MONDAY A ROCKY LEGACY IN HIMACHAL 24 More than 60 species of Jurassic ammonites have been documented in the cold desert of Lahaul-Spiti | P8 AUGUST, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in Some fossil horizons are 145-150 facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard MN YEARS OLD TRADE WAR US WARNS CANADA OF HARSH FALLOUT US President Donald Trump hit back at Canada on Sunday after its Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States PAGE 9 Fossilbearing rock A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI Doval heads to Beijing ahead of Xi’s India visit NSA to reach China on Monday to take part in crucial border talks J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi NATIONAL Security Advisor Ajit Doval is set to travel to Beijing on Monday and Tuesday for the 25th round of talks between India and China’s Special Representatives on the boundary question, ahead of a possible visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to New Delhi next month for the BRICS summit and bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines. Doval, India’s Special Representative for the boundary negotiations, is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart, Politburo member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on Tuesday. Beyond the long-running border issue the talks are expected to take stock of the broader bilateral relationship, the efforts by both sides to stabilise ties and the likely visit of Xi to India next month. The timing is significant. Doval’s Beijing visit EXPRESS READ Rescue efforts on for sunk cargo ship The Navy and the Coast Guard have intensified rescue operations for the Panama-flagged cargo ship, which is feared to have sunk off the Odisha coast | P5 Boundary question Doval’s meetings with Wang will help advance dialogue on the unresolved boundary question and create the political space for a broader reset ahead of the BRICS summit. Both countries have set in motion a series of measures to rebuild trust, which includes improving connectivity, people to people ties and other measures comes just weeks before India hosts the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12 and 13. While Beijing and New Delhi have not officially confirmed Xi’s participation, officials are hopeful that the Chinese president will at t e n d t h e m e e t , which will provide an opportunity for a bilateral meeting with Modi, possibly on the day of Xi’s arrival for the BRICS summit itself. This would be Xi’s first trip to India in seven years and would carry considerable diplomatic weight following years of strained ties after the 2020 military confrontation in eastern Ladakh and amidst efforts to normalise and stabilise the relationship between the two neighbours. The Special Representatives’ mechanism was established in 2003 to pursue a political framework for resolving the boundary dispute along the approximately 3,488-km India-China border. Several rounds of talks have yet to produce a final settlement, but the mechanism remains an important channel for managing one of the most sensitive aspects of the relationship. The discussions are particularly relevant as both countries seek to consolidate the easing of tensions along the Line of Actual Control and restore broader engagement. Progress on the border, however, remains central to any sustained improvement in ties. CRIME FREE Govt to send gangsters to other states to stop prison facility abuse A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi Humanoids go past human records Faceless humanoids exceeded human records and delighted hundreds of spectators at the World Robot Games over the weekend in Beijing | P9 PLANNING FOR 3.2 CR PEOPLE Master Plan for Delhi-2047 is a leap from the 2021 variant and urbanises a migrants’ city | P4 TO curb organised crime in the national capital, the Delhi government plans to shift “hardened and notorious” prisoners to jails in other states. According to the Chief Minister Office (CMO), the government identified 188 members of 26 gangs in May 2026, arresting 107 of them. Despite being jailed, these “hardened criminals” exploit prison welfare facilities and local networks to run extortion rings, orchestrate targeted killings, trigger gang wars and expand alliances. Moving them outside Delhi aims to isolate them, preventing them from influencing witnesses, disrupting trials or conspiring from behind bars. A plan has been chalked out in this regard to transfer undertrial gangsters, organised criminals and other high-risk prisoners lodged in the capital’s jails to prisons in other states, if required. For this, the government will implement the Transfer of Prisoners (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2025, in Delhi. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the move aims to enable the inter-state transfer of such prisoners in the interest of prison security, law and order and public interest, while strengthening cooperation among states in tackling organised crime. Under the proposal, undertrial gangsters, organised criminals and other high-risk prisoners can be transferred from one state to another with mutual consent. The move aims to enable the interstate transfer of prisoners in the interest of prison security, law and order and public interest  J8.00  Experts say geoheritage of Langza village should be protected through museums and complemented in tourism PAGES 12 They record the ancient Tethys Ocean and its marine biodiversity These fossils also reveal geological processes that helped create the Himalayas MoD officer dead, kin smell foul play ‘Husband locked in room’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi A 30-year-old assistant section officer working at the Ministry of Defence died allegedly by suicide at her rented accommodation in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka, police said on Sunday. The parents of the woman, identified as Nazia Khanam, approached the authorities following the incident and alleged harassment by her husband and in-laws, police added. According to police, Khanam was found hanging from a ceiling fan at a flat in Bharthal village in the early hours of August 21. She had married Mohammad Azam Ali Khan Police said the officer’s husband told investigators that the couple had an argument before the incident. He said Khanam locked him in one room before going to another room. He informed the landlord, who helped him come out, following which Khanam was found hanging. on April 11. Police claimed that a PCR call was received at 4.21 am on August 21 at the Sector 23, Dwarka, police station, following which a police team reached the spot and took the body into possession. The concerned sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) was informed and the body was shifted to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital mortuary police added. , Khanam’s family appeared before the executive magistrate on August 21 and submitted a written statement, but did not raise any allegation against her matrimonial family at that stage. However, on JeM’s Bahawalpur HQ, destroyed in Op-Sindoor, rebuilt after 15 months M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi THE Jaish-e-Mohammed’s key base, Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, has been substantially rebuilt 15 months after it was destroyed in India’s Operation Sindoor, intelligence sources here said on Sunday . The sources said the Pakistan government, allegedly with ISI assistance, provided Rs 25 crore in instalments for reconstructing the JeM facility of which around Rs 11 crore , was spent for restoring the central hall. “The renovated hall has undergone major refurbishment. Walls have been freshly plastered and painted, new marble flooring installed, and the premises thoroughly cleaned. The restoration suggests the facility is again being prepared for regular activity,” a source said. National Highway in Bahawalpur, southern Punjab, and has long been an important ideological and training centre for JeM. Bahawalpur was among the sites targeted during Operation Sindoor, launched after the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack. On the night of May 6-7, Indian forces struck nine locations in Pakistan and PoK identified as terror infrastructure. JeM chief Masood Azhar had claimed 10 family members, including his sister and five children, and four associates were killed at the facility . Azhar, arrested in India in 1994 and freed in 1999 during the IC-814 hijacking, has since been linked to the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot, and 2019 Pulwama attacks, and is wanted for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Pakistan denies knowledge of his whereabouts. Institutional support The reconstruction at Bahawalpur has renewed concerns in India over the restoration of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan despite the military action carried out during Operation Sindoor. Intelligence officials view this as institutional support for JeM According to intelligence officials, signs of reconstruction emerged in early 2026, when heavy machinery bricks, steel , and other material were reportedly moved to the site. Work progressed rapidly, and by later in the year the complex had regained the look of an operational facility . Also known as the Jamia Subhan Allah complex, the site lies along Pakistan’s N-5 Rekha Gupta, Chief Minister Criminals use welfare policies Some hardened criminals misuse the welfare and reformative facilities available in Delhi’s prisons to influence the trial process and expand their criminal activities. They use local networks to expand their alliances. RIVER RESCUE People arrive from the flooded areas following a rise in the water level of the Ganga in Patna on Sunday | PTI August 22, her parents again appeared before the SDM and submitted a further statement and complaint, making allegations against Khanam’s husband and other members of the matrimonial family . Subsequently, police registered an FIR. Khanam’s father alleged that his daughter had been repeatedly subjected to mental and physical harassment by her husband, motherin-law Samimun Nisha and father-in-law Babar Ali Khan. The complaint said she was abused by her matrimonial family It was also stated that . Khanam was around three months pregnant and had told her family over the phone about the alleged abuse. CBI books former DGCA director, others in graft case EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against former director of flying training at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Anil Gill, and several aviationrelated companies for alleged abuse of official position, extending undue favours to select flight training organisations, and suspicious aircraft transactions, officials said on Sunday . The FIR, registered on August 21, names Gill, Bluethroat Aero Global Pvt Ltd, Redbird Aviation Academy Pvt Ltd, Sabres Corporate Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Sandhills Aviation IFSC Pvt Ltd, among others. Gill allegedly extended undue favours to select F lying Training Organisations, causing “detriment and pecuniary loss” to rival operators. According to the FIR, Gill facilitated procurement of training aircraft at nominal prices through “benami/shell entities managed by his close relatives” and subsequently arranged to lease them back to favoured flying training organisations at exorbitant rates, generating “massive kickbacks, illicit pecuniary advantage”. The FIR was registered on a complaint by Captain J S Dhillon, managing director of Global Aeronautics Ltd. The FIR alleged that Bluethroat Aero Global, incorporated in 2016 with Gill’s mother and maternal aunt as directors, acquired a Cessna aircraft in 2020 for `10 lakh, and another in 2021 for `37.5 lakh, well below the market price of upto `1 crore. Congress smells special session plot in govt move Existing strain causing rise in swine flu cases, no need to panic: Experts Smriti’s poser to Rahul P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE delay in the formal closure of Parliament’s Monsoon Session set off fresh speculation on Sunday that the government may be keeping the door open for a special sitting to push through the Constitution amendment linked to delimitation and women’s quota bill. The Congress pointed out that though the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on August 13, the Presidential notification proroguing the two Houses has not been issued yet. Questioning the 10-day delay , Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that pro- Former Union minister and BJP’s national general secretary Smriti Irani on Sunday asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to back his recent statements with action. She asked if Rahul Gandhi could translate his support for women by backing the implementation of the women’s reservation Bill. P8 rogation ordinarily follows within two to four days of a House being adjourned sine die. In several instances, he said, the formal termination of a session has come on the day of adjournment itself. “What explains the abnormal delay now? Is the Union Home Minis- ter still in search of his tainted 2/3rd majority to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Delimitation passed in a special session?” he wrote on X. “It is true that the gap for the Monsoon session in 2015 was 28 days and in 2021 it was 20 days. But there were no diabolical moves afoot then.” During the session, there was talk that the government could reintroduce the Delimitation Bill. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju reached out to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi twice to seek Congress support for the twin legislations. T he Cong ress, however, sought an all-party meeting before proceeding with the Bills. In the recently held Congress Working Committee meeting, the party called for freezing the current strength of Lok Sabha at 543 seats for 25 years, and demanded 33 percent reservation for women be implemented from 2029 polls. K A V I TA B A J E L I - D AT T @ New Delhi THE spurt in H1N1 or swine flu cases in the country is not due to a new strain, said official sources on Sunday . According to senior scientists at the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 viruses currently circulating in the country belong to the A/ Miss ouri/1 1/202 5 (H1N1 ) pdm09-like virus strain. Emphasising that there is no new strain of H1N1, the sources said that the influenza strains currently circulating Fever, cough, headache common symptoms Seasonal influenza, including H1N1, is mostly self-limiting. Common symptoms include fever, cough, headache and body ache. Most people recover with care and rest. If symptoms become severe, consultation with a doctor is advised, experts said. are well matched with the vaccine strains recommended for the Northern Hemisphere. As it is a strain which is in existence, there is no need to panic. “The situation contin- ues to be closely monitored through regular surveillance, and necessary public health measures are being undertaken,” the source added. According to Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, former president of the Indian Medical Association, Cochin, influenza is a seasonal disease caused by a group of viruses, among which H1N1 was identified as driving the Delhi surge this year. “H1N1 is not a new virus like SARS-CoV-2. However, over time, all influenza viruses undergo evolutionary changes called mutations,” he added.