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 ■ ■ TIRUNELVELI l tuesday l January 13, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l CITY EDITION Trade talks back, India on Pax Silica: Gor What is Pax Silica and why is India joining now? J aya nt h J a c o b @ New Delhi Signalling an early effort to stabilise India-US ties that have come under strain amid tariff disputes and market jitters, Washington’s new ambassador to New Delhi, Sergio Gor, on Monday said the two sides will take up the outstanding trade issues during a call on Tuesday . In a parallel strategic move, Gor said India will be invited next month to join US-led Pax Silica initiative to secure silicon and critical tech supply chain. Speaking on his first day in office, Gor sought to portray E x p r e s s Re a d History-sheeter hacked to death at Kilpauk GH Chennai: A 20-year-old historysheeter was hacked to death by unidentified persons at the maternity ward’s waiting area of Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital on Monday | p2 Australia puts curbs on Indian students New Delhi: Australia has put Indian students in the highest risk student visa category, along with those from Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Checks will become more stringent | P9 2 nurses critical after testing +ve for Nipah Kolkata: Two cases Nipah virus were reported in West Bengal on Monday with two nurses being infected. They are on life support at a private hospital in North 24 Parganas district Sergio Gor during a press meet at the US Embassy in New Delhi on Monday | pti Pax Silica is a US-led economic security partnership to protect critical technology supply chains, including AI, semiconductors, minerals, etc. Members include UK, Israel, Japan, and Australia. After a month on the sidelines, India is now set to join, a move widely seen as a diplomatic warm-up current frictions as manageable within a mature partnership. “Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end,” he said. Stressing that talks remain active, Gor said: “The next call on trade will occur tomorrow.” He did not elaborate on the level at which the discussions would PSLV’s third-stage fails for second time in a row its designated path. At the space centre, tension The most-awaited first com- was palpable when the compumercial satellite launch ter screens tracking the of 2026 by the Indian rocket started showing Space Research Organierrors. Errors appeared sation (Isro), the PSLVfrom the 378th second C62 carrying EOS-N1 of the launch, and after and 15 other satellites— 425 seconds, the failure failed to reach its desigwas noted. nated orbit on Monday . “During the end of The rocket lifted off the third stage, we saw from the first launch disturbances in the vepad of the Satish Dhahicle. Deviations from wan Space Centre, Sriits designated flight harikota, at 10.18 am. path were observed. We The first two stages PSLV-C62 lifts are collecting and anawent as planned, Isro off from SDSC on lysing data,” the Isro chairman V Narayanan chief said. Monday | PTI said. Then, during the This the second conthird-stage separation, there secutive failure of the PSLV’s was a drop in chamber pres- third-stage. In May last year, sure during engine firing, caus- the third cryogenic section of ing the rocket to deviate from the rocket failed. B o s k y K h a nn a @ Bengaluru take place but noted: “India is the world’s largest nation, so it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there.” Gor also linked trade to a broader recalibration of US diplomacy. Citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said 2026 would be “a year of reciprocity defined by “fair trade, mu,” tual respect, and shared security.” He stressed that while commerce is a key pillar of the relationship, cooperation would continue across security coun, ter-terrorism, energy technolo, gy education and health. , New labour codes eat into IT profits Even as AI-driven deals lifted revenues for India’s top IT firms in the December quarter, new labour codes weighed heavily on profits The country’s largest IT services company, TCS, reported a 13.91% decline in December quarter net profit to `10,657 cr, down from `12,380 cr in the year-ago period HCLTech’s net profit fell 11.2% to `4,076 cr from `4,591 cr `2,128 crore is the amount TCS set aside to meet requirements under the new labour codes, which increase in payroll costs by mandating a 50% basic wage, higher employer contributions to PF and gratuity and overtime pay for extended working hours | P12 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Germany’s Friedrich Merz on Monday | PTI In talks with PM, Merz hints at EU FTA deal by month-end nouncements across defence, energy, education, mobility, and sustainable development. IN a big push amid rising glo- Both sides noted with satisbal protectionism, German faction that bilateral trade in Chancellor Friedrich Merz goods and services crossed on Monday was optimistic of $50 billion in 2024, amounting sealing a landmark to over 25% of InEU-India free trade dia’s trade with EU. agreement by JanuThey signed joint ary-end, with top declarations of inEU leaders likely tent on boosting biOur growing trade visiting New Delhi lateral defence inand investment to sign it, following dustrial ties. ties have infused wide-ranging talks Modi and Merz new energy into with Prime Minisetched a bilateral India and Germany’s ter Narendra Modi dialogue mecharelationship in Ahmedabad. nism for the IndoWelcoming Merz Pacific, besides the Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, PM establishment of Modi framed the Track 1.5 Foreign visit as historic, coming at a Policy and Security Dialogue. time when India and Germa- Germany also announced ny have completed 25 years visa free transit for Indians. of strategic partnership and Further, they signed an are commemorating 75 years offtake agreement for green of diplomatic relations. ammonia between AM Green The talks, accompanied (India) and Uniper Global by a delegation of 23 German (Germany). Germany comCEOs, resulted in the signing mitted 1.24 billion euros for of key MoUs and several an- renewable energy projects. D i l ip Sin g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad focus onrule notification players in sports minstry’s Outstanding sportspersons with Olympic credentials to get Indian Olympic Association spot as new rules kick in | P13 Not responsible for Karur deaths, Vijay tells CBI E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay on Monday told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that he can’t be held responsible for the crowd crush in Karur that left 41 people dead, and he had left the venue immediately to avoid further tragedy, sources said. During the sixhour-long interrogation at the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi, ViVijay jay was questioned on matters related to the rally held at Velusamypuram last September, including the delay in his arrival to the venue and his decision to leave the place when the situation worsened. “He was asked to narrate the sequence of events that could have led to the stampede. He was also asked if he was aware of how congested the venue was and the expected footfall,” an agency official told TNIE.  p7