tiruchy l sunday l june 21, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l LATE CITY EDITION IAS officer elected v-P of global anti-money laundering body Aggarwal’s election a big win: MEA Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described Aggarwal’s election as a “major win” for India. “The appointment places an Indian official at the apex of the global standard-setting body for antimoney laundering and counter-terrorist financing,” the ministry said. The FATF vice president is elected by delegates from the member countries Union Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal was elected as the vice president of the Financial Action Task Force during its plenary in Paris First Indian ever to hold the post ■ ■ It will be the first time an Indian is holding the post. Aggarwal will succeed Giles Thomson from the UK, who was elected FATF president Aggarwal’s appointment puts the focus on Pakistan. India has repeatedly sought to bring Pakistan back onto the FATF “grey list”. Pakistan was removed from the watchlist in October 2022 | P7 200 Jurisdictions sent delegates to paris for the june 17-19 FATF plenary 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 USA’s dream run & ‘historic’ red card USA emulate fellow World Cup co-hosts Mexico to march into the Round of 32 stage of ongoing FIFA World Cup on Friday while Brazil get first win of the tournament. Talking points... Two strong for Oz After an unconvincing build-up, USA have made a dream start to the tournament. Having posted a 4-1 win over Paraguay in the opener, Mauricio Pochettino’s side beat Australia 2-0 to enter the next phase with one game to spare Red card draws attention Paraguay's Miguel Almiron became the first player in WC history to be sent off for covering his mouth during an on-field confrontation under new FIFA rules. Covering his mouth, Almiron appeared to direct a comment at Turkiye's Mert Muldur during the two teams' Group D tie in Santa Clara, California. Paraguay won 1-0. Turkiye, meanwhile, became just the second team to get eliminated Today's matches Three cheers for Selecao Spain vs Saudi Arabia l 9: 30 PM Belgium vs Iran l 12:30 AM* Uruguay vs Cabo Verde l 3:30 AM* New Zealand vs Egypt l 6:30 AM* Five-time champions Brazil also bolstered their chances of entering the knockouts by beating Haiti 3-0. Matheus Cunha was the standout with two goals while Vinicius Junior scored the other goal. Haiti, in the process, were eliminated Monday) L a st p e n - a n d - p a p e r e x a m 22.8 lakh to take NEET retest today High security measures in place across 95K centres S l a l i t h a @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE The Young Sound Wave PLUS 12 P AGES Farmers oppose tribunal plan in Mekedatu issue, threaten stir MORE than 22.8 lakh medical aspirants will appear for the NEET UG re-examination on Sunday, nearly seven weeks after the original test was cancelled following a question paper leak that triggered nationwide outrage. The re-examination will be held from 2 to 5.15 pm across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. Candidates with disabilities (PwD/PwBD) eligible for compensatory time will be allowed to write the examination till 6.20 pm. Nine states will see more than one lakh candidates each, led by Uttar Pradesh, foll o w e d by M a h a r a s h t r a (2,22,905) and Rajasthan (2,03,470). Lakshadweep has the lowest number with just 141 candidates. As many as 5,401 foreign candidates will also take the test. The Centre has installed 1,38,560 CCTV cameras with live feeds being monitored at national, state and ministry levels. As many as 51,311 jammers have been deployed Our mock drill was a success. We checked working of jammers, CCTVs, seating positions, and biometrics infra NTA Abu Dhabi aspirant’s choice: NTA The NTA on Saturday claimed that the allotment of Abu Dhabi as exam centre for a Nagpur NEET aspirant was done as the request came from the candidate. NTA later alloted Nagpur as his new centre | P7 across the 95,000-plus examination centres to prevent electronic malpractice. A nationwide mega mock drill conducted on Saturday was declared successful. “We checked the working of the jammers, CCTVs, seating arrangements, biometrics and police deployment,” a senior NTA official said. “NTA has put in place a multi-layered security framework, including end-to-end secure handling of confidential materials under sealed protocols, GPS-enabled vehicles with police escorts for movement of examination materials, CCTV surveillance at all examination centres linked to centralised control rooms, and Aadhaar-based biometric authentication,” NTA said. The National Medical Commission has directed all medical colleges under its purview not to grant leave to students on June 20 and 21. The move comes in the backdrop of instances when medical students were found to be involved in illegal activities that affect the exam process. E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @Nagapattinam A day after the Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution against Karnataka government’s plan to build a dam at Mekedatu, delta farmers on Saturday opposed a provision in the resolution that proposed for the constitution of a new tribunal to adjudicate the dispute. The resolution in the Cauvery dispute was moved by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and was unanimously adopted by the House on Friday . Farmers’ associations on Saturday said the tribunal proposal could dilute the TN’s existing rights under Cauvery water award and Supreme Court orders. While welcoming the resolution urging the centre not to permit the dam project, leaders of various farmers’ organisations in Thanjavur i n cl u d i n g Ta m i l N a d u Vivasayigal Sangam and the Cauvery Rights Retrieval Committee argued that a new tribunal was unnecessary as the existing Cauvery Tribunal award and directives of the Cauvery Water Management Authority remain in force.  | P5 CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke with supporters at a protest meet in New Delhi Saturday | Sayantan Ghosh Drama at Jantar Mantar as CJP refuses to end protest A d i t i Ray C h o w d h u r y @ New Delhi OVER 200 people associated with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were still lingering with placards at the Jantar Mantar protest site even as the clock ticked 9 pm on Saturday night. Delhi Police had allowed the protest meet from 1 pm till 5 pm only . In what remained a visibly peaceful protest, determined faces stood firm amid the sweltering heat. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke announced in the evening that the protest will continue till the time the Sonam Wangchuk joins in Climate activist Wangchuk, who has earlier joined two of CJP’s protests, announced that he would go on a hunger-strike from June 27 if the education minister does not resign education minister resigns. The protest was also joined by climate and social activist Sonam Wanchuk. “I request Delhi Police, since youth are here from all over the country they want to , continue the sit-in. The protest has been peaceful, we request Delhi Police to extend our permission. We are innocent students,” Dipke said, appealing to more people to join them at Jantar Mantar. Police, however, refused to allow them to continue, and cited a court order that protests can’t continue after 5 pm, before asking them to leave. Live on United8 Sports & ZEE5 (*IST Provide Wi-Fi: DGCA to all airlines S La l i t h a @ New Delhi Only on 28 AI aircraft Air India website shows in-flight Wi-Fi is avaiable on 28 aircraft— six Boeing 787-9, six Airbus A350900, 10 Airbus A321 and six Boeing 777-300. The retrofit Boeing 787-8s are provisioned to offer Wi-Fi The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has requested that all domestic airlines provide Wi-Fi internet access to their passengers on board. As of date, only 28 Air India aircraft offer such connectivity . Multiple airline executives said it is highly unlikely that the airlines would comply with the request. A communication issued on Friday (June 19) by the Deputy Director General of DGCA, A X Joseph, to the Accountable Manager of all airlines states, “Rule 29B of the Aircraft Rules 1937 allows the use of internet services by passengers on board an aircraft in flight Carriers warn of cost An airline executive said, “The expenses for retrofitting will run into crores and the aircraft needs to be pulled out of operations temporarily. It can be considered for new aircraft, but not on exisiting ones” through Wi-Fi for use of smartphones in flight mode or airplane mode.” It has been issued as a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) too, it added. IndiGo did not respond to this reporter while Air India Express sought more time to get back on the matter. A SpiceJet source said the airline has been offering an inflight entertainment system ‘Spice screen’ for all its passengers since August 2020, using which they can view movies and other content available. Asked about the possibility of incorporating Wi-Fi services, an airline source said, “It is not an easy process. The aircraft needs to have antennae to receive a signal. For that, we need to create a hump in the fuselage. It is a costly and timeconsuming affair.” Another airline executive said the cost would ultimately be borne by the consumer. “If we add `100 or `200 as Wi-Fi charges, the passenger might even not be interested,” the executive said. IUML breaks ties with DMK, third time in 64 years S K u m a r e sa n @ Chennai The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Saturday announced that it has officially broken its 64-year-old alliance with the DMK, marking only the third time the party has walked out on the DMK since they first partnered in 1962. The party said it would continue in the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led alliance and would no longer be a part of the DMK-led front. The decision was taken at the ‘DMK, AIADMK party’s state general council can join hands’ meeting held in Chennai. One DMK organising of the resolutions adopted at secretary RS the meeting said the party had Bharathi said supported the formation of the there had been TVK government after respectno post-poll talks ing the mandate given by the between DMK people in the 2026 Assembly and AIADMK on election. It also noted the IUML forming alliance, is part of the government headbut asserted that ed by Chief Minister C Joseph there is nothing Vijay and that, under the wrong if the two present political situation, it is decided to join in not possible for the party to the future continue in the DMK alliance. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, IUML national president KM Kader Mohideen said the party had been a long-time ally of the DMK and had won elections only as part of the DMK-led alliance. He said the IUML had expected the DMK alliance to return to power and had campaigned strongly for it during the election. However, after the results were announced, the party leadership held discussions with DMK president MK Stalin and other leaders before deciding to extend support to the TVK government without any conditions to avoid political uncertainty in the state.  | P4 (Left) Padamsinh Patil; (right) Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar | PTI Op Tiger hits murder case acquittal roadblock questioned, adding there has been no closure for his family . Omprakash was among the A special CBI court’s verdict six of nine Lok Sabha members acquitting all nine accused in who skipped a recent parliathe 2006 Pavanraje Nimbalkar mentary party meeting called murder case appears to have by the Uddhav Sena in Delhi. If stalled Deputy Chief Minister he backs off, rebels would be Eknath Shinde’s plan of engi- short of the two-thirds majorineering a second split ty mark in the parliain the Uddhav faction Fresh notice mentary party, botchof the Shiv Sena. The Uddhav Sena ing their proposed Dr Padmasinh Pamerging with the issued another til, BJP MLA Rana- notice to six MPs Shinde Sena. jagjit Sinh Patil’s faOmprakash also for skipping the ther, and eight others said he has not uttered parliamentary were accused in the party meet, asking a word against party case. The court ac- why action should chief Uddhav Thackquitted them all cite r ay a n d A d i t y a not be taken ing lack of evidence. Thackeray and will against them The verdict left Omnot speak ag ainst prakash Nimbalkar, a Lok Sab- them irrespective of his future ha member from the Uddhav course. Efforts are afoot for his Sena camp who was weighing patch-up with Uddhav. the possibility of defecting to On the other hand, “the court the Shinde group as part of order is the only reason Omwhat was called Operation Ti- prakash is yet to join the rebelger, furious. lion. He expressed he displeas“If all accused are acquitted, ure to Shinde,” said a source then who killed my father?” he requesting anonymity . S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ New Delhi e x p r ess r e a d HC orders SIT probe in `2.25L seizure in Nellai 1.4L TN candidates to take NEET-UG today Woman killed, 11 hurt in blast at firecracker unit Madurai: The HC has ordered an SIT probe into the seizure of `2.25 lakh from Tirunelveli fire services deputy director’s office. The SIT will probe into claims of planted cash, potentially linked to a licence scam, and file a report in three months | P4 Chennai: Around 1.42 lakh candidates will take the NEETUG 2026 re-test at 307 centres in TN on Sunday. Candidates in high-heeled footwear may be subjected to additional checks and they must carry transparent water bottles, the NTA said Thoothukudi: A 50-year-old woman was killed and 11 others sustained serious injuries on Saturday in blast at a firecracker unit in Thoothukudi district. Death toll may go up as eight workers are still trapped under the debris | P5