iran delivered a slap on face of u.s., says iran’s supreme leader In his first comments since a ceasefire with Israel after 12 days of war, Ayatollah Khamenei on Thursday warned US of any further attacks Khamenei spoke in a recorded video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first appearance since June 19. The 86-year-old looked and sounded more tired than he did only a week ago, speaking in a hoarse voice and occasionally stumbling over his words. The 10-minute speech was filled with warnings and threats directed toward the US and Israel KANNUR l friday l june 27, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 EXPRESS READ Guv writes to CM, expresses concern T’Puram: Hours before he set off for the Kerala University Senate Hall to attend a function, which was marred by violent protests over the display of an image of Bharat Mata carrying a saffron flag, Governor Rajendra Arlekar had written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressing his concern over the “the issue spilling into the streets.” P5 Final list for state police chief post T’Puram: With only four days left for State Police Chief Shaik Darvesh Saheb to step down, the UPSC has shortlisted DGPs Nitin Agrawal, Ravada A Chandrasekhar and Yogesh Gupta as probables to replace the outgoing officer. Now, the onus is on state government to pick one officer from among the three. In all probability, the government will take a final call on Friday or Saturday. P4 Joju wants ‘Churuli’ deal made public Kochi: Actor Joju George on Thursday demanded that the agreement he signed for his role in ‘Churuli’ be made public, as fresh controversy erupted over the film. This came in response to filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery’s post saying the actor was paid Rs 5.9 lakh for a “3-day guest appearance” in the film. In an interview with TNIE, Joju had said he hadn’t received any remuneration for the film. P4 to Rajnath refuses Union govt plans water taxuse reduce wastage in farming to sign draft SCO joint statement “These will provide adequate water at a central location with enough pressure so that different farmers can utilize it according to their needs. Users will be taxed based on the quantity of water they consume,” he explained. According to the Annual Groundwater Extraction report, the farm sector accounts for 87% of 239.16 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water extracted. Indiscriminate extraction has led to severe depletion of groundwater. The Centre has allocated `1,600 crore for this scheme. States would determine the tax. J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi Pak blocked inclusion of Pahalgam, mention of cross-border terror attacks in document M AYAN K S IN G H @ New Delhi India on Thursday declined to sign a joint declaration at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting in Qingdao, China, as it failed to address the country’s concerns on terror. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who represented the country at the meet, sought the inclusion of explicit language condemning terror, particularly cross-border terrorism. However, the proposal was blocked by “one particular country,” Pakistan. Also, there was no mention of the recent Pahalgam terror attack in the draft. Sources said Pakistan wanted to include Balochistan in the joint statement, which was not acceptable to India. As the draft failed to address India’s core concerns, Rajnath refused to put India’s name on the document. In his address, Rajnath called on all SCO members to unite in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. He reiterated that the perpetrators, organisers, financers and sponsors of terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, need to be held accounta- Pak wanted inclusion of Balochistan India demanded mention of the Pahalgam terror attack where 26 people were killed after regious profiling, but the proposal was blocked by ‘one particular country’. Sources said Pak wanted to include Balochistan in the joint statement, which was not acceptable to India. ble and brought to justice. He emphasised that there can be no double standards in the global fight against terror. “I understand that the defence ministers could not adopt a joint statement. Certain member countries could not reach consensus on specific issues, and hence the document could not be finalised. India wanted concerns on terrorism to be reflected in the statement, which was not acceptable to one particular country,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs. Rajnath mentioned Operation Sindoor and asserted that it was launched in response to the heinous terror attack in Pahalgam. TO reduce wastage and misuse of groundwater, the Union government now plans to impose a tax on water usage for agricultural purposes. In collaboration with state governments, the Union government will soon launch 22 pilot projects across different states. Under this initiative, farmers will receive sufficient water and would be taxed based on its usage. “We are in the process of finalising pilot projects,” said C R Patil, Union Minister for Jal Shakti. Shux scripts history, first Indian in ISS BO S K Y K HANNA @ Bengaluru Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to set foot on the International Space Station (ISS) as he floated into the space lab at 5.54 pm IST on Thursday The Axiom-4 . mission’s spacecraft capsule, Grace, carrying three other astronauts, docked with the space lab at 4.01 pm, 29 minutes ahead of schedule. Upon docking, mission commander Peggy Whitson of the USA, who is a former NASA astronaut and current director of Axiom Space (human space flight), sent a message to Mission Control Huston ground station and to the 11-astronaut team already on the ISS: “Grace happy to be on Harmony”. Harmony is the module on the ISS that provides international docking adapters. Shukla was the second to en- Dragon spacecraft 1 (1) ISS crew greet Shubhanshu Shukla (C) and other astronauts after the docking of their spacecraft | PTI (2) Screengrab of the docking ter the ISS after Peggy The en. tire docking exercise, in slow capture mode, was completed autonomously by Grace, with mission pilot Shukla’s services required only if any maneuvering glitches had occurred. All the four Ax-4 mission crew members, also including Ax-4 mission specialists Sta- wosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary, were warmly greeted with hugs and cheers by the astronauts of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Roscosmos already aboard the ISS. Incidentally, soon after docking, Ax-4 astronauts experienced a minor technical 2 glitch with their communication system, needing five extra minutes before commencing the hatch opening procedures to enter the ISS. The entire docking exercise was completed in 13 minutes. Over the next two weeks, the crew members will undertake 60 listed experiments.