kottayam l sunday l june 14, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth appointed as next army Chief Played key role in force modernisation “The government has appointed Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth, presently serving as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, as the next Chief of the Army Staff with effect from June 30,” the ministry said. Lt Gen Seth is widely recognised for his contributions to force modernisation. Senior officials said he has commanded at every level in diverse operational environments | p7 Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth will succeed Gen Upendra Dwivedi as the Chief of the Army Staff, the defence ministry announced on Saturday ■ 2021 Historic permanent comm for 14 women ■ In a first, a batch of women joined the armed forces with permanent commission from Day 1 through the National Defence Academy route Nine joined the Army and five joined the Air Force. Until now, women have entered the forces through Short Service Commission and became eligible for permanent commission years later | p7 When the supreme Court opened the NDA route to women 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 Deal today: Pak Not Sunday: Iran Officers among 5 IAF personnel killed in transport aircraft crash Ja v ar i a ra n a & P rasa n ta ma z u mdar @ New Delhi/ Guwahati No immediate confirmation from White House or Iran regarding Sharif’s assertion on timing of the agreement A g e n c i e s @ Dubai/Islamabad Police raid Abhishek’s residence S U B HEN D U M A ITI a n d R A JE S H K U M A R TH A K U R THE United States and Iran could put to bed an agreement to end the Middle East war within as little as 24 hours, mediator Pakistan said Saturday, after both sides expressed optimism about concluding a deal. The apparent momentum came in spite of new skirmishes in the Strait of Hormuz Saturday, which has been at the centre of the war that has roiled the global economy . Weeks of negotiations on a long-term peace agreement following an April 8 truce have so far been fruitless, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly insisting a deal was near only for the wrangling to drag on. “We are closer to a peace deal than ever before,” said Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on X. “With finalisation likely expected in the next 24 hours, Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace deal immediately after, followed by Shehbaz Sharif Khamenei funeral Funeral rituals for Khamenei will will take place between July 4 and 9 at the holy Imam Reza Shrine, Iran state TV said. Iran had very early into the war said funeral of Ayatollah will be held only after the war ends. technical talks next week.” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, however, said the deal was yet to be determined, “although it will not be on Sunday .” The warring parties have released conflicting information about the contents of the deal. Tehran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium and maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz. The US has responded with its own blockade of Iranian ports in an attempt to choke off the country’s energy exports. Earlier Saturday, the US said it downed multiple Iranian drones over the strait. The US military’s Central Command posted on X that Iran had “launched multiple one-way attack drones in an attempt to strike commercial ships transiting the Strait”. It added that “US forces have downed all of them in recent hours”. Meanwhile, Lebanon reported Israeli strikes in its south on Saturday as the Israel , issued evacuation warnings. Modi-Trump bilateral on G7 Summit’s sidelines on June 17 @ Kolkata/New Delhi Jaya n t h j ac o b @ New Delhi There was high drama at the residence of Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, as a large police team raided it in the wee hours of Saturday to nab his long-time trusted secretary Sumit Roy. The police were looking for Roy in connection with a case involving the alleged transfer of crores of rupees to his bank account by Sujoy Hazra, a former Trinamool lawmaker. The police zeroed in on Abhishek’s house after tracking Roy’s mobile tower location. T hey ar rived around 2.30 am but were not let in. They then broke the lock inside the steel gate using a gas cutter to forced their way in, which took four hours. Roy was not found. In Delhi, there was speculation on further Trinamool desertions after another party Lok Sabha MP Sudip Ban, dyopadhyay, met the BJP’s West Bengal in-charge Bhupender Yadav. He later called on home minister Amit Shah and is understood to have joined the rebels, taking their strength to 20. The meeting came a day before CM Suvendu Adhikari is due to meet the rebel group. PRIME Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump are set to hold a bilateral meeting on June 17 on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France, with discussions expected to focus on economic growth, supply-chain resilience, artificial intelligence, investment partnerships and global security challenges. “This is the 8th consecutive G7 Summit to which India has been invited. At the G7, India will not only speak for itself, but it will also give voice to the aspirations of the Global South,” Modi said in a statement ahead of his visit. The meeting with Trump, confirmed by the White House, will take place ahead of a work- Rubio sticks to his guns India raised with US killing of its mariners, saying “lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified.” But Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “violations of US blockade won’t be tolerated.” ing lunch involving G7 leaders, outreach partners and technology executives. A senior US administration official said: “President Trump will meet with G7 leaders to address key issues of shared importance, including economic growth and development, supply chain resilience, illegal immigration, and AI.” The engagement comes during Trump’s visit to France for the summit, where he is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Emir of Qatar, the UAE President and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The Modi-Trump meeting will be their first in person meeting since India’s military operation “Operation Sindoor” against Pakistan last year. Today's matches (IST) Group E: Germany vs Curacao (10:30 PM); Ivory Coast vs Ecuador (4:30 AM*) Group F: Netherlands vs Japan (1:30 AM*); Sweden vs Tunisia (7:30* AM) *IST Monday morning Live on Unite8 Sports & Zee5 Balogun leads US to their biggest WC win Folarin Balogun scored twice in the US’s three-goal barrage before halftime, and the US opened their first home World Cup in 32 years with the biggest win in the event, a 4-1 win over Paraguay. In another match, co-hosts Canada salvaged a draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina ‘No criminal angle detected’: Police close 23 Palakkad child death cases P R A M D A S @ Kochi After the deaths of 23 minor children in Palakkad district between 2003 and 2023 sparked alarm and prompted the Kerala High Court to seek a CBI probe, Kerala police have now concluded that none of the cases involved foul play. According to the force, 16 of those deaths were by suicide while seven were accidental. Some involved boys, while the remaining were of girls aged 13 and below. According to a report filed with the HC, investigations revealed the sui- cides were the result of psychological distress, including emotional disturbance, frustration arising from unmet desires, fear of parental reprimand and other age-related vulnerabilities. Police stated that no evidence emerged warranting charges of abetment of suicide or any other cognisable offence. The remaining seven deaths were conclusively determined to be accidental, based on inquest proceedings, postmortem examination and corroborative forensic evidence. “In none of these cases were any element of criminal culpability detected so as to attract penal provisions under the Indian Penal Code,” the report said. The first case was reported in March 2003 at Mannarkad station and involved a 13-year-old boy who died by suicide after hanging himself from the ceiling fan in a bedroom of his house.The report filed by Palakkad district police chief Ajit Kumar said that after completing investigations into the 23 child death cases, final reports were submitted before respective sub-divisional magistrate courts, seeking sanction to dispose of the cases due to the absence of in● More on P4 criminating evidence.  (Above, from left to right) Sqn. Ldr. Prashant Singh, Flt. Lt. Shubham Kumar, Sgt. Jitendra Sharma, Agniveervayu Khemaram Kumawat and Agniveervayu Danish Alamy; (below) the damaged remains of the aircraft | IAF, PTI Five Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were killed and one was injured when an An-32 transport aircraft crashed after landing at the Air Force Station in Jorhat, Assam on Saturday. The incident took place around 10 am at Rowriah airbase in Jorhat. The aircraft had taken off from the same base for a routine sortie. The deceased personnel are Squadron Leader Prashant Singh, Flight Lieutenant Shubham Kumar, Sergeant Jitendra Sharma, Agniveervayu Khemaram Kumawat and Agniveervayu Danish Alam. A co-pilot survived with injuries. A court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident. “IAF extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved fami- lies and stands firmly with them in this hour of grief,” the IAF posted on X. Footage from the crash site showed the aircraft split into two parts. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sar ma mourned the loss of lives. “Deeply anguished by the loss of five Air Warriors in the An-32 accident,” Singh posted on social media. The crash has once again drawn attention to the Sovietera An-32 fleet, which remains one of IAF’s most important transport assets despite being in service since the 1980s. With airframes now exceeding 40 years of service, maintaining the fleet has become increasingly challenging, sources said. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has further disrupted the supply of key spares, forcing IAF to pursue indigenous alternatives. E x p r ess Re a d 13 more added to contact list Row over WhatsApp group for VCs Kozhikode: Health officials have added 13 new individuals to the contact list of the Nipah patient currently under treatment in Kozhikode. Meanwhile, the tests conducted on three close relatives of the patient returned negative results. P4 T’Puram: Amid university affairs slowly emerging as a potential flashpoint between governor and UDF government, the creation of a WhatsApp group by Higher Education Secretary, with VCs and registrars of varsities as members, has triggered a controversy. P4 WITH THIS ISSUE What is the Price of a Life in India? Zero PLUS 12 P AGES