VISAKHAPATNAM  SATURDAY  MAY 24, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION SOME RELIEF FOR HARVARD AS FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP FIAT A federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration decision to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enrol foreign students ORDER VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT, SAYS UNIV DECISION IMPERILS FUTURE OF ALL STUDENTS The relief follows Harvard University suing the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students, calling it unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands. Harvard University said the fiat violates the First Amendment and will have a devastating effect for the university | P9 ■ ■ Harvard President Alan Garber said the decision imperils the future of thousands of students and scholars and serves as a warning to others The Harvard chapter of American Association of University Professors called the decision “the latest in a string of nakedly authoritarian moves against America’s oldest institution of higher education” 7,000 IS THE NUMBER OF VISA HOLDERS WHO WOULD BE AFFECTED BY THE ORDER 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 Double whammy, drama at 36K ft RBI announces Buzz on B’desh head Yunus 2.69 lakh crore considering resignation bonanza to govt REFORMS ROW S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi A Delhi-to-Srinagar IndiGo flight was forced to fly through a severe thunderstorm after being denied access to Pakistani airspace, according to an official statement released Friday by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The incident occurred on Wednesday when flight 6E 2142, an Airbus A321 Neo with 227 passengers, encountered a hailstorm and intense turbulence while cruising at 36,000 feet near Pathankot. The DGCA said the crew had initially requested a deviation from their planned route due to dangerous weather conditions but were denied clearance. According to the crew’s account, shared by the DGCA, they first contacted Indian Air Force’s Northern control requesting a leftward deviation toward the international border to avoid the storm, but the Our crew contacted Lahore to enter their airspace to avoid the weather but it was refused. Crew then chose to continue at same heading to exit the weather DAMAGED NOSE — DGCA statement on the Indigo scare request was denied. They then contacted Lahore Air Traffic Control for entry into Pakistani airspace, which was also refused. Caught in turbulent weather and with limited options, the pilots briefly considered turning back. However, with the thunderstorm already surrounding the aircraft, they decided to continue along the same heading, choosing the shortest path out of the storm toward Srinagar. While navigating through the thunderstorm, the aircraft was hit by hail and turbulence, triggering a series of warnings. The DGCA confirmed that the aircraft experienced multiple system alerts, including loss of Alternate Law protection, unreliable backup speed indicators, and “Angle of Attack fault” warnings. The storm’s powerful updrafts and downdrafts also caused the autopilot to disengage, forcing the crew to fly the aircraft manually. During the peak of the turbulence, the plane’s descent rate spiked to 8,500 feet per minute — a dangerously steep drop — while warnings for exceeding maximum speed and possible stalls were repeatedly triggered. Despite the chaos, the flight crew carried out emergency checklist procedures (ECAM actions) and declared a “PAN PAN” emergency — indicating a situation that is urgent but not immediately life-threatening — to Srinagar air traffic control. They then requested radar guidance and successfully landed the aircraft with autothrust systems functioning normally. No passengers were injured. Pakistan’s airspace has remained closed to Indian flights after Operation Sindoor. ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’ SC POSER ON KOTA SUICIDES 50% tariff THREAT BY TRUMP ON ALL EU IMPORTS FROM JUNE 1 P9 Trump thr ate s Trump threatens p th Apple with 25% App e w h 25% tariff if it doesn’t build iPhones in the US. “I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the US will be manufactured and built in the US, not India, or anyplace else” P10 Cops detain 15 illegal migrants from Bangla and Myanmar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday grilled the Rajasthan government over a surge in student suicides in Rajasthan’s Kota, calling the situation “serious”. A bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan were told 14 suicide cases were reported from the city so far this year. “What are you doing as a state? Why are these children dying by suicide and only in Kota? Have you not given it a thought as a state?” Justice Pardiwala asked the counsel representing Rajasthan. The Supreme Court was hearing a matter of the death of a 22-year-old student from IIT, Kharagpur who was NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON MENTAL HEALTH The bench referred to a March 24 verdict of the top court which took note of recurring cases of student suicides and formed a national task force to address the mental health concerns found hanging in his hostel on May 4. It was also simultaneously dealing with another case of a girl, a NEET aspirant, who was found hanging in her room in Kota. In the IIT case, the bench lamabasted the defence over a delay in filing FIR after four days after the death of the student. In the Kota suicide case, the bench disapproved of nonfiling of an FIR. Rajasthan’s counsel said the investigation in the case was on and the SIT was aware of suicide cases in the state. “How many young students have died so far in Kota? You are in contempt of our judgement. Why have you not registered the FIR?” the bench asked Rajasthan’s counsel. The bench said the student was not residing in the accommodations provided by her institute, which she left in November 2024 and started living with her parents. The bench then summoned the police officer concerned in the Kota case on July 14 to explain the situation. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi Decides to keep 7.5% of its balance sheet as a financial safeguard against unforeseen shocks D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced a record `2.69 lakh crore as surplus to the Centre for 2024-25. The decision was taken by RBI’s Central Board of Directors on Friday at Mumbai under the chairmanship of governor Sanjay Malhotra. 2,68,590 SURPLUS The dividend will help CenTRANSFER 2,10,874 tre tide over challenges posed by US tariffs and higher deFIGURES IN RUPEES fence spending in light of the CRORE conflict with Pakistan. 87,416 The latest payout is higher 99,122 than the `2.11 lakh crore that 57,128 RBI transferred to the Centre last year, but is lower than the the `3-3.5 lakh crore projected 30,307 by analysts. This is due to the 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 RBI board’s decision to increase the Contingent Risk The dividend will help Buffer (CRB)—a fund set aside Centre tide over challenges to deal with unexpected situaposed by US tariffs and tions—to 7.5% of RBI’s balance higher defence spending in sheet from 6.5% earlier. light of conflict with Pakistan This is a prudent move given the pressure on US Treasury yields could increase revaluation loss on forex reserves, said CRB was increased to 6% for Gaura Sen Gupta, chief econo- 2022-23 and to 6.5% for 2023-24. mist, IDFC First Bank. AccordUnion Budget estimated `2.6 ing to her, upward pressure on lakh crore as dividend from UST yields could persist due to RBI and PSBs in FY26 against US fiscal risk concerns. `2.3 lakh crore in FY25. A highRBI said the surplus for 2024- er-than-budgeted dividend 25 was based on the revised would help ease the fiscal presECF (economic capital frame- sure on the Centre at a time work) approved by the central when GDP growth in FY26 is board on May 15. likely to slow down a bit. During accounting years “This (`2.69 lakh crore divi2018-19 to 2021-22, owing to the dend) is also `40,000-50,000 prevailing macroeconomic con- crore higher than the amount ditions and the onslaught of that was likely assumed in the Covid-19, the RBI board had de- FY2026 Union Budget, implycided to maintain the CRB at ing an equivalent upside to 5.5% to support growth and non-tax revenues,” said Aditi overall economic activity The Nayar, chief economist, ICRA. . BANGLADESH’S interim leader Muhammad Yunus is considering resigning, citing mounting political deadlock and lack of consensus among key parties, according to a report by the BBC Bangla Service. Student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) chief Nahid Islam told the BBC that Yunus appeared deeply concerned about the worsening political climate. “He (Yunus) said he is thinking about it (resignation). He feels that the situation is such that he cannot work,” Islam said Thursday night after meeting the 84-year-old Nobel laureate. Islam said he met Yunus after rumours about his resignation spread throughout the day “Sir . said, ‘If I can’t work — I was brought here after a mass uprising to bring change and reMuhammad for m to the Yunus country. But in the current situation, with mounting pressure from movements and the way I’m being cornered, this isn’t how I can work,’” he quoted Yunus as saying. Another report citing unnamed sources close to the interim chief stated Yunus had voiced his intent to resign during a cabinet meeting on Thursday However, advisers persuad. ed him to remain in office. The resignation buzz comes amid growing friction with the military over election timelines and a controversial policy involving a humanitarian aid corridor into Myanmar’s conflict-ridden Rakhine state. Army Chief General Waker-UzZaman, recently pressed Yunus to hold elections by December. Notify Amaravati as State Capital in next Parl session, Naidu urges Shah @ Vijayawada IN a surprise search operation carried out in Kanuru and Tadigadapa under Penamaluru PS limits, NTR district police, along with Counter Intelligence (CI) cell and Penamaluru police, found as many as 15 youngsters from Bangladesh and Myanmar residing in hostels and working at local construction sites, located in Kanuru, Tadigadapa and Poraki on Friday . According to sources, the CI cell received reliable information that 15 Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals were illegally staying and raided a house in Kanuru village. Preliminary investigat i o n s reve a l e d that around 20 families had migrated from Bangladesh and M ya n m a r a n d had been residing in Hyderabad for the past ten years, working as security guards, construction labourers, and in other odd jobs. “A total of 15 persons from these families were working at construction sites in Kanuru and Tadig adapa villa g es through a civil contractor. The police are verifying the antecedents of the foreign nationals and have placed them under the custody of the NTR District Commissioner’s Task Force (CTF),” said the sources. It may be recalled that the NTR police had taken ten individuals into custody last month on suspicion of having links with SIMI and other banned P4 terrorist organizations. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE government has made some progress in restoring administrative order, it will take more time to fully recover from the damage done between 2019-24. @ Vijayawada CHIEF Minister N Chandrababu Naidu requested the Centre to include Amaravati as the State Capital and and notify it in the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act. Speaking to media after meeting several Union Ministers on Friday Naidu said that , during his discussion with Home Minister Amit Shah, he urged the Centre to notify Amaravati as the Capital of AP . Though it was mentioned in the AP State Reorganisation Act that Hyderabad would remain as the common capital for both AP and Telangana for 10 years after the State bifurcation, it did not mention the capital of the residual Andhra Pradesh. With the ten-year pe- Rajnath asked to set up military cantonment in AP CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Friday | EXPRESS riod now concluded, the Chief Minister urged the Union Home Minister to take up the matter in the upcoming session of Parliament and officially designate Amaravati as EXPRESS READ Vizianagaram cops grill Siraj, Sameer Vizianagaram: Vizianagaram II town police, along with officials from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), and Counter-Intelligence (CI), began questioning the two terror suspects Siraj Ur Rehaman, and Syed Sameer in connection with an alleged conspiracy to detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs) across India. Both Siraj, and Syed Sameer were taken into seven-day police custody on Friday | P3 Six killed, 2 injured in accident in Prakasam dist Ongole: Six people, including two women, were killed and two children were seriously injured in a head-on collision between a car and a lorry near Taticherla Motu village in Komarolu mandal of Prakasam district on Friday. According to Markapur Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) U Nagaraju, the accident occurred around 1:40 pm when a speeding car from Nandyal collided with an oncoming lorry. Two injured children, were shifted to Giddalur Hospital for treatment | P3 the State capital. Naidu said that Shah had agreed to notify Amaravati as the capital of AP . The CM also attended a review meeting chaired by the Union Home Minister to discuss the implementation of the three new criminal laws. Accusing the previous YSRCP government for causing significant damage, Naidu said that although the coalition During a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Naidu presented a strategic vision to establish the state as a national hub for defence manufacturing and aerospace innovation. Naidu outlined a comprehensive plan encompassing industrial infrastructure, research collaborations, and strategic installations across key locations in AP. The proposals include development of integrated defence facilities, revival of critical manufacturing units, support for indige- nous aviation programmes, establishment of testing and training centres, and creation of thematic defence hubs to promote regional specialisation. Naidu also requested the Defence Minister to establish a military cantonment in the state. “When asked about military cantonment, the Defence Minister said he would examine the matter,” the CM said. Naidu underlined AP’s readiness-with its strong infrastructure base, skilled workforce, and proactive policy environment-to play a leading role in advancing Aatmanirbhar Bharat through self-reliant defence production. Naidu also met Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil and submitted a proposal for the Polavaram-Banakacherla Link P4 Project. Officials sound alert over 3 Covid-19 cases in State K K A LYA N K R I S H N A K U M A R @ Vijayawada THE Health Department has issued a statewide alert following the detection of Covid-19 symptomatic cases in Visakhapatnam and Kadapa, and a surge in neighbouring states. All District Medical and Health Officers (DM&HOs) have been directed to intensify surveillance, public awareness, and preparedness efforts. The heavy inflow of traffic from affected states into Andhra Pradesh also adds to the risk of virus transmission. Three cases have been confirmed in the State, and one is suspected. A 75-year-old woman from Chagalamarri in Nandyal district was suspected to be Covid-19 positive at RIMS Hospital in Kadapa, after being admitted with a high fever. However, there is conflicting information about her status, with RIMS Superintendent Dr GV Rama Devi confirming her Covid-positive status and treatment in the Covid ward, while Kadapa DM&HO Dr K Nagara- ju claimed the patient was suffering from age-related ailments. In Visakhapatnam, a 28-year-old woman from Pith- apuram Colony tested positive, and her condition is stable under home isolation. Another family member and the doctor who treated them also tested positive. Health officials conducted a door-to-door survey and tested her family members, who have been advised to isolate. The Health Department has asked district authorities to prohibit mass gatherings, enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour at public transport hubs, and advise vulnerable groups P4 to stay indoors.