source: NASA HYDERABAD l Saturday l January 10, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION NASA cuts ISS mission short after astronaut takes ill The space agency said on Thursday a crew of four astronauts aboard the International Space Station will return to Earth earlier than planned no emergency, just being careful: nasa First-ever medical evacuation from ISS The crew included NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. NASA did not identify the astronaut or the medical issue, citing privacy. The crew member with the ‘serious medical condition’ is stable. Dr James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, said it was not an emergency, but NASA being careful ■ ■ Two crew members, Fincke and Cardman, were to carry out a spacewalk for a rollout of solar panels. It was Fincke’s fourth visit to ISS and Yui’s second; and a first for Cardman and Platonov This was NASA’s first medical evacuation from ISS though astronauts have been treated aboard for things like toothaches and ear pain 2030 is time limit nasa has set to bring back the iss out of its orbit 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 ‘Not accurate’: India rejects U.S. charge on Modi no-call J aya nt h J a c o b @ New Delhi India on Friday rejected claims by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that a long-pending India-US trade agreement collapsed because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not place a phone call to President Donald Trump and termed the characterisation of events “not accurate”. Responding to Lutnick’s remarks, the External Affairs Ministry said New Delhi and Washington have been engaged in sustained, detailed negotiations on a bilateral trade pact for over a year and remain committed to concluding a “balanced and mutually beneficial” agreement. The MEA also highlighted that Prime Minister Modi and President Trump spoke to each other eight times in 2025, covering a wide range of issues. “We remain interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and look forward to concluding it,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. Lutnick, speaking on the AllIn Podcast, had claimed that the Trump administration was keen to finalise an early trade agreement with India after concluding a deal with the UK in May 2025. According to him, India was offered a limited window, “three Fridays” to close the deal, with the incentive of lower tariffs for early signatories under what he described as a “staircase” tariff framework. “It was all set up. But you had India voiced concern over the killing of a woman by a federal agent in Minneapolis in the US. “We are closely following it,” Jaiswal said. “We are concerned as we have a large Indian community in the US, including students, professionals and others.” to have Modi call President Trump. They were uncomfortable doing it. So Modi didn’t call,” Lutnick said. He further claimed that when India later indicated readiness to finalise a deal, it was too late. “Are you ready for the train that left the station three weeks ago?” he said, arguing that tariff terms had already hardened by then. Trade talks formally began in February 2025 and included several rounds of in-person discussions, including a visit by a US delegation led by Deputy US Trade Representative Rick Switzer in December. Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50% on Indian goods, including a 25% levy linked to India’s purchases of Russian energy . On energy sourcing, and the questions related to the proposed bill to raise tariff to 500% for energy ties with Russia, Jaiswal said India’s position was clear and guided by global market dynamics and the need to secure affordable supplies for its 1.4 billion people. rbi cuts u.s. treasury exposure for first time in four years Country-wise US Treasury holding ($ bn) 1200 1,200 1000 JAPAN 800 UK 877.9 688.7 600 CHINA 400 200 Thantri of Sabarimala Minneapolis killing matter of concern INDIA 190.7 0 October 2024 to October 2025 B E N N K O CH U V E E D A N @ Mumbai IN what may be a strategic shift towards foreign exchange reserve diversification and non-dollar assets amid rising global economic and geopolitical risks, the Reserve Bank of India has cut 21% of its holdings of US Treasury securities. According to the US Department of Treasury RBI’s holding , of US bonds dropped from $241.4 billion on October 31, 2024 to $190.7 billion on October 31, 2025, marking a shift in forex strategy towards better asset diversification. The US follows October-September as its fiscal year. According to a Bloomberg analysis, this is the first annual dip in US treasury investments by RBI in the past four years. The drawdown comes despite relatively attractive yields in US bonds. During the period, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US bonds traded in 4-4.8% range. Experts say this steep reduction is not driven by yield considerations but by a reassessment of the allocation of reserves, which hovered around $700 billion in October. As part of diversification, RBI has been building its gold reserves. After a record 64 tonnes of gold buy in 2024, the central bank has been going slow in adding the yellow metal in 2025, which as of September-end stood at 880.8 tonnes. Gold’s share in the total foreign exchange reserves shot up to 13.9% by September, up from 9% in the year-ago period. In 2025, RBI made only modest direct purchases of gold to the tune of 4 tonnes till September, but significantly increased its domestically held reserves by repatriating over as much as 64 tonnes from overseas vaults. China, too, reduced its treasury holding by 9.3% to $688.7 billion during the year. temple arrested mega protest march West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leads a protest march against the ED’s searches linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC, in Kolkata on Friday | PTI | P8 Now, Revanth echoes Naidu’s give-and-take call on projects E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Echoing the views of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday too suggested a give-and-take approach among stakeholder states to resolve interstate water disputes amicably. He said river water issues should be settled through discussions. Addressing a meeting after inaugurating the Suzen Medicare Pvt Ltd unit at Maheshwaram, Revanth said Telangana was open to dialogue with stakeholder states, particularly sibling state Andhra Pradesh. “Debates have been taking place over water disputes in recent days in AP and Telangana. I am suggesting to AP politicians that when anyone asks me whether I want water or Court cases or meetings with others are not the right way to resolve disputes. Let us sit together and resolve our issues. This is our policy – A Revanth Reddy, Chief Minister trouble, I say I want water. If asked whether I want disputes or solutions, I seek solutions. Under the guise of water disputes, neither my government nor my party wants to derive political mileage. Sonia Gandhi granted separate Telangana to permanently resolve water disputes between the two sibling states,” Revanth said. Deriving political mileage out of water disputes was not correct, he added, stressing that such issues should be resolved on apolitical lines. “Dialogue is the only solution. Court cases or meetings with others are not the right way to resolve disputes. Let us sit together and resolve our issues. This is our policy,” the chief minister said, addressing his AP counterpart. Recalling that projects such as the Palamuru–Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, Kalwakurthy Dindi, SLBC, Bhee, ma and Nettempadu on the Krishna river were approved before bifurcatino, Revanth appealed to Naidu not to create obstacles and to cooperate with Telangana in securing the remaining permissions. CONTINUED ON P4 Cyber Mitra to allow FIR without police station visit E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country the Hyderabad po, lice on Friday launched Cyber Mitra (C-Mitra), a virtual helpdesk aimed at helping victims of cyber fraud register FIRs without visiting a police station. Under the existing process, victims who lodge complaints on the national cybercrime portal (cybercrime.gov.in) are required to visit a police station and provide details for FIR registration. With the introduction of C-Mitra, complainants within the Hyderabad police commissionerate limits will no longer need to make this visit. After a complaint is filed on the cybercrime portal, C-Mitra officials will contact the victim to collect additional information. Using AI, the C-Mitra team will prepare a draft complaint based on the details provided Bhu Bharati edit option misused to swindle crores U M a h e s h @ Jangaon An investigation by the Jangaon Town Police has uncovered collusion between MeeSeva centre operators, private internet centres and cybercriminals to manipulate land transactions on the Telangana Bhu Bharati portal to cheat the state exchequer of crores of rupees. Police arrested a MeeSeva centre operator from Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, taking the number of arrests to four. However, the first arrest in the case was a MeeSeva operator from Jangaon. The case came to light after Budget session from January 28 E N S @ New Delhi THE Budget session of Parliament is likely to commence on January 28 with the Union Budget possibly being tabled on February 1, a Sunday . Officials, citing the tentative schedule finalised by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, said on Friday that President Droupadi Murmu will deliver the customary address to a joint sitting of the two Houses on January 28. After discussions on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address and Budget, Parliament will take a month-long recess on February 13. revenue officials flagged discrepancies in land transaction payments processed through the Dharani portal, now rebranded as Telangana Bhu Bharati. The portal, used for land conversion, sale and purchase, allows buyers and sellers to complete transactions online from anywhere in the state, a facility that investigators say was misused. MeeSeva and private internet centre operators allegedly exploited gaps in the system by working with professional hackers over the past two years. In one instance in Jangaon mandal, the government reportedly lost `78 lakh in revenue over just four days. Officials noticed that a demand draft of `13,000 had been submitted against a land transaction valued at `8.75 lakh. The discrepancy was reported to the Jangaon mandal revenue officer (MRO), who sought clarification from the Chief The SIT probing the Sabarimala gold loss case on Friday arrested Thantri Kandararu Rajeevaru for his alleged close links with prime accused Unnikrishnan Potty Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) in Hyderabad. After the manipulation was confirmed, a complaint was lodged at the Jangaon police station. Highly placed sources said the group allegedly hacked the Bhu Bharati database, which is linked to a mobile application used by revenue authorities. When farmers or landowners approached MeeSeva centres for land-related services, the operators allegedly coordinated with cybercrime gangs to alter the transaction amount on the portal and generate challans reflecting a much lower figure.  continued on P5 Police personnel at C-Mitra helpdesk at CCS Basheerbagh in Hyderabad on Friday | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN and send it to the complainant. Victims are required to take a printout of the draft FIR, sign it, and submit it to the police by post or courier, or deposit it in person at the Cyber Mitra helpdesk at the Cybercrime police station in Basheerbagh. Once the signed complaint is received, officials will register a Zero FIR and transfer the case to the police station with jurisdiction.  continued on P2 express read HC gives UPSC 4 weeks to act on DGP appointment Hyderabad: Justice Pulla Karthik of the Telangana High Court on Friday directed the UPSC to complete the process for appointment of the DGP in accordance with the Supreme Court guidelines laid down in Prakash Singh vs Union of India | P4 Insurance cover of `1.02 cr for all employees: Bhatti Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Friday announced that the state government will soon introduce a scheme to provide `1.02 crore accident insurance cover to all government employees | P4 Uttarakhand Hill yes! How thousands are reverse migrating N AR E N D RA S E T HI @ Dehradun THE migration pattern that hollowed out Uttarakhand’s villages for decades is showing signs of reversal. As per an estimate, 6,282 people have returned across 13 districts in five years, swapping jobs abroad and in Indian cities for entrepreneurship back home. Among those are 169 who left 27 countries including China, Dubai, France, Australia and the United States to establish ventures in agriculture, tourism and animal husbandry, said Dr S S Negi, Vice Chairman of Uttarakhand Migration Mitigation Commission (UMMC). About 39 per cent have turned to agriculture and horticulture, data shows, while tourism and homestays account for 21 per cent, animal husbandry 18 per cent, and small businesses like shops and restaurants make up a further 6 per cent of returnee ventures. “In Uttarkashi, returnees are successfully marketing millets online,” said Dr Negi, the commission’s vice-chairman. “The experience these people bring is invaluable. We expect this reverse migration trend to accelerate significantly .” Tehri district recorded the highest number of returnees, many leveraging global exposure to tap local resources in ways their migrant parents never imagined. Whether the trickle meta- morphoses into a flood depends partly on state support. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered ‘Pravasi Panchayats’ (migrant councils) at district level this year, which are forums where returnees can discuss both successes and challenges. For its part, UMMC is drafting plans for these panchayats to institutionalise what remains a fragile trend in a state that loses thousands to urban migration annually . “These entrepreneurs aren’t just setting up businesses; they’re instilling hope across the rural landscape,” a source from UMMC said.