pensioners and 5.99 lakh welfare fund board pensioners. In September, the state spent `716.93 crore to make the payment for social security pensioners while the rest was met through the Centre’s contribution. The state government’s spending on welfare fund board pensions was `94.39 crore. The state is having a tough time meeting pension payment with the Union government revising conditions for market borrowings in 2022-23. Since that year, borrowings by the Kerala State Social Security Pension Limited were considered offbudget borrowings. Such offbudget items are then adjusted from the state’s net ceiling for market borrowings. EXPRESS READ Sabarimala gold theft case: Potti’s friend quizzed T’Puram: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case on Monday questioned Ananthasubrahmaniam, who had received the gold sheets used on the dwarapalaka idols and the door frames in the temple on behalf of Unnikrishnan Potti and took them to Bengaluru. Sources said he told the SIT that the artefacts, weighing 42.8kg, were kept at his house for a few days before being sent to Hyderabad for maintenance work. P5 US Prez Trump warns India of ‘massive tariffs’ over Russia oil P T I @Washington US President Donald Trump has warned of “massive tariffs” if India continues to buy oil from Russia, while reiterating that he got assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that New Delhi is going to halt its oil purchases from Moscow. “India will continue to pay massive tariffs if they do not cease buying oil from Russia. They (India) don’t want to do that,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One. He was replying to a question about India’s recent remarks on oil purchases from Russia. India last week said it is “broad-basing and diversifying” its sourcing of energy to meet market conditions, hours after T r u m p claimed that Modi ass u re d h i m that New Delhi will stop procuring Russian crude oil. However, Trump said he does not believe India made such remarks. “I don’t believe they said that. No, I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” the US President added. Washington has been maintaining that India is helping Putin to finance the war through its purchase of Russian crude oil. The relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50%, including a 25% additional duty for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil. US envoy in israel to strengthen ceasefire radiant celebrations It comes a day after Israel threatened to halt aid transfers claiming that Hamas militants killed its two soldiers | P9 People light ‘diyas’ on the occasion of Diwali at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday | PTI A die u , comic k i n g Bollywood actor Asrani passes away at 84 P T I @ Mumbai Veteran actor Govardhan Asrani, who endeared himself to the audiences by playing the eccentric jailer in Sholay and many other memorable roles in over 300 films, passed away in a hospital on Monday. He was 84. The actor, popularly known as Asrani in the industry was , known for his impeccable comic timing in Hindi cinema but fans most remember him for the role of the dictatorial jailer in Sholay who often mouths the dialogue ‘Hum angrezon ke zamaane ke jailer hain’. His role in the 1975 film still evokes laughter. Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar modelled the character after Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator. According to Asrani’s manager Babubhai Thiba, the actor was admitted to Bharatiya Arogya Nidhi Hospital in suburban Juhu four days ago. “He was a bit unwell. He was admitted following breathing issues. He passed away today at 3pm,’ said Thiba. Asrani acted with some of the biggest directors in each era of his five-decadelong career and worked with almost every top star be it Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan or others. Though trained at the FTII, Asrani was pigeonholed in comedic roles, often playing the hero’s friend. He first got noticed for his role in Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar. Asrani started his Hindi cinema career with 1967 film Hare Kaanch Ki Churiyan and then went on to act in several movies. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was a mentor and guide to the actor and always gave him a role in his movies. He also acted in many of Gulzar’s films like Mere Apne, Koshish and Parichay. Asrani’s other popular roles were in movie such as Bawarchi, Abhimaan and Bandish. In the 2000s, he paired up with Priyadarshan for many of the director’s comedies like Hera Pheri, Chup Chup Ke, Hulchul, Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal. There were a few movies where he went against his popular image and starred in negative roles such as Chaitali and Koshish. He also directed the movie Chala Murari Hero Banne.