dharmapuri l Thursday l September 10, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Nagoya faces extensive flooding ahead of asian games in Japan With less than 10 days to go for the continental event, the central Japanese city was hit by extensive flooding after record rainfall venues and athletes unharmed: Mayor 400 athletes and staff briefly evacuated Record rain flooded dozens of roads and homes, stranding pedestrians but athletes who have arrived early for the Games were unharmed, Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa assured on Wednesday. “We are not worried about the conditions of the venues and we believe there is no problem holding the Asian Games as planned,” Hirosawa told reporters ■ ■ Hirosawa said about 400 athletes and staff who are staying in converted shipping containers were briefly evacuated to higher ground during the heavy rain He said there were a number of leaking roofs but nothing more serious around the dozens of Games venues Sept 19 is when the event is scheduled to begin. It will end on October 4 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 Crude tops $100 as war gets nasty in a major escalation in the West Asia war, Iran on Wednesday attacked several oil tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz besides US military targets in the region, sending alarm bells across the region and beyond and pushing oil prices past $100 a barrel. Iran claimed that it attacked 20 ships and US military targets in Jordan in retaliation to the sinking of five Iranian crude oil carriers by the US military on Tuesday. Tehran also extended the ‘restricted zone’ beyond the Strait of Hormuz into parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, warning that any passing vessels could be ‘sanctioned’. Following the fresh escalation, the international Brent crude benchmark breached $100 a barrel for the first time since July It also pushed the In. dian crude basket, comprising Sweet grade (Brent Dated) and Combo videograbs of US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces firing missiles to blow up an Iranian crude oil carrier | CENTCOM 1 2 3 The CENTCOM attack came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles The US warship successfully evaded the IRGC’s attacks twice over two days. It then destroyed five of IRGC’s crude oil carriers The destroyed carriers were M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in Gulf of Oman and M/T Derya near Kharg Sour grade (Oman & Dubai average) crude oil to $108.91 per barrel on September 8, 2026. For India, which imports more than 88% of its crude oil requirement, any rise in international prices is bad news. The war has already inflated India’s import bill for crude and gas, which touched $63.37 billion during April-July—a 56% increase on a year-overyear basis. For context, crude imports accounted for over 50% of the total oil import bill during the period. According to reports, a $1 increase in crude prices for a year may lead to `18,000 crore rise in the total import bill. Prashant Vasisht, senior vice-president at ICRA, warns that crude oil prices could rise further if the current geo-political situation persists. He said several countries including China were tapping their strategic reserves for consumption and their return to the market could increase demand. E x p r e s s Re a d TVK allies announce bloc name Nod given for new secretariat Chennai: TVK’s post-poll allies — Congress, VCK, IUML, and MDMK — on Wednesday formally joined hands with the ruling party and named their bloc as the ‘Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance’. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay will be the leader of the bloc, said TNCC chief Manickam Tagore | P4 Chennai: TN has issued an order granting ‘in-principle approval’ to build an Assemblycum-Secretariat complex at a cost of `1,200 crore at Foreshore Estate. Three committees have been constituted to handle the project’s design phase. The PWD has been directed to submit DPR in three months | P4 DMK names bypoll candidates Chennai: DMK on Wednesday announced I Paranthaman and S Suganya as candidates for the bypolls to Madurantakam and Dharapuram seats, respectively. K Sethu Selvam will be the party candidate for the bypoll to Thattanchavady seat in Puducherry | P4 3rd language: SC pushes to exempt Class 6 this year J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi BRICS SUMMIT S U CH I T R A K A LYAN M OHANTY Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a bilateral meeting on September 12 in the second half of the day sources said. Xi will arrive , in India on September 12, according to sources, as New Delhi hosts the BRICS Leaders’ Summit 2026. Prime Minister Modi will host a gala dinner for leaders of BRICS member countries on Saturday evening at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, as India hosts the two-day summit. The dinner, scheduled for 7.30 pm on September 12, will be part of a packed first day of the summit, which will bring together leaders of BRICS member countries for discussions on strengthening multilateralism and promoting more inclusive global governance. The summit programme will begin on Saturday afternoon with the arrival of BRICS leaders at Bharat Mandapam. The leaders will then participate in a closed session on “Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism” at 2.35 pm. The session is expected to focus on ways to strengthen multilateral institutions and make global governance more representative and inclusive. Following the session, the leaders will visit an exhibition, which will showcase India’s innovation, technology and development capabilities. The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Central Board of Secondary Education to consider a one-time exemption for Class 6 students from the three-language policy . A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said implementation from the next academic year is fine, but the current Class 6 batch could be exempted. “Consider Class 6 for this year... If they can be given some accommodation,” the court told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The court made the observations after hearing a batch of petitions challenging the CBSE’s May 20, 2025 circular on implementing the three-language formula for Classes 6-10 under the National Education Policy 2020. As per the circular, all the CBSE students must lear n three languages, at least two of them Indian languages. Class 6 students who studied only two languages till Class 5 now need to take a third language. Modi, Xi Jinping bilateral on Sat 350+ meets Under India’s chairship this year, over 350 meetings and engagements have been held to strengthen BRICS grouping Open session An open session on “Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability: Shaping the Future for Inclusive Global Growth”, is scheduled to begin at 10.50 am, the MEA said @ New Delhi