KOCHI l wednesday l September 18, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE city EDITION Modi to address the summit of the future at U.N. general assembly Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the UN summit on tackling key international issues during his three-day visit to the US from Sept 21 PM To take part in annual quad summit to address Indian diaspora on Sunday The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow’. On its sidelines, Modi would also be holding bilateral meetings with several world leaders, the Ministry of External Affairs said. He will also take part in the Quad annual meeting along with leaders of the US, Australia and Japan to review the progress achieved by the grouping ■ ■ As per the itinerary, Modi will address the Indian community in New York on September 22. He would also meet CEOs of leading US-based companies to discuss possible collaborations with Indian firms His interactions with business leaders will focus on areas like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors, the MEA said 2025 When India will host the summit of the four-member quad grouping 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 CM-elect meets L-G Saxena, stakes claim to form next Delhi govt Kejriwal hands baton to Atishi An u p Ve r m a @ New Delhi Atishi meets Lt Governor V K Saxena at Raj Bhavan in Delhi on Tuesday | PTI Kejriwal to focus on galvanising party Arvind Kerjiwal, who resigned as Delhi CM on Tuesday, is likely to focus on galvanising the AAP cadre and rebuilding trust among the people before the assembly polls, a senior AAP functionary said She will be dummy CM, claims Maliwal AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on Tuesday said Atishi will be a dummy chief minister. “Today Atishi will become the chief minister, but we all know that she will be a dummy CM,” Maliwal said With Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal showing rare trust in a colleague by choosing Atishi as his successor chief minister, the latter on Tuesday met Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena and staked her claim to form the next government in Delhi. Earlier in the day Kejriwal submitted his res, ignation as CM. The day began with Kejriwal proposing Atishi’s name as his successor at the AAP legislative party, where he got unanimous support. A couple of days after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy scam, Kejriwal made a surprise announcement on Sunday that he will demit office within a few days and name his successor. After Kejriwal’s resignation is accepted by President Droupadi Murmu, the L-G will invite Atishi to form the new government and suggest a date for the oath-taking ceremony, an official said. Along with Atishi, six other ministers are expected to be sworn in. She will then prove her majority in a special Assembly session. Atishi’s elevation is expected to help the AAP counter the claims that the party is antiwomen, especially after the alleged assault on its Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal at the CM’s residence. She has also been rewarded for her loyalty . “I come from an ordinary family Had I been in any other . party I would not have even got , an election ticket, but Kejriwal trusted me, made me an MLA, made me a minister and now has given me the responsibility of becoming the CM,” Atishi said. She condemned the BJP’s alleged conspiracy against Kejriwal. “It’s very sad moment that Delhi’s beloved leader resigned due to BJP’s conspiracy. By making false allegations of corruption, BJP filed a case against such an honest man and kept him in jail for 6 months,” she said. Atishi will be Delhi’s third woman chief minister after Congress’ Sheila Dikshit and BJP’s Sushma Swaraj. Suspected mpox case in Malappuram E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Malappuram T rigg e ring c o n c e r n , a 38-year-old man from Edavanna in Malappuram has been admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Manjeri, with suspected symptoms of mpox (monkeypox). According to the state health department, the person’s samples have been sent to the Kozhikode MCH for further tests, with results awaited. A resident of Padinjare Chathalloor, the man had arrived from Dubai last Thursday Malap. puram District Medical Officer R Renuka said the person’s health is stable. “The test result may be available by Wednesday . With proper treatment, he will recover,” the DMO said. Following his arrival from Dubai, he thought he had contracted chickenpox and sought treatment at a private clinic in Othayi on Friday “As the symp. toms persisted, he visited the Manjeri MCH. He had high fever and small bumps on his body Suspecting mpox, the hos. pital authorities admitted him on Monday a source said. ,” The man had travelled within Nipah: 16 samples -ve Malappuram: The samples of 16 persons, who were in the contact list of the Nipah victim in Malappuram, tested negative for the infection on Tuesday. A total of 80 more people have been added to the contact list of 24-year-old who died on September 9. With this, a total of 255 people are currently in the contact list. P4 the district, visiting two hospitals and shopping at local stores, before being admitted to Manjeri MCH. He has been staying with his parents at their residence in Padinjare Chathalloor. Family members and friends who were in contact with him have been advised to stay vigilant and report any symptoms to medical professionals. Mpox is a viral disease that belongs to the same family as smallpox. The virus spreads through close physical contact, and an infected person can transmit it via exposure to body fluids like blood. It can also be passed on through direct contact with skin lesions caused by mpox or by inhaling respiratory droplets from an infected indi● More on P4 vidual.  CBI status report lebanon rocked by on RG Kar case exploding pagers disturbing, says SC S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Polling officials leave for their respective polling stations in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday | PTI J&K set for Phase I polls today F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar Figures that matter With J&K all set for voting for the first of the three-phase assembly elections on Wednesday the Union Territory in the , grip of a poll fever that is a novelty for entire generations. “This poll fever was never seen before in J&K, certainly not in the last 35 years. I am seeing it for the first time. Everybody is talking about the elections and every candidate is being scrutinised by the voters,” said 45-year-old Javed Ahmed, a resident of Pampore in south Kashmir, who would be casting his vote for the first time on Wednesday . The first Assembly polls in J&K after the reading down of Article 370 is completely differ- 24 assemblyinseats to go to polls, eight three districts of the Jammu region and 16 in four districts of the Kashmir Valley in fray, 219 candidatesindependents including 90 ent from those during the militancy era. Poll-time hustle and bustle was conspicuous by its absence in those lost decades. Unlike in the past, when militants and separatist groups would issue calls for poll boycott and shutdown, a few members of the banned Jamaat-eIslami and former separatist leaders have entered the fray . Every town and village in J&K at present is a beehive of political activity There is a fes. tive-like atmosphere in the city centre and elsewhere. The offices of political parties are decorated with buntings and banners and party flags. Vehicles fitted with public address systems blaring political messages and songs added to the general cacophony . Another first was of leaders and candidates accompanied by a large number of supporters in cavalcades going to file their nomination papers. “There is greater enthusiasm because people know this is a very important poll, as it will decide the future of J&K,” said former National Conference MP and candidate from Pampore, Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi. The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was disturbed by the findings recorded by the CBI in its status report on the rapemurder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar hospital in Kolkata, but refused to divulge its content. “What you are flagging is of utmost concern. CBI has flagged it for us. We are ourselves disturbed by what we have read,” the court told a lawyer who claimed discrepancies in the seizure list and sketch of the crime scene. A letter was addressed by the father of the deceased was also shared. It expressed the genuine concerns of the parents, the bench was told. “Bearing in mind the genuine concerns, we are of the opinion that the inputs be duly taken by the investigating officer,” it said. For its part, the West Bengal government reiterated that no punitive action will be taken against the junior doctors who report for work. The agitating junior doctors, too, said they would not have any difficulty in resuming work if the confidence building measures agreed upon between them and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during their meeting on Monday are put in place. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud rejected senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s request to stop live streaming of the court’s proceedings, complaining that reputations of lawyers are being tarnished and they are being threatened. General disdain Lankan prez polls: Tamils in North couldn’t care less Dilrukshi Handunnetti Award-winning journalist and lawyer, founder and director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) JAFFNA: With a crucial presidential election just days away Jaffna, , Sri Lanka’s northern capital does not reflect South’s political frenzy . A record number of candidates have joined the fray, 39 in all, including a common candidate from the North, Pakkiyaselvam Ariyanethiran, representing Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil political entity , Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK). The euphoric campaigning in the South is conspicuous by its absence in the North as people go about, doing their daily job while campaigning continues with less fanfare. Fifteen years after the protracted war ended in May 2009, the North of Sri Lanka continues to reel under its multiple impacts, with normalcy, as known in the rest of the country, still an illusion. The North has long-unresolved issues, ranging from wartime disappearances, homes under military oc- cupation, livelihoods, unemployment, infrastructure development and safety . At the tail end of the presidential campaign, frontrunners like incumbent and common candidate president Ranil Wickremesinghe, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa and Anura Dissanayake of the Marxist National Peoples’ Power (NPP) continue to woo the Tamil votes. But for the people of Jaffna, there are other issues to grapple with. Chadrasekaran Haran (51) sells vegetables for a living. He treats the September 21 presidential race with both disinterest and disdain. “The result will matter to us only if the next president can consider the economic problems faced by the people. After the economic collapse in 2022, we fell from the frying pan to the fire,” he says. Transport costs have doubled in the past two years with fuel costs becoming unbearable for the average citizen. The sales have dropped due to price increase in vegetables, making people like Haran find it difficult to make ends meet. “We are barely surviving,” he Continued on: P9 says.  Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring 2,700 | P11 Pulsar Suni gets bail after 7 yrs in detention E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi/New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sunil M S alias Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case, after considering his detention for over seven years and the prolonged duration of the ongoing trial. While granting bail, a two-judge bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal observed that Suni had undergone incarceration for more than seven years and all other accused persons have been released on bail. The court noted the slow progress of the trial at the Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Court and stated that the trial is not likely to conclude in a reasonable time period considering the procedures that are to be completed. The court ordered that Suni be produced before the trial court within a week, which will set the bail conditions for his release. It said the state can argue in the trial court for imposing stringent bail conditions. The SC had earlier sought the report from the state after Suni approached ● More on P4 the top court seeking bail.  18 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express