chennai l Sunday l January 04, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION NCC to train 10,000 cadets to deal with cyber attacks National Cadet Corps will train a group of 10,000 ‘cyber warriors’ who can contribute to bolstering India’s digital defence mechanism special hubs for training in the offing NCC has also planned to train one lakh cadets as first responders in the wake of natural disasters, Director General, NCC, Lt Gen Virendra Vats said at a press conference on the NCC’s Republic Day Camp 2026 in New Delhi. NCC has started work on raising four to five hubs across the country where select cadets can be trained on drone and counter-drone aspects trained and linked with the national database, so that the services can be used by the nation in case of need in future, Vats said ■ NCC plans to increase its strength from 17 lakh to 20 lakh in a phased manner, and is looking to achieve this goal by 2028 40% cadets to be linked to national database ■ These cadets will be known as Yuva Apda Mitras, and they will be of the ncc’s total current strength comprises girls 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 U.S. snatches maduro Venezuela President, wife being taken to New York in dramatic coup; US will run it for now A G E N C I E S @ Caracas SC order on Khalid’s bail tomorrow S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court will on Monday pronounce its order on the bail petitions of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and five others in the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case. They were booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and provisions of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly being the masterminds of the riots. A two-judge bench comprising just i c e s A ra v i n d Kumar and N V Anjaria had res e r v e d their verdict on December 10. The verdict comes in the wake of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani writing a note to Khalid, recalling his words on ‘bitterness’ and the importance of not letting it “consume one’s self ”. Parallelly eight American , lawmakers wrote to Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra on December 30, urging a fair and timely trial for Khalid and others in accordance with international law and bail for the duration of the court’s proceedings. A videograb of a blaze in Caracas on Saturday after US bombing; and President Trump releases the first photograph of Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima en route the US | X/AP The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and whisked him out of the country in a brazen and surreal military operation early Saturday that plucked a sitting leader from office. President Donald Trump said US will “run” Venezuela until a political transition takes shape, and he would tap Venezuela’s gigantic oil reserves to sell to other countries. The action marked the culmination of an escalating Trump administration pressure campaign on the South American country that consisted of months of strikes on boats that officials said were smuggling drugs to the US. Behind the scenes, US officials tracked Maduro’s behavioral habits, including what he ate and where he slept, in pre- ripple effect kkr drop bangladesh player, focus shifts to T20 World Cup ties E x p ress N ews ser v ice @ Chennai Amidst the rising criticism over signing Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur Rahman, Kolkata Knight Riders released the player from their IPL 2026 squad following instructions from the cricket board. On Friday Shah Rukh , Khan and his franchise came under severe attack from certain quarters for buying the Bangaldeshi bowler. The BCCI on Saturday said that it has instructed the franchise to release the Bangladesh player citing current situation in the country . What seems to be even more interesting is that Bangladesh would be playing four matches in India — three in Kokata, one in Mumbai — during the T20 World Cup starting next month. Bangladesh Cricket Board has already called for an emergency meeting on Saturday night. If the matches do get affected, then the entire World Cup schedule might have to be rejigged. Pakistan, which re- fused to play in India because of security reasons, will play in Sri Lanka. As for KKR, it confirmed “that the BCCI/ IPL, as the regulator of the IPL, has instructed it to release Mustafizur from the squad ahead of upcoming IPL season. The release has been carried out following due process and consultations.” KKR had signed Rahman for `9.2 crore in the auction last month — the only Bangladeshi player to get picked — but had come under criticism on social media and from political parties owing to tur moil there. Shortly after BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that they have asked KKR to release Rahman, the franchise confirmed the development. The BCCI said that KKR would allowed a replacement. “Due to the recent developments that are going on all across, BCCI has instructed the franchise KKR to release one of their players, Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh,” Saikia told a news agency . paring for the stunning regime change. The ‘extraction’ in Caracas, codenamed ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’, took months of rehearsal and more than 150 US aircraft, including F-18, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, B-1 bombers and drones, top US General Dan Caine said. In a series of fast-moving events, Caracas was rocked by seven explosions, accompanied by sound of attack helicopters, 2 am local time (11.30 am IST). The strikes, which targeted a avoid travel, says mea advisory The Ministry of External Affairs urged Indians to avoid all non-essential travel to Venezuela. It asked Indian nationals to contact +58-412-9584288 in case of an emergerncy major military base and an airbase, among other sites, continued for nearly an hour. Trump described Maduro as being “highly guarded” in a presidential palace that was “like a fortress.” Maduro had nearly made it to a safe room inside it, Trump told reporters, although “he was unable to close it.” American forces were armed with “massive blowtorches,” which they would have used to cut through steel walls had Maduro locked himself in the room, Trump said. “It had a safety space, where it’s solid steel all around,” Trump said. “He didn’t get that space closed. He got bumrushed so fast that he didn’t get into that. We were prepared.” Trump said Maduro and his wife were flown by helicopter to a US warship and would go to New York to face charges. He later posted on Truth Social a photo of Maduro in a gray sweatsuit, protective headphones and blindfold. Trump scotched any expectation that Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado herself should emerge as Venezuela’s new leader. She doesn’t have “support or respect” there, he said. Trump indicated he could work with Maduro’s deputy, vice president Delcy Rodriguez, saying “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”  P13 Crisis and Opportunity WITH THIS ISSUE PLUS 12 PAGES 2 classmates kill TN youth in ‘fight for girl’ N imisha S Pra d ee p @ Vellore A 19-year-old student doing his second-year BA at Vellore’s Voorhees College was allegedly bludgeoned to death with an iron rod by two of his classmates in a suspected dispute over relationship with a girl. The body of the youth, who went missing on Friday was , found dumped near Chittapara village along the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border and was recovered by police early on Saturday . One of the accused has been detained, while a special police team has been deployed to nab the other, who is absconding. According to Bagayam police, the deceased — identified as Danny Vallan Arasu of Pathiyavaram village in Chetpet, Tiruvannamalai district — stayed in a rented house on the third floor of a building at Sainathapuram, Vellore, along with two of his classmates, Kishore Kannan (19) of Arni and Parthasarathy (18) of Puducherry . On January 2 (Friday), Danny’s parents were unable to contact him over phone. Later, in the evening, his father Anand filed a missing complaint with Bagayam police, which launched an investigation and detained Kishore the next morning.  P7 In five years, more tigers died outside protected reserves J iten d ra C hou b ey @ New Delhi INDIA’s tiger conservation success story has a flip side. More big cats are dying outside protected reserves than inside them. Latest data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) shows that of 166 tiger deaths in 2025 in India. 88 deaths or 53 per cent were recorded outside a protected tiger reserve. (see table). In all, around 51% of 725 recorded fatalities in the last five years occurred outside tiger reserves, driven by the fact that about 30% of the country’s ti- gers now roam freely outside notified protected areas and exposing them to risks like human conflict, road accidents, electrocution and poisoning. A senior NTCA officer, who asked not to be named, pointed to severe staffing shortages. “We’re stretched thin in the field. Our forensic labs are understaffed too, which delays sample analysis and slows our response. That’s partly why poachers aren’t caught and prosecuted quickly enough.” The backlog tells the story. While 24 tigers were confirmed killed by poachers in 2019, five Tiger deaths outside protected forest areas Total % of total Year Mortality Outside mortality outside 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 166 126 182 122 129 88 65 100 52 64 53.01 51.58 54.94 42.62 49.61 cases from that year remain under investigation. The pending cases have shot up: from 37 in 2020 to 58 in 2021, 51 in 2022, 64 in 2023, 67 in 2024, and 140 in 2025. The latest State of Tiger report confirms one in five staff positions remain empty across tiger reserves. Some locations are missing 40% or more of required protection personnel. Twenty reserves reported inadequate anti-poaching staff. The rising number of tiger deaths outside protected areas prompted the Environment Ministry to launch a pilot to manage human-tiger conflicts across 10 states, with an allocation of `88 crore. “This pilot scheme doesn’t address the core issue of staff shortage,” said the officer. 3/4 of all tigers in india India hosts 75% of the world’s tiger populace. As per All India Tiger Estimation 2022, India’s tiger population is 3,682. India has 58 tiger reserves Stalin opens ‘TAPS’, pension may flow to govt staff after polls T M uruganan d ham @ Chennai With just months to go for the Assembly election, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday announced the ‘Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS)’ for state government employees and teachers, guaranteeing a pension equal to 50% of their last-drawn monthly salary Em. ployee unions that had threatened to launch an indefinite strike from January 6 have now withdrawn their protest after the announcement. As per TAPS, which comes after the 23year struggle of government staff for restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the employees will contribute 10% of their basic salary to the pension corpus and the state will bear the rest. Under OPS, the government was bearing the entire pension fund contribution. “Despite financial constraints, the state will fully bear the cost of implementing TAPS to safeguard welfare of government employees and teachers,” the CM said in a statement, which, significantly does not mention , the date on which TAPS will take effect. However, in what could be a dampener to the unions, top government sources told TNIE that it was expected to come into force from January 1, 2027 — months after the Assembly election this year. The financial burden on the state is expected to go up steeply under TAPS, with a one-time contribution of `13,000 crore to the pension fund and additional contribution of `11,000 crore every year. The yearly contribution will also be revised periodically in line with the increase in salary. Though the DMK government had made this announcement at the fag end of its term, the labour unions have welcomed it. Stalin, in his statement, said that pensioners will be eligible for Dearness Allowance (DA) hikes every six months on par with serving government employees.  P7 50% assured pension | P4 e x p r e ss r e a d No talks with others, alliance only with DMK: Cong Chennai: All India Congress Committee’s TN in-charge Girish Chodankar on Saturday dismissed speculations about alternative alliance possibilities, including with Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). He asserted that the Grand Old Party remains committed to its long-standing alliance with the DMK, and that seat negotiations are progressing smoothly. Regarding news of power sharing, Chodankar said he will not respond to “speculative reports” on the number of seats sought in the alliance or cabinet berth | P4