chennai l Monday l December 08, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION FORMULA one: Dream comes true for new king Norris McLaren’s British driver Lando Norris navigates tricky test in season-closing Abu Dhabi GP on Sunday to clinch his maiden F1 crown emotional brit ends max’s dominance A tearful Norris won the title by two points ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who relinquished his crown after four consecutive years, in a tense and emotional season-ending race dominated by strategy and tactics. Max, despite finishing on top of the podium, fell just short in the overall equation as Norris finished third to seal the deal | P11 champ thrives under pressure ■ The 26-year-old showed great discipline and patience as he executed his race under extreme pressure knowing that any error could gift the title to Verstappen or teammate Oscar Piastri ■ A journey that began with kart racing when he was eight years old, Norris became Britain’s first F1 world champ since 2020 423 NORRIS FINISHED WITH 423 POINTS WHILE VERSTAPPEN ENDED WITH 421 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 Fireworks during dance performance likely caused blaze; nightclub did not have fire safety clearance; owners on the run; probe ordered PM to open Vande Mataram debate in LS today New rules for Goa clubs Anjuna  Baga Beach Following the tragedy, the Goa administration has issued an order to all nightclubs, restaurants and bars to maintain a valid fire NOC, enforce occupancy limits, ensure working alarms, detectors and firefighting systems, use certified electrical setups and keep exits illuminated goa Arpora Calangute P R E E THA NAIR @ New Delhi THE penultimate week of the Parliament session is set to be very busy with both Houses set , to debate ‘Vande Mataram’ and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open the debate on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram in the Lok Sabha, where he is expected to highlight several previously unknown facets of the national song. The BJP has been allotted three hours for its interventions in the Lok Sabha, while the total debate time will span about 10 hours. A videograb of the fire in Arpora in North Goa late on Sunday. Eyewitnesses said the nighclub did not have well-defined exits | Express 25 killed in blaze at packed Goa nightclub s u d h i r s u r ya w a n s h i @Mumbai A massive fire tore through a jampacked nightclub in North Goa around midnight on Sunday, killing at least twenty-five people, including five tourists and 20 employees of the club. The club, ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ at Arpora, 25 km from Panaji, did not have the mandatory fire department no-objection certificate. Since the club stands in the backwater of Arpora river, a narrow bridge leading to it made it tough for panic-stricken tourists to escape, fire officials said. A preliminary inquiry found that electric firework inside the nightclub was the likely cause of the blaze, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said, adding that he had ordered chief secretary Dr V Candavelou and DGP Alok Kumar to identify and act against government officials who allowed the club to operate without fire safety clearance. The club’s chief general manager Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, bar manager Rajiv Singhania and gate manager Riyanshu Thakur were arrested by the police. Separately police have launched a manhunt for , the club owners — Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, who’ve been named in the FIR. At least 100 people were on the dance floor at the time of the fire. In an attempt to rush out, some visitors ran downstairs to the kitchen where they got trapped in the blaze along with the staff, said Fatima Shaikh, a tourist from Hyderabad. “There was a sudden commotion as the flames started erupting. We rushed out of the club only to see that the entire structure was up in flames,” she said. Officials said there were no proper exits to the premises. Police have detained the sarpanch of Arpora-Nagoa Panchayat, Roshan Redkar, who had issued a trade licence to the nightclub in 2013. President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, condoled the deaths. An ex-gratia of `5 lakh for the kin of each deceased and `50,000 for the injured was announced by the CM. the Congress and BJP were at loggerheads over the latter’s allegations that important stanzas of the national song were dropped in 1937, which sowed the seeds of partition. While inaugurating the year-long commemoration of Vande Mataram to mark its 150 years, Modi said a “divisive mindset” is still a challenge for India. In response, the Congress said the PM insulted Vande Mataram, noting that Rabindranath Tagore himself had recommended adopting only the first two stanzas. The Lok Sabha will take up the debate on SIR on Tuesday j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi Droupadi Murmu, President Rahul calls for fair probe Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while extending condolences to the bereaved families, said the tragedy reflected a serious failure of safety measures and governance. “The authorities should conduct a transparent probe to ensure similar tragedies are avoided in the future.” E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V IC E @ Madurai Passengers looking for their bags in the massive buildup of unclaimed luggage at IGI Airport on Sunday | Sayantan Ghosh IndiGo flight ops stabilising, cancellations down to 650 S L A L ITHA @ New Delhi AIR travel chaos due to IndiGo’s operational disruptions continued on Sunday though , the situation appeared to improve with the country’s largest airline set to operate 1,650 flights until midnight – up from 1,565 on Saturday and 706 on Friday . This still resulted in 650 flights across the country being cancelled with hundreds of them delayed by hours. In a statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said air travel operations across the country were stabilising. “All other domestic airlines are operating smoothly and at full capacity, while IndiGo’s performance has shown steady improvement today, with flight schedules moving back towards normal levels. IndiGo’s flight operations are likely to reach upto 1,650 by the end of today (Sunday),” its statement read. To ensure financial protection for passengers, the ministry directed IndiGo to complete refunds for cancelled or severely delayed flights by 8:00 PM on Sunday . The ministry also asked IndiGo to ensure that no additional fees are levied for rescheduling travel impacted by cancellations. On how much more refund was pending, an Indigo source said the process of calculating the amount to be refunded was still on. The ministry also said In- Refunds being processed IndiGo has processed refunds of `610 crore so far against cancelled or delayed flights, and delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers as of Saturday, the civil aviation ministry said diGo successfully delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers as of December 6. It had mandated a 48-houir deadline for delivery of luggage separated from flyers due to the flight delay and cancellation chaos. In an update on the situation, Indigo said its on-time performance shot up to 75% on Sunday from 30% on Saturday . The airline also said it will “root cause analysis” into flight disruptions. Meanwhile, the aviation watchdog on Sunday extended the deadline to submit the response to Monday 6 pm. IndiGo sources said the airline would soon respond to the DGCA’s show cause notice to its CEO Pieter Elbers. “We are readying our response by explaining the reasons that flights were cancelled and delayed and the steps we are taking to mitigate them,” a source said. express read Class 12 boy assaulted by group of juniors succumbs in Thanjavur germany, too many India suffered a 1-5 defeat against holders Germany in the semifinal stage of the ongoing Junior Hockey World Cup in Chennai on Sunday | PTI | P11 and Wednesday Leader of the . Opposition Rahul Gandhi will speak on SIR on Tuesday He is . also expected to raise the issue of ‘vote theft’ and the accountability of the Election Commission of India (ECI). During the debate on SIR, the Opposition members are also expected to raise suicides of Booth Level Officers reportedly due to intense work pressure related to the voter list re-verification drive. Key opposition leaders inc l u d i n g C o n g r e s s ’s K C Venugopal and Manish Tewari, DMK’s Kanimozhi, and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav are also expected to take part in the discussions. Boosting ties with India top agenda of US official’s visit Deeply pained by the tragic fire incident in North Goa resulting in the loss of lives. My heartfelt condolences. May they find strength during this difficult time. I pray for the speedy recovery Creating divide for gain is cheap politics: Stalin TAMIL Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday launched a scathing attack on opposition parties over the Kathigai Deepam row at the Thiruparankundram temple, charging that the creation of division for political gain is not spirituality but cheap politics. Stating that spirituality is meant to give peace of mind, harmony and unity and bring welfare to all, he said that creating division for someone’s political gain and attempting to break social harmony is not spirituality. “Rather, it is politics, and that too a cheap and destructive kind of politics.” “In Tamil Nadu, the flame of equality lit by Periyar will continue to shine forever and no one can extinguish it. In 2026 too, with the same intensity and the same fire, the Dravidian model government will continue,” he asserted during a function to distribute welfare aid at Kalaignar Thidal. Addressing the row over the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam at the Murugan shrine, he said the Paala Deepam was lighted at 6pm on December 3 at the Thiruparankundram Murugan temple hill as had been done for generations.  P5 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to be the second speaker in the debate, which will also feature the participation of Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Deepender Hooda, Manipur MP Dr Bimol Akoijam, and Praniti Shinde, among others. The Rajya Sabha will take up the debate on Vande Mataram on Tuesday, with Home Minister Amit Shah leading the discussion. Health Minister and Leader of the Rajya Sabha J P Nadda will be the second speaker. The debate on Vande Mataram is likely to see fireworks as THANJAVUR: A 17-year-old Class 12 student, who was declared brain-dead after an assault by a group of juniors, was pronounced dead around 2am Sunday at the Government Thanjavur Medical College Hospital. The case against the 15 suspects has been altered to murder | P2 Japan, Australia urge calm after Chinese radar locks on Japanese jets TOKYO: Japan and Australia urged calm on Sunday after Chinese military aircraft locked radar on Japanese fighter jets. Japan’s Defence Ministry said China’s military aircraft J-15 took off from Okinawa on Saturday and ‘intermittently’ latched its radar on Japanese F-15 fighter jets on two occasions | P9 A top US official is scheduled to visit New Delhi and Bengaluru from December 7 to 11. The visit of US’ under secretary of state for political affairs Allison Hooker is expected to sharpen the strategic focus of the US-India partnership at a time when both sides are navigating economic friction, geopolitical volatility and rapid technological shifts. According to the US Embassy, Hooker will prioritise advancing the US-India strategic partnership, deepening economic and commercial ties, expanding American exports, and accelerating collaboration in emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and space exploration. Her visit comes amid renewed efforts in Washington and New Delhi to stabilise ties after weeks of heightened tensions over US’ 50% tariff. Hooker has been closely involved in India engagement in recent months. In September, she met Indian ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra, as both sides worked to ease friction over trade and energy issues. In November, Indian publicsector oil companies signed a one-year agreement with US energy majors to import 2.2 million tonnes of LPG, roughly 10% of India’s annual LPG imports. Then, India and the US finalised a $946 million sustainment package for the Indian Navy’s fleet of 24 MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, strengthening defence industrial ties. During her stay in New Delhi, Hooker will meet her counterpart Foreign Secretray Vikram Misri, and other senior officials to discuss regional security, economic cooperation and shared priorities in the Indo-Pacific. HD Hyundai picks Thoothukudi for mega shipbuilding cluster Kerala E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V IC E @ Chennai HD Hyundai, one of the world’s largest shipbuilders, has chosen Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu as the site for a proposed mega shipyard, marking a major endorsement of the state’s industrial and maritime strategy . The Memorandum of Understanding to this effect was signed in the presence of Chief Minister M K Stalin, Industries Minister T R B Rajaa and sen- ior executives from HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering at the TN Rising conclave in Madurai on Sunday . For TN, the project bolsters a long-running effort to position itself as a hub for high-value maritime manufacturing, at a time when India is seeking to expand its domestic shipbuilding capacity . “This decision reflects the confidence global industry leaders place in TN’s vision, stability and economic strength,” said a statement File Photo from Rajaa’s office, adding that the state had identified viable coastal sites early on and backed them with infrastructure, talent and incentives. Speaking at the event, Hannae Choi, senior vice-president in charge of global shipbuilding at the HD Hyundai Group, said the India project marked “the beginning of a shared dream” for the shipbuilding industries of India and Korea. “This year, HD Hyundai delivered a cumulative total of 5,000 vessels since our founding — a milestone rarely matched in global shipbuilding,” Choi said, noting that the company already operates shipyards in Vietnam, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia. “And now we are here in India — a nation full of energy and talent, with limitless potential.” After visiting Thoothukudi, Choi said he could “clearly imagine a mega shipyard being built here,” citing the location’s strate gic advantages and skilled workforce. The vision, he added, would be realised together with the Governments of India and TN, aligning with India’s long-term Amrit Kaal 2047 goals.  P5 actress assault case verdict today Eight years after the 2017 abduction and sexual assault of a Kerala actress, the Ernakulam Sessions Court will deliver its verdict Monday at 11 am; the survivor was assaulted in a moving car by a gang led by Pulsar Suni, who filmed the act; actor Dileep is also an accused | P5