astronaut ill: NASA cuts ISS mission short The space agency said on Thursday a crew of four astronauts aboard the International Space Station will return to Earth earlier than planned. The crew included NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. NASA did not identify the astronaut or the medical issue, citing privacy. The crew member with the ‘serious medical condition’ is stable vijayawada l saturday l january 10, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION 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 ‘Not accurate’: India rejects U.S. charge on Modi no-call Parliament from January 28, Budget February 1 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE Budget session of Parliament is likely to commence on January 28 with the Union Budget possibly being tabled on February 1, a Sunday . Officials, citing the tentative schedule finalised by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamen- tary Affairs, said on Friday that President Droupadi Murmu will address a joint sitting of the two Houses on January 28. The customary address of the President takes place on the first day of the first Parliament session of a year. The two Houses will not meet on January 29 due to Beating Retreat ceremony . Parliament will sit on January 30 when the Economic Survey is expected to be tabled. On January 31, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will not meet. The Union Budget is set to be tabled on February 1. After discussions on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address and Union Budg- Let’s share surplus water, skip conflicts: Naidu’s plea In Podcast, had claimed that the Trump administration was India on Friday rejected keen to finalise an early trade claims by US Commerce Secre- agreement with India after contary Howard Lutnick that a cluding a deal with the UK in long-pending India-US trade May 2025. According to him, Inagreement collapsed because dia was offered a limited winPrime Minister Narendra Modi dow, “three Fridays” to close did not place a phone call to the deal, with the incentive of President Donald Trump and lower tariffs for early signatotermed the characries under what he terisation of events described as a “stairMinneapolis “not accurate”. case” tariff killing matter framework. Responding to Lutof concern nick’s remarks, the “It was all set up. External Affairs MinBut you had to have India voiced istry said New Delhi Modi call President concern over the and Washington have killing of a woman Trump. They were been engaged in susuncomfortable doing by a federal agent tained, detailed negoit. So Modi didn’t in Minneapolis in tiations on a bilateral call,” Lutnick said. the US. “We are trade pact for over a He further claimed closely following year and remain comthat when India later it,” Jaiswal said. mitted to concluding “We are concerned indicated readiness a “balanced and muto finalise a deal, it as we have a large tually beneficial” was too late. “Are you Indian community agreement. The MEA ready for the train in the US.” also highlighted that that left the station Prime Minister Modi three weeks ago?” he and President Trump spoke to said, arguing that tariff terms each other eight times in 2025, had already hardened by then. covering a wide range of issues. Trade talks formally began “We remain interested in a mu- in February 2025 and included tually beneficial trade deal be- several rounds of in-person distween two complementary cussions. Trump imposed tareconomies and look forward to iffs of up to 50% on Indian concluding it,” MEA spokes- goods, including a 25% levy person Randhir Jaiswal said. linked to India’s purchases of Lutnick, speaking on the All- Russian energy . J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi flicts; the interests of the people are paramount.” Naidu also underlined the need for mutual cooperation and understanding among the riparian States in river water sharing to utilise the available quantum in an optimum manner. He alleged that former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy lacked basic knowledge of irrigation, and unnecessarily created controversies, particularly over the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme. “I am not here to politicise water issues or create regional conflicts. We irrigate Rayalaseema lands with Krishna water from Srisailam dam, and Godavari water from Polavaram project,” Naidu said. He said all water-related issues should be resolved amicably to promote growth, highlighting his vision to transform Andhra Pradesh into a green P4 hub.  E xpress News S ervi c e @ Rajamahendravaram Making it clear that there will be no compromise in safeguarding the interests of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has asserted that there will be no use of conflicts among riparian States on river water sharing. Addressing a public meeting at Rayavaram village in East Godavari district on Friday the , Chief Minister said, “Every year, 3,000 TMC of water flows into the sea. Utilizing 200 TMC of this water won’t cause harm. Why should Andhra Pradesh and Telangana dispute over water that’s flowing into the sea anyway? If the Polavaram Irrigation Project is completed and rivers are interlinked, Telangana will also get a chance to utilize this water. We can achieve all this if we work together instead of engaging in conflicts. I don’t want any con- CM takes part in pattadar passbook distribution at Rayavaram | Express et, Parliament will adjourn for a month-long recess on February 13. It will reconvene on March 9 and the session will conclude on April 2. The Budget session is likely to be stormy, with the Opposition set to target the government over US tariffs and the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in various states. rbi cuts u.s. treasury exposure for first time in four years B E NN K OCH U V E E D AN @ Mumbai IN what may be a strategic shift towards foreign exchange reserve diversification and nondollar assets amid rising global economic and geopolitical risks, the Reserve Bank of India has cut 21% of its holdings of US Treasury securities. According to the US Department of Treasury, RBI’s holding of US bonds dropped from $241.4 billion on October 31, 2024 to $190.7 billion on October 31, 2025, marking a shift in forex strategy towards better asset diversification. The US follows October-September as its fiscal year. According to a Bloomberg analysis, this is the first annual dip in US treasury investments by RBI in the past four years. The drawdown comes despite relatively attractive yields in US bonds. During the period, the yield on the benchmark 10year US bonds traded in 4-4.8% range. Experts say this steep reduction is not driven by yield considerations but by a reassessment of the allocation of reserves, which hovered around $700 billion in October. As part of diversification, RBI has been building its gold reserves. After a record 64 tonnes of gold buy in 2024, the central bank has been going slow in adding the yellow metal in 2025, which as of September-end stood at 880.8 tonnes. Gold’s share in the total foreign exchange reserves shot up to 13.9% by September, up from 9% in the year-ago period. In 2025, RBI made only modest direct purchases of gold to the tune of 4 tonnes till September, but significantly increased its domestically held reserves by repatriating over as much as 64 tonnes from overseas vaults. China, too, reduced its treasury holding by 9.3% to $688.7 billion during the year. SIDDHARTHA ACADEMY Chief Guest Esteemed Guest Sri Nara Chandrababu Naidu Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh CE LE B R ATION S Sri Anam Ramnarayana Reddy Hon’ble Minister for Endowments, A.P. at 4:30 pm, on Saturday, the 10th January 2026 at Parvathaneni Brahmayya Siddhartha College of Arts & Science, Vijayawada CELEBRATING GOLDEN JUBILEE Parvathaneni Brahmayya Siddhartha College of Arts & Science | A.G. & S.G. Siddhartha Arts & Science College 18 educational institutions serving 28,000 students 170 academic programmes and a library repository of 350,000 titles 11,300 750 research publications in national and international journals patents registered by its science and engineering institutions 15 NCC cadets selected for the Republic Day Parade in Delhi 1st educational institution in India to install VSAT facility for electronic data transfer INSTITUTIONS RUN BY SIDDHARTHA ACADEMY • ParvathaneniBrahmayya Siddhartha College of Arts & Science • VeeramachaneniPaddayya Siddhartha Public School • Sri Durga Malleswara Siddhartha MahilaKalasala • Y.V. Rao Siddhartha College of Education • Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College • A.G. & S.G. Siddhartha Arts & Science College • Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education (Deemed to be University) • Smt. VelagapudiDurgamba Siddhartha Law College • K.C.P. Siddhartha Adarsh Residential Public School • Prasad V. Potluri Siddhartha Institute of Technology • Kommareddy Venkata Sadasiva Rao Siddhartha College of Pharmaceutical Sciences • Siddhartha Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology • Dr. Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Foundation • Dr. C. Sobhanadri Siddhartha School of Nursing • Drs. Sudha &Nageswararao Siddhartha Institute of Dental Sciences • Dr. C. Sobhanadri Siddhartha College of Nursing SIDDHARTHA ACADEMY OF GENERAL & TECHNICAL EDUCATION Siddhartha Nagar, Vijayawada - 520 010 | Ph: 0866-2475866, 2476026 | E-mail: siddhartha.academy@yahoo.in