chennai l THURSday l JULY 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION ICJ: Countries harmed by climate change entitled to reparations The International Court of Justice said affected countries can claim reparations but what they are owed could be determined on a case-by-case basis U.N. Court’s Legal opinion, but non-binding In its first ever opinion on climate change, the ICJ said the consequences of climate change are far-reaching as they affect both natural ecosystems and human populations. “These consequences underscore the urgent and existential threat posed by climate change,” said judge Yuji Iwasawa while reading out the opinion, which is advisory in nature and non-binding | P11 ■ 130 Failure to protect planet a wrongful act ■ “Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,” he added After years of efforts by vulnerable island nations who fear they could disappear under rising sea waters, the UN General Assembly asked the top UN court in 2023 for an advisory opinion on climate change Countries backed the case, brought by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu 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 Shah sets Justice Varma Now, tourist visa to Chinese nationals impeachment ball rolling Decision after Jaishankar’s visit J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Meets Birla, Harivansh; Speaker to set up statutory probe committee P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Days after the abrupt resignation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, the government set the ball rolling for the impeachment of Allahabad High Court judge Yashwant Varma with Union minister Amit Shah holding high level meetings with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh on Wednesday . Sources said while Birla and Harivansh held a meeting at Parliament to discuss the proceedings, Shah met them later. According to people familiar with the development, the Lok Sabha Speaker may now initiate the process to set up a statutory committee to examine the charges of corruption levelled against the judge. The committee comprising a senior judge of the Supreme Court, a sitting chief justice of a high court and a distinguished jurist will then probe the charges against him and submit its report in three months. If the committee finds him guilty, the inquiry report will LS Speaker Om Birla and RS deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh RS notice now active “A notice was given in RS on Justice Verma which he acknowledged and almost admitted it. When the chair has pronounced his ruling that it has fulfilled the stipulated requirement, it’s an order,” an RS member said be tabled in Parliament, followed by a discussion in both Houses after which there will be voting on the motion for the removal of the judge. The meeting of the presiding officers assumes significance as the impeachment process of Justice Varma reportedly led to the resignation of Dhankhar. Though there was no official word on the reason behind his exit, sources say it is linked to Dhankhar’s acceptance of a notice sponsored by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, which went against the government’s plan to lead the offensive. While a total of 145 Lok Sabha and 63 Rajya Sabha MPs submitted notices to the presiding officers for the removal of Varma on Monday, Dhankhar took cognisance of the Opposition notice and made a statement in the Rajya Sabha. Speaking to this newspaper, a senior Rajya Sabha MP said that the notice is active as the Chairman has pronounced it as an order. In his statement in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Dhankhar said, “I direct the secretary general to find out whether a similar motion has been moved in Lok Sabha... If the motion is presented in the two houses on different dates, then the motion which is presented in the House first, that alone is taken into consideration and the second motion gets non-jurisdictional,” he said, citing the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. Divya creates history, storms into WC final ECi to begins process elect new V-P Poll panel takes cognisance of the vacancy, starts prep. Formal schedule for the Vice Presidential poll will be announced soon e x p r ess r e a d Birth anniv celebrations of Rajendra Chola begin Ariyalur: The birth anniversary celebrations of Chola emperor Rajendra I commenced at Gangaikondacholapuram on Wednesday. PM will take part in the celebrations on July 27 | P2 People living on temple land will get patta: EPS Thanjavur: AIADMK general secretary EPS on Wednesday said he would take steps to clear legal hurdles and issue patta to people living on temple lands if the party is voted to power in 2026 | P4 pawns in a rook endgame, she was threatening to queen her b DIVYA Deshmukh was so visi- pawn. The engines said she was bly spent she had no energy. within 20 moves of checkmate. When asked to reflect, all she That’s when Zhongyi resigned managed was a tired smile. For handing the Indian her biggest the previous five hours and victory till date. Even before change — the second tie of her the Chinese shook hands, Deshwomen’s World Cup semifinal mukh, who used to travel to against Tan Zhongyi — and a Chennai for classes as a child, 100+ moves, she had gone was overwhelmed by what was through the whole gamut of about to happen. Like she had emotions. She was losdone a few times over ing. She was winning. the last week in BatuShe was winning commi, a tear or two espletely She had missed . caped her eyes. several chances. Then, It’s only logical beat the very end, the cause the last three former world champiplayers she took down on, Zhongyi, had made includes Zhu Jiner, D one too m a n y Divya Deshmukh H a r i k a a n d n o w inaccuracies. Zhongyi. Beating three This time, the 19-year-old, established GMs back-to-back still only an IM, capitalised. By in a course of a week can be an virtue of this win, she has also immense challenge for any IM, qualified for the next edition of especially someone as young as the women’s Candidates in 2026 her. She now has the chance to as well as earning a GM norm. rest for a couple of days before She’s one of the youngest play- the final where she will either ers to qualify for the Candi- face compatriot Koneru Humpy dates in decades. Up a few or China’s Lie Tingjie. S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai INSIDE Sports Governance Bill tabled in Parliament | P13 India will resume issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals from July 24, in a significant move aimed at normalising strained ties following the deadly 2020 border clashes. The Indian Embassy in Beijing confirmed the decision on Wednesday, marking the first time in five years that Chinese tourists can apply for Indian visas. The embassy announced that Chinese citizens may now submit applications online and visit Indian Visa Application Centres in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with the required documents. Tourist visas were suspend- The decision to lift the curbs came after foreign minister S Jaishankar visited China on July 14–15, where he held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng ed in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but the freeze remained in place due to ongoing tensions along the eastern Ladakh border. The resumption of tourist visas is part of a broader series of confidence-building measures between the two countries. Last month, India and China also resumed the Kailash Ma- i l l e g a l k idne y s a l e transplant licences of 2 TN pvt hosps suspended E x p r ess N e ws S e rvic e @ Tiruchy The Tamil Nadu government has temporarily suspended the kidney transplant licence granted to two private hospitals, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College Hospital in Perambalur and Cethar Hospital in Tiruchy , based on a preliminary inquiry into the suspected kidney sale racket in Namakkal district. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the state health department said the action was based on the report of a highlevel committee constituted to probe into the alleged illegal transplant surgeries carried out at private hospitals in Tiruchy and Perambalur in the suspected racket. The probe committee headed by Dr S Vineeth, Director of Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, also included Dr R M Meenakshisundari, Joint Director (Legal), Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services; Dr A Rajmohan, Joint Director of Health Services, Namakkal; Dr K Marimuthu, Joint Director of Health Services, Perambalur and Ariyalur; and Seetharaman, DSP attached to health department. Dr Vineeth conducted inspections at Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College Hospital on Tuesday and other locations linked to the reported violations in Nammakal. A health department Heavy rain causes waterlogging, traffic congestions in New Delhi on Wednesday | Parveen Negi UP police raid Westarctica embassy, arrest ‘ambassador’ IN what may look like a plot straight out of a Bollywood flick, the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police busted a fake embassy in Ghaziabad and arrested a man who ran the fake diplomatic mission posing as the ambassador of non-existent countries. The arrest was made on Tuesday when the STF’s Noida unit raided KB 35, Kavingar, where the accused had set up the ‘Embassy of Westarctica’. Westarctica is a self-proclaimed micronation in Antarctica founded by a former US Navy officer. It is not recognised by any government. “The accused, Harshvardhan Jain, had been operating an il- Luxury cars bearing fake diplomatic number plates in front of the illegal embassy in Kavinagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Inset: Fake diplomat Harsh Vardhan Jain | ani legal diplomatic mission from a rented house in Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar,” additional direc- tor general (law & order) Amitabh Yash said on Wednesday . Police said Jain posed as the team led by R M Meenakshisundari also visited Cethar Hospital in Tiruchy on July 18, the release said. Based on the interim report filed by Dr Vineeth, the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) invoked Section 16 (2) of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, and ordered the suspension of kidney transplant licences given to both hospitals temporarily. The press release did not specify how the hospitals were involved in the racket or whether they had monetarily benefited. When TNIE contacted Dr P Senthilkumar, IAS, Principal Secretary to the Government, Health and Family Welfare Department, he was unavailable for comment. ‘spell’bound D ip l o m a t i c c o u p NAM I TA BA J PA I @ Lucknow nasarovar Yatra after a fiveyear gap. The thaw began late last year, after Indian and Chinese troops disengaged at key friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), paving the way for diplomatic reengagement. China welcomed India’s visa announcement. “It is a positive move,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun. “Making cross-border travel easier serves the interests of all parties. China stands ready to maintain communication and coordination with India to keep facilitating peopleto-people exchanges between the two countries.” Tourist visas for Indian nationals remained suspended until March, when both sides agreed to restore direct air connectivity. After a meeting between a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Russia last October, ties have steadily improved, marked by high-level engagements and confidence building measures. ambassador of the fictional nations of Westarctica, Saborga, Poulvia, and Lodonia. He moved around in luxury vehicles bearing fake diplomatic number plates and had morphed his photographs with prominent figures, including the Prime Minister and the President to impress and mislead people. According to officials, Jain engaged in brokering deals by falsely promising job placements for companies and individuals in foreign countries. “Investigations revealed Jain’s past connections with Godman Chandraswami as well as international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi,” Yash said. In 2011, Jain was found with illegal satellite phones and a case was registered against him at the Kavi Nagar police station, the ADG added. During the raid, the STF seized over `44 lakh in cash and foreign currency of several countries. Besides, four vehicles with diplomatic number plates, 18 diplomatic number plates, 12 diplomatic passports of micronations, forged documents with the seal of the Ministry of External Affairs, two fake PAN cards, 34 seals of various countries and companies, two fake press cards, and documents of various companies were also recovered from the house of the accused. An FIR has been lodged at Kavi Nagar police station, and further proceedings are underway the STF said. , The front portion of the house was damaged in the accident | express Bus rams home due to suspected steering wheel glitch, child dies E x p r e s s N e w s S e r vic e @ Dharmapuri A TNSTC bus driver, who lost control of the vehicle due to a suspected fault in the steering wheel, crashed the bus into a roadside home and injured a four-year-old girl standing near the entrance of the house on Wednesday. The child was rushed to the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital, but died shortly after. The bus driven by V Devaraj (46) was en route to Nallampalli from Ulavankottai when the accident happened, sources said. According to the Adhiyamankottai police, 20 passengers were onboard the bus (route number 2B) at the time of the incident. “The bus crashed into the home of a couple, Narasimman and Sonia. While the couple escaped without injuries, their daughter Adhvika, who was standing near the entrance, died as the front side of the home collapsed on her. Driver Devaraj is undergoing treatment at the Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital for injuries,” a police official said. P7 Overhead power line snaps, kills auto driver in Chennai E x p r e s s N e w s S e r vic e @ Chennai In another tragic accident indicating poor maintenance of overhead power cables in Chennai, a 46-year-old auto driver was electrocuted to death after a high-tension line snapped and fell on him near the Kilambakkam bus terminus on Tuesday evening. The incident happened just a month after a 17-year-old school student in Tiruvottiyur, walking back from tuition class, was killed because of an exposed underground electric cable. The Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL) did not offer more details on what led to the snapping of the cable on Tuesday night. When contacted, officials said that a preliminary inquiry is under way The Kil. ambakkam police have booked a case of unnatural death. The deceased, Me ghanathan Prabhu, after completing his work found that there were oil stains on his shirt and hands, a police source said. He went to a public tap nearby to wash the stains when the overhead high-tension cable coming from a transformer snapped and fell on him and killed him on the spot. Meghanathan is survived by his wife and a 17-year-old son, who is in college. P7
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