WEDNESDAY 6th 18 THIS IS THE SIXTH CONSECUTIVE PARTICIPATION BY MODI AT G7 SUMMIT JUNE, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard INDIA EYES RESET IN RELATIONS WITH CANADA X.com/TheMornStandard The Modi-Carney meeting could pave the way for renewed cooperation in trade, counterterrorism, and diaspora engagement RUSSIAN AERIAL ATTACKS ON UKRAINE KILL 16 Russia launched dozens of drones and missiles at Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday, as negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow continue to crumble. PAGE 9 AI cancels 13 Dreamliner flights in a day: DGCA EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi/ Ahmedabad A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  Modi’s talks with Zelenskyy could centre on RussiaUkraine conflict PAGES 12 India ramps up evacuation efforts as distress calls pour in from Iran 110 students safely shifted to Armenia; over 1,000 people of Uttar Pradesh stranded in Iran ‘Can’t allow mob rule’, SC orders release of ‘Thug Life’ in K’taka S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y AS military tensions between Iran and Israel escalate, India has launched a wide-scale evacuation mission, deploying several buses to transport its citizens from the Iranian cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Gorgan, and Kermanshah to safer zones near the Armenia border. So far, 110 Indian students have been safely evacuated to Armenia, with a special flight to Delhi scheduled for Wednesday . Over 1,000 people from Uttar Pradesh are also among those stranded in Iran. Sources said many of them are pilgrims visiting Shia holy sites in Iran. Shias in UP routinely visit Iran’s key religious cities including Mashhad, Qom, and Tehran. Mashhad is home to the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam Hazrat Ali Raza, while Qom houses the shrine of Bibi Fatima, daughter of Imam Musa al-Kazim. Both cities are considered religious capitals for Shia Muslims and host thousands of international pilgrims and students each year. The relatives of families hailing from Lucknow said their kin are stuck in Qom after their return flight was cancelled. The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association said all 110 students—90 are from J&K—who crossed into Armenia have been accommodated in hotels in Yerevan. More evacuations are expected in the coming days as the Indian government monitors the volatile situation closely . Meanwhile, calls for help continued to pour in from those stranded with communication networks remaining patchy and fear of war deepening. In Kerman, Faizan Nabi, a 21-year-old student and the Iran coordinator for the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, said: “The situation is not as bad here as in Tehran. But there is still fear. We are hoping we will be relocated to some safe location soon.” On Monday, Indian students in Tehran—spread across three COMING down heavily on the Karnataka government over actor Kamal Haasan’s film Thug Life not being allowed to be released in the state, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that the film be screened in the state, and noted that mobs and vigilante groups cannot be allowed to take over the streets. The apex court gave the Karnataka gover nment one day’s time to file a response by June 18. A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan said the rule of law ought to be established and guns cannot be put to people’s heads to stop them from watching the movie. The judges also clarified that Karnataka High Court had no business to seek ‘apology or regret’ from Kamal Haasan for his remark saying that “Kannada language originated Priyank denied clearance to visit US for conferences E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ B’luru THE Union gover nment is said to have denied clearance for Karnataka IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge’s visit to the US to attend the ongoing Boston Bio 2025 convention, and other official events. Kharge, who is currently in Paris on an official visit, said that he would speak about the issue and seek an explanation from the Union government after returning to India. “I’m holding back on making any public statements for now. Once I’m back in Bengaluru, I will seek a clear explanation from the Government of India regarding this denial,” the minister stated, taking to social media platform X. Kharge was scheduled to attend the Bio International Convention in Boston and Design Automation Conference in San Francisco. Sources said that MEA clearance is required to attend official events. No reason was given for denying clearance for his visit, sources said. Kharge was scheduled to travel Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Kananaskis, Canada on Tuesday, to attend the G7 Summit, marking his first visit to the country in a decade | P7 J AYA N T H J A C O B & N A M I TA B A J PA I @ New Delhi / Lucknow directly from Paris to the US, but will now return to Bengaluru on Wednesday night. A delegation of officers from the IT/BT department has already reached Boston to attend the conference, and the minister was expected to join them to lead the Karnataka team. In Paris, the minister attended several official programmes and also visited the air show. “The energy around India and especially Karnataka at the Paris Air Show is electrifying,” he said on X. Denial of clearance to the minister’s US visit may snowball into a political issue between the state and Union governments. @ New Delhi Armenia Map not to scale TROUBLED airliner Air India cancelled as many as 13 of its Dreamliner flights on Tuesday due to various reasons, aviation regulator DGCA said. The highest number of cancellations in a day was 14 on Sunday In all, Air India cancelled . 66 B787 Dreamliner flights since the horrific June 12 air crash that killed 241 on board. The DGCA also said that the recent enhanced surveillance on Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet did not reveal any major safety concerns, adding maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards. One of the cancelled flights on Tuesday was AI 159 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, London. Its earlier call sign AI 171 was retired following the Ahmedabad aircrash. “Flight AI 159 has been cancelled due to the unavailability of aircraft, resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks, leading to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft, and not due to any technical snag,” a Air India spokesperson said. Aviation regulator DGCA’s fiat to Air India on enhanced checks of its Dreamliner fleet created the temporary shortage. Another aircraft failed its pre-flight check. It delayed the the Delhi-Paris AI 143’s takeoff. “In view of the AI 143 coming under restrictions on night operations at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, the flight was cancelled,” the spokesperson added. Also, AI 142 from Paris to Delhi was cancelled. Besides, an Air India Express Boeing IX 1113 from Delhi to Ranchi with over 150 flyers on board developed a technical issue midair and had to return to the Indira Gandhi International Airport. IX 1113 took off at 4.40 pm and was to scheduled reach Birsa Munda airport at 6.20 pm. However, it returned to Delhi. Ground checks were done and the flight took off at 7.30 pm, a source said. P8 MODI REACHES CANADA FOR G7 SUMMIT, TO HOLD KEY BILATERAL MEETINGS Iraq Israel Iran Afghanistan Saudi Arabia Smoke billows from a oil refinery site in the city of Haifa, following a fresh barrage of Iranian missiles | AFP ‘Nuclear site damaged’ The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Tuesday Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s Natanz enrichment site damaged the underground centrifuge halls major universities—were moved to Qom, a city deemed relatively safer. “There is fear all around. We’ve had trouble contacting our families due to weak internet,” said Ehreen Zaffar, an MBBS student at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Huzaif Malik, a student at Urmia University of Medical Sciences, said, “Luckily we were in Urmia, which was safe. We have reached Armenia.” But many others, like Ajmal Mohmed who travelled to Lar for a medical exhibition, remain stuck there. Back in India, families wait in fear. Shuja Hasan from J&K, whose daughter is now sheltering in Qom, said his daughter and other students are stuck in their hotels, unable to leave. “We just want them to return safely. Their funds are depleting,” said a relative of Maulana Nusrat from Lucknow, who is on a religious sojourn to Iran. P7 EVAC ROUTES Pakistan india UAE Don threatens Khamenei, seeks Tehran’s ‘surrender’ AG E N C I ES @ Jerusalem / Dubai / Washington AS the Israel-Iran war entered the fifth day on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump waded into the conflict, threatening to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei unless Tehran stops further attacks and surrender forthwith. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there -- We are not going to take him out, at least not for now,” Trump said on Truth Social. “But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added, later posting another message that said: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” The series of posts came hours after he asked the 10 million residents of Tehran to “evacuate immediately”. Earlier in the day Trump had , said the US was not looking for a ceasefire but a “real end” to the conflict, without elaborating what he meant by that. On Tuesday both Iran and Is, rael continued to launch air strikes, deepening worries of a drawn-out conflict that could engulf the region and beyond. So far, over 450 people have reportedly been killed in Iran since the Israeli offensive began last Friday while the toll in , Israel has stood at 24. Israel’s military said it launched ‘extensive strikes’ targeting missile and drone sites in western Iran on Tuesday. Reports said explosions were heard in Iran’s western city of Tabriz, which houses a major air force base. In Israel, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv came under attack. Sirens sounded in some cities including Dimona town, home to a nuclear power plant. Israel said it intercepted the missiles. P9 RAIN RETURNS People visit Kartavya Path amid rain on Tuesday. The showers brought down the temperature in Delhi, which was reeling under scorching heat | PARVEEN NEGI | P4 ‘Can’t jail a person indefinitely for forwarding video’ Hapur on high as father-son set to join UP police force as constables A N U R A A G S I N G H @ Bhopal N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow “A person cannot be indefinitely kept in jail, simply for forwarding messages, video which may hurt the religious sentiments of community,” the Madhya Pradesh High Court has observed while granting bail to a guest faculty of a government college who has been in jail since April 28 for circulating WhatsApp messages on Pahalgham. “Prima facie at the outset it can very safely be said that an educated person and persons, who are holding post of guest faculty in the college had greater responsibility to forward WhatsApp messages. But simply on the grounds of forwarding messages, video which may hurt the religious sentiment of the community, a person cannot be indefinitely kept in jail,” a vacation bench headed by Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh said in its order on June 12. While hearing the bail plea filed by Dr Nasheem Bano, the HC stated, “Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, this court deems it appropriate to enlarge the applicant on bail.” IT is a moment of double pride for the family of Yashpal Nagar as he and his son Shekhar, 21, are set to join the Uttar Pradesh police force as constables. They were selected during the recent recruitment drive for over 60,000 posts. Yashpal is an exserviceman who retired in 2019, taking voluntary retirement from the Army after serving the nation for 16 years. After taking VRS, he joined the Army Ordnance Corps in Delhi. From village Udayrampur Nagla in Hapur, Yashpal, 45, received age relaxation under the SC category and also for being an ex-serviceman to appear in a recruitment drive for police constables. He, along with his son, has been preparing for UP police recruitment for the past two and a half years. They had also taken the police inspector recruitment exam. Shekhar is Yashpal’s elder son and had been preparing for police recruitment for quite some time. Seeing his son’s preparation in Hapur, Yashpal also wished to join the force. He called his son to Delhi, and both took admission to the same coaching centre. Yashpal said, “My son and I both used to from Tamil”. The bench said SC and HCs are custodian of rule of law and rights and cited earlier court intervention for staging of a play on Nathuram Godse. The judges directed the case pending before the Kar nataka HC be transferred to the apex court. “We can’t allow mobs and vigilantes to take over the streets. The rule of law must prevail. If somebody has made a statement, counter it with a statement. If somebody has written something, you can c o u n t e r i t by some writing,” said Justice Bhuyan. Advocate A Velam, appearing for the petitioner M Mahesh Reddy who had moved the SC saying that the film was effectively banned in Karnataka due to threats from fringe organisations and inaction of state authorities, said the state hadn’t filed complaints against those issuing threats. go study in the same library We . used to sit side-by-side while studying, but no one knew that Shekhar is my son.” Yashpal and Shekhar took the exam at different centres on the same day. The result was announced in October. Yashpal said: “After the Army, I will now serve the country through police service.” Shekhar said it was their hard work that paid, but he would continue preparing for the CDS and inspector’s post. While Yashpal’s wife is a housewife, his daughter is pursuing graduation. The younger son cleared class 12 this year. DUTCH MULLS SOCIAL MEDIA BAN FOR KIDS The Dutch government on Tuesday advised parents to forbid kids under 15 from using apps like TikTok and Snapchat, the latest country to propose curbs over mental health concerns. | P9 EXPRESS READ Newly wed kills husband as she ‘didn’t like him’ HC stays demolition of six Batla House properties MHA told to look after Agniveers’ career move Days after the honeymoon murder case where Sonam Raghuvanshi allegedly killed her husband Raja Raghuvanshi, similar case of spouse killing has emerged in Jharkhand’s Garhwa, where a 22-year-old woman, Sunita Devi, allegedly killed her husband, Budhnath, 36 days after their wedding. According to the husband’s family, the woman killed her husband as she did not like her. The accused has been arrested and sent to judicial custody. The Delhi High Court has ordered an interim stay on the proposed demolition of six residential properties in the Batla House locality of Okhla. The order came in response to petitions filed by residents challenging the notices issued by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in May 2025. Justice Tejas Karia of the HC directed that status quo be maintained until the next hearing, and also sought DDA’s reply within four weeks. The government has changed the business rules and assigned the task of coordinating activities for further career progression of those Agniveers, who come out of the armed forces after serving for four years, to MHA. As per the existing policy, out of the total Agniveers’ intake into the Army, IAF and the Navy, 75% of them have to leave the service after completing four years of service and the rest will be absorbed on a permanent basis.