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 ■ ■ vijayawada l wednesday l september 16, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Weaponisation US admits it has deployed weapons in outer space a g en c ie s @ Washington THE United States on Tuesday revealed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told the Air and Space Cyber Conference in Maryland on Monday that the US has fielded “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action”. Meink did not detail what the weapons were or how they work. In 2024, the US said Russia was developing a new antisatellite weapon that could be launched from space. At the time the White House said the danger wasn’t imminent. But reports of the anti-satellite weapon reflected longstanding worries about space threats from Russia and China, given that much US infrastructure is de pendent on satellite communications. Meink also said the Air Force was adding more autonomous systems to its capabilities and predicted the service would look “radically different” by 2032. For example, he foresaw one-way attack drones replacing artillery as the “primary killer”. “We are increasing readiness against existing threats,” he said. However, China and Russia warned against turning outer space into a “battlefield”. President Donald Trump had created the Space Force in 2019.  P11 No remission for Dara Singh, says Odisha panel sion plea on various grounds, including societal ramifications which could lead to comTHE State Sentence Review munal disturbances. Board (SSRB) of the Odisha The decision came ahead of government has rejected the the next hearing of the Suplea for premature release of preme Court on September 17. Bajrang Dal activist Rabindra The court had, on September Kumar Pal alias Dara Singh, 8, taken strong exception to serving life imprisonthe inaction of the ment for the ghastly state government on murder of Australian the matter and remissionary Graham fused to grant more Staines and his two time for a decision. minor sons in 1999. T he 63-year-old The decision was Singh in his petition taken at a special pleaded for premameeting of the Board ture release from Bajrang Dal on August 31, chaired prison as he had alactivist Dara Singh ready spent more by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Hethan 25 years in jail. SC seeks mant Sharma and atSingh, who hails tended by five other Odisha’s view from Uttar Pradesh members. but settled in OdisRecently, the SSRB held that disha’s Keonjhar disSupreme Court, trict authorities of trict, is currently while hearing Keonjhar, where the Singh’s petition serving life impristriple-murder took onment for burning for release, had place in 1999 and asked Odisha to to death Staines (then Singh is imprisoned, 58) and his two minor take a decision had in March last on the matter or sons — Philip and year given a condi- it will decide on Timothy — when tional recommenda- his remission plea they were sleeping at tion, stating that he a church in Keonjhar may be prematurely released, in the intervening night of while imposing certain condi- January 22-23, 1999. tions to maintain social Singh, the main accused in harmony . the triple-murder case, was The Board held that the re- sentenced to capital punishport of the district authorities ment in 2003. The Orissa High lacked specific recommenda- Court later commuted his tion and was inconclusive. It death sentence to life in 2005, stated that it was not inclined which was upheld by the Suto recommend Singh’s remis- preme Court in 2011. e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Hit-and-run accused Kalyan Bainsla following his arrest on Tuesday; motorcyclist Shivani Chauhan, who was hit, at a Gurugram court to give her statement | PTI Tirumala Brahmotsavams: CM offers silk robes to Lord E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirumala The nine-day Srivari Salakatla Brahmotsavams commenced with traditional pageantry at Tirumala, following Dwajarohanam ceremony on Tuesday . Amid the chanting of Vedic hymns and the beating of drums, temple priests hoisted the Dwaja Patam bearing the emblem of Lord Garuda atop the golden Dwajasthambham during the auspicious Meena Lagnam between 6.21 and 6.35 pm to formally invite celestial beings to witness festivities. UPI transactions above `2,000 to attract 0.4% MDR D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Starting October 15, UPI merchant transactions above `2,000 will attract a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) of 0.4%, capped at `300 per transaction for payments above `75,000. Person-to-person (P2P) transactions will remain free. The new charges will apply only to person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions above `2,000. Such transactions account for 20% of UPI’s monthly transactions worth around `30 lakh crore. The fee will be a flat `5 per transaction for UPI payments above `2,000 for essential sectors such as railways, telecom services, insurance, fuel and educational institutions. Small vendors operating under the personto-person merchant (P2PM) framework will continue to pay no MDR, even if the transaction is above `2,000. This applies to small businesses receiving up to `1 lakh a month through UPI into their bank accounts. For capital market transactions, including payments towards mutual funds, securities, stockbrokers and dealers, the MDR is 0.02% of the transaction value, subject to a maximum of `300. According to estimates, the total annual collection from the charges could cross `20,000 crore, with banks expected to account for about 40% of the collections. The revised framework also proposes a dedicated fund for small merchants to support digital payment infrastructure, particularly in Tier-3 and smaller markets. Continuing a long-standing tradition, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, accompanied by his wife Bhuvaneswari, HRD Minister Lokesh, and daughter-in-law Brahmani, arrived at the temple to present sacred Pattu Vastrams (silk robes) to the deity on behalf of the State government. Upon arrival at the Mahadwaram, the Chief Minister received an Isthikaphal welcome with a traditional Parivattam tied on his head by TTD Chairman BR Naidu, Executive Officer M Ravi Chandra, board P4 members, and priests.