tirupati l sunday l july 05, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION Incessant Heavy rains paralyse mumbai; schools, colleges shut Incessant rainfall lashed Mumbai on Saturday, disrupting road and rail traffic and prompting the authorities to close schools and colleges Red alert in mumbai, thane and palghar people urged to avoid unnecessary travel Heavy rains continued throughout the day, virtually paralysing the financial capital with roads and railway tracks submerged in flood water. Heavy water-logging was reported from several low-lying areas, including Andheri, Kurla, Sakinaka, Chembur, Santacruz, Goregaon and Powai. The weather office has issued a red alert for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar ■ ■ At least three people were injured in Mumbai’s Byculla area when a two-storey structure collapsed. Heavy rains lashed Thane and Palghar, too. In Thane, a falling tree injured two motorists Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urged people to avoid travel to prevent accidents caused by heavy rain and storms 100 mm of rainfall in parts of mumbai since Friday morning 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 Khalid, Sharjeel fail to get bail, again No option but to follow Jan 5 SC order, says trial court u d aya n k i s h o r e @ New Delhi A Delhi trial court on Saturday rejected the bail applications of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying the Supreme Court had already junked their pleas moved on similar grounds. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai said the court had “no option but to follow” the Supreme Court’s January 5 order and, therefore, “could neither entertain the pleas nor grant them the relief ”. The judge added that the bail pleas were not even maintainable in the trial court. “Although the applicants had argued that there was a change in circumstances following a division bench judgment of the top court in the case of Syed Iftikhar Andrabi, the issue concerning the divergence of opinion between that verdict and the Supreme Court’s judgment in Gulfisha Fatima versus State has already been referred to a larger bench. Unless the issue is settled, the court cannot con- WITH THIS ISSUE Bheja Fry PLUS 12 P AGES Narrow victory T h e g r e at e s c a p e Blockbuster in Miami Own goal decides thriller Cape Verde rocked Lionel Messi’s Argentina with two stunning equalisers to raise the prospect of pulling off the greatest upset in WC history. But a Diney Borges own goal, under pressure from Cristian Romero, in the 111th minute broke the resistance Salah vs Messi next Egypt posted their first victory in a knockout round of the World Cup. Theymade history by beating Australia 4-2 on spot-kicks to reach the last 16. This was after the match had ended 1-1 after 120 minutes in Texas. Egypt will face Argentina on July 7 Colombia, meanwhile, ended Ghana’s run with a 1-0 win. The South Americans dominated the game at Arrowhead Stadium and had eight shots on target but ended up with just Jhon Arias’s early goal to show for their superiority. They will go on to meet Switzerland on Tuesday Today’s matches: Brazil vs Norway | 1:30 AM*; Mexico vs England | 5:30 AM* (*IST Monday) rayalaseema emerges as AP’s growth engine Massive investments, specialised industrial clusters and infrastructure projects are reshaping the drought-prone region into a major manufacturing & employment hub | P4 15 districts in State reel under deficient rainfall Y B r a h m a j i @ Vijayawada Monsoon crisis under the influence of El Nino has deepened as 15 districts in Andhra Pradesh reel under deficient rainfall. The State has received 73.8 mm rainfall against the normal 100.6 mm between June 1 and July 4, registering an overall 26.6% deficit, while water storage in major and medium reservoirs remains significantly lower than the corresponding period last year. The decline in water level in reservoirs has raised concern over Kharif prospects, drinking water supply and hydropower generation. With July being the most crucial month for the Kharif season, officials are closely monitoring the rainP4 fall situation.  Umar Khalid Sharjeel Imam Lens on Jan 5 order Umar Khalid’s lawyer, Trideep Pias, told the court there was a change in circumstances after the SC’s January 5 order. He also questioned the SC reasoning in the case of Gulfisha Fatima who was granted bail in the same case sider the present applications,” the judge said. The court further said it cannot even examine whether there is any change in circumstances, as it is bound by the Supreme Court’s January 5 order dismissing the bail pleas of both the applicants. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria had on January 5 observed that there was a primafacie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and held that all accused could not be treated equally in view of the “hierarchy of participation”. On May 18, a division bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had expressed reservations about the January 5 verdict, saying it did not follow the judgment given by a three-judge bench in 2021 in Union of India versus KA Najeeb, which said long delay in trials is a valid ground for bail even in cases under the stringent UAPA. Subsequently a di, vision bench led by Justice Arvind Kumar, while accepting there was “perceived conflict” among benches, referred the matter to a larger bench. Kuppam will produce gold with advanced mining tech: Naidu E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirupati Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has announced that gold will be produced in his home constituency Kuppam soon, using the advanced mining technology . Addressing a public meeting in Kuppam town on Saturday Naidu said he inau, Granite gurated the Jonnagiri gold minCluster ing project in Kurnool district recently . Naidu said his “Once the gold mining project government is becomes operational, Kuppam planning to set will transform into Swarna up a Heritage Kuppam, and the region will Granite Cluster emerge as a major gold mining in Kuppam to hub in the country he said. ,” tap the high On development initiatives, demand for Naidu said, “Dairy projects are blue granite of being developed with a target of the region procuring 10 lakh litres of milk per day The foundation stone for the Horticulture . Hub under Purvodaya scheme in Madanapalle will be laid next month.” About 30 projects and MoUs worth `9,322 crore have been launched or signed during Naidu’s visit to his home constituency Leading companies, in. cluding Adidas and a two-seater trainee aircraft manufacturing company have chosen Kuppam for setting up their units despite tough competition P4 from other States, he revealed.  historic debut The youngest: Sooryavanshi arrives at international stage g o m e s h s @ Chennai 15 years, 99 days. T20I cap No 122. These two numbers will remain in cricketing folklore and part of trivia for decades to come. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is now the youngest male cricketer to represent India, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar who made his debut at 16 years, 205 days against Pakistan in 1989. It could have happened sooner, in Belfast against Ireland last week or in Durham against England in the first T20I. But it is better late than never. Sooryavanshi’s childhood coach Manish Ojha felt that it could have happened in Belfast. “It came as a surprise for us today. Very proud moment,” he said. The cricketing world was waiting for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his debut in Manchester | ap this moment. Such is the manner in which the teenager from Bihar had stirred the imagination of the nation. This is not his first youngest. There are quite a few more written against his name — Ranji Trophy, IPL debut, IPL century, etc. This could also be the first time the BCCI sent parents with a player where he had to use separate change rooms. Now, the focus shifts to international arena where more records are under threat. However, his approach on the field has remained the same as he got on his knee to scoop Jofra Archer for a six before falling for a 10-ball 14. But these are the first pages. For Sooryavanshi is not a footmark, but a new chapter in Indian cricket history . Ultimatum to Telegram app to curb film piracy Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi The Centre has issued an ultimatum to Telegram, directing it to curb the widespread circulation of pirated films, over-the-top (OTT) content, and other copyrighted audiovisual material on the messaging platform. According to official sources, the I&B ministry directed the company to submit an Action Taken Report within 15 days, detailing the measures it has initiated to comply with the directive. “Telegram has been asked to strengthen systems for detection, reporting, disabling access to and removal of pirated films and infringing audio-visual content. The ministry has sought details of Telegram’s grievance redressal system for producers,” sources said. Monsoon session from July 20 Key JPC meet on July 17 The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, headed by former IAS officer and BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi, is likely to meet on July 17 to adopt its report rajesh kumar thakur @ New Delhi UNION Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday that the Monsoon Session of Parliament will be held from July 20 to August 13. The upcoming session, expected to be stormy, could see the government introduce several key bills, including the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, which seeks to sack the PM or CM or ministers if they fail to secure bail within 30 days of imprisonment. Opposition parties are most likely to raise the issue of donation theft at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, among other matters. The government is expected to make another push for a Constitutional amendment bill providing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and Assemblies, along with the contentious Delimitation Bill. On the Opposition side, the issue of privilege proceedings against Defence Minister Rajnath Singh may get raised during the session. Both Houses are expected to witness a changed political arithmetic following defections from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena (UBT). A closely-watched development will be Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision on the proposed merger of the 20 rebel Trinamool MPs with the lesserknown NCPI. The Speaker is also expected to take a final call on merger of six Uddhav Sena MPs with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Amid these defections, the DMK has also requested separate seating for its MPs away P7 from the Congress.