tirupati l friday l july 10, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur EDITION Sir: Voter base in Odisha, Sikkim Mizoram & Manipur shrinks by 22L Around 22 lakh voters have been left out of the draft electoral rolls in Mizoram, Odisha, Manipur and Sikkim where Phase 3 of the SIR is underway voter count down to 3.46 cr from 3.68 cr 20 lakh names dropped in odisha alone The collective voter base in these states, which stood at 3.68 crore before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, has now shrunk to 3.46 crore, according to data made available in the public domain over the past few days. People left out of the draft rolls still have a chance to be included in the final rolls to be published later this year ■ ■ The largest deletion of names—20.11 lakh—was in Odisha, where over 8.3 lakh electors were found to be deceased, while 10.07 lakh had either shifted residence or were found absent The four states are among the 16 states and three Union Territories where electoral roll revision is underway with a staggered schedule May 30 when phase 3 of the special intensive revision was rolled out 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 Australia eases Ayatollah laid to rest, Iran hits US military targets in Gulf uranium hurdle in win-win deal A G E N CIES @ Mashhad Modi’s cricket analogy caps major push to enhance bilateral defence and trade ties J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi India and Australia on Thursday finalised a long-pending arrangement for Australian uranium exports to India for peaceful civilian use and unveiled a sweeping defence and security framework, signalling a sharper convergence of interests in the Indo-Pacific. The announcements came after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Melbourne, where they also reaffirmed their commitment to concluding the long-delayed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) and expanding cooperation in critical minerals, cyber security clean energy , and advanced technologies. Setting a light-hearted tone, Modi likened the bilateral relationship to cricket. “Our meetings feel like a cricket match— the agenda has the focus of a One-Day match, decisions are as fast as T20, and our partnership is as long and deep as a Test match,” he said. The centrepiece of the visit was the finalisation of the administrative arrangement under the 2014 India-Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement, clearing the way for Australia, one of the world’s largest uranium producers, to supply uranium for India’s civilian nuclear programme after years of delays over safeguards and implementation. No volume of uranium exports was announced. The leaders also issued a new ‘Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation’, replacing the 2009 security declaration and significantly broadening military engagement. The framework envisages stronger strategic coordination, more complex joint military exercises, greater interoperability between the armed forces, enhanced cyber cooperation, counter-terrorism collaboration, defence industrial PM Narendra Modi with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at an event in Melbourne on Thursday | PTI Developing a critical minerals corridor The two sides unveiled the Australia-India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains (PACTS) and agreed to develop a critical minerals corridor to secure supply chains vital for clean energy and advanced manufacturing partnerships and humanitarian assistance. A key outcome was the launch of the ‘India-Australia Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap’, alongside an MoU between the Indian Coast Guard and Australia’s Maritime Border Command to strengthen maritime domain awareness, information sharing and operational coordination. The expanded agenda comes as both countries seek to bolster cooperation amid China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Stressing the strategic significance of the region, Modi said, “The Indo-Pacific... symbolises the shared aspirations of like-minded democracies like India and Australia.” He announced the launch of an “India-Australia Defence Innovation Corridor” to connect defence industries and startups and said both nations would cooperate in shipbuilding, ship repair and maintenance. Australia will also host an Indian military instructor at the Australian Defence College in 2028-29. suspected covid-19 death reported in kadapa district A suspected Covid-19 death was reported in Kadapa district on Tuesday. A 46-year-old man was admitted to the Government General Hospital (GGH-RIMS) on July 4 with symptoms similar to Covid-19. Despite intensive medical intervention over four days, his condition deteriorated rapidly, leading to his death on Tuesday. The patient’s biological samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for analysis | P3 Amid fresh escalation in its conflict with the US, Iran on Thursday buried its slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a shrine in his hometown in Mashhad, marking the culmination of a week of mass funeral processions and rallies. As the body of Khamenei, who was killed in a US airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28, was taken through crammed streets of Mashhad, a sea of black-clad mourners waved Iranian flags, photographs of the late leader and red placards with revolutionary slogans. Many reportedly called for revenge and rejected any compromise with the US to end the war. Beating their chests and weeping, mourners lined the route as they waited for Khamenei’s coffin to arrive at the city’s shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest site for Shia Muslims in Iran and the burial place he had chosen in his will. Early in the day, Tehran attacked “US bases and strategic centres” in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar after Washington bombed Iranian cities for a second consecutive night. Reports said sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, and Jordan, where the US has stationed troops and aircraft. Iran said it fired 10 ballistic missiles at Jordan’s Azraq military base, which hosts the US Air Forces Central’s 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. Year & date when monsoon covered entire India A truck carrying the remains of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, on Thursday | ap Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand 2026 9 July E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kurnool 2025 29 June 2024 2 July 2023 2 July 2022 2 July 2021 12 July 2020 26 June 2019 19 July 2018 29 June 2017 19 July 2016 13 July 2015 26 June 2014 17 July A boy collects water from a hand pump outside his partially submerged house after heavy rain, at a village in Khowai district of Tripura on Thursday | PTI AP will be made land dispute-free soon: Naidu A damaged building after a landslide near Kaddukhal on National Highway 707A following heavy rainfall, in Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand | PTI Day late, but monsoon covers India J i t e nd r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi The Southwest monsoon on Thursday fully covered the entire nation, marking a day’s delay from the normal arrival date of July 8. The last time it covered the whole country by July 9 was in 2011. This year’s monsoon onset over Kerala occurred on June 4, which was three days later than the climatological normal date of June 1. Last year, the monsoon had covered the entire nation by June 29, almost nine days earlier than normal. At 108%, last year’s monsoon was well above normal. In contrast, this year’s precipitation is expected to be the reverse. In June, the monsoon deficit was 40% of the long-period average, resulting in the fifth lowest rainfall (99.5 mm) ever recorded for that month. However, good rainfall since July has helped reduce the deficit to -15.2% by July 9. India has received a total of 195.5 mm of rainfall in the current season, compared to the total long-term expectation of 230.4 mm. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the monsoon advanced further into the remaining parts of the north Arabian Sea, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab on Thursday thus covering the entire country It also forecast a below, . normal to deficient rainfall for the country, anticipating around 90% of the long-period average from June to September. This below-normal expectation is attributed to the emergence of a strong El Niño phenomenon, which refers to the abnormal warming of the East Pacific Ocean. In India, El Niño is synonymous with a weaker monsoon. The IMD also predicted a fresh cyclonic circulation over Bay of Bengal adjoining Odisha and West Bengal in the next few days. The poor monsoon affected kharif sowing, with only 350 lakh hectares sown so far — about 92 lakh hectares less than normal. Kotla, Delhi A tree collapses on a parked car following incessant rain in Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla stadium area on Thursday | Sayantan Ghosh Vasundhara, Ghaziabad A section of a road in Ghaziabad caved in beside an underconstruction basement, sending a car into the pit | Express Raigad dist, Maharashtra Gas cylinders adrift in the Patalganga after being swept away from a HPCL bottling plant, in Raigad district | PTI Khowai dist, Tripura Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said his government had scrapped the controversial Land Titling Act, and is determined to make Andhra Pradesh entirely free of land disputes. Distributing the State-emblem-stamped pattadar passbooks under the ‘Mee BhoomiMee Hakku’ initiative at Banaganapalle in Nandyal district, he announced that 72.7 lakh error-free passbooks will be issued across 9,833 villages by March 2027. Reaffirming his commitment to regional development, Naidu highlighted major upcoming industrial and horticultural investments to transform Rayalaseema into an economic hub, while noting that the statewide Jaladhara scheme has been launched to address a 22 per cent rainfall deficit and ensure water security . Addressing a massive public gathering at the Praja Vedika layout, the Chief Minister launched a scathing attack on the previous YSRCP regime, accusing it of weaponising land administration to create widespread public anxiety . “The previous rulers introduced a ‘black law’ via the Land Titling Act to illegally grab assets and trigger panic among landowners. They went to the bizarre extent of stamping their photographs on private land documents and survey stones. We have replaced that obsession with the official seal to guarantee absolute legal security Naidu said. ,” Highlighting instant relief measures, he said thousands of acres of land, including 2,074 acres of Waqf properties in Dhone constituency and village Inam lands across 1,971 villages, have been completely expunged from the restrictive 22A prohibited list. The government has also integrated an auto-mutation system to transP4 fer ancestral properties. HC allows Mamata’s TMC to use funds 57% of AP urban women aged 15-49 yrs obese from frozen accounts for daily expenses Health Survey N e e l i m a E at y @ Visakhapatnam Urban Andhra Pradesh recorded higher obesity, high blood sugar levels and hypertension among adults, while underweight remained more common in rural areas, according to National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) 2023-24. The findings show that 57.3% of women aged 15-49 years in urban areas were overweight or obese, compared with 43.2% in rural areas. Among men in the same age group, the prevalence was 48.4% in urban areas and 38.1% in rural areas. Prevalence of underweight was high in rural Andhra Pradesh. Among women aged 15-49 years, 12.3% in rural areas had a Body Mass Index (BMI) below the normal level, compared with 7.8% in urban areas. Among men, 14.5% in rural areas were underweight, against 9.7% in urban areas. The survey found a higher rate of high blood sugar levels among adults in urban areas. Among women a g ed 15 years and above, 25.1% in urban areas had high or very high blood sugar levels or were taking medication to control blood sugar, compared with 20.2% in rural areas. Among men, the prevalence stood at 26.8% in urban areas and 22.9% in rural areas. Hypertension was also more common among urban residents. Among women aged 15 years and above, 25.8% in urban areas had e l ev a t e d b l o o d pressure or were taking medication to control it, compared with 23.3% in rural areas. Among men, 27.4% in urban EXPRESS ILLUSTRATION areas had hypertension, against 25.4% in rural areas. Among women, 10% in both urban and rural areas had mildly elevated blood pressure. Moderately or severely elevated blood pressure was reported in 6% of rural women and 5.2% of urban women. Among men, 13.4% in urban areas and 12.5% in rural areas had mildly elevated blood pressure, while 3.5% of rural men and 3% of urban men had moderately elevated blood pressure. The survey, conducted in AP between June 28 and December 9, 2023, covered 11,503 households, including 10,418 women and 1,510 men. S U BHE N D U MAITI @ Kolkata The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) to use funds from its frozen bank accounts for day-to-day administrative and legal expenses. The accounts with a private bank, worth around `440 crore, were made debit-frozen on June 19 by Bidhannagar cyber police following a complaint by the rebel faction led by MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha claiming the funds con- tained “proceeds of crime”. While issuing an interim order, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya noted that prima facie, the complaint appeared omnibus in nature without pinpointing any transaction. “The court is unable to find particular materials which could have been the basis of such abrupt steps,” Justice Bhattacharyya observed. The court appointed retired judge Subrata Talukdar as a special officer to handle the banking transactions of the frozen accounts till September 30. The special officer can re- lease funds required for day-today political activities of the TMC faction aligned to Mamata Banerjee. “No other expenditure, major or minor, shall be permitted,” the order said. It added that funds can be withdrawn against cheques signed by two approved signatories. The signed cheques must be presented before the special officer, who will verify and countersign before releasing them to the bank. The HC directed the special officer to file a report on the expenditure incurred during the period on the next date of hearing on September 21.