thrissur l Sunday l april 28, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l city edition hamas reviewing Israeli offer for ceasefire As attack looms Hamas did not reveal the Israeli proposal but it was in response to its offer two weeks ago. Egypt is trying to find a solution to the war Egypt playing peacemaker on Gaza Talks are on over a six-week ceasefire and the release of 40 civilian and sick hostages in exchange for freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Hamas’ statement came hours after an Egyptian delegation in Israel discussed a ‘new vision’ for prolonged truce in Gaza. Whether Israel’s proposal to Hamas on truce was tied to the Egyptian visit was not clear 14 Airstrike kills four children in rafah ■ An Israeli airstrike on Saturday morning hit a house in Rafah killing six persons, including four children. In another airstrike, five persons were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza overnight ■ BBC reported that Britain is considering deploying troops to ferry aid from a new port being built by the US in Gaza. No decision has been taken yet U.N. staffers in Gaza are being probed for their role in Hamas’ Oct 7 attack 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 Turnout at 71.16%, poll delay continues to create ripples Top four E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram 1 U’khand burns, IAF steps in 13 Mi-17 helicopter sorties try to extinguish the raging forest fires; state requests Army help NAR E NDRA S E T H I @ Dehradun 2 1. A view of the forest fire in Uttarakhand. 2. An IAF helicopter fills water from the Bhimtal lake in Nainital district to douse the fire | Express With forest fires engulfing the Nanda range in Nainital district of Uttarakhand, the Centre deployed a Air Force helicopter on Saturday to control the blaze. Parallelly, the state government requested the assistance of the Army . The IAF’s Mi-17 helicopter did 13 sorties, drawing water from the Naini and Bhimtal lakes in a Bambi bucket and emptying it over the flames in the Pines, Bhumiadhar, Jyolikot, Narayan Nagar, Bhawali, Ramgarh and Mukteshwar areas. Fire-fighting operations are expected to continue on Sunday as well. Nainital Sub-Divisional Magistrate Pramod Kumar said, “The wildfire is spreading uncontrollably from the pine for- Amid veteran vs fresher fight in Dharwad, all eyes on seer swing bowling brass. Instead of fielding a Lingayat against Joshi, the Congress gave the ticket to an AHIThough a prominent pontiff NDA (a Kannada acronym for bowed out of the contest after minorities, backward classes promising a scintillating match, and Dalits coined by Karnatathe Lok Sabha election scene in ka’s first backward class leader Dharwad continues to be as in- Devraj Urs), which has stood tense and exciting. firmly behind Chief Minister Influential Lingayat pontiff Siddaramaiah. Dingaleshwar Swamiji had The party’s nominee, Vinod spiced up the polls by announc- Asuti (34), who belongs to the ing his candidature Kuruba community but later opted out. and is a debutant in While making his the LS poll. pitch, the Swamiji had The Congress is sharply attacked sitplaying the youth card ting MP and Union against veteran Joshi. minister Pralhad Joshi (61), ac- Also, district minister Santosh cusing him of dishonouring the Lad has been campaigning vigLingayats and victimising its orously for Asuti. For his part, leaders. Joshi is emphasising on the With the BJP repeating Joshi track record of the NDA govfrom Dharwad, the Congress ernment in ushering in develhopes the Swamiji could be a opment and his performance as force multiplier against him. a parliamentarian in the last At stake in Dharwad is the two decades. BJP’s prestige as it has held this As the constituency has eludLingayat majority constituency ed the Congress since 1996, its for seven consecutive terms. campaign is focused on the widThe Congress is trying its best er reach of the five guarantees to knock out Joshi. Their implemented by the Siddarastraight fight is being closely maiah government and the othwatched because of Joshi’s per- er guarantees in the party’s ceived proximity to the BJP manifesto. That apart, the party has been stitching alliances with various social and caste groups to further strengthen its AHINDA plank. The Congress is missing the services of its strong Lingayat leader Vinay Kulkarni, who was pitted against Joshi in the last two polls. Illustration: Mandar Pardikar ● More on P9 P r a m o d k u m a r V a i d ya @ Hubballi 544 cases of forest fires in five months Uttarakhand witnessed 544 incidents of forest fire from November 1, 2023 to April 25 this year, of which more than 656.55 hectares of forest land was destroyed ests to the Lariyakanta forests. Efforts are on with the assistance of an IAF helicopter to extinguish it.” An ITI building was partially burnt in the massive fire in the pine forest near Nainital. The fire also reached dangerously close to the High Court Colony in Nainital but hasn’t caused any damage so far. The forest of Ladiyakanta in Nainital was also in flames. The fire brigade barely managed to control it. EXPRESS READ Governor Khan clears five pending bills T’Puram: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has cleared all five pending bills passed by the Assembly. The cleared bills include the Land Assignment Bill, Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, Abkari Law Amendment Bill, Paddy Wetland Amendment Bill and the Dairy Cooperation Bill. The governor said there was a delay in clearing the pending bills as there were a lot of complaints. Bird flu confirmed again in Kuttanad Alappuzha: Officials of the animal husbandry department (AHD) have confirmed bird flu cases at three places in Alappuzha. The news has stirred up worry among residents. Bird flu was confirmed at ward 10 of Edathua panchayat, ward 4 of Thakazhi panchayat and ward 7 of Ambalappuzha North panchayat. Dense smoke enveloped the road from Nainital to Bhawali, disrupting movement of vehicles for hours. Forest department sources said wildfires are spreading due to limited rainfall. Nishant Verma, nodal officer of Uttarakhand’s forest department for forest fires, said, “As of April 25, the forest department has recorded 146 cases of man-made fires. Of these, 17 individuals have been identified. As for 129 other cases, the perpetrators are unknown.” Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said all efforts are being made to control the fires. He did an aerial survey of the affected region and reviewed efforts to douse the fires with officials of the Kumaon division at the Forest Training Academy in Haldwani. A day after the Lok Sabha election in the state, the extraordinary delay in polling continued to create ripples on Saturday The prolonged poll. ing that lasted till midnight in several booths has led to its share of controversies and allegations, while inviting sharp criticism from the Opposition UDF. Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Saturday pegged the polling percentage in the state at 71.16 — around 7 percentage points less than the 2019 election. The unexpected dip in poll percentage invited sharp responses from the UDF and the BJP, which alleged deliberate delay by polling officials. The low voter turnout in UDF strongholds, especially in the Christian and Muslim belts, has led to apprehensions in the Opposition camp. N o t i c e a b l y, t h e highest turnout was recorded in the politically-sensitive Vadakara constituency, where polling in many stations continued way after the deadline and concluded only by 11.43pm. The poll percentage touched 78.08 in Vadakara, followed by Kannur (76.92), Kasaragod (75.94) and Kozhikode (75.42). In 2019, Vadakara constituency had recorded 82.7% turnout. In Vadakara, both the LDF and UDF candidates blamed Vadakara Kannur Kasaragod Kozhikode 78.08% 76.92% 75.94% 75.42% Officials draw flak In Vadakara, both LDF and UDF candidates blamed polling officials for the delay, as many voters left without exercising their franchise polling officials for the delay, as many voters left without exercising their franchise. UDF candidate Shafi Parambil said he had brought the inordinate delay in polling procedure to the attention of officials on Friday morning itself. “However, they ignored the alert and no corrective steps were taken,” he said. Terming it a grave injustice to voters, Shafi said many complained that they had to wait in queues for hours. “Party leaders at the grassroots level have complained that the delay was deliberate. The UDF is collecting details from booths to find out whether there was a pattern in the delay,” he said. “In many places, people returned without casting votes. The authorities should have taken steps to avoid such instances. They did not take the complaints seriously,” said ● More on P6 Shafi. red sea woes Houthis attack oil ship bound for India y esh i se l i @ New Delhi EP controversy puts CPM in a spot, party to discuss issue tomorrow K S S R E E J I T H @ T’Puram Shocked and embarrassed by the controversy that erupted on the day of the Lok Sabha election, the CPM leadership will take up the E P Jayarajan episode for discussion on Monday . The LDF convenor’s meeting with BJP leader Prakash Javadekar in the presence of controversial middleman T G Nandakumar has left the party in a spot. The CPM state and central leaderships are unhappy with the development on the polling day. Jayarajan admitting about his meeting with Javadekar too was ill-timed, feel the leaders. An irked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan criticised Jayarajan for lack of vigil on the issue. At the party secretariat meeting on Monday, Jayarajan is expect- ed to offer primary explanation on the controversy . The party central leadership will take up the matter for discussion only after the state leadership reports the same to the central committee. The state leadership is likely to demand disciplinary action against Jayarajan. In such a scenario, the central leadership might decide to publicly reprimand the senior leader. The central committee might even ask him to step down from the post of LDF convenor. However, it is to be seen how far the state CPM would go against Jayarajan. Many senior leaders in the party have expressed dissatisfaction over the timing by Jayarajan in confirming about his meeting with the BJP leader. Party central committee mem- ber Thomas Isaac has stated that the issue will be discussed in the respective party forum. “Jayarajan should not have gone to a place just because he got an invite from someone. I will express my opinion in the party forum,” Isaac said. Minister K Radhakrishanan, another CC member, told the media that the controversy might not affect the LDF’s prospects in the Lok Sabha polls. He further said that Jayarajan would never join the BJP. Meanwhile, Pinarayi’s public remark on Jayarajan is seen by many in the party as a final warning to him. After Pinarayi’s statement, it is unlikely that other leaders in secretariat would support Jayarajan. E ve n t h o u g h t h e ch i e f minister had openly criticised Jayarajan, he did mention the latter’s contributions to the ● More on P6 party . YEMEN-based Houthi rebels on early Saturday fired ballistic missiles on an oil tanker travelling through the Red Sea heading towards India from Russia. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said the Panamaflagged, Seychelles-registered Andromeda Star was attacked twice. The crew is safe and the vessel is en route to its destination Vadinar port in Gujarat. The incident occurred 14 nautical miles off Al Mukha, Yemen. Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree in a pre-recorded statement claimed responsibility for the attack. The oil tanker originated from Primorsk, Russia. “The first was an explosion close to the vessel and the second consisted of two missile attacks, which damaged the vessel,” according to UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations). The US military’s Central Command said there was a ‘minor damage’ to the oil tanker. Last year, Houthis said they will continue to target Israel-bound vessels till it stops its assault on Gaza. Since November, they have launched more than 50 attacks on the ships passing through Red Sea, seized one vessel and sank another one. Ahead of the Game WITH THIS ISSUE PLUS 12 PAGES v a n ua t u dare t o drea m Fantasy cricket: From picking fruits to beating full-member team K a lya n i m a n g a l e @ Chennai The moment Maiyllise Carlot hit the winning runs against Zimbabwe at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Tim Cutler, the CEO of Cricket Vanuatu, a self-declared bad watcher of the game, felt like he was living in a world of fantasy Af. ter all, the lowest-ranked team amongst those gathered for the Global Qualifiers for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, had just beaten the full-member nation, on their debut, a week after they successfully conducted a crowd-funding exercise for their playing kits. What makes their story even more fascinating is that if they were not playing cricket, most of the players would have been picking fruits and berries away in Australia, Vanuatu’s neigh- bouring nation. The players live there nine out of 12 months to earn money, practise after their daily chores and keep the love for the sport burning. On Thursday, along with Cutler, Vanuatu had one of their biggest supporters in the stands too. Rodney Prestia, CEO of I Comply Horticultural Compliance And Labour Management — the company that has hired eight players from the squad to work in Australia. The players are now on leave from their seasonal jobs. Some of them flew directly from Australia and many will go back to their jobs. “Basically everyone who shone yesterday works for us,” , Prestia, who surprised the squad by flying to Abu Dhabi, told this daily Nasimana Nav. aika, who took the four wickets, captain Selina Solman, Rachel Andrew, who took two wickets, Vicky Mansale, opening batter, Valenta Langiatu and others, eight of the playing 11 all work for the company. “Australia have a partnership with Vanuatu called a Seasonal Work Program, where workers can go to Australia for seasonal work. They are working in a town called Stanthorpe, three hours from Brisbane. The players have been picking tomatoes, capsicums and strawberries,” he said. After work at 4pm, players start their practice on a ground close to their accommoP13 dation.
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