FRIDAY 16 MAY, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard 56,000 N-DEAL KMPH IS THE SPEED AT WHICH THE VOYAGER MOVES IN SPACE US, IRAN ‘SORT OF’ AGREED ON TERMS VOYAGER 1 MAKES COMEBACK AS THRUSTERS REVIVED Donald Trump said the US and Iran have “sort of” agreed to terms on a nuclear deal, offering a measure of confidence that an accord is coming into focus. FEAT ACCOMPLISHED JUST IN TIME: NASA A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9  NEW DELHI Put rogue Pakistan’s nukes under IAEA watch: Rajnath  J8.00  SC raps MP minister for ‘irresponsible’ remarks SUCHITRA KALYAN MOHANTY & ANURAAG SINGH @ New Delhi/ Bhopal Says India brushed aside the neighbour’s nuclear blackmail during Op Sindoor India rebuts Trump claim on zero tariffs D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Defence minister Rajnath Singh offers sweets to an army officer in Srinagar on Thursday | PTI M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi DEFENCE Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday demanded IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) supervision over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, arguing they were not safe in the hands of the rogue nation. Pointing out that India was not deterred by Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail, he said Operation Sindoor sent a clear message to the terrorists in Pakistan that they no longer had a safe sanctuary . Addressing soldiers in Srinagar, Rajnath said the world has witnessed how irresponsibly Islamabad has issued nuclear threats to New Delhi several times. “I raise this question before the world: Are nuclear weapons safe in the hands of such an irresponsible and rogue nation? Pakistan’s nuclear weapons should be taken under the supervision of the IAEA,” Rajnath said. Pakistan had sought to play the nuclear card amid Operation Sindoor as media reports suggested that a meeting of their Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) — the highest decision making body on the use of nukes — would be held shortly While it sent the inter. national community into a tizzy, Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif later denied any proposal to call the meeting. Another lie peddled on social media that Pakistan’s nuclear facilities were hit during Operation Sindoor, was rebutted by the IAEA, which said there was no radiation leak. “Based on information available to the IAEA, there has been no radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan,” the IAEA said. Rajnath termed Op Sindoor as the biggest action ever taken by India against terror. P7 I DIDN’T HAVE A VERY STRONG RELATIONSHIP (WITH NADEEM). THINGS WILL NOT BE THE SAME AGAIN NEERAJ CHOPRA, on his relationship with Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem after Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent Operation Sindoor M O R E O N PAG E 1 1 WORK ON CBMs TO CONTINUE “Further to the understanding between the two DGMOs on 10 May, it has been decided to continue the confidence building measures so as to reduce the alertness level,” the army said on Thursday SECURITY APPROVAL REVOKED Aviation watchdog BCAS revoked the security clearance of ground handling company Celebi Airport Services India, a unit of Turkiye, in the “interest of national security” | P7 US President Donald Trump on Thursday said India has decided to drop all tariffs on US goods, a statement the latter immediately denied. “They [India] have offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs,” Trump has said while responding to a question in Doha on Apple’s plan to shift iPhone manufacturing to India. He told the Apple CEO not to shift manufacturing to India. India rebutted the claims. “Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on. These are complicatS Jaishankar ed negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is. Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature,” minister of external affairs S Jaishankar said. Meanwhile, a commerce ministry official said every country negotiates with its national interests in mind. “Negotiations must balance sensitivities and strengths on both sides. The aim is always a mutually beneficial agreement, as mentioned in the joint statement.” Differently abled man thrown off train, dies D I L I P S I N G H K S H AT R I YA @ Ahmedabad A 35-year-old physically challenged man was fatally thrown off Saurashtra Express near Jamnagar in Gujarat, after confronting two intruders who had unlawfully entered a coach reserved for differentlyabled passengers. The victim, identified as Hitesh Mistry of Vadodara, was returning home from Porbandar on Tuesday night, accompanied by a differentlyabled friend. According to Jamnagar rail- way police, an altercation unfolded between Porbandar and Jamnagar when the duo — identified as Haji Ayyub Kachhiya and Saddam Kasam — entered the specially designated coach. Mistry objected to their presence, and the ensuing argument quickly escalated. The accused reportedly assaulted Mistry and, moments later, pushed him off the moving train before it reached Hapa station. As the assault went on, Mistry’s friend got off at Jamnagar station to seek help. However, unable to find a cop before the Assam Rifles guns down 10 militants in Manipur In the ensuing firefight, 10 cadres were neutralized,” the Eastern Command posted on TEN suspected militants were X. A cache of arms and ammukilled by the Assam Rifles in nition was recovered. The an encounter near the India- Ar my did not disclose the Myanmar border in Manipur’s name of the group that these Chandel district. slain militants beThe Army’s Eastern longed to. Command said an AsThe operation is in sam Rifles unit under progress in a remote the Spear Corps (Naga- Operation is still area. “We will share land’s Dimapur-based underway... more the inputs as soon as 3 Corps) had launched information will possible,” an Army ofbe shared only an operation on May ficer said. when it is over 14 acting on specific This was among the Defence PRO intelligence about the major counter-insurmovement of armed gency operations in militants near New Samtal vil- Manipur since the ethnic violage in Khengjoy Tehsil of lence between Meiteis and KuChandel. ki-Zo tribals on May 3, 2023. “During the operation, In the past 24 hours, securitroops were fired upon by sus- ty forces apprehended seven pected cadres, to which they m i l i t a n t s f ro m T h o u b a l , quickly retaliated in a cali- Kakching, Bishnupur and brated and measured manner. Churachandpur districts. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Guwahati train resumed its journey, he was forced to re-board another compartment. Upon reaching Hapa, he rushed back to the special coach, only to find Mistry and the two men missing. Alarmed, he alerted the railway police at Hapa and filed a complaint. A few hours later, on Wednesday morning, Mistry’s lifeless body was discovered under Gulabnagar railway overbridge near Jamnagar city . One of the accused, Haji Ayyub Kachhiya, was arrested immediately at Hapa, while Saddam Kasam, initially fled, but was caught within a few hours of the case being registered. 2 HELD, BOOKED FOR MURDER The incident took place when two men boarded a special coach of Saurashtra Express for differently abled and entered into a fight with the victim, police said VISIBILITY DOWN Dust storm chokes city, air quality dips E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi A thick layer of dust enveloped Delhi-NCR on Thursday morning following overnight storms that drastically reduced visibility and pushed the capital’s air quality into the ‘poor’ category Trig. gered by strong westerly winds carrying dust from northern Pakistan across Punjab and Haryana, the storm swept through the city with wind speeds reaching 30-40 kmph. Visibility at IGIA dropped from 4,500 metres to 1,200 metres between 10pm and 11.30pm on Wednesday according to the IMD. The situation , improved slightly by Thursday morning, with Palam reporting 4,000 metres visibility, though Safdarjung and Palam airports continued to record poor visibility in the 1,200–1,500 metre range due to weak surface winds. As a result, Air Quality Index (AQI) deteriorated to 236 at 8am, moving from the ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’ category By 4pm, the city’s average AQI . had deteriorated further to 292. PAGES 12 The feat was accomplished just in time, as a scheduled maintenance period for a crucial Earth-based antenna threatened to sever communication with the probe. The revived thrusters are the original roll thrusters, which have been dormant since 2004. These thrusters allow Voyager 1’s orientation in space and let it send data back to earth What kind of statement you are making? Such a person holding a constitutional office should be responsible...” SC bench CONTENTS OF FIR WEAK: HC The FIR against Vijay Shah is weak, the Madhya Pradesh High Court said, adding that the police seem to have drawn it in such a manner as to help the minister ‘LANGUAGE OF GUTTERS’ The controversy erupted after a video clip of Vijay Shah’s speech went viral on social media, in which he was heard referring to Colonel Sophia Qureshi as “sister of terrorists”. THE Supreme Court on Thursday rapped Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, against whom an FIR has been lodged for his scurrilous remarks targeting Col onel Sofiya Qureshi, saying that persons holding constitutional post must exercise utmost restraint. “What kind of statement you are making? Such a person holding a constitutional office should be responsible... when this country is going through such a situation (Operation Sindoor),” said a bench led by Chief Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai. The SC’s remarks came when lawyer Vibha Makhija, appearing for Shah, mentioned a petition against the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order to register an FIR against the minister for his alleged remarks. Shah’s counsel said that the minister’s comments were over-hyped and he was misunderstood, adding that he has already apologised for the remarks. EXPRESS READ Fugitive Nirav Modi loses fresh push for bail A UK court on Thursday rejected a fresh bail application of fugitive Nirav Modi. He sought release on bail pending extradition to India. Modi cited threats to his life as a reason for not fleeing Britain in the event of court granting bail. | P7 Waqf Act: SC says will hear case on May 20 The bench declined to grant any stay on the FIR at this stage but agreed to hear the matter on Friday . “We will hear it tomorrow. You know who you are. We know nothing will happen. Just because you are a minister,” the bench said. T he controversy erupted after a video clip of Shah’s speech went viral on social media, in which he was heard referring to Colonel Qureshi as “sister of terrorists”. The high court took suo motu cognizance of the matter and issued an order to police to book the minister for his “language of gutters”. Expressing displeasure over the contents of the FIR against Shah, the HC said it would monitor the police probe against the minister. The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would on May 20 hear the point of interim relief in challenge to the Waqf (Amendment) Act. “We will be considering the issue of interim relief only on Tuesday,” CJI B R Gavai said. Restore forest near UoH or face action, T’gana told The Supreme Court on Thursday said felling of trees next to the University of Hyderabad (UoH) prima facie appeared to be “pre-planned” and asked the Telangana govt to restore it or its officials could land in jail. | P5 Student from Sudan stabbed to death A Sudanese student offering morning prayers was stabbed to death and his friend injured by six men near a private university in Punjab on Thursday, police said, adding all the accused have been arrested from Mandi in HP. | P8