hyderabad l monday l june 22, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Germany enter knockouts, historic point for Curacao Germany become third side to officially qualify for the World Cup Round of 32 while debutants Curacao hold Ecuador to a goalless draw. A look... Germany players celebrate Deniz Undav’s (L) second goal on Saturday | ap Deniz the menace, yamal opens account A point to remember for debutants Substitute Deniz Undav was the standout as Germany beat Ivory Coast 2-1 in Toronto on Saturday. Undav scored the equaliser in the 68th-minute before going on to score a dramatic injury-time winner. On Sunday, Lamine Yamal made a goalscoring return for Spain as the European champions got their campaign back on track with a 4-0 drubbing of Saudi Arabia. ■ ■ Goalkeeper Eloy Room was the hero, keeping out a record 15 shots as Curacao secured their first ever World Cup point Lionel Messi will once again be in focus when Argentina face Austria today as he looks to become all-time leading goalscorer in WC history — he currently shares the top spot with Miroslav Klose (16 goals) | P11 Today's matches Group J: Argentina vs Austria (10:30 PM), Jordan vs Algeria (8:30 AM*). Group I: France vs Iraq (2:30 AM*), Norway vs Senegal (5:30 AM*). *IST Tuesday | Live on United8 Sports & ZEE5 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 Revanth heads to Delhi with SBI row, Metro loan on agenda NTA is especially grateful to the experts from academic institutions across the country who gave their personal time to help prepare multiple sets of question papers M a n d a R a v i n d e r Re d d y @ Hyderabad — National Testing Agency Police personnel verify the details of NEET aspirants before they are allowed into an exam centre in Karimnagar | Express NEET-UG retest done, Physics stumps many No slip-ups this time; questions far more difficult, say experts E x p r e ss n e ws s e r v i c e @ New Delhi A collective sigh of relief was evident across the country on Sunday evening after the NEET-UG retest concluded without any slip-ups. For a majority of the 20 lakh-odd medical aspirants across India who sat for the re-examination on Sunday nearly six weeks after , the original test was scrapped following a paper leak that triggered widespread protests and put the government on the defensive, the question paper appeared much tougher than the earlier one. The National Testing Agency (NTA) said candidates appeared at 5,440 centres in India and 14 abroad, with the exam conducted in 13 languages. Around seven lakh officials — including police personnel, observers and examination staff — were deployed to oversee the exercise, completed in what the agency described as a record 37 days. “This was not the NTA acting alone. It was Team Bharat — a chain of people across the country who showed up so that, for each candidate, the only thing that mattered that morning was the paper in front of them,” Director General of NTA, Abhishek Singh, said in a statement. NTA announced the results would be released earlier than expected. Security was visibly tightened at examination centres, CJP protest to continue on Monday, farmers invited The Cockroach Janta Party on Sunday invited farmer groups to join its protests over alleged exam irregularities and the NEET paper leak, with founder Abhijeet Dipke saying the protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar will continue on Monday. On the second day of the protest, Dipke sought support from farmer unions and reiterated the demand for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. He alleged that Delhi Police personnel were seeking Aadhaar details and addresses of people donating water and food to the protesters Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy arrived in New Delhi on Sunday night, with two key issues involving public sector entities expected to dominate his discussions with Union ministers — the SBI land dispute in Raidurg and the delay in disbursal of a major loan by the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC). After attending the wedding of NCP MP Supriya Sule’s daughter in Mumbai, the chief minister travelled to the national capital and is expected to meet Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance) and Ashwini Vaishnaw (Railways). State government officials have sought appointments with the Union ministers, said sources. The state government is currently locked in a dispute with the State Bank of India (SBI), which has challenged the proposed auction of a 5.09-acre land parcel in Raidurg, claiming ownership over the property The state has decided to take . TG’s twin trouble SBI land row n Dispute over 5.09 acres in Raidurg n has challenged the state's SBI proposed auction n claims ownership of the land Bank n plans to raise issue with State Centre and RBI a firm stand on the issue and is considering raising the matter with both the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India. Revanth is expected to discuss the issue with Sitharaman during his visit. The second issue concerns the IRFC’s delay in disbursing a `13,600-crore loan for the state’s proposed takeover of Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase-I from L&T. Although an agreement has already been signed, the loan amount is yet to be released. Government sources said the loan is crucial for completing the Metro takeover and initiating Phase-II works. The delay in disbursal has effectively Metro loan hurdle n yet to release `13,600 cr loan IRFC n linked to state’s takeover of Loan Hyderabad Metro Phase-I from L&T n Agreement already signed stalled the takeover process, prompting the state government to take serious note of the matter. Revanth has recently stepped up his criticism of the Centre over the issue, particularly targeting Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy. He accused the senior BJP leader of failing to facilitate the release of the loan. However, two days ago, the chief minister also wrote to him seeking a meeting with the Union railway minister to discuss the matter. Officials said resolving the SBI dispute and securing the Metro loan are the primary objectives of the chief minister’s Delhi visit. Modi delays travel back home in view of retest Preventing standard security-related traffic restrictions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delayed his departure from Delhi Airport by around 45 minutes on Sunday to avoid traffic disruptions for NEETUG re-examination candidates. Arriving at Delhi’s IGI airport from Kolkata at 1.15 pm, PM Modi learned that the NEET-UG exam was slated to start at 2 pm and there were several exam centres along his route to Lok Kalyan Marg, his residence. The PM chose to hold his convoy until most students reached their centres, officials said with Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, CCTV surveillance, signal jammers and a mandatory two-layer frisking deployed. Impersonation attempts and forged admit cards were detected at a few locations, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh confirmed. “There have been a few instances of the usage of fake admit cards as well as fake Aadhaar cards by a few who tried to write the exam for others. They could not succeed in their objective,” Singh said. A male candidate who attempted to hide a SIM card and an old question paper in his undergarments was caught, said a PTI report. Students though appeared flummoxed by the difficulty level of the Physics segment of the test. Students told TNIE that the question paper was much tougher than the cancelled May 3 exam. Deepak Kumar, who was making his fifth attempt, said, “Biology was easy but Physics is what I would call tough. Let me see how much I can score.” A good number of candidates across the country missed the exam by turning up late and were denied entry after 1.30 pm for re-exam. Leading coaching centre Akash Educational Services Limited said this NEET was calculation-heavy and rigorous and the cut-off is slated to correct below 600. Iran leaves venue as tensions shadow talks A g e n c i e s @ Obburgen (Switzerland) US and Iranian negotiators opened talks in Switzerland on Sunday on an interim agreement aimed at ending the war with Iran. But the discussions quickly shifted to an indirect format as Iran’s delegation left the negotiation venue and returned to their residence in Switzerland after US President Donald Trump’s threats. Talks with the US are continuing through Pakistani and Qatari intermediaries, with discussions focused on the conflict in Lebanon, the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme. Even as US Vice-President JD Vance spoke of early progress in the talks, Trump issued a fresh warning to Iran. Trump said the US would resume bombing and “take over” the Strait of Hormuz if a deal was not reached within 60 days. Later, in a social media post, Trump urged Iran to stop Hezbollah from “causing trouble”. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” he wrote from Camp David. Iranian officials at the talks lodged a complaint over the remarks. Responding to the threats, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran would not be intimidated. “Don’t they think that if their threats had any effect, they would not have reached today’s state of desperation? We do not take American threats into account,” he said. Warning that Iran’s military was prepared to respond, he added: “They would do better to be careful with their statements; our armed forces are ready to respond to them in a different manner. No matter what they say we , are the ones who act.”  p9 E x p r e s s Re a d 2 killed, 62 hospitalised in TN ammonia leak discipline in motion On the occasion of International Yoga Day, NCC cadets perform asanas in front of the Dr BR Ambedkar statue near the Secretariat, Hyderabad, on Sunday | Vinay Madapu Chennai: Two migrant workers from Odisha were killed and 62 others – all hailing from Assam, Odisha and Jharkhand – fell ill after ammonia gas leaked from a seafood export unit at Kannigaipair near Periyapalayam in Tiruvallur district on Sunday | p5 Boost for Navy: 3 indigenous ships commissioned TG to examine SC route against VB-G RAM G E x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Kolkata Meenakshi denies ‘internal sabotage’ rumours State AICC in-charge hits out at the BJP while maintaining that there was no conflict in Cong over her candidature| P4 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday commissioned three indigenously designed and built naval vessels, INS Dunagiri, INS Sanshodhak and INS Agray, at the Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata, highlighting the country’s push for maritime strength and defence self-reliance under the Make in India initiative. “Nobody can ignore the importance of maritime power. No nation can become a great power without it,” Modi said, pointing to the growing strategic sig- Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a memento from Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan during the tri-commissioning ceremony in Kolkata on Sunday | PTI nificance of sea routes, undersea data networks, critical minerals and emerging energy resources. Referring to INS Vikrant, India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, he said, “When we presented INS Vikrant to the nation, we announced India’s selfsufficiency in maritime power to the world. Today, INS Dunagiri, INS Sanshodhak and INS Agray add speed to that journey Modi stressed India must .” move beyond being a buyer. “India no longer wants to be a buyer. India wants to be a manufacturer. The day we become a manufacturer, we will also be the decider,” he said. INS Dunagiri is a stealth frigate, while INS Sanshodhak is a survey vessel and INS Agray is an anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft. Five minutes after leaving home, nurse killed in hit-and-run c h i t h a lu r i r e va n t h @ Hyderabad Video grabs from the viral CCTV clip show the Toyota Innova veering into a pedestrian (above) and zooming past as she is seen lying on the road (right) in Hill Colony under Asifnagar police station limits in Hyderabad on Sunday A 42-year-old nurse died in a suspected hit-and-run case after being struck by a speeding car being driven by a 17-yearold boy near her residence in Hill Colony on Sunday . The victim, Faheemunnisa, worked at Kaba Hospital. According to police, she had left her house for work barely five minutes before the accident. Asifnagar police said the incident occurred around 8.15 am when Faheemunnisa was walking towards the main road after emerging from a lane. The speeding car swerved to the left and hit her from behind, leaving her with grievous injuries. She was shifted to Osmania General Hospital (OGH), where she succumbed to her injuries around 11.45 am. A CCTV clip of the accident has gone viral on social media. ‘Minor’ occupants flee scene During the probe, police identified the vehicle involved as a Toyota Innova bearing registration number AP 05 BH 3456. According to police, the vehicle had been taken from its owner for self-driving. They added that three minors were travelling in the vehicle at the time of the accident, including the 17-year-old who was allegedly behind the wheel. After the collision, the occupants fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind. Meanwhile, social media posts have alleged that the son of a local politician was involved in the accident. Police, however, denied the claims and said the probe is under way . E x p r e ss Ne ws Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad The Cabinet sub-committee examining the Viksit BharatGuarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission Gramin (VB-G RAM G) Act has decided to explore legal options, including approaching the Supreme Court along with other states, against the legislation to be implemented by the Centre. The sub-committee expressed serious concerns over several provisions of the new law, which seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) from July 1. Members felt the new framework could adversely affect Telangana’s interests and weaken safeguards available to vulnerable rural communities. At a meeting chaired by Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy at the Secretariat on Sunday the sub-committee dis, cussed ways to formally convey the state’s objections to the Union government. Ministers Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka), Thummala Nageswara Rao and G Vivek Venkatswamy participated virtually . The committee observed that certain provisions could dilute the role of state governments in planning and implementing employment guarantee programmes while increasing their financial burden. It expressed concern that Telangana’s rural poor could face difficulties in accessing employment opportunities and livelihood support under the proposed framework. Members also reviewed objections raised by several nonBJP-ruled states and some northeastern states over the additional fiscal burden that could result from implementation of the legislation. The committee noted that states such as Himachal Pradesh are yet to accept the proposed framework. The panel is expected to recommend a series of amendments to protect the interests of workers, self-help groups, rural households, small and marginal farmers, and other vulnerable sections. It is also likely to stress the need for states to retain flexibility in designing and implementing programmes suited to local socioeconomic conditions.  continued on p4