DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA ● POSTAL REGN. NO. JAIPUR CITY/001/2024-26 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 IT WAS AN AMAZING MEETING... HE IS A GREAT LEADER... OUTSTANDING GROUP OF DECISIONS WERE MADE... ON SCALE OF 0-10... THE MEETING WAS AT 12’ DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT ‘CHINA’S DEVELOPMENT AND REJUVENATION ARE NOT INCOMPATIBLE WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S GOAL OF MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN XI JINPING, CHINA PRESIDENT Trump,Xiagreeonceasefireintradewar: Chinaeasescurbsonrareearthexports Chinatariffscutfrom57%to47%;India targetsUSdealwith15-20%finaltariffs RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30 THE MOST anticipated and consequential meeting for world trade this year between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday ended in a truce — a seemingly fragile one as the leaders of the two largest economies decided thattheagreementwillbeupfor renegotiations each year unlike standard World Trade Organization-compliant trade deals which ring long-term certainty. While the US decided to pull back from the sharp tariff rhetoric, lowering duty on China to 47 per cent from 57 per cent in the backdropof the100percenttariff hike threats starting November 1, China agreed to resume purchases of US agricultural products, including soybeans, and extended a one-year pauseonsweepingcurbsonrare earth elements that had left companies globally worried. "I was extremely honored by As Jemimah leads record ODI chase, India stun Australia to storm into final BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY MIHIR VASAVDA NAVI MUMBAI, OCTOBER 30 THE EDITORIAL PAGE THAW,ATLAST De-escalation of China-US trade war reduces some uncertainty in world economy. Much hinges on how Trump’s tariffs play out PAGE 8 thefactthatPresidentXiauthorizedChina tobegin the purchase CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, after their summit on Thursday. AP Indian firms bag first set of licences Message beyond optics: G2 world, for import of Chinese RE magnets China rising, frames Delhi challenge TOKYO, OCTOBER 30 AS MANY as four Indian companies, including DE Diamond, Hitachi and Continental India, are learnt to have bagged conditionalpermitstoimportChinese rareearthmagnetsinwhatisthe first set of clearances since Beijingimposedtightcontrolson theexport of thesemagnetsearlier in April. These controls are DECISION 2025 BIHAR ● In election season, Modi-Rahul war of words over Chhath Puja ● RJD’s biggest test in Siwan: The shadow of Shahabuddin PAGES4,6 EXPLAINED POLITICS THELONGSHADOW OFJUNGLE RAJ PAGE 7 PAGE 1 ANCHOR said to be on pause for a year as part of a trade deal reached at a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea Thursday. The clearances have been secured by the Indian arms of some of these companies that supply equipment to the country’s automotive sector and are learnt to be subject to export controls and myriad other conditions.Thepermissionsarecon- ditional and not for all applications,industrysourcesindicated. New restrictions on rare earth magnet and related materials from China that kicked in from April 4 have impacted automakers across the world, including vehicle manufacturers in India. EV makers here are particularly affected, and have been staring at a potential shortage of critical components, which raises concerns of price hikes CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s much-anticipatedmeetingwith Chinese PresidentXi Jinping, the first between the leaders since Trump returned to office for a second term, was widely watched for what they agreed upon — and what they did not. After the two leaders met in the South Korean city of Busan E Thursday, Trump said China had agreed to keep exports of rare earth minerals – used in a range of key global industries — flowing to the world as part of a one-year agreement. “All of the rare earth has been settled,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “And that’s for the world,worldwide,youcould say this was a worldwide situation, not just a US situation.” “There is no roadblock at all EXPLAINED ANIL SASI Jemimah Rodrigues after her match-winning knock of 127 in the World Cup semi-final against Australia. Amit Chakravarty on rare earth. That will hopefully disappear from our vocabulary for a little while,” he said. ● Further, he said, the tariffs imposed on China as punishment for its role in the movement of the deadly opioid fentanyltotheUSwouldbereduced from 20% to 10%. That brings down the total US tariff rate on China from 57% to 47%. Describing the meeting as CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India seeks more case 17 children among 18 held hostage details from US on in Mumbai, freed; accused killed 26/11 accused Rana EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30 MONTHS AFTER questioning TahawwurRana,extraditedfrom the US nearly 16 years after his arrest for his alleged role in the 26/11Mumbaiterrorattacks,the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has approached the US governmentthroughtheMutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) for additional case details. A senior NIA officer said investigators had uncovered new evidence followingRana’s interrogation. “After questioning Rana, we have found fresh evidence and approached the US through the Ministryof ExternalAffairs.Aset Tahawwur Rana is currently lodged in Tihar Jail of questions has been sent via MLAT,” the officer said. The officer, however, did not elaborate about the questions. Accordingtosources,thecentral agency suspects Rana may have been involved in other terror-related conspiracies in India beyond the Mumbai attacks. Rana, currently lodged in Tihar Jail under judicial custody, was questioned extensively after his extradition on April 10. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MANISH KUMAR PATHAK, MOHAMED THAVER & VALLABH OZARKAR MUMBAI, OCTOBER 30 POLICE IN Mumbai shot dead a 50-year-old man and freed 18 people, 17 of them children, whom he had allegedly taken hostage at a studio in Powai Thursday afternoon. The incident took place at Ra Studio in Powai’s Mahavir Classik building. Police said the children, aged between 10 and 12 years, had come to the studio from different parts of Maharashtra for an audition when a man, later identified as Rohit Arya, allegedly locked them inside and threatened to harm them and himself. Since last year, Arya, who hailed from Pune, had been Security personnel at the site on Thursday. Sankhadeep Banerjee In video, Arya claimed State owed him money for work done seekingpaymentof dues,claiming that the government had not paid his firm for work done for the Swachhta Monitor Project under the Chief Minister’s ‘My School, Beautiful School’ campaign. He had even held protests CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEARLY AN hour had passed since the winning runs were scored to record India’s greatest ODI World Cup victory against Australia, regardless of gender. But Jemimah Rodrigues’s name still echoed insidethe cavernous D Y Patil Stadium as a few thousand fans stayed back, singing songs and chanting her name. Minutes ago, Rodrigues was buried under her teammates, who rushed onto the field after sheledIndiatoafive-wicketwin over Australia and formed a mountain over her. When the batter emerged from it, she was soakedintears.“I’vecriedalmost every day throughout this tour,” said Rodrigues. “I was not doing well mentally, going through a lot of anxiety, then being dropped was another challenge for me.” On a night like this, who needsanalysis? That can wait. In a fever-dream of an evening, the Indian women’s team took a sledgehammer to decades of history; rather, the glorious swing of Rodrigues’s bat. ”Today wasnotaboutmy50or100,”she said. “It was about making India win.” For the 193 minutes that she was in the middle of a tense World Cup semi-final against Australia, the Mumbai batter -dropped from the playing 11 once in the tournament and shuffled in the batting order -did what Team India could not for the last month: make the supporters believe. When she came in the second over, India were staring at a mountain of runs. They were chasing a total -- 339 -- no team had ever chased in the history of women’s one-day internationals.Andtherewaslittleevidence to suggest that India would change the course of history tonight. Not just because they lost Shafali Verma, the last-minute additiontothesquad,andtheinspirational Smriti Mandhana inside the first 10 overs. But also because India barely got going in this tournament. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Regime change’ plot behind 2020 riots, Delhi Police tells SC, opposes bail pleas ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30 THE DELHI Police on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the communal riots that rocked the Capital in 2020 were a “criminal conspiracy hatched for achieving the final ‘regime change’ goal”andstoutlyopposedgrantingof bailtotheaccused,including Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam,incasesregisteredagainst them. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Delhi Police said evidence indicated that the “instant conspiracy” was premeditated to coincide with US President Donald Trump’s official visit to India to attract international media attention and portray the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as a “pogrom” against the Muslim community. According to the police, the petitioners were solely responsible for the delay in the trial in the case. “The petitioners, through their mala fide machi- Umar Khalid among those who sought bail nations, have made every attempt available to them in the book to delay, derail and obfuscatetheinvestigationandtrialin the matter. The bail in the present case, specifically in view of theextremeseveregravityof the offence, cannot be granted only onthegroundof delay forwhich the petitioner(s) themselves are responsible,” the affidavit said. The police said there exists “ocular and irrefutable documentary as well as technical evidence against the petitioners, showing their intrinsic, deeprooted and fervent complicity in engineering nationwide riots on communal lines”. Theaffidavitsaid“theconspiracy hatched, nurtured and executed by” them “was to strike at the very heart of the sovereignty CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 From classroom with no furniture to top Bench: CJI-designate’s journey SUKHBIR SIWACH PETWAR (HISAR), OCT 30 SITTING INSIDE his modest house in Haryana’s Petwar village, Rishi Kant, 70, recounted a declaration by his youngest sibling decades ago. “Bathed in sweat, as we threshed the wheat harvested from our family’s six-acre field, Surya (his youngest brother) declared, ‘I will change my life’. He had just completed his matriculation,” recalls Rishi, flanked by locals in his house, located 136 km from New Delhi. And change his life ‘Surya’ did. On Thursday, a notification regarding the appointment of Justice Surya Kant as the 53rd Chief Justice of India (CJI) was issued by the Law Ministry’s Department of Justice. Justice Kant,whowillassumechargeon November24,succeedsJusticeB RGavai,whowilldemitofficeon November 23. Justice Kant will remain in office till February 9, 2027. From a cousin to former classmates — all of whom still fondly call Justice Kant ‘Surya’ — exchanged congratulatory messages and memories inside an unfurnished room in Rishi’s house. CousinRamdiya,40,afarmer whojoinedthegroupafterparking his bullock cart outside Rishi’s house, says, “I may be a small farmer, but that has never affected Surya’s affection for me.” Two of Justice Kant’s classmates—SatbirSharma,aformer serviceman who was with him from Classes 1 to 10, and Phool Kumar, a farmer who was with himinClasses9and10—saidhe was “quite intelligent” in school. “Our school fee was just 10 paisebackthen.Sincetheschool did not have benches, we would sit on empty sacks on the floor,” CJI-designate Justice Surya Kant; his brother Rishi Kant, a retired government school teacher, and sister-in-law Rajbala Devi, a homemaker, at their house in Petwar village. Sukhbir Siwach Jaipur recalls Satbir. Phooladds,“IhadfailedClass 9 twice when Surya joined the class. Even after all his achievements today, he still remembers our names.” Justice Kant, the youngest among five siblings — one sister and four brothers — was born to Shashi Devi, a homemaker, and Madangopal Shastri, a governmentschoolteacher,inHaryana’s Hisar, nearly 50 km from his village, on February 10, 1962. His oldest sibling, sister Kamla Devi, 74, studied till Class 8beforegettingmarried.Among hisbrothers,Rishi, theoldest,isa retired government school teacher; Shiv Kant, 68, a retired tuberculosis and chest specialist who runs a private hospital in Haryana’s Bhiwani; and Dev Kant, 66, a retired group instructor from an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in Haryana. Having completed his graduationfromHisar’sGovernment Post Graduate College in 1981 andpursuedhislawdegreefrom Rohtak’s Maharshi Dayanand University in 1984, Justice Kant became the first law graduate in his family. Instead of pursuing a Master’s degree in law, like his father wanted him to, he started CONTINUED ON PAGE 2