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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR  SUNDAY  AUGUST 10, 2025  `12.00  PAGES 24  JEYPORE EDITION A third-party data network outage at Mumbai airport caused a delay in flight operations of multiple airlines, including Air India, on Saturday | PHOTO: IANS INDIAN AIR FORCE HIT India opposes plastic phase-out list A SIXER AGAINST PAK DURING OP SINDOOR st an TNIE in Switzerland S V KRISHNA CHAITANYA @ GENEVA AFTERMATH OF THE MISSILE STRIKE POSSIBLE STRUCTURAL DAMAGE Pa ki ROOF DAMAGE Bholari airbase India Rajasthan A gaping hole in the roof of a hangar at Bholari airbase in Pakistan after India’s missile strike. That was where a large aircraft was destroyed M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi THE Indian Air Force for the first time since Operation Sindoor officially put a figure on the number of aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) killed during the four-day conflict from May 7-10. Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Saturday said six Pakistani planes - five fighter jets and one large surveillance plane. Attributing the success to the Indian strategic S-400 multi-layered air defence system, which struck deep inside Pakistan, he said, “...We have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft, which could be either an ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) aircraft or an AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) aircraft, which was taken on at a distance of about 300 km. This is actually the largestever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about.” O p e r at i o n S i n d o o r w a s launched to avenge the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam in which 26 civilians were killed. The IAF and Ar my jointly struck nine locations that had terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. “I can say that it was more of a high-tech war was fought. In 80 to 90 hours of war, we were able to achieve so much damage to the air system that it was clear to them that if they continue, they are going to pay for it more and more,” the Air Chief Marshal said while addressing 16th edition of the Air Chief Marshal L M Katre Memorial Lecture, at the HAL Management Academy Auditorium in Bengaluru. ACM Singh gave a detailed account of the damage on the Pakistani side, which compelled them to opt for de-escalation. “Shahbaz Jacobabad was one of the major airfields that was attacked. Here there’s an F-16 hangar. One half of the hangar is gone. And I’m sure there were some aircraft inside which got damaged. We were able to get at least two command and control centres, like Murid and Chaklala. At least six radars, some of them big, and small (were knocked out),” he said. F OR the first time in the global plastics treaty negotiations, India openly opposed the inclusion of any global list with phase-out dates under the article on plastic products — a move that puts it squarely alongside Kuwait and the Like-Minded Group (LMG) of countries that includes Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran. Speaking at the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) in EXPRESS READ SODC to be formed soon, says Majhi in Jeypore Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday announced that South Odisha Development Council (SODC) will be formed soon. He said a task force headed by minister Nityanand Gond had been set up to prepare the roadmap and the structure of the council | P3 WITH THIS ISSUE TOY STORY PLUS 12 P AGES Geneva, Vir Vikram Yadav, Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board and member of India’s delegation, warned that such provisions would have “larger implications in respect of the right to development of Member States” an d s h ou ld b e avoided. “The instrument needs to have clearly defined scope… Separate article on supply or any measures to regulate the production of primary plastic polymers has larger implications… Similarly, inclusion of any global list with phase-out dates under the article on plastic products should be avoided,” Yadav told the stocktake plenary . India also reiterated that all decisions should be taken by consensus and that the treaty’s scope should focus strictly on “addressing plastic pollution only” as mandated by the 5/14 resolution, without overlapping with other multilateral bodies such as the WTO or WHO. The stance aligns with Kuwait’s call, on behalf of the Arab Group, for a “party-driven process” and for avoiding irreconcilable issues, as well as with Iran’s rejection of standalone texts on scope, supply and exemptions. This bloc has resisted broadening the treaty’s mandate to include production caps or health provisions and has pushed for more procedural control by member states. The negotiations, chaired by Ecuador’s Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso, face a firm August 14 deadline to deliver a final text. But divisions on scope, product bans and production controls remain entrenched. The Chair has urged delegates to clear converged articles for transmission to the legal drafting group and to avoid procedural deadlock. India’s intervention marks a shift from its image as a global model for single-use plastics (SUP) bans. CONTINUED ON: P5 ‘Trump’s tariff will push India closer to Russia, China’ J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi FORMER US National Security Advisor John Bolton has warned that punitive tariffs imposed on India could backfire strategically, pushing New Delhi closer to Russia and China, the very outcome decades of American diplomacy have sought to avoid. In an interview with CNN, Bolton said: “Trump’s tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia, but they could push India closer to Russia and to China to oppose these tariffs.” He warned that Trump’s leniency towards China while tak- This is a geopolitical own goal — one that could cost the US far more than it gains economically John Bolton, Former NSA, US ing a heavy-handed approach with India was undermining long-term US interests. “Trump’s leniency on the Chinese, and heavy-handed tariffs on India, jeopardise decades of American efforts to bring India away from Russia and China,” Bolton said. In April, Trump briefly escalated a trade war with China, only to pause further action, pending a potential deal. On July 30, he announced a 25% tariff on Indian imports — a significant hike from the previous average of 2.4%. India also faces additional tariff of 25% due to its continued purchases of Russian oil, which Trump argues funds the ‘war in Ukraine.’ In his op-ed for The Hill, Bolton earlier called Trump’s trade policy “an enormous mistake and entirely counterproductive for America.” He emphasised that levying tariffs on both allies and adversaries erodes long-standing diplomatic capital with India. “The US, by levying tariffs on friend and foe alike, has likely suffered a considerable loss of trust and confidence, built over decades of effort, in exchange for minimal economic gains,” he wrote. “This is a geopolitical own goal ... one that could cost US far more than it gains economically .”