nagapattinam l sunday l january 05, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Cowpea seeds germinate in space on ISRO craft within four days ISRO says cowpea seed sent to space on PSLVC60 POEM-4 have germinated under microgravity condition within four days of launch of the mission Eight seeds sent to study plant growth All measures of growth being monitored ISRO sent eight cowpea seeds to study plant growth in space. “Life sprouts in space! VSSC’s CROPS experiment onboard PSLV-C60 POEM-4 successfully sprouted cowpea seeds in 4 days. Leaves expected soon,” ISRO said on X. The experiment is being done to demonstrate seed germination and plant sustenance until the two-leaf stage, it added ■ ■ ISRO said it is monitoring all passive measurements, such as camera imaging, oxygen, carbon dioxide concentrations, relative humidity, temperature, and soil moisture for plant growth The fourth stage of the rocket carrying POEM-4 platform has been in orbit with 24 experiments at an altitude of 350 km since Tuesday 470 km Altitude at which chaser satellite for docking experiment is orbiting 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 NSA Sullivan arriving for final round of talks today To meet his counterpart Doval; address young bizmen at IIT, Delhi US-India partnership — from space, defense, and strategic technology cooperation to shared security priorities in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” said a White House statement. During his two-day visit, Sullivan will meet with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and is expected to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sullivan will also visit the IIT, Delhi, where he will meet young Indian entrepreneurs and deliver a speech at the institute, highlighting the key steps taken to strengthen the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), a highpoint of bilateral ties under the Biden administration. “This will be Sullivan’s final trip to the Indo-Pacific region as National Security Advisor. “He’s very excited and looking forward to these conversations at this critical time,” US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said. “The two national security advisors will take stock of the progress that the two countries have made over the last four years,” a senior official said. They will also “continue to finalise some ongoing initiatives that were important priorities for us to wrap up to continue our technology cooperation,” the official said. tified as S Sivakumar (56) and S Meenakshisundaram (46) of Aruppukottai, G Velmurugan (54) and S Kamaraj (54) of Kurundhamadam, R Kannan (54) of Veerarpatti, and R Nagaraj (37) of Chettikurichi, police said. Another worker, Mohammaed Sudheen of Avudaiyapuram, who got injured in the explosion, was admitted to a hospital in Madurai for treatment. Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed his condolences and announced a solatium of `4 lakh each for the families of the deceased and `1 lakh for the injured worker. The cracker unit, which has at least 90 rooms, is owned by K Sasibalan and his wife Niranchanadevi, who is also the owner and shareholder of another unit, Vanitha Fireworks, in Sivakasi. The Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) licence for the unit was registered in the name of D Balaji. J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi 2025 bull run begins Over 450 bulls and 230 tamers took part in TN’s first jallikattu event for 2025 held in Pudukkottai on Saturday | M Muthu Kannan Toxic waste processing on hold as MP to lob ball to HC A n u r a a g S i n g h @ Bhopal In an attempt to tamp down the agitation at Pithampur in Dhar district against the of Union Carbide’s toxic waste, the state government on Saturday sought to lob the ball back into the judicial domain, saying it will seek fresh court orders. The toxic waste was transported to Pithampur from Bhopal following a Madhya Pradesh High Court order last month to do so within four weeks. “Keeping in mind the people’s concerns, we’ve decided to not take the incineration forward. The government will apprise the court on the concerns of the locals and await their next order,” said Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. He had chairing an emergency meeting over the issue in Bhopal late on Friday night. The High Court is scheduled to hear on January 6, the 2004 petition on which it had ordered the state government on December 3 to shift the toxic waste out of Bhopal. A stray incident of stone pelting was reported on Saturday morning, outside the treatment-storage-disposal facility (TSDF) where the 358 metric tonnes toxic waste was ordered to be incinerated. “More than 100 locals pelted stones outside the plant and also tried to spray chilly powder in the eyes of the on-duty police. The police, however, fired tear gas shells to disperse the agitated villagers,” a senior police officer camping in Pithampur told this newspaper. Outgoing US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will visit India on Monday for a final round of talks with his counterpart, Ajit K Doval, and other senior officials as the two countries look to burnish their ties that enjoy a groundswell of bipartisan support. The discussions will cover a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues, along with finalising ongoing initiatives as the Joe Biden administration concludes its tenure. Congressman Michael Waltz will succeed Sullivan on January 20, when Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. “National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to New Delhi, India on January 5-6 for a capstone meeting with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval that will span a range of issues across the breadth of the Overall, the message we intend to leave is one of real gratitude for the friendship and partnership Biden and Modi enjoyed over the last four years Senior US administration official H a r i n i M @ Virudhunagar Ej a z k a i s e r @ Raipur A day after the police found the body of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, the authorities resorted to bulldozer justice banned by the Supreme Court a few weeks ago, as they demolished the “illegal” property owned by the accused. The police arrested three, including, Ritesh Chandrakar and Dinesh Chandrakar — both cousins of Mukesh. The main road con- A bulldozer razing the property of tractor, Suresh Chandrakar, the accused | Special Arrangement is absconding. Ritesh and Dinesh are his siblings. demolished the house of the Mukesh had allegedly ex- accused using bulldozers. posed irregularities in his The murder led to a war road construction. of words between the ruling Mukesh, 33, was BJP and the opposimissing since Janution Congress. State ary 1. He had reporthome minister Vijay edly gone to attend a Sharma said Suresh meeting with Suresh. is a local Congress Later his mobile leader, adding all his phone went offline. bank accounts have Mukesh’s brother been frozen. HowevYuktesh lodged a er, Congress spokesMukesh missing person comChandrakar person Sushil Anand plaint on January 2. Shukla claimed that On Friday evening, his Suresh had joined the BJP body was found in a septic last month. tank on the premises owned Condemning the murder, by Suresh. The incident led the Editor’s Guild said, “The to jour nalists staging a young journalist’s death is a strong protest demanding matter of grave concern as justice for the victim. it raises suspicion of foul A 11-member special in- play The Press Council of .” vestigation team has been India expressed concern constituted to probe the inci- over murder and sought a dent. Following the CM’s di- report from the Chhattisrectives, the administration garh government. Six workers died and one sustained injury in an explosion at Sainath Fireworks Industries, a licenced firecracker manufacturing unit at Kottaiyur village near Virudhunagar, on Saturday According to sources, . preliminary investigation revealed that violation of protocols, including manufacturing of crackers beyond approved limit, led to the accident at the unit’s chemical mixing block. The deceased have been iden- e x p r ess r ea d Jan 10 set for conviction of Trump in hush money case Washington: Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan scheduled the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump in the hush money case for 10 days before his inauguration but the indicated that he’s leaning toward a sentence that would amount to just closing the case without any real punishment. That would leave Trump headed back to the White House with an unprecedented felony conviction | P9 Correspondent, two others held in schoolgirl’s death Villupuram: Day after a four-year-old girl died after allegedly falling into a septic tank at a private school in Vikravandi, the school’s correspondent, principal and a teacher were arrested on Saturday. The arrests were made based on a police complaint by Liya Lakshmi’s father Palanivel. All three were remanded in judicial custody. Further probe is on | P4 Pant strikes, Bumrah scare as Test goes to the wire Fifteen wickets fell. India took four-run lead. The pitch is still assisting seamers. The match is evenly poised, may be tilting towards India, but the day was dominated by two players on the field and one off it. The Sydney crowd for the fifth and final Test couldn’t have expected such a gripping day. And the third day would be as thrilling with match and series poised for photo finish. The focus on the second day was on two players – Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah. And Owning the Weekend Bulldozer justice a day after cops 6 workers killed in TN firecracker unit blast find journo’s body s y d ne y th r i l l e r GO m e s h S @ Chennai WITH THIS ISSUE off the field on rested skipper Rohit Sharma. Pant had come for criticism after the ‘reckless’ shot that got him out in the second innings of Melbourne Test. In the first innings, he scored one of the slowest 40 of his Test career off 98 balls. On Saturday, Pant broke the shackles and did what Pant does best. A blistering 29-ball halfcentury ensued. This is the second fastest fifty by an Indian in Tests. At one ball short, the fastest one is against his name as well. His 61 helped India take a healthy 145-run lead after the bowlers restricted the home team to just 181 runs in the first innings. What seemed heartening is that India managed to edged out Australia without Jasprit Bumrah – the highest wicket-taker of the series — after lunch. Bumrah was the second player who was in focus throughout the day. He walked off the field at about 1.20pm. About 40 minutes later, he left the stadium for a scan and came back only two and a half hours later. Every move of Bumrah was followed. If he doesn’t take the field in the second innings it will give Aussies psychological edge. “The medical team is monitoring him,” Prasidh Krishna, who took three wickets, said. Off the field Rohit Sharma made an appearance on the official broadcasters channel to clear his position in the team. He said he made way for Shubhman Gill because he was not doing well and that he has not retired. “I am not going anywhere,” is how Rohit signed off.  P11 Japsrit Bumrah celebrates a wicket against Australia. Later, he went off the field with injury | PTI PLUS 12 PAGES Speaking to TNIE, some female employees of the unit said the explosion occurred within 40 minutes of start of work for the day. “I was filling sand in the tubes and suddenly heard a loud noise. I thought some workers were testing freshlymade crackers. Only later I realised it was an accident. The blast site was full of smoke. Once it cleared up, I could see that the chemical mixing building — which had four rooms — was completely destroyed,” one of the workers said. P5