BHUBANESWAR l thursday l October 30, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION India women face dominant aussies for spot in final Shafali Verma Kaur & Co face stiff challenge Harmanpreet and Co will have to play out of their skin to overcome an indomitable Australia in the second semifinals of ICC Women’s World Cup focus on shafali and healy After what was a topsy-turvy road to the semis, it seemed like India were going in with a settled unit. But injury to Pratika Rawal meant Shafali Verma came in as a replacement. Australia are the defending champions and haven’t lost a world cup game since 2017. For them to be beaten, the hosts will have to be perfect across all 100 overs ■ ■ The Haryana batter has been given a morale boost. They have backed her to play the natural game and take the attack to the Australians. But it is a gamble and loaded with a lot of risk | p11 Australia are keeping their cards close on Healy’s fitness. She trained on Tuesday before skipping Wednesday’s optional practice Seven Australia is the only team to have won WC titles so many times 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 Trump latest: Modi tough as hell, nicest-looking guy ‘custody’ joke on pak President Droupadi Murmu with Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, India’s first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot, at the Indian Air Force Station in Ambala. Pakistani social media had falsely claimed to have captured Singh during ‘Operation Sindoor’ ‘I’m doing a trade deal with India.’ Adds he has great respect for PM President Murmu takes ‘unforgettable’ Rafale flight President Murmu on Wednesday took a sortie in a Rafale jet from Ambala Air Force Station. She called it an “unforgettable” experience | PTI India and China agree to maintain peace at border M aya n k s i n g h @ New Delhi India and China agreed to maintain peace and stability at the border during a fresh round of high-level military talks. The 23rd meeting of Corps Commanders of the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army took place at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh on October 25. “This was the first meeting of the ‘General Level’ mechanism in the western sector since the 22nd round of Special Representatives’ talks held on August 19,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. “Both sides agreed to continue to use existing mechanisms to resolve any ground issues along the border to maintain stability it said. ,” The Chinese Defence Ministry said India and China “engaged in active and in-depth communication on the management of the western section of the China-India border.” The Corps Commanders agreed to continue communication and dialogue through military and diplomatic channels “and jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the China-India border areas,” it added. India-bound Russian oil tanker does U-turn J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Rahul warns of ‘poll theft’ bid in Bihar RA J E SH KU M AR THAKUR @ Muzaffarpur/ Darbhanga Arriving late but greeted by roaring crowds both at Sakra in Muzaf far pur and Darbhanga, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi touched the hearts of mostly youthful audiences waving Congress and RJD flags amid drizzle on Wednesday . Launching his first election rally in Bihar’s Sakra in Muzaffarpur district, Rahul chose Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his prime target for a blistering attack at election rallies at Sakra and Darbhanga. He made passing references to the grand alliance’s chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and the current CM Nitish Kumar while going after the PM and listing all his policy ‘follies’ from demonetisation to GST and beyond. At Sakra, in a densely populated Muslim and SC area, Rahul accused Modi of attempting to steal the Bihar election. “Whatever Tejashwi Yadav in conversation with Rahul Gandhi at Sakra in Bihar | PTI you are getting is due to this Samvidhan, but this Constitution is attacked by the BJP and RSS. Modi chunav chura rahe hai (stealing polls). He stole it in Maharashtra and Haryana, and is now attempting in Bihar,” Rahul alleged. He went on to place the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of poll rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India in the same ‘election theft’ basket. SIR was first done in Bihar and is to be replicated in 12 other states/UTs. India skips Turkey national day, to host Cyprus minister In a diplomatic signal reflecting the strain in bilateral relations, India on Wednesday stayed away from Turkish National Day celebrations in New Delhi, reflecting the continuing chill in ties over Ankara’s pro-Pakistan stance during Operation Sindoor and its repeated criticism on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir | P7 US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he is “doing a trade deal with India,” while lavishing praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “the nicest-looking guy” and “tough as hell.” Speaking at the APEC CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, Trump also reiterated his controversial claim that he personally averted a war between India and Pakistan by using trade pressure on both nations. “Prime Minister Modi is the nicest-looking guy He’s a killer. . He’s tough as hell. No, we will fight. I said, Whoa, this is the same man that I know,” Trump told business leaders, then he recounted how he ‘persuaded’ both India and Pakistan to halt military action. “I said, ‘You’re starting a war with Pakistan — we can’t make a trade deal.’ And within two days, they called me back and said, ‘We stopped fighting.’ Isn’t that amazing?” he said. The US President also referred to the ongoing trade negotiations A tanker carrying Russian crude oil to India turned around and went adrift in the Baltic Sea after US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, Bloomberg reported. Loaded with about 730,000 barrels of crude from Rosneft on October 20, it set sail for Sikka in Gujarat and was expected to arrive in mid-November. United States President Donald Trump speaks at the APEC CEO summit in Gyeongju, South Korea | PTI with India, emphasising that both countries share “a great relationship.” “I’m doing a trade deal with India, and I have great respect and love for Prime Minister Modi. We have a great relationship,” he said. Trump also praised Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir, describing him as “a great fighter,” and said he warned both countries that trade with the United Montha respite for state, assessment of damage from today E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Contrary to forecasts, Montha’s low impact came as a huge relief to Odisha as the cyclonic storm changed its trajectory leav, ing behind landslides and fallen houses in southern districts of the state. No loss of life has yet been reported. About 358 villages in 33 blocks and 11 towns of eight districts were affected by the storm, a preliminary assessment by the state government said. After a post-cyclone review at Lok Seva Bhavan here, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said Montha did not have a severe impact except for landslide and collapse of house walls at several places. District collectors have been asked to start damage assessment from Thursday (October 30). The minister said Montha triggered heavy rainfall in southern districts. Gosani block in Gajapati recorded the highest rainfall of 150.5 mm in last 24 hours. Two more blocks, Raigarh and Mohana, recorded 119.8 mm and 106mm rainfall respectively. Patrapur block of Ganjam district received 117.4 mm and Udala block of Mayurbhanj received 105 mm rainfall.  Continued on P5 It’s a dud Cloud seeding fails to open up the skies in Delhi PRABHAT SHUKLA @ New Delhi An aircraft sprinkling silver iodide over clouds over Northwest Delhi | X.com Delhi’s attempt to coax rain out of the clouds hit a temporary roadblock on Wednesday, with the next round of cloudseeding operations called off due to low moisture levels in the atmosphere. The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K), which is leading the experiment in collaboration with the Delhi government, said the process was “highly dependent on suitable atmospheric conditions” that were not met on Wednesday . The development comes a day after two sorties were carried out over parts of Delhi, including Burari, North Karol Bagh, Mayur Vihar and Badli, as part of the capital’s first artificial rainfall trials, but it did not lead to rainfall in Delhi. Meanwhile, environment minister Manjinder Singh declared the cloud-seeding trials a success. The AAP challenged the government’s claim, pointing out there was no rainfall and raising doubts about the experiment’s effectiveness. It was said that cloud seeding had been done, but there was no rain — AAP States would cease if hostilities continued. “These are two nuclear nations. I told both sides we won’t do trade if they fight. Within 24 to 48 hours, it was over,” he claimed. Trump claimed that the leaders of both India and Pakistan called him after two days and stopped fighting. “After literally two days, they called up, they said, we understand, and they stopped fighting.” express read Cyclone takes WC balloon to Malkangiri Visakhapatnam: Cyclone Montha made its severity felt in more ways than one. The storm not only brought heavy rain and strong winds to Andhra Pradesh but also gave the Women’s Cricket World Cup balloon an unexpected joyride from Visakhapatnam to Malkangiri district in Odisha | P5 Starlink to hold demo runs in Mumbai New Delhi: Elon Musk-led Starlink is scheduled to conduct demonstration runs on October 30 and 31 in Mumbai to showcase compliance with security and technical conditions for satellite broadband services | P10