bengaluru l tuesday l february 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l late city EDITION U.N. rejects U.S. resolution that urged end to war in Ukraine In a win for Ukraine, the US failed to get UN approve a resolution urging an end to the war without mentioning Moscow’s aggression File photo big setback for trump administration india abstains from both proposals The UN General Assembly approved a European-backed Ukrainian resolution demanding Russia withdraw from Ukraine. This is a setback for the Trump administration in the 193-member world body, whose resolutions are not binding but are seen as a barometer of world opinion. Ukraine’s resolution passed 93-18, with 65 abstentions including India ■ ■ The United States had tried to pressure the Ukrainians to withdraw their resolution in favour of its proposal, but Ukraine refused A draft amendment by France replaced ‘Russia-Ukraine conflict’ in the US-tabled text with ‘full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia’, which was adopted 93-8, with 73 abstentions including India | P12 27 all members of european union supported ukraine’s resolution 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 conductor Attack K’taka to hold talks with Maha to ease tension N a u s h a d B i j a p u r @ Belagavi Karnataka has decided to hold talks with Maharashtra to defuse tension between the two states after a group of Marathispeaking people attacked a KSRTC bus conductor at Balekundri near Belagavi three days ago for asking a passenger to speak Kannada. Even as attacks on buses run by Karnataka and Maharashtra governments continue in border areas of both states, several ministers from Karnataka rallied behind conductor Mah a d ev a p p a H u k ke r i a n d slammed Belagavi police for filing a POSCO case against him. Ministers Ramalinga Reddy, Laxmi Hebbalkar, Satish Jarkiholi and Shivaraj Tangadagi condemned the police action. Home Minister G Pa r ameshwara urged Maharashtra to initiate action against its people for indulging in violence in cities and towns along its border. He said, “Disputes take place over linguistic issues in Belagavi and we have to tread carefully This applies to Maharash. tra also. We should not allow this to continue.” Stating that Karnataka has taken action against those who had attacked the bus conductor, Dr Parameshwara urged Maharashtra to act against those indulging in violence in that state. Ramalinga Reddy who visited , Mahadevappa Hukkeri at BIMS in Belagavi on Monday said the , state government would hold talks with Maharashtra to defuse tension on the border.  P4 April timeline Hopes dim as rescue ops enter day 3 for Modi, Yunus meeting likely E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Both expected to hold talks on the sidelines of 7-nation BIMSTEC summit in Thailand J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet the Muhammad Yunus, the chief advisor to Bangladesh interim government, on the sidelines of the 6th BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit in Thailand on April 3-4. April 4 will be the main summit day of the sub-regional grouping. Though the possibility of the meeting between Modi and Yunus is being explored, there is no official confirmation yet. Modi will travel to Thailand for the summit, which was earlier slated for on September 3-4 last year but got postponed due to domestic political developments in the host country . India is promoting BIMSTEC as a model regional organisation, after SAARC became largely inactive due to the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. Ties between India and Bangladesh waded into choppy waters after the removal of Sheikh Hasina as the prime minister. Speaking at a public event on Sunday just days after his meet, ing with Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Touhid Hossain in Muscat, foreign minister Jaishankar expressed concern regarding the interim administration’s hostile approach towards India and violence against minorities. “What Report on Greater B’luru Bill submitted to Speaker E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru The Karnataka Legislative Assembly Joint Review Committee has submitted its report on the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill (GBGB) to Legislative Assembly Speaker UT Khader on Monday . The revised Bill provides for increasing the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike area and creating seven corporations. It is likely to be tabled during the budget session. Chairman of the committee Rizwan Arshad and members ST Somashekhar and AC Srinivas submitted the report to the speaker at Vidhana Soudha. The committee recorded the views and suggestions of legislators from the city. It also recorded the views and suggestions of citizens from eight zones of the palike. Opposition parties opposed the Bill when it was introduced in the House last year. This forced the speaker to form a committee to study it. The committee, which held several meetings, made some recommendations to be included in the Bill. The recommendations are expansion of the area under the palike. Electronics City which is an important , centre of the tech corridor, Kumbalgodu municipality and a few other places have been recommended to be brought under the palike. Narendra Modi and Muhammad Yunus BIMSTEC model regional grouping, says India BIMSTEC consists of seven member countries: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. India is promoting BIMSTEC as a model regional grouping, after SAARC became largely inactive due to the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan is especially concerning is the ongoing attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. This impacts our viewpoint, and we have raised our concerns,” he said. Jaishankar also responded to the Bangladesh government’s public criticism of India in the same event, describing it as contradictory and unproductive. “If officials from the interim government keep blaming India for all their problems, some of which are entirely unfounded, it sends a conflicting message. On one hand, they claim to want good relations with us, but on the other, they continuously blame India for their domestic issues. This is a choice they must make,” the external affairs minister said. express read Youth kills 5, including 4 of his family, in Kerala T’Puram: A 23-year-old man allegedly killed five persons, including four of his family, and left a sixth — his mother — critical in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. One of the victims is suspected to be the girlfriend of the accused. The police suspect that financial issues as a motive for the murders | P5 6 Kumbh pilgrims from N K’taka die in accident Belagavi: Six Kumbh pilgrims from Belagavi and Bagalkot died on the spot in a road accident in Madhya Pradesh on Monday. According to reports, the driver of a sport utility vehicle in which they were travelling lost control over the vehicle and rammed a road divider near Jabalpur | P5 AS the efforts to save the eight workers trapped inside the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel since Saturday entered the third day, the rescue workers are not only battling against time but also the slush and seepage. The continuous seepage has turned the earth inside the tunnel into slush, slowing down the rescue teams. While the fate of trapped workers remained unknown as of Monday evening, officials said the tunnel boring machine has a safe chamber and the workers would be safe if they managed to enter it. Early in the day, Telangana transport minister Jupally Indian Army personnel at the Srisailam Left Bank Canal project site | Express Krishna Rao told a news agency that he was not that optimistic about the safety of the eight trapped workers. “Chances of their survival are very remote. I myself went up to the end, almost just 50 me- Weight loss? Dhoni may use HC refuses to quash criminal lighter bat this IPL season Birth certificate row proceedings against Lakshya The High Court of Karnataka on Monday refused to quash the criminal proceedings against badminton players Lakshya Sen and his brother Chirag Sen, whose birth certificates were allegedly changed by their parents to enable them to take part in badminton tournaments and claim benefits from the government. Lakshya Sen is a recipient of Arjuna Award. Lakshya and Chirag’s father works as a coach at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy and their mother is an employee of Karnataka Badminton Association. Justice MG Uma dismissed the three petitions filed by the accused, questioning the legality of the complaint registered against them based on a private complaint by one Nagaraja MG in 2022 before a trial court. “When prima facie materials are placed on record, which constitute the offences, I do not find any reason either to stall the investigation or to quash the initiation of criminal proceedings. There are sufficient materials before the court, which are documents obtained under the Right to Information Act (RTI). Under such circumstances, I do not find any reason to entertain the petitions,” Justice Uma said while dismissing the petitions filed by the accused. Dhirendra Kumar Sen (A1), his wife Nirmala Dhirendra Sen (A5), their sons Chirag (A2) and Lakshya (A3), and their coach and employee of the association U Vimal Kumar (A5) had filed the petitions. Kumar Sen, the coach at the academy in , collusion with the co-accused changed the birth certificates of Chirag and Lakshya, showing their age less by about two-anda-half years to enable them to take part in tournaments and thereby claim various benefits from the government. PM Modi leads charge in battle against the bulge @ New Delhi THE battle lines have been drawn in India’s war on obesity , with Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching a nationwide campaign to promote healthy living and reduce the burden of obesity-related diseases. A day after expressing concern about the growing obesity epidemic in India in his Mann Ki Baat, Modi on Monday nominated 10 influential personalities to join the war against flab, spread awareness and inspire change. Those nominated include J&K CM Omar Abdullah, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, actor Mohanlal, Bhojpuri singer-actor and former MP Dinesh Lal Yadav (Nirahua), actor R Madhavan, philanthropist and Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murthy, shooting champion Manu Bhaker, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and singer Shreya Ghoshal. Each of them has been asked to nominate 10 individuals to further the cause. Nirahua quickly responded by inviting 10 others, including Uttar Pradesh Mandar Pardikar CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Chirag Paswan, Malini Awasthi, Dr Kumar Vishwas, and Bhojpuri actorstur ned-politicians Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, and Pawan Singh. “I’m very happy to join the campaign against o b e s i t y launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji,” Omar said on X. He also nominated 10 individuals — Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Sajjan Jin- f i r o z m i r z a @ Chennai E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru call to action RAJ E SH KUMAR THAKUR tres short (of the accident site) ... Mud has piled up to 25 feet,” PTI quoted him as saying. On Monday, 14 rat-hole miners and sniffer dogs too were pressed into service to find a breakthrough. However, the sniffer dogs could not go inside the tunnel due to the water. The rat-hole miners are in addition to the 584 experts from NDRF, SDRF, Army, Navy and the National Highways Authority of India, as well as from JP Associates and Navayuga. The rescuers are 40 metres away from the tunnel boring machine — separated by water, slush, and machine parts. Dewatering is in full swing using high-pressure pumps. Initially, officials considered vertical drilling — making a hole from the top of the tunnel and going inside. However, the idea was dropped. According estimates, 4,000 litres of muddy water containing slush, sand, and pebbles is flooding the tunnel every minute. dal, Deepika Padukone, Sania Mirza, Irfan Pathhan, Supriya Sule, Kuldeep Handoo, Sheetal Archer, Iqra Rasool, and Palak Kour Bijral. Anand Mahindra said reducing cooking oil consumption by 10% can have a significant impact on health, finances, and the environment. He nominated Anil Kapoor, P V Sindhu, Gul Panag, Nikhil Kamath, among others. Sudha Murthy nominated P T Usha, Anil Kumble, Mukesh Bansal, Kiran Bedi, Venkatesh Prasad, Tejasvi Surya, Mrunalini Deshmukh, Amish Tripathi, S Gurumurthy and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. I’m happy to join the drive... obesity causes lifestyle related health issues like heart disease, diabetes, and stroke Omar Abdulllah, J&K CM MS Dhoni indoor training With IPL round the corner, M S Dhoni trained with the bowling machine at the indoor facility of JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi a few weeks ago Come Indian Premier League 2025, former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni might wield lighter bats. Since his U-19 days, Dhoni has been using bats weighing around 1,200 grams. The weight gradually increased as he graduated to the senior level. However, at 43, the most successful Indian captain is expected to bring down the weight of his bat by around 10-20 grams. “Four bats have been delivered to Dhoni recently by Sanspareils Greenlands Pvt. Ltd, the cricket equipment company from Meerut,” a source in the know of the things told this daily Suresh Raina, former India . all-rounder and Dhoni’s ex-CSK teammate, also confirmed the same while commentating during the India-Pakistan match on Sunday . “Each bat weighs around 1,230 grams with the same shape as before,” added the source. Reduction in weight can be seen as a natural progression. “His bats were always heavier than ours,” one of Dhoni’s former teammates, who had played age-group and senior domestic cricket with him, told this daily In his prime, Dhoni . was one of the few players to use a middle-weight bat, which weighed between 1,250 and 1,300 grams. Meanwhile, Dhoni’s training schedule ahead of the IPL season has yet not been finalised and so is his arrival in Chennai. CSK will be playing their first match on March 23. Full story: newindianexpress.com