HUBBALLI l Thursday l October 10, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Trio win Nobel chemistry Prize for work on protein structure David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper were honoured for their work in predicting and even designing the structure of proteins David Baker John Jumper Demis Hassabis Baker awarded for designing new proteins Using AI to predict protein structure Baker designed a new protein in 2003 and his research group has since produced several new proteins, including those that can be used as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors. “David Baker has succeeded with the almost impossible feat of building entirely new kinds of proteins,” the Nobel Committee said in its statement | P11 ■ ■ Hassabis and Jumper created an artificial intelligence model that has been able to predict the complex structure of over 200 million proteins The shape of proteins is key as it determines their function. Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said the two solved a 50-year-old problem: predicting proteins’ complex structures 2020 when Hassabis and Jumper first used AI to predict protein structure 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 RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent B e n n K o c h u v e e d a n @ Mumbai The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%, for the 10th time in a row, but changed its stance to ‘neutral’ that may lead to a cut in the forthcoming policies. According to analysts, the change in stance is the first step towards a rate cut and signals the beginning of the easing cycle as early as December. However, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, who completes his five-year term in December, refused to accept the policy stance change is a pivot. TM Krishna’s MS misogyny S Gurumurthy calls out the conferring of the ‘Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award’ on TM Krishna despite the latter’s misogynistic tirade against MS, who Nehru said was the Queen of Music Page 9 Knives out for Cong from INDIA bloc allies after Haryana debacle PREE T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE Congress on Wednesday came under fire from its INDIA bloc allies who squarely blamed the grand old party for the poll debacle in Haryana, with several leaders accusing it of being ‘arrogant, overconfident and entitled’ and giving less space to its regional allies. Launching a scathing attack, the Shiv Sena (UBT) attributed the Congress’s poor show to the ‘overconfidence and arrogance’ of the party’s state leadership. In an editorial of Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana, it asked the Congress leadership to introspect and learn from its mistakes. The jibe comes at a time when Congress and the alliance partners are engaged in seat-sharing talks ahead of the Maharashtra elections, scheduled for later this year. “The INDIA alliance could not win in Haryana because the Congress felt they would win on their own and they did not need any other partner in power. If they had shared seats with the SP, AAP or other smaller parties, the results would have been different,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader muda case Lokayukta police issue summons to CM’s kin E x p r e s s N e w s S e r vi c e @ Mysuru Congress leaders Pawan Khera, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Jairam Ramesh, and K C Venugopal after meeting the ECI on Wednesday | Parveen Negi Sanjay Raut. The Congress’ Haryana unit had unit refused to accommodate the AAP and the SP, though senior leader Rahul Gandhi was in favour of it. The party suffered another setback as its Uttar Pradesh ally Samajwadi Party on Wednesday released a list of six candidates for the upcoming Assembly bypolls. Sources said Congress leaders were upset about the SP’s unilateral move as it came in the middle of ongoing talks. Meanwhile, leaders of AAP and TMC were unsparing towards the Congress. AAP leaders also ruled out any truck with the Congress in Delhi assembly elections, scheduled for early next year. Taking potshots at Congress, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha penned a poem on X: “If you had cared about my wishes, it would have been a different matter, If you had taken care of our desires, it would have been a different evening. Today he too must be regretting leaving me, If we had walked together it would have been something else.” Several Opposition leaders including Congress’ Jammu and Kashmir ally Omar Abdullah, the Left parties, and Bihar ally RJD targeted the Congress and asked it to introspect and change its strategies. The Lokayukta police have summoned Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s brother-inlaw Mallikarjuna Swamy, who has been named as accused No. 3, and Devaraju, accused No 3, for questioning on Thursday as part of their investigation into the alleged irregularities in allotment of MUDA sites to CM’s wife Parvathi, according to a highly placed source in the Lokayukta office here. The land acquired by MUDA from Parvathi was gifted to her by Swamy who had pur, chased it from Devaraju. MUDA had allotted 14 sites to Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru for the land acquired from her under the 50:50 scheme. Siddaramaiah has been named as accused No 1 and his wife as accused No 2 in the case registered on a complaint by social activist Snehamayi Krishna. A Lokayukta team inspected the land in question along with the complainant last week. ED: Ex-minister Nagendra orchestrated ST Corpn scam E x p r e s s N e w s S e r vi c e @ Bengaluru The special court to try cases against sitting and former MPs/MLAs has taken cognizance of a prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged scam in Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd. B Nagendra, Congress MLA and former minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare, has been named as the prime accused and mastermind behind the scam. He allegedly orchestrated the scam with the help of 24 others. High drama over Atishi’s ‘eviction’ from official house A n u p V e r m a @ New Delhi The political tussle between Delhi’s AAP government and the Lieutenant Governor has a new flashpoint: the Delhi chief minister’s official residence. Delhi CM Atishi’s office on Wednesday alleged that her official residence at 6, Flagstaff Road was forcibly vacated by L-G VK Saxena on orders from the BJP “For the first time in . the history of the country the , CM’s residence was vacated. On the instructions of the BJP , L-G forcibly removed CM Atishi’s belongings from the CM residence. LG is preparing to allot the CM residence to a big BJP leader,” the CMO said. AAP MP Sanjay Singh said, “Despite official correspondence, the CM residence had not been allotted to Atishi. Although a temporary office was set up at the residence, the staff was later evacuated....” Sources at L-G’s office said the owner of the residence is the PWD, which takes possession of the residence after it is vacated and then, allots it to the next CM. The BJP claimed that the bungalow was not handed over to PWD and its keys were still with Kejriwal.