bengaluru l wednesday l november 20, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION In a first, Kyiv fires LONG-RANGE u.s. missiles into Russian region Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine fired six US-made missiles into Bryansk, five of which were shot down and one damaged Ukraine yet to confirm the escalation Putin lowers nuclear use threshold Fragments from a missile fell on an unspecified military facility, the Russian ministry said, adding that the falling debris sparked a fire but didn’t inflict any damage or casualties. The announcement comes shortly after Washington lifted curbs on Ukraine using US-made longer-range missiles to strike Russia. Ukraine didn’t immediately confirm the news | P12 ■ ■ Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lowered Russia’s threshold for using nuclear weapons. According to the revised nuclear doctrine, a conventional attack on Russia by any adversary nation that is supported by a nuclear power, will be considered a joint attack And, such an attack could trigger a nuclear response from Russia 300 km range of the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) used against Russia 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 India, China look to resume direct flights, dialogue Resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, visa relaxation, commemorative activities on cards Y e s h i S e li @ New Delhi BUILDING on the recent progress made on de-escalating border tension, India and China on Tuesday sought to stabilise the relationship and take it to the next level. T h re e m a j o r d e c i s i o n s emerged during the meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio, Brazil: to resume special representative-level talks on boundary issues, direct flights between India and China, and the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. The other steps discussed include data sharing on trans-border rivers and media exchanges. The meeting was the first high-level engagement between India and China after the completion of the disengagement process in Depsang and Demchok along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh last month. A c c o rd i n g t o t h e MEA, Jaishankar and Wang agreed that the disengagement in border areas contributed to peace and tranquility. “The discussions focused on the next steps in India-China relations,” it said. In the meeting, Jaishankar told Wang that India is against unilateral approaches to establish dominance and it does not view its relationships through the prism of other nations. “On the global situation, the exter- Woman dies in EV store blaze on birthday eve E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi | PTI nal affairs minister noted that India and China have both differences and convergences,” MEA said. For his part, Wang proposed visa relaxation to encourage people-to-people interaction. Noting that the next year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two Asian giants, the Chinese minister said both countries should plan commemorative activities and encourage visits in various fields and at different levels. Direct India-China flights and the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. The 22nd round of special representative-level talks were held in New Delhi on December 21, 2019. India’s representative for the dialogue is NSA Ajit Doval while the Chinese side is headed by Wang. Naxal leader Vikram Gowda killed in ANF encounter  EX P RESS NEWS SERV I C E @ Udupi Naxal leader Vi k r a m Gowda, 46, was killed in an encounter with Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) personnel at Pithubail in Nadpalu village of Hebri taluk in the Western Ghats on Monday night. Sources, however, said the encounter might have taken place late Monday night or early hours of Tuesday . IGP (Internal Security) Roopa D, who visited the spot, told reporters that Gowda, who had 61 criminal cases, including murder and extortion and 19 cases in Kerala, against him, was killed in the ANF operation. Describing him as Karnataka’s most wanted and dreaded Naxal, she said he was warned to surrender, but he did not pay heed to it. The ANF, under the Internal Security Division (ISD), launched the operation led by SP Jitendra D a y a m a o n November 10. “We received important leads on the presence of Gowda in the region. DGP (ISD) Pronab Mohanty visited the region recently and supervised the operations in the forests and provided strategic guidance,” she said. Terming the encounter a shot in the arm for ANF, she said it was the fourth successful one after the force was Day before Maha poll, Tawde in cash row S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai A day before polling in Maharashtra, a purported video of BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde at a five-star hotel went viral on Tuesday amid allegations by the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) that he was distributing `5 crore in cash among his party leaders and workers at Nalasopara (Virar) to buy votes. The police registered two FIRs against Tawde and others in connection with the incident. The first FIR named them for assembling at a hotel in violation of the poll code, while the second one accuses them of luring voters by offering inducements. Tawde refuted the allegation saying he was in the hotel to guide party workers about election procedures. He said he was on his way from Wada in Palghar to Mumbai when a BJP leader called him for tea at the hotel at Nalasopara where this incident took place. “I am ready for any probe. The Opposition must understand facts before making allegations,” Tawde said. The poll body said it recovered `9 lakh from the hotel, not `5 crore. PC’s post gives embattled Biren ammo to target Cong @ Bengaluru P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati A 26-year-old woman, who was to celebrate her birthday on Wednesday (November 20) was charred to death, and three others suffered minor burns when a major fire broke out at an electric vehicle showroom here on Tuesday evening. Around 25 electric scooters were destroyed in the blaze at MY EV Store near Navarang Junction on Dr Rajkumar Road. The deceased has been identified as Priya from Ramachandrapura in Srirampura. She was an accountant in the showroom. Dileep, Yuvaraja and Vedavathi suffered minor burns. Police said preliminary investigation revealed that the fire broke out around 5.30 pm at the showroom due to an electric short circuit. P3 A social media post by Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday gave embattled Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh some ammunition to blame the grand old party for the ongoing crisis in the state. The Congress distanced itself from Chidambaram’s post on X, now deleted, calling it his personal remarks. Chidambaram said, “Rushing 5,000 MORE central armed police jawans is not the answer to Manipur crisis. ...It is more understanding: that the Meitei, the Kuki-Zo and the Naga can live together in one State only if they have genuine regional autonomy .” Singh wasted no time in hitting back. “He (Chidambaram) is the root cause of Manipur crisis and the Congress is the creator of what we are seeing in the state today. When he was the Union home minister during the then Congress government and O Ibobi was the chief minister here, they brought a Myanmarese foreigner Thanglianpau Guite, who himself admitted in one of the interviews that he contested an MP Security personnel deployed to maintain law and order amid curfew, in Imphal | PTI election in Myanmar. That person is the chairman of Zomi Revolutionary Army, which is banned in Myanmar,” Singh said. Worried over Chidambaram’s statement on regional autonomy Ibobi said he , spoke to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. “I told Kharge Ji it could be his (Chidambaram’s) personal views but this will create a lot of misunderstanding in Manipur. After Kharge Ji spoke to Chidambaram Ji, he deleted the post,” the ex-CM said. Air India leaves flyers stranded in Phuket for 3 days E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ New Delhi OVER 100 Delhi-bound Air India passengers faced a harrowing three-day ordeal in Phuket after the flight, originally scheduled to depart on November 16, was cancelled due to operational and technical setbacks. The disruption left travellers stranded, sparking outrage and criticism. The trouble began when the crew exceeded their flight duty time limitations on November 16, leading to the flight’s cancellation. Efforts to resume operations the next day with another crew failed when the Airbus A320 experienced technical issues mid-flight, forcing it to return to Phuket after two-and-a-half hours in the air. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has demanded a detailed report from Air India. Meanwhile, 80% of the stranded passengers have reportedly been flown back to India on alternative flights on November 17 and 18, airline sources said. The remaining 31 passengers are also scheduled to depart. Many passengers shared their frus- tration over delays. “Pathetic services. Flight AI-377 returned to Phuket after flying 3 hours above Phuket. More than 150 passengers stranded. No satisfactory reply from airlines,” Shubham Maurya posted on X. “ Air India regrets the inconvenience to passengers... While our staff made effort to minimise their inconvenience, providing all on-ground assistance, some guests were also re-accommodated on available flights. Passengers were also offered options for full refunds,” said an airline official. established in May, 2005. Around six Naxals are still active in the state, she added. Gowda led Kabini Dalam-2, one of two Naxal teams, in Karnataka. He hailed from Karkala taluk. The ANF was backed by 75 KSIF personnel from Bengaluru and 25 from Shivamogga, and Udupi district police. A judicial inquest will be done as part of the investigation, after which the body will be sent for postmortem at a private hospital in Manipal, she said.  Naxal activities in Karnataka are on the decline. In May, the state government introduced a revised surrender policy aimed at encouraging Naxals to surrender, Roopa said. P5 express read Wine merchants call off strike Bengaluru: Wine merchants, who had called for the shutdown liquor shops on Wednesday, withdrew the protest, following a meeting with the CM, , who ordered the setting-up of a committee to address their concerns | P4 Winter Session in Belagavi from Dec 9 Belagavi: The Winter Session of the State Legislature will be held at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi for 10 days from December 9, the state government announced on Tuesday | P4 ‘Flying man’ Issa Kalfon from the United Kingdom at the inauguration of the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Tuesday | Allen Egenuse J K’taka’s GCC Policy aims to create 3.5L jobs by ’29 E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ Bengaluru Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday released the state’s first Global Capability Centre (GCC) Policy 2024-29 at the 27th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit, with an aim to create 3.5 lakh jobs by 2029. The policy is an outcome of inputs and suggestions given during the previous tech summit, where the government committed itself to framing guidelines to shape the growth of the state. The policy aims at establishing 500 GCCs initially and achieving the target of 1,000 by 2029 and at generating an economic output of $50 billion by 2029. The three-day summit on the theme, Technology Unbound, aims to connect with 50 global investors and create an investment fund of $17.5 billion. MoUs with six countries, including Switzerland, Finland and Israel, will be signed along with a Letter of Intent with Sharjah Innovation Authority (UAE). Siddaramaiah said that to take the policy forward, the gover nment will establish three dedicated global innovation districts in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Belagavi. P2