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 ■ ■ Trudeau picture kollam l tuesday l January 07, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Trudeau, Just-out of office J aya n th J acob @ New Delhi Justin Trudeau on Monday announced his resignation as both the Prime Minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party, putting an end to days of speculation amid rising discontent with his leadership. “Over the holidays I had time to reflect,” he said before announcing that: “I intend to resign as party leader, as Prime Minister after the party selects its next leader.” He will remain in office until the Liberal Party selects a new leader. Pressure has been mounting on him from within the party and outside to step down. The resignation of close ally Chrystia Freeland as deputy prime minister and finance minister in December dealt a significant blow. Freeland’s departure was reportedly due to policy disagreements with Trudeau, particularly over the his approach to possible US tariffs under Donald Trump and his overall economic strategy In Septem. ber, his government was weakened after the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh withdrew support. Under Trudeau, Canada’s relations with India soured over his government’s alleged support to Khalistani separatists and his claims of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani leader in Canada. He has held the prime minister’s office since 2014. Over the holidays I had time to reflect. I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader... Last night I asked the president of the Liberal Party to start that process Justin Trudeau HMPV cases in Big Maoist strike in 20 mths, 8 jawans killed India: Much ado about nothing E ja z ka i se r @ Raipur 5 cases reported so far; needless scare, assure healthcare experts K a v i ta B aje l i - D att @ New Delhi India reported five cases of the globally circulating human metapneumovirus (HMPV), which is seeing an outbreak in China, causing worldwide panic as it comes five years after the Covid-19 pandemic. While two children each tested positive for the virus in Bengaluru and Chennai, one such case was reported in Ahmedabad. In its pushback, the government emphasised HMPV is self-limiting and manageable. Union 2001 bug health minister J P Nadda says no reason Nadda said it is not a to worry; it was first new virus as it was first identified in 2001 identified in 2001 and has been circulating in Virus is self-limiting the entire world ever and manageable, says since. “There is no reahealth ministry son to worry he said. ,” Karnataka, TN, Delhi, Kar nataka, Tamil Maharashtra issue Nadu, Maharashtra and advisories on Delhi issued guidelines prevention for its prevention. Cover the mouth and While two infants were nose while sneezing/ detected with HMPV in coughing, wash Bengaluru, with no inhands, wear masks in ternational travel hiscrowded places tory, one case was reported in Gujarat. Two children also tested positive in Chennai. “The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has detected two cases of HMPV in Karnataka. Both cases were identified through routine surveillance for multiple respiratory viral pathogens, as part of ICMR’s ongoing efforts to monitor respiratory illnesses across the country ,” the government said in a statement. World Health Organization’s former chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on X, “According to @ICMRDELHI, #HMPV accounts for about 3% of respiratory pathogens detected in the laboratory network, testing ILI and SARI cases.” Security forces cordon off a crater at the blast site on the Bedre-Kutru road in Bijapur district, Chattisgarh | Express Eight District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel and a civilian driver were killed in a powerful blast triggered by the outlawed CPI (Maoist) in strife-torn Bijapur district, about 400 km south of Raipur. The blast was carried out on Monday when a joint team was returning from anti-Maoist operations. This incident marks the first major attack by Maoists since April 26, 2023, when 10 jawans were killed in an IED blast in Dantewada. According to Sun- CPI raises a toast to comrades, with rider K S S R E E J I T H @T’Puram NEW code of conduct  The CPI has advised its leaders and cadre to “refrain from habitual drinking”  Cadre told “not to tarnish the reputation of the party by being in a drunken state in public places” In a first-of-its-kind move by a communist party the Kerala unit of the CPI has freed its cadre , from the age-old taboo over consumption of alcohol, but with a rider — don’t overdo it. In a new code of conduct approved by the party state council, the CPI has advised its leaders and cadre to “refrain from habitual drinking” and “not to tarnish the reputation of the party by being in a drunken state in public places”. Till now, there was a blanket ban on CPI workers consuming alcohol. However, CPI’s fraternal organisation, the CPM, continues with its rigid stand against alcoholism. The CPM expels its cadre once it’s proved that they consumed alcohol. It was in its 1992 special national organisational conference in Thrissur that the CPI passed its first code of conduct. The party has revised the stand after 33 years. The new code of conduct, in possession of TNIE, however, clarifies that abstinence from alcohol is the CPI policy . “We should protect the moral values of society and also be a model for others by way of our , personal life. The cadre should, through their behavior, earn respect and trust of the public,” ● More on P4 the new model code said.  Sullivan powers nuclear deal on his farewell visit J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (left) with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi, on Monday | pti THE US is in the final stage of removing all hurdles that kept the civil nuclear deal between the two countries a non-starter, outgoing US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said here on Monday . As part of the move, the US will remove Indian entities including the Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Centre and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre from its restricted list. India and the US had decided to cooperate in civil nuclear energy in July 2005, following a meeting between then prime minister Manmohan Singh and US president George W Bush. The India-US civil nuclear agreement was signed in 2008. However, there was no tangible progress in the civil nuclear energy sector as India pushed a ‘liability law’ while the US kept Indian nuclear entities in restrictive list. The US opposed India’s nuclear liability law, which held the supplier also accountable for any potential nuclear accident, saying it deviated from the norm of holding only operator liable for mishaps. On ‘The Covenant of Water’ trail American literary tourists keep ‘pact’ to experience Verghese’s epic novel A n u K u r u v i l l a @ Kochi It was a covenant — sealed with water — between the narrative and the reader that had to be kept. And, when a group of ten women from New York flew down to Kerala last month to experience the life and experiences narrated in Abraham Verghese’s epic novel, ‘The Covenant of Water,’ they could not help but feel the awakening that comes from the pages of a beloved tome coming alive. The novel by the US-based physician and author, published in 2023, is set in Kerala — in a fictional riverside town of Parambil — and follows three generations of a Christian family. It was inspired by Verghese’s mother Mariam, who wrote a 100page manuscript on her family’s life and stories. After the novel was on the New York Times bestseller list for Members of the book club from New York with Jose Dominic and wife at their Kottayam farmstead 37 weeks, it gained further traction when talk show host and TV producer Oprah Winfrey bought the movie rights. The visiting women from the Big Apple, aged between 68 and 72, had read the book after it was selected to Oprah’s book club. As part of their one-week trip, they spent a day at the Madukakkunnu farm, in Kottayam, run by Jose Dominic, a pioneer of sustainable tourism, to experience the cuisine, na- ture, lifestyle, culture and traditions described in the book. Minnesota public radio journalist Kerri Miller, who is also the founder of SirenSojourns, an adventure travel company for people who love to read, curated the travel. Miller, who terms herself as ‘chief enthusiast’, said she planned the trip to Kerala along the places mentioned in Verghese’s over 700-page novel after she interviewed him as part of a book tour.  ● More on P4 darraj P, Bastar range inspector general of police, the IED blast targeted a vehicle carrying the security personnel, leaving a 15 ft wide and 6 ft deep crater. The explosion was so intense that it tossed the vehicle high into the air, ripping it into pieces. It is believed that the rebels had planted around 40 kg of explosives beneath the road. The DRG personnel were on their way to the base camp from Abujhmad to Dantewada via Bijapur in the ill-fated vehicle. It is believed that the Mao- ists were aware about the return of the forces along the route. Brigadier (Retd) B K Ponwar said, “It was not a cowardly attack but a guerrilla attack carried out at the weakest point of the security forces. It’s an unfortunate incident that was avoidable.” He emphasized that the basic rules of warfare should not be flouted, especially in a virtual war zone. Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai has ordered a probe. The state government aims to eliminate the influence of Maoists by March 2026. express read Four die as KSRTC bus Anvar gets bail, vows to plunges into gorge join hands with UDF Idukki: A KSRTC pilgrimage tour to Thanjavur turned tragic on the way back as four persons died after the bus veered off the highway and plunged 45 feet into a gorge near Pullupara in Idukki district on Monday. Of a total of 37 people on board the bus — including the driver, co-driver and tour operator — 31 suffered injuries, with the condition of four passengers reported to be critical. P5 Malappuram: The Nilambur Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court on Monday granted bail to MLA P V Anvar in the case related to vandalism at the Divisional Forest Office on Sunday. After being released from the Tavanur central jail on Monday night, Anvar announced his decision to join hands with the UDF in opposing the Pinarayi Vijayan government. P4 Resignation may fuel calls for early polls Justin Trudeau’s resignation is expected to fuel renewed calls for an early election to put a government in place swiftly to deal with the incoming Donald Trump administration in the US. Trump has proposed a 25% tax on all Canadian goods entering the US. Going by opinion polls, the Liberal Party is likely to suffer a major defeat in the upcoming polls ADM’s death: HC rejects plea for CBI probe E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i ce @Kochi The High Court on Monday refused to order a CBI investigation into the suspicious death of former Kannur Additional District Magistrate (ADM) K Naveen Babu. However, the court directed the special investigation team (SIT) of the Kerala Police to probe the possibility of homicidal hanging as alleged by Naveen’s wife Manjusha. “The mere reason that the accused has political allegiance to the ruling party is not a ground to transfer the investigation from the state investigating agency to the CBI,” Justice Kauser Edappagath said, while disposing of Manjusha’s petition. The judge said the SIT “shall carry out and complete the investigation swiftly, efficaciously, with due diligence, and in a free and fair ● More on P4 manner.”