wednesdAY 15 october, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard Russian strike Kharkiv hospital hit in Ukraine Russian forces launched powerful glide bombs and drones against Ukraine’s second-largest city in overnight attacks, hitting a hospital Page 9 Meloni moment as Pak PM bats for Nobel to Don A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif speaks as US President Donald Trump and Britain’s PM Keir Starmer, flanked by Italian premier Georgia Meloni, watch during the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh early on Tuesday. It was a facepalm moment for Meloni as soon as Sharif pitched Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize | p9 Amid rift buzz, BJP’s first list out Elephant count plummets by 18% since 2017 Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary and former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav get tickets j i te n d ra c h o u b e y @ New Delhi ra m a s ha n k ar @ Patna INDIA’S elephant population has plummeted by approximately 18% since the 2017 census, marking the third consecutive decline since 2012. The steepest drops occurred in the Northeast Hills, Brahmaputra floodplains, and Central India, with Karnataka retaining the highest elephant numbers, followed by Assam. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), responsible for the census, adopted a new DNAbased mark-recapture technique for the 2021-2025 estimate, rendering direct comparisons with prior counts impossible. Unlike previous methods—direct counts, waterhole surveys, footprint mapping, and thermal imagery—the new approach establishes a fresh baseline for future monitoring. The latest estimate pegs India’s Asian elephant population 22,446 (range: 18,255– 26,645), a loss of over 4,000 elephants since 2017’s count of 27,312, which was down 3,000 from 2012. The Western Ghats host largest population at 11,934 (down from 11,960 in 2017), followed by Northeast Hills and Brahmaputra floodplains at 6,559 (down from 10,139). Amid speculations that the NDA seat-sharing deal has left him grumpy Janata Dal (Unit, ed) chief Nitish Kumar on Tuesday gave away tickets, bypassing the earlier practice of announcing names of candidates at a press conference. On the same day BJP which , , is now on an equal political pedestal as the JD(U) in terms of seats contested, released the first list of 71 candidates, nine of whom are women. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian (R) at an event in Delhi | Express $15 bn Google AI hub joint venture in Vizag R a k e s h K u m ar @ New Delhi Technology giant Google on Tuesday announced a partnership with Adani Enterprises and Airtel to develop India’s largest AI data centre campus and new green energy infrastructure in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The new hub will bunch AI infrastructure, data centre capacity, new large-scale energy sources, and an expanded fiberoptic network at one place. The 1-GW hyperscale Google Data Centre is expected to generate approximately `10,000 crore in revenue for Andhra Pradesh. Google’s investment of about $15 billion over five years (2026-2030) will create 5,000-6,000 direct jobs and 20,00030,000 total jobs in the state. The MoU was signed in the presence of Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Finance Minister Nir mala Sitharaman, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. PM Narendra Modi, in a social media post, said the investment aligns with the vision to build a Viksit Bharat. “It will be a powerful force in democratising technology. It will also ensure AI for All, delivering cutting-edge tools to our citizens, boosting our digital economy and securing India’s place as a global technology leader!” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said through this gigawatt-scale initiative, “we will bring our industry-leading technology to enterprises and users in India, accelerating AI innovation.” Dad Lalu proposes, son disposes RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav late on Monday night gave away party tickets to 10 candidates at his home, but was stopped when his son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav insisted that the ticket distribution should take place only after consultation with alliance partners. | P8 Springing a surprise, the BJP denied a ticket to Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, a 7-term legislator, while fielding Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary in a direct election after over a decade. Chaudhary has been fielded from Tarapur in Munger while his colleague and deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha will contest from Lakhisarai. Rajiv Kumar Singh of the JD(U) had won the Tarapur in the 2021 by-election. This time, BJP won the seat. Samrat Chaudhary, a member of the legislative council (MLC), recently hogged the limelight after Jan Suraaj Par- Haryana cop suicide case gets murkier ASI kills self, blames graft, hails officers accused by deceased IPS H A R P R E E T b a j w a @ Chandigarh In a shocking twist to the Haryana Police suicide case, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) from Rohtak allegedly took his own life on Monday leav, ing behind a note and a video that appear to turn an ongoing investigation on its head. Sandeep Kumar, posted with the cyber cell in Rohtak, was found dead at his resi- dence on Ladhaut–Dhamar Road, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A three-page note and a sixminute video—now circulating on social media—have surfaced, in which he allegedly accuses certain officers of corruption and harassm e n t , wh i l e d e f e n d i n g others. Significantly, Sandee p praises Haryana DGP Shatru- jeet Kapur and former Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarniya, calling them honest officers. Ironically these are the same , officers whom deceased IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar, who died by suicide in Chandigarh recently had accused of , harassment. Following pressure from Puran Kumar’s family, DGP Kapur was sent on leave, and Bijarniya transContinued on p4 ferred.  ty (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor accused him of misleading courts about his real age to get reprieve in a murder case. Nand Kishore Yadav, a veteran MLA from Patna Sahib has been replaced by new candidate, Ratnesh Kushwaha. Former Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, who lost to RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti in the 2024 LS poll from Patliputra, has been fielded from Danapur, the seat now held by criminalturned politician Ritlal Yadav. express read 20 killed as bus catches fire near Jaisalmer Twenty people were killed, while several others suffered burn injuries, when a bus en route to Jodhpur from Jaisalmer suddenly caught fire on Tuesday, officials said. Many of the injured, including women and children, are reported to be in critical condition, they added. While 19 passengers died in Jaisalmer, one of the critically injured succumbed to his injuries on his way to a Jodhpur. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, though a short circuit inside the vehicle is suspected. | P8