EcsTAsY&AGONY visakhapatnam l wednesday l july 08, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Messi leads great escape vs Egypt S w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Bengaluru THE world has never seen anything like him. The world will never see anything like him ever again. So, honestly even if , you have never supported him, it’s never too late. For the vast majority of the last 20 years, it has been an utter privilege to be wowed by the magic of Lionel Andres Messi. There is no saying how much longer he has in the world game. It could end in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. It very nearly ended in the last 16 in a fever dream of a game against Egypt in Atlanta. On an increasingly fraught afternoon for the world champs in Atlanta, The Pharaohs were up 2-0 and coasting to one of the great shocks in the history of the tournament before the 39-year-old dragged the team to his level. First was an assist, a clipped cross from the right-hand side which was headed home by Cristian Romero. In the 83rd minute, all that tension among the masses had evaporated in an outpouring of joy as Messi drilled a first-time left-foot shot home from close range. Inside 300 seconds, one of football’s greatest created as well as scored for yet more records. With their tails up, Argentina threw men forward as they had the momentum. And the game’s winning goal promptly came thanks to a blistering counter; Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez combining to create it for Enzo Fernandez to score the P13 late winner (3-2).  ronaldo’s wc chapter ends in round of 16 Cristiano Ronaldo walked off the pitch after his final World Cup match for Portugal with a stoic look on his face. The sixth and final World Cup for the 41-yearold ended with a 0-1 loss to Spain in a Round of 16 tie. 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 India, Indonesia expand strategic partnership Landslip at Wayanad tunnel road site kills 3 Le s ly J o s e p h @ Meppadi a landslip at the twin-tunnel road project near Kalladi Meenakshi Bridge in Wayanad on Tuesday claimed three lives, left at least seven persons missing, and ignited a political and legal storm. While heavy monsoon rains triggered the initial slope instability, residents and local representatives termed it a “man-made disaster”, blaming corporate negligence and a complete failure of regulatory oversight. The victims have been identified as Chandra Ban, an operator from Madhya Pradesh; Bikash Kumar, a civil foreman from Bihar; and Anmol, a worker from Jharkhand. T he collapse occur red around 11 am, sending a mas- Jakarta to procure two batteries of BrahMos cruise missile system, Astra air-to-air missile Screengrabs from a CCTV footage showing people running for their lives as the landslide strikes Wayanad on Tuesday | Express A bus stuck in debris after falling into a rivulet near the Meppadi tunnel project site at Kalladi in Wayanad, where the massive landslide struck | Vincent Pulickal sive torrent of liquefied mud, rocks and construction debris crashing onto the Meppadi– Chooralmala road. The deluge buried the Meenakshi Bridge, engulfed a private bus and flattened a roadside eatery where workers had gathered. Nine labourers were pulled from the sludge and rushed to “I had a miraculous escape. I saw the soil sliding down and ran for my life,” said local resident Hamsa Manthikkara. Chief Minister V D Satheesan said several official warnings were issued to the contractor but they were ignored. “On June 20, the district collector directed the contractor I watched my relatives disappear one by one, recalls rescued fisher U s h a Pe r i @ Visakhapatnam “I survived, but I don’t know how. I watched my brother, my nephew and other family members disappear one by one in front of my eyes. We kept swimming, hoping someone would rescue us, but there was no one,” recalls Kari Chinna, the lone survivor among the seven fishermen whose boat capsized off the Visakhapatnam coast, leaving six others missing. Still shaken by the experience, Chinna says the physical struggle to stay afloat through the night was matched only by the emotional trauma of watching his family members vanish into the rough sea, powerless to save them. The seven fishermen had set out from the Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour aboard mechanised fishing boat IND-APMM-V5-83 on July 1. After spending three days express read BJP leader seeks action against Prakash Raj Anantapur: Senior BJP leader S Vishnuvardhan Reddy on Tuesday lodged a complaint at the Kadiri Police Station, seeking legal action against actor Prakash Raj over his alleged remarks, which he claimed were aimed at creating unrest in the State | P4 Lone survivor Kari Chinna under medical observation at a private hospital in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday | Express fishing in the Bay of Bengal, the fishermen began their return journey on July 4 as sea conditions deteriorated under the influence of a low-pressure P4 system.  stake sale by centre expedited The government will raise `2,000 crore following its 5% minority stake sale in Cochin Shipyard. It’s the latest disinvestment process for the current financial year | P12 SIPB clears `9,076 cr investments of 11 projs Vijayawada: The 19th State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday, cleared investment proposals to the tune of `9,076.11 crore related to 11 projects, which are expected to generate 10,531 jobs | P4 US revokes order lifting sanctions on Iran oil sale Dubai: The US has revoked a license that had authorised the sale of Iranian oil. The Treasury issued the 60-day license last month, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil as part of an interim agreement. It did not explain why the license was revoked hospital. Two of them are in critical condition. At the heart of the growing outrage is the dumping of tens of thousands of tonnes of excavated earth by the tunnel project’s contractor, Dilip Buildcon, operating under the supervision of the Konkan Railway Corporation. to remove the excavated soil. The disaster management authority issued a similar order, and the PWD minister also instructed the contractor to clear the soil,” the CM said. The Konkan Railway Corporation has ordered an inquiry . Dilip Buildcon said all norms were complied with. HC upholds death for 38 in Ahmedabad serial blasts case DILIP SI N GH K SHATRI YA @ Ahmedabad THE Gujarat High Court on Tuesday upheld the Ahmedabad Sessions Court’s ruling in the 2008 serial bomb blasts case, confirming the death sentence for 38 members of the banned Indian Mujahideen and life imprisonment for 11 others. A division bench of Justices A Y Kogje and Samir Dave rejected the appeals filed by the convicts against the capital punishment awarded by the lower court in February 2022. The HC directed the Gujarat government to pay `10 lakh to the family of every deceased victim, `5 lakh to each seriously injured survivor, and `1 lakh to those who suffered minor injuries. The compensation must be paid before March 31, 2027. The verdict comes 18 years after 21 coordinated blasts at 20 locations ripped through Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, killing 56 and injuring more than 200 people. The case remains one of India’s biggest criminal prosecutions. Out of 78 accused who faced trial, the trial court convicted 49 persons, acquitted 29, sentenced 38 to death, and awarded life imprisonment till natural death to 11 convicts. The probe into the serial blasts was unprecedented in scale. Police registered 35 FIRs, filed 548 charge sheets, produced around 6,000 documentary and material exhibits, and examined 1,163 witnesses. The Sessions Court’s judgment ran into nearly 7,000 pages, while the complete paper book exceeded 7.88 lakh pages, making it one of the larg est criminal case records in India. Lawyers representing the accused said they would challenge the HC’s decision in the Supreme Court after reviewing the full judgment. J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi India and Indonesia on Tuesday expanded their strategic partnership, with Jakarta agreeing to procure two batteries of India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system in a deal worth about $200 million, alongside Astra air-to-air missile systems, as the two countries unveiled an ambitious roadmap covering defence, maritime security critical min, erals, technology, digital connectivity and supply chains. The agreements were announced after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta during the first leg of Modi’s three-nation Indo-Pacific tour, which will also take him to Australia and New Zealand. The defence component marks another milestone in India’s push to become a major exporter of indigenous military hardware. A BrahMos battery typically comprises four launchers and 12 ready-to-fire missiles, along with commandand-control systems, support equipment and specialised vehicles, though configurations vary depending on whether the system is deployed for land attack or coastal defence. Sources said Indonesia has also decided to procure India’s Astra beyond-visual-range airto-air missiles following their Govt puts in place plan to mitigate El Niño impact Y B r a h m a j i @ Vijayawada With Andhra Pradesh staring at a weak southwest monsoon under the influence of El Niño, the State government has activated a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan, placing all departments on high alert to minimise its impact. Backing its preparedness with substantial financial support, the government has released `479.01 crore under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the current financial year while earmarking `521.17 crore for long-term disaster mitigation projects, reinforcing its focus on protecting lives and livelihoods through Expecting a good rainfall in the coming days, a farmer ploughs his agricultural field with a tractor to sow a fresh crop at Tadepalli in Guntur district | Prasant Madugula advance planning, coordinated response and timely public alerts rather than reacting after disasters. It should be noted that the rainfall situation has emerged as a major concern. Andhra Pradesh recorded a 25 per cent rainfall deficit in June, while the shortfall has crossed 40 per cent in July so far. The current projection indicates that the monsoon could conclude with an overall deficit of around 27 per cent, raising the possibility of widespread drought conditions across several districts. The government has already identified 105 mandals that are likely to face severe drought, and another 208 mandals that m ay w i t n e s s m o d e r at e drought. Sri Sathya Sai, Anantapur and Annamayya districts are expected to bear the maximum impact, while parts of Kurnool, Nandyal, Chittoor, Kadapa, Tirupati, Prakasam, Markapuram and Nellore may face considerable water stress.  P4 Pension fund access Jharkhand bank’s KYC delay kills ailing 75-yr-old M U K E SH RA N JA N @ Ranchi IN a tragic incident that has s p a rk e d o u t r a g e a c r o s s Jharkhand, a 75-year-old ailing man died after being repeatedly denied access to his own pension money due to pending KYC formalities at a rural bank. Ratan Lakra, a resident of Bargarh village in Garhwa district, passed away on Monday after struggling for months to withdraw funds from his account at the Bargarh branch of Jharkhand Gramin Bank. The money, primarily his government pension, was needed for urgent medical treatment. His family maintained Lakra had been making repeated trips to the bank for three months just to complete the KYC process. Even after he was brought to the branch in an auto-rickshaw, officials allegedly turned them away. His daughter-in-law, Phoolmani Lakra, said that on one occasion, the manager ordered a peon to drag them out. “My father-in-law was ill and could not get the required treat- ment because the rural bank didn’t give him his own money she said. ,” She alleged that the family had requested the bank’s regional manager to complete the DC assures actions Garhwa DC said strict action would be taken against anyone found guilty after the investigation and assured that all assistance due under government rules would be extended to Lakra’s family e-KYC process to enable withdrawal of the pension for Lakra’s treatment. “On the manager’s intervention, the e-KYC was completed, but the money could not be withdrawn, and my father-inlaw died on Monday,” she claimed. A bank official, however, said that after the e-KYC process was completed, no one from Lakra’s family came to the branch to withdraw the pension money . Heartbroken family members and villagers staged a pro- test on Tuesday by placing Lakra’s body at the bank’s entrance, refusing to cremate him until action was taken. Chief Minister Hemant Soren ordered an investigation. In a post on X, he directed the Garhwa Deputy Commissioner to “promptly investigate the matter, take strict action, and inform.” Deputy Commissioner Pashupati Nath Mishra directed the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to conduct a detailed probe, and warned of action against those found guilty . Pic: PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi being conferred Indonesia’s highest civilian honour by President Prabowo Subianto operational performance during Operation Sindoor. The agreements also envisage wider collaboration in defence manufacturing and technology transfers, reflecting a shift from a buyerseller relationship towards longterm industrial ties. Addressing a joint media interaction, Modi described the outcomes as a golden chapter in bilateral ties. “The growing trust between our two countries has strengthened cooperation in defence, security and the maritime domain,” he said. The two leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to a free, open and rules-based IndoPacific. President Prabowo echoed the sentiment. The two countries also agreed to jointly develop the strategically located Sabang Port near the Strait of Malacca and expand cooperation in maritime infrastructure. public service AP to integrate AI into core of governance E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Across India, States are experimenting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve public service delivery. Andhra Pradesh, however, is attempting something more ambitious -- integrating AI into the core architecture of governance itself. Rather than deploying isolated AI pilots, the State is building an interconnected digital ecosystem that combines citizen services, real-time governance, data analytics and welfare delivery . The objective is to move beyond digitising government processes towards creating an intelligent, data-driven administration capable of anticipating problems, improving decision-making and delivering public services more efficiently . Highlighting the State’s vision, HRD, IT and RTGS Minister Nara Lokesh said, “AI is not just another technology for Andhra Pradesh; it is becoming the core of our governance operating system. Our goal is to make government faster, smarter, more transparent and citizen-centric through the responsible use of emerging P4 technologies.”