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 ■ ■ MADURAI l friday l january 23, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION K’taka guv wraps up his address in just 60 seconds t20 world cup 2026 B’desh defies ICC, won’t play in India e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v ic e @ Bengaluru THE joint session of the Karnataka legislature witnessed dramatic scenes on Thursday as Governor Thawarchand Gehlot refused to read the full address prepared by the state government, and instead concluded his speech in just three sentences, lasting a minute before walking out of the House. Gehlot had raised objections to 11 paragraphs in the governmentdrafted address, particularly those criticising the Union government’s move to replace the MGNREGA scheme with the VB-G RAM G Act. Governor Gehlot commenced his speech at 11.08 am. Without reading any of the 120 points drafted by the state government, he read the last paragraph and concluded his address before leaving. G O M ES H S @ Chennai Bangladesh have reiterated their stance that they will not be travelling to India for the upcoming men’s T20 World Cup. This comes a day after the International Cricket Council gave Bangladesh Cricket Board an ultimatum, upholding the original tournament schedule. It is understood that as of late on Thursday, there has not been any movement in the ICC. There is a possibility that if Bangladesh is not allowed to play Scotland could , be replacing them. On Thursday after talking to the government and top cricketers, national government sports adviser Asif Nazrul told reporters that the government has decided not to play in India. “”Let me tell you clearly It is the gov. ernment’s decision not to play in India due to security concerns,” said in Dhaka. He accused the ICC of not delivering justice as they remain hopeful of playing the matches in Sri Lanka despite the risk of being excluded from the tournament. “I think we did not get justice from ICC. Whether we will play in the World Cup or not is entirely a government decision. Nothing happened in India in the recent past that suggests things have changed there (security-wise). We hope ICC will give us justice.” BCB president Aminul Islam said that they will go back to ICC with the plan of playing in Sri Lanka. “They did give us a 24 hour ultimatum but a global body can’t do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup,” Islam said. Top Maoist among 15 killed in Jharkhand M u k e s h r anjan @ Ranchi IN a body blow to the Maoist insurgency in Jharkhand, security forces on Thursday neutralised at least 15 Maoists, including their top leader Patiram Manjhi alias Anal Da, in an encounter in Saranda forests of West Singhbhum district. T h e g u n b at t l e e r u p t e d around 6 am near Kumbadih village under Chotanagra po- Who was Patiram Manjhi? A native of Giridih district, Anal Da had been active since 1987, masterminding attacks, IED blasts, murders, robberies across Jharkhand lice station limits, during an ongoing anti-Naxal operation, the police said. Acting on inputs, joint teams of Jharkhand Police and CRPF’s CoBRA were scouring the forests when Maoist cadres lying in ambush opened fire. Security personnel retaliated, leading to an exchange that lasted for hours, police said. IG (Operations) Michaelraj S confirmed the elimination of Manjhi, a central committee member of CPI (Maoist), with a bounty of `2.25 crore. An injured jawan being taken to a hospital after an Army truck plunged into a deep gorge in J&K’s Doda district on Thursday, killing 10 soldiers and injuring 11 | PTI India skips Board of Peace launch China, France, UK, Germany and Italy, too, give the event a miss; Pak PM Shehbaz shows up Board’s broad mandate could eclipse UN’s role J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi INDIA was among the notable absentees when US President Donald Trump unveiled on Thursday his Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, an initiative Washington is projecting as a new international body to help cement the fragile Gaza ceasefire and potentially address conflicts elsewhere. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to join the board, but New Delhi has yet to take a decision. “India is considering various aspects as the initiative involves sensitive issues. We are examining the invite,” sources said. Trump said the board could become “one of the most consequential bodies ever created,” and added he was “honoured” to chair it. “Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do. And we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” he said, arguing the The board’s mandate may stretch beyond Gaza, prompting concerns it could undercut the UN’s role as the primary forum for global diplomacy. Its charter describes it as “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure peace” US President Donald Trump holds up a signed Board of Peace charter on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, on Thursday | AP UN’s “great potential” had not been fully utilised. The announcement, made during a signing ceremony in Davos, drew mixed response. Regional powers such as Turkey Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar , and the United Arab Emirates, along with Jordan, Indonesia and Pakistan, joined the board. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was present. However, China and several major global powers and traditional Western US allies including France, the UK, Germany and , Italy skipped the ceremony . US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the board’s immediate focus would be Gaza. “The priority is making sure the plan for peace in Gaza is fulfilled, but it can also serve as an example of what’s possible in other parts of the world.” The White House has already announced a founding executive board to operationalise the initiative. It includes Rubio, ex-British prime minister Tony Blair, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, World Bank president Ajay Banga, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan and deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel Jr. express read TVK allotted ‘whistle’ symbol for ’26 TN polls STAR 3.0 for digital registration rolled out Female engg student stabbed by classmate Serum Institute CEO begins race to buy RCB Chennai: The ECI on Thursday allotted ‘whistle’ symbol to the TVK, led by actor Vijay, following the party’s request for a common symbol for the 2026 TN polls. Vijay welcomed the decision, describing the whistle as a symbol of joy and people’s power. He said the new symbol would motivate the party and its cadres | P4 Chennai: CM M K Stalin on Thursday launched Sprint 1 of the Registration Department’s STAR 3.0 project, which promotes paperless document registration with Aadhaarbased OTP or biometric authentication, enabling instant digital registration of sale deeds and other documents and online delivery of records | P4 Coimbatore: An 18-year-old female student of a private engineering college in Coimbatore was stabbed by a male classmate on the campus on Thursday. The girl escaped with minor injuries. The accused, a BTech I-T student, has been arrested under attempt-to-murder charge, police said | P2 Chennai: Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawaala on Thursday made a strong intent of buying Royal Challengers Benglauru franchise. “Over the next few months, will be putting in a STRONG and COMPETITIVE bid for @ RCBTweets, one of the best teams in the IPL,” Poonawaala posted on X | P13 Mission Samriddhi We stand in gratitude with those who protect India’s borders, people, and future. You protect our nation. Let us help navigate your financial life. Mission Samriddhi An investor education and awareness initiative specially for our armed forces. Call the dedicated missed call number today. 73581 12345 Mutual Fund Benefits Professional Fund Management Diversified Portfolio Flexibility to Choose Investment Amount An Investor Education and Awareness Initiative Visit https://www.hdfcfund.com/information/key-know-how to know more about the process to complete a one-time Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement to invest in Mutual Funds. Investors should only deal with registered Mutual Funds, details of which can be verified on the SEBI website (www.sebi.gov.in/intermediaries.html). For any queries, complaints & grievance redressal, investors may reach out to the AMCs and / or Investor Relations Officers. Additionally, investors may also lodge complaints directly with the AMCs. If they are not satisfied with the resolutions given by AMCs, they may raise complaint through the SCORES portal on https://scores.sebi.gov.in/. SCORES portal facilitates investors to lodge complaint online with SEBI and subsequently view its status. In case the investor is not satisfied with the resolution of the complaints raised directly with the AMCs or through the SCORES portal, they may file any complaint on the Smart ODR on https://smartodr.in/login. To learn more, visit: https://www.hdfcfund.com/learn or Contact your MFD/RIA. Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.