chennai l Saturday l October 05, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION Apple says it will manufacture entire iPhone 16 lineup in India Premium devices to roll out this month This marks the first instance of Apple producing its premium devices outside China. The company said Indian-made iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models will be rolled out this month. These will be available for local customers and will also be exported. “Apple is now manufacturing the entire iPhone 16 lineup, including iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, in India,” it said Weeks after launching its iPhone 16 series, Apple said that it will manufacture its entire iPhone 16 lineup, including premium devices, in India Four more Apple stores coming up ■ ■ The iconic phone maker also said that it will open four more stores in India, to be located in Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai Apple’s manufacturing partners in India include Taiwanese giants Foxconn and Pegatron, as well as the Tata-owned Wistron. The Tata Group is Apple’s only Indian manufacturing partner | P10 2017 When the u.s.-based tech giant began manufacturing the iPhone in India 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 Modi convenes urgent Cabinet meet to discuss West Asia crisis RA J E S H K U M AR THA K UR @ New Delhi aMID rising global tensions over the prospects of an IsraelIran war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to discuss the evolving situation and its potential impact on India. According to sources, a significant portion of the discussion focused on fuel and crude oil supplies, with Finance Minister Nir mala Sitharaman putting the status on trade with other countries. The committee deliberated on whether the rising international fuel prices, influenced by the situation involving Iran, could affect India’s oil sector. A source said the Ministry of Finance ruled out any immediate adverse implications for India. The CCS meeting, held late on Thursday evening, lasted over 20 minutes, during which various aspects of the unfolding situation were discussed. Apart from ministers, officials from Home Affairs, External Affairs, Finance, and Defence were also present. The ministers deliberated on the potential for trade relations with countries affected by the conflict, noting that India’s trade interests could be hit. Prime Minister Modi urged ministers and officials to maintain heightened vigilance and to closely monitor developments. He stressed the need to ensure the safety of Indian nationals working in West Asia. According to estimates, over 30,000 Indians are currently in Israel, while there are about 10,000 Indians are in Iran. express read Pawan slams Udhaya for Sanatan Dharma remark Chennai: Andhra DyCM Pawan Kalyan on Thursday took a veiled dig at his Tamil Nadu counterpart Udhayanidhi Stalin for his Sanatan Dharma comment, by saying in Tamil, “People like you might come and go. Sanatan Dharma is forever.” In response, Udhayanidhi told reporters in Chennai, “Let’s wait and see.” | P4 Will frame guidelines on HCs rehearing cases: SC New Delhi: The Supreme Court, in the money laundering case against ex-DGP Jaffer Sait, said it will frame guidelines and an SOP on HCs revoking orders dictated in open courts and later modifying them and rehearing the matter. On August 21, a Madras HC bench had quashed the case against Sait but later reheard it | P5 Jaishankar-led team to attend SCO meet in Pak 28 Maoists killed in south Bastar E J A Z K AI S ER @ Raipur First Indian foreign minister in nine years to visit the neighbour amid frosty bilateral ties received a high-level welcome in Pakistan. It is disappointing External Affairs Minister S and condemnable, but it is not Jaishankar will lead the Indian surprising,” said Jaiswal. delegation for the upcoming Bilateral ties became frosty SCO Summit in Islamabad, after Indian Air Force jets making him the first Indian bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed foreign minister to visit Paki- training camp in Balakot deep stan in nine years. “Jaishankar inside Pakistan in February will lead the Indian delegation 2019 in response to a terror atfor the SCO Summit for Islama- tack on a CRPF bus in J&K’s bad on October 15-16,” said Pulwama. Months later, J&K’s Ministry of External Affairs special powers under Article spokesperson Randhir 370 were read down. Jaiswal on Friday . Pakistan retaliated by Foolproof The last time an Indowngrading diplosecurity dian external affairs matic ties with India. Pakistan minister went to PakiDuring his recent s t a n w a s S u s h m a minister Mohsin UN General Assembly Naqvi said Swaraj’s visit in 2015. address, Jaishankar personnel from said, while many counThere was no clarity the Army, on whether India will tries get left behind have any bilateral Rangers, FC and due to circumstances Punjab police talks with other Shangbeyond their control, hai Cooperation Or- will be deployed some make conscious to ensure ganisation (SCO) choices with disasfoolproof members as Jaiswal trous consequences, said Jaishankar is security for the pointing to Pakistan SCO guests, travelling to Pakistan as a prime example. “A reports Dawn only to attend the sumdysfunctional nation mit. During the SCO coveting the lands of foreign ministers’ meeting in others must be exposed and Goa in 2023, Pakistan’s foreign countered,” he said. minister Bilawal Bhutto had He was rebuffing the false travelled to India along with 11 equivalence Pakistan Prime journalists from his country . Minister Shehbaz Sharif Significantly Indian fugitive sought to draw between Kash, and radical Islamist Zakir Naik mir and Palestine in his UNGA is in Pakistan since the past address the previous day Later, . few days. He also met Pakistani defence minister Rajnath Singh Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said India could have extended on Thursday . much more aid to the neigh“We are not surprised that a bour than the IMF’s $7 billion fugitive from Indian justice has had it mended its ways. Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi Bastar inspector general of police Sundarraj P inspecting the weapons recovered from Maoists after an encounter on September 25 in Narayanpur | Express Major encounters in Bastar this year March 27: 6 Maoists killed in Bijapur April 2: 13 Maoists killed in Bijapur April 6: 3 Maoists killed along C’garhTelangana border April 16: 29 Maoists killed in Kanker April 30: 9 Aug 29: 3 Woman May 23: 7 Sept 3: 9 Maoists killed at inter-district border Narayanpur-Kanker Maoists killed on borders of KankerNarayanpur Maoists killed on inter-district border Narayanpur-Bijapur Maoists killed on inter-district border Dantewada-Bijapur June 6: 7 Sept 25: 3 Maoists Maoists killed on Narayanpur, Dantewada and Kondagaon June 15: 8 Maoists killed in Narayanpur killed In Narayanpur Oct 4: 28 Maoists killed on inter-district border DantewadaNarayanpur Fifty Tamil Nadu fishermen from Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam and Pudukkottai, who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on different occasions, were released by Lankan courts on Friday. While four other fishermen were fined, one more was jailed. The development comes amid External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s day-long visit to the island nation and a week after Chief Minister M K Stalin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and personally requested him to take steps to get the arrested Tamil fishers released by Sri Lanka. Jaishankar is the first foreign dignitary to visit Sri Lanka since the National People’s Power (NPP) government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power on September 23. The official handle of the Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a post on X, “50 Indian fishermen from Mayiladuthurai, Pudukottai and Nagapattinam have been released today (Friday) and will be repatriated from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu later this week.” Of the released fishers, 37 are from Mayiladuthurai and they were arrested near Neduntheevu on September 21. One mechanised boat and two country boats were also seized. On Friday, after their remand period had ended, the fishers were produced before the Paruthithirai court. The judge ordered the release of all 37. On September 18 and 20, four mechanised boats and 18 fish- S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Friday constituted an independent special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations that animal fat was used to prepare laddus at Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, in Andhra Pradesh. The new SIT substitutes the Andhra Pradesh government’s probe panel constituted on September 26 to look into the row. A bench of Justices B R Ga- ermen from Pudukkottai were detained (also near Neduntheevu) and 13 of them were released on Friday by the Oorkavalthurai court. Of the remaining five, four were fined 13 lakh Sri Lankan Rupees each and one fisher — who had previously been caught crossing the border illegally — was sentenced to 18 months in jail. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Colombo | pti High duty, short supply drive luxe watch smuggling High-end, rare luxury watches costing up to `2 crore, which are a collector’s delight, are a big draw among the rich and famous in Chennai and other metros like New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. But fewer authorised dealers, limited choice of products, and 40% customs duty on such imported watches fuel smuggling from Hong Kong and Dubai, official sources said. Information sourced through RTI applications shows that rare watches of brands like Patek Philippe, Breguet, Audemars Piguet, Rolex, Naviforce, Bvlgari, Astronomia Solar Zodiac from Seized Patek Philippe and Breguet luxury watches | Express Jacob & Co, IWC Big Pilot, Franck Muller and Girard-Perregaux have been seized from passengers landing from abroad at airports like New Delhi and Mumbai in the last few years. 65 2020 40 2021 51 2022 30 2023 20 2024* 185 (*till Oct 04) vai and K V Viswanathan said the fresh probe team shall have two CBI officers, two Andhra Pradesh police officers, and a senior official of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The two CBI officers would be nominated by the agency’s director while the two officers from the Andhra Pradesh Police would be named by the state government. The FSSAI chairperson would nominate a senior of- time on their side S i d d h a r t h P r a b h a k a r @ Chennai 2019 SC forms new SIT to probe laddu row 50 TN fishers released by Lankan courts P e a r s o n L e n e k a r S R @ Tiruchy Maoists killed in last five years At least 28 Maoists were killed in a fierce gun battle with the security forces close to the forested NendurThulthuli area along the inter-district border of Dantewada and Narayanpur in south Bastar on Friday . Bastar range inspector general of police Sunderraj P said the troopers have recovered 28 bodies so far. The count could go up further. “Based on specific intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the region, a joint team comprising District Reserve Guards and Special Task Force launched parallel search operations. While the encounter began around 1 pm, intermittent exchange of firing continued till late in the evening. Search operations in the region are underway,” Prabhat Kumar, Narayanpur district police chief told this newspaper. A large cache of assault weapons, including AK-47, self-loading rifles, explosives, besides other items of Maoists were recovered from the site, the police said. There was no report of any injury sustained by the forces. The recovered bodies will be identified after the safe return of the security forces engaged in the operation. Dantewada and Narayanpur are among the seven Maoist-affected districts in the Bastar zone. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai hailed the operation and said the ‘double engine’ government (BJP government in the state and at the Centre) is determined to eliminate the menace. As many as 185 Maoist fighters have been neutralised by security forces this year alone (see table). Besides, 663 others have been arrested and 556 surrendered since January in the conflict-ridden Bastar zone. Since 2019, as many as 277 new camps of central armed police forces were set up to fill the security vacuum in the Maoist-affected areas of the state. A Patek Philippe and a Breguet totally worth `1.7 crore were seized by Chennai Customs from M F Mubeen, a suspected luxury watch dealer, on February 5 this year. The seizure later led to an Enforcement Directorate probe against Telangana revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy’s son Harsha Reddy, who was allegedly the buyer. Apple watches, though not as expensive, are also routinely seized by Customs, say sources. Luxury watch smuggling has its own distinct modus operandi, according to multiple sources in the grey market. The availability of these rare watches is shared by agents on closed WhatsApp or Tel- egram groups like Dubai watch exchange group, Watch home UK, US watch co, etc. There are also Instagram pages which post pictures of these watches, some of which might also be ‘secondhand’, meaning previously owned, mostly by multi-millionaire businessmen. When High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNI) wish to buy it, they place orders through agents who later facilitate its sale from specific shops in Hong Kong or Dubai which accept payment in cryptocurrency or hawala (cash), which is completely off the books. The agents also negotiate rates and commission for these payment methods.  P5 ficer to be a part of the SIT, it said. The SIT shall work under the supervision of the CBI director, the bench added. The SC said it hasn’t gone into the merits of allegations and counter allegations on alleged adulteration of the laddus. “We won’t allow the Supreme Court to be used for political drama. There are sentiments of crores of people throughout the world,” the bench said. The court said its order to set up a fresh probe panel should in no way be construed as any reflection on the independence or the fairness of the officers of the SIT constituted by the state government. “We are passing order regarding entrustment of this matter to an independent agency consisting of the aforesaid members only to assuage the feelings of crores of people/ devotees having faith in the deity,” the bench said while disposing of the petitions seeking a court-monitored probe.