Rise of Sat-Chi continues: World No. 1 duo clinch Paris Open Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty make short work of unseeded Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in straight games MADURAI l Monday l march 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Rubber-stumping a dominating week The Indian pair, one of the favourites to return from the French capital with a medal at the Olympics this Summer, didn’t lose a single game all week. Across the five matches, they never allowed their opponents to settle. Their next event is the one at the All England beginning this week road to title R1: bt Ong Yew Sin/ Teo Ee Yi 21-13, 24-22 R2: bt Man Wei Chong/ Kai Wun Tee 21-13, 21-12 QF: Supak Jomkoh/ Kittinupong Kedren 21-19, 21-13 SF: Kang Min Hyuk/ Seo Seung Jae 21-13, 21-16 2 The Indian pair has won the Paris Open for the second time cbc 22201/13/0341/2324 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 y e s hi s eli @ New Delhi The Biden administration feared that Russia may nuke Ukraine sometime in late 2022, when it was a step back in its war with Ukraine. The US administration enlisted India and China’s help to prevent Russia using a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, according to a new book, The Return of Great Powers written by CNN analyst and anchor Jim Sciutto, quoting unnamed US officials. A chapter of the book is shared on the CNN website and the book is to be published on March 12. US officials said outreach and public statements from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping helped avert a crisis. “I think the fact that we know China weighed in, India weighed in, others weighed in, may have had some effect on their thinking,” a senior US administration official said. “I can’t demonstrate this pos- itively, but I think that’s our assessment.” It may be recalled that Modi had said “Today’s era must not be of war’’ and urged both Russia and Ukraine to resolve the issues through dialogue and diplomacy. His statement “Today’s era must not be of war’’ was also used in the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration in November 2022. The Biden administration’s fear was not just hypothetical—it was also based on some infor mation that it picked up, the book revealed. It picked up a collection of developments, analysis and highly sensitive new intelligence. In 2022 Ukrainian forces had a lead on Russian-occupied Kherson and Ukrainian forces advanced, entire Russian units were in danger of being surrounded, the book revealed. The view inside the administration was that such a catastrophic loss could be a “potential trigger” for the use of nuclear weapons, it added. Lack of coal infra delays new TN power plant ops S G U R U V A N M I K A N AT H A N @ Chennai The North Chennai Super Critical Thermal Power Station (NCTPS stage III), inaugurated last Thursday is unlikely to , commence its commercial operation within the stipulated timeline due to a variety of constraints. Tangedco output reports indicate that, despite its 800 MW capacity the state-owned plant has not generated more than , 130 MW since the launch, which could not be contributed to the grid. In the absence of essential infrastructure to handle coal, including conveyer belts, the power corporation has fallen back on oil-based power generation methods. Revised environmental norms require coal-based thermal power plants to install flue gas duct (FGD) systems, which are used to transport heat and CO2 from a plant to the greenhouse, thereby reducing carbon emissions. However, sources said the FGD systems are yet to be executed in the North Chennai stage III. As of now, officials have planned to transport coal to the new plant from the stage II power plant. A senior official cited the gaps in basic infrastructure and told TNIE rectifying power generation would require additional time. “While standard protocols allow for a one-month grace period for commercial operation following the plant’s inauguration, the lack of essential infrastructure has complicated matters. An exact timeline for achieving commercial operation remains uncertain,” he said. He added that Tangedco had sought additional time from the union government to roll out the FGD process. CONTINUED ON: P5 TMC goes solo, INDIA out of Bengal Mamata Banerjee announces candidates for all 42 LS seats: Cong says talks still possible PRANAB MONDAL & PREETHA N A I R @ Kolkata / New Delhi OFFICIALLY closing the door on the INDIA bloc in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, roping in both veterans and greenhorns. Despite the snub, the Congress said there is still time to make the alliance work through negotiations. “Our doors are always open and an alliance can happen anytime before withdrawal,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Among the newcomers in the TMC list are former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who will contest from state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s Baharampur constituency in Murshidabad district. Adhir, a vocal critic of TMC, was against the Cong ress having any truck with the Trinamool. Murshidabad has the highest Muslim population in Bengal at 67% and Chowdhury has been winning the Baharampur seat since 1999 though his victory margin has dropped over the years. Reacting to Pathan’s candidature, Chowdhury said: “If Mamata Banerjee wanted to express r e ad Did Modi stop Putin from nuking Ukraine? Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin presents a copy of an article published in this newspaper on 1947 to commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday in New Delhi. The article pitches for enhancing trade between India and Switzerland | PTI India, Euro bloc deal can fetch $100bn FDI E x pre s s new s s ervice @ New Delhi INDIA on Sunday signed a trade pact with a four-nation European bloc that gives access to India’s goods and services to their markets and opens up possibilities of $100 billion investments as FDI in the country spread over the next 15 years, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries. The four nation bloc includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Dubbed Eu, ropean Free Trade Association (EFTA), the trade pact would not include foreign portfolio investments and it would take an year for it to come into force. This agreement can generate upto one million jobs in India. EFTA will eliminate or reduce the import tariffs on 99.6% of India’s exports. Similarly India will eliminate or reduce import tariffs on 95.3% of the exports from EFTA nations. The deal gives the four nations market access to non-agri products, concessions on processed agricultural products. However, agricultural products are out of the ambit of the pact and there is no change on duty on gold. On IPR, both the sides agreed to follow Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights. P7 a s ian q u a l i f i e r s Error at trials for Oly medallists Bajrang, Ravi F iro z M ir z a @ Chennai Tokyo bronze medallist Bajrang Punia had been in the forefront of a massive protest against former Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year. Missing most of the season last year, he failed to medal at the Asian Games despite getting a direct entry in 65kg. To add to his woes, on Sunday, he failed to secure a place in the India squad for the Asian Championships and Asian Olympic Games qualifiers to be held next month. Joining him is another Tokyo silver medallist Ravi Dahiya, who had been nursing in- Bajrang Punia Ravi Kumar Dahiya juries for quite some time. The trials at SAI Centre in Sonepat were held jointly by the WFI and ad-hoc committee after United World Wrestling said it would accept entries only by WFI. The Asian championships and qualifier next month will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Gold medallists from six Olympic weight categories each in men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman will represent the country at the qualifying event. The women’s trials are scheduled at SAI Centre in Patiala on Monday . Even as the loss was second consecutive selection trial loss for Ravi in the last nine months, it was Bajrang’s defeat that garnered attention. He was given a direct entry for the Asian Games by the ad-hoc committee headed by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa last year. Call it poetic, aggrieved wrestler Sujeet Kalkal, who moved the Delhi HC against Bajrang’s direct entry unsuccesfully found a place in , the squad. Bajrang, who had a tough first bout too, didn’t compete in the bronze play-off. India team for Asian qualifiers 57kg Aman Sherawat 65kg Sujeet Kalkal 74kg Jaideep 86kg Deepak Punia 97kg Deepak Nehra 125kg Sumit Malik show respect to the cricketer, she could have sent him to the Rajya Sabha. Bur she decided to field him in Baharampur to divide Muslim votes.” Notably, the TMC decided to field Mahua Moitra, who was suspended from Lok Sabha in connection with cash-for-question scandal, from Krishnagar. “The all e g a t i o n l eve l l e d against her was during the tenure of her previous term in Lok Sabha. If she gets elected fresh, the old allegations will not hold and there will be no bar for her to become an MP,” said a senior TMC leader. Among the five sitting MPs axed from the list is Nusrat Jahan from Basirhat, where Sandeshkhali uproar surfaced. The talks between the two parties hit a roadblock last month after TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee refused to part with more than two seats for the Congress in the state. Though the Congress scaled down its demand from 10 seats to six, the TMC chose to contest solo in the state. The TMC’s main grouse was West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s continuous attacks on Mamata and the party . BJP now using NCB to malign DMK govt, says law minister Chennai: Law Minister S Regupathy on Sunday accused BJP of using the Narcotics Control Bureau to malign the DMK government. Party’s legal adviser and MP P Wilson said cases will be filed against those who level allegations linking DMK leaders with drug trafficking issue. Answering reporters at the DMK headquarters, Regupathy said the efforts of the BJP to malign the DMK will not succeed. | P4 ‘Don’t physically verify dairy and HR&CE stock’ B A N B U S E LV A N @ Chennai Tamil Nadu Director General of Audit (DGA), who oversees audit department in the state, has refrained auditors of the milk cooperative, Hindu religious & charitable endowments, local fund audit department and others from conducting physical verification while assessing stocks at the end of the financial year. Instead, audit departments have been told to use stock details from the concerned departments for annual auditing. The revised methodology will come into effect from March 31 and a directive to this effect was recently issued to the respective audit directorates. D Jaisankar, Director General of Audit, told TNIE that physical verification of stocks is beyond the scope of audit functions. “The audit departments also lack the wherewithal to carry out such a humongous exercise,” he said. CONTINUED ON: P5
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