eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Host with the Most LUCKNOW,LATECITY OCTOBER12,2025 Gourmet catering has become a marker of modern hospitality 14+4PAGES,`6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM U.S. AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE SERGIO GOR MEETS JAISHANKAR, DOVAL, MISRI CANCELS MEDIA MEET AT DEOBAND ‘Incredible’ meet with PM, ‘optimistic’ about days ahead for both nations: New US envoy Trump threatens China with 100% more tariffs over rare earth curbs Confident his tenure will further boost India-US global strategic partnership: PM RAVI DUTTA MISHRA SHUBHAJIT ROY AHEADOFhigh-stakesUS–China tradetalkslikelylaterthismonth, fresh tensions erupted after China significantly expanded its export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals on October 9, to which President Donald Trump responded by threatening to raise duties on Chinese goods by 100 per cent. Thistriggeredasharpdecline in US stock markets on Friday with the S&P 500 falling 2.7 per NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 11 INHISfirstoutreachtoNewDelhi amidtherecentbilateralchillthat hasseen50percentUStariffsand increased H-1B visa fees, US Ambassador-designate Sergio GormetPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi Saturday and framed his visit in warm and effusive terms. Last month, during his Senate confirmation hearings, Gor was bullish about the bilateralrelationshipandhadflagged India as a “strategic partner whose trajectory will shape the region and beyond." Gor, who is here from October 9-14, also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri Saturday. “GladtoreceiveMrSergioGor, Ambassador-designate of the US to India. I’m confident that his tenurewillfurtherstrengthenthe India–US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership,” Modi said inapostonX,accompaniedbyan image in which Gor is seen presenting a photo of Modi with US President Donald Trump, signed Out with her friend, MBBS student raped near college in Bengal TANUSREE BOSE KOLKATA, OCTOBER 11 A SECOND-YEAR MBBS student of a private medical college in WestBengal’sPashchimBardhaman district was allegedly dragged into a forested area outside her college campus and raped on Friday night. While her family has alleged three-four menwereinvolved,noarresthas been made so far, police said. Students of the medical college, meanwhile,stagedaprotestoutside the principal’s office after the matter came to light. According to police officials, the woman, who hails from Odisha, had gone out of the campus with a friend when the incident took place. On being alerted, the police rushed to the spot. The woman is currently undergoing treatment at a local hospital where her condition is stable, though she remains deeply traumatised, officials said. NarayanSwaroopNigam,the state’sPrincipalHealthSecretary, saidthematterisunderpoliceinvestigation, and the Director of Medical Education has been askedtosubmitadetailedreport. Thecollegesaiditwillextend CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Why this matters for Delhi NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 11 rare earths also pose a threat to India’s automobile industry. While China is India’s largest import source, the US continues to be its largest export destination. BOTH CHINESE and American posturing on trade assumes significance for India, which is in midst of negotiations for a bilateral trade deal with the US. China’s curbs on been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressivepositionontradebysending cent, its biggest single-day drop in six months since early April. Threatening a steep hike in tariffs, Trump said: “It has just CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 44% dip in Indian student arrivals in US over last yr, sharpest since Covid USAmbassador-designateSergioGorpresentstoPM Narendra ModiaframedphotographsignedbyUS PresidentDonald Trump,with amessage:‘MrPrimeMinister,youaregreat’. PTI by the latter. Stating that the “US values its relationshipwithIndia”,Gorsaid: “Ihadanincrediblemeetingwith Prime Minister Modi. President Trump considers PM Modi as a great and personal friend… “I arrived from Washington to New Delhi early this morning and we hit the ground running... “We just finished an incrediblemeetingwithPrimeMinister Modi where we discussed bilateral issues including defence, trade and technology. We also CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DROP AHEAD OF FALL SEMESTER ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 11 AHEAD OF the start of the Fall semester at American universities, the number of Indian student arrivals in the United States in Augustfelltothelowestsincethe Covidpandemic(2020),registering an over 44 per cent decrease ascomparedtothecorresponding CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 100k 50 k 0 93,833 49,797 40,911 41,540 Covid 2015 2,908 2020 2025 Source:International Trade Administration (US Dept of Commerce) From banks of the Volga, a Russian republic calls India Consulate opening in Kazan, Telangana makes strong case for trade, investment RAKESH SINHA KAZAN (RUSSIA), OCTOBER 11 IN KAZAN, where the Volga meetstheKamasouthof thecity, two teams met on the field for a T20 outing on a sunny morning this week. Vinay Kumar, India’s envoy to Moscow, was there to greet Team Russia and Team India, their playing 11s largely students, watched by most with little or no knowledge of cricket. It was soft diplomacy at play, Indiareturningtothecitywhere, MOSCOW FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at Darul Uloom Deoband in UP’s Saharanpur, Saturday. Gajendra Yadav Taliban delegation kept women out, Embassy premises gave them shield MEAleanedoncurrentstaff toletMuttaqi holdmediabriefinginembassy:Sources SHUBHAJIT ROY & PRAGYNESH NEW DELHI, DEOBAND, OCTOBER 11 IT WAS the visiting Taliban delegation that had decided to exclude women journalists from the media briefing Friday, an event that was strongly resisted by current staffers, The Indian Express has learnt. Attheheartofthecontroversy is the venue: the Afghanistan Embassy on Shantipath in the capital’s Chanakyapuri diplomatic enclave. It has a current staff strength of about 23 with six Afghans, all representing the earlier regime, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan led by President Ashraf Ghani who fled the country in August 2021. Ahead of Thursday’s visit by Afghanistan Foreign Minister and Taliban leader Amir Khan Muttaqi, these staffers asked RUSSIA A T20 match in Kazan between Team Russia and Team India earlier this week. Rakesh Sinha Pooja Pandey, wanted for Aligarh businessman’s killing, arrested INSIDE SINCE THEY returned to power in Kabul in 2021, the Taliban have issued over 100 edicts restricting rights of women and girls: banning them from higher education and work; out of public spaces. There are also restrictions on their travel without male escorts; on even being heard singing or reading aloud from inside their homes. Charge D’Affaires (CDA) Sayed Mohammed Ibhrahimkhil — also a representative of the erstwhile regime — not to allow the Taliban briefing to be held there. “We knew they would want to declare this embassy as CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IPS officer death: Rohtak SP shifted; pressure mounts for action on DGP NEETIKA JHA VARINDER BHATIA NEARLY TWO weeks after an Aligarh businessman was shot dead, police arrested the key accused, Pooja Shakun Pandey (42), a former office-bearer with the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), in connection with the case. According to police, she was caught in Bharatpur on Friday evening. Her arrest comes nearly a week after police arrested her husband, ABHM spokesperson FOUR DAYS after senior Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar was found dead with a gunshot wound at his residence, the Haryana government Saturday took its first action in the case by transferring Rohtak SuperintendentofPolice(SP)Narendra Bijarniya. Bijarniya,a2015-batchIPSofficer, was among the police officialsnamedinthe“finalnote”recovered from Kumar’s pocket. Surinder Singh Bhoriya, a HATHRAS, ALIGARH, OCT 11 CONTINUEDONPAGE9 Women in shackles GAZA: PALESTINIANS RETURN TO RUINS, AID GROUPS PUSH TO SCALE UP SUPPLIES THOUSANDS LAID OFF IN U.S. AMID GOVT SHUTDOWN P12 VOLGA RIVER CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ● THE WORLD KAZAN a year ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinpingmetontheboundariesof the BRICS summit, leading their E EXPLAINED DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA CHANDIGARH, OCTOBER 11 The accused, Poonam Shakun Pandey, with Abhishek. File RAEBARELI LYNCHING VICTIM’S FAMILY MEETS CM ADITYANATH PM LAUNCHES MEGA AGRI SCHEMES, SAYS CONG NEGLECTED FARMERS PAGE 5 & 9 Kamleshwar Singh Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann visits Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar’s family. 2014-batch IPS officer, has been appointed the new Rohtak SP. The government said Bijarniya’s posting orders would be issued separately. Kumar, who belonged to a ScheduledCaste,wasfounddead at his Chandigarh residence on Tuesday. In her complaint, his wife,IASofficerAmneetPKumar, accused Bijarniya and Haryana DGP Shatrujeet Singh Kapur, besidessevenotherservingIPSofficers, one retired IPS officer and threeretiredIASofficersofharassment“resultinginthedeathofmy husband on October 7, 2025.” Bijarniya’s transfer comes evenasthestategovernmenthas alertedallpolicecommissioners CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 From Dholpur & Ayodhya, via IIT: First indigo-dyed wool denim at fashion week PAGE 1 ANCHOR RINKU GHOSH NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 11 JUST OUTSIDE Ayodhya, in the tiny town of Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharth Nagar, a boy hated running his father’s medical store. Instead, he read newspapers, his window to the world outside. His hero was Hrithik Roshan, whose fashion sense he admired ever since he watched Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai on TV. Far away in Dholpur in Rajasthan, a farmer’s son idolised posters of James Dean, wondering if he could ever make the denims the American actor wore. The first boy, Anurag Gupta, now35,madeittodesignschool. The second, Satendra Singh, 29, made it to the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT)-Delhi,wherehe patentedtheworld’sfirstindigodyedwooldenimthatGuptahas used in his collection at the ongoingLakmeIndiaFashionWeek. Gupta’s latest collection features shirts, jackets, dresses, pants and overlays made from Singh’sindigo-dyedwooldenim, crafted from wool in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu and Dharamshala. Inspired by Japanese artist Hokusai’s waves, thecollectionblendssustainability with tech and style.Many designers are working with crafts, weaves and embroidery. But I wanted to create a tech-aided, production-friendly, wearable and clean material as that space is untapped in the India story,” Gupta tells The Indian Express. “Denim is democratic, working class. It is tough, but not warm enoughinthehills.That’swhenI begantoexperimentwithwool.” A friend introduced him to Satendra Singh, who developed the indigo-dyed wool denim at IIT-Delhi; designer Anurag Gupta; Gupta’s collection at the ongoing Lakme India Fashion Week. Express Singh, who had developed the indigo-dyed wool denim as an MTech student (2021-2023) inside an incubation lab at IITDelhi’s Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering. “Cotton denim lacks thermal insulation. We used plasma technology — ionised gases — to beat back the wool’s scratchy scales and enhance its strength without damaging its fibres. The result is a denimwarmenoughtobeworn as a single layer in minus 3-4 degrees Celsius,” explains Singh, whose research is funded by the Ministry of Textiles, SIDBI and angel investors. The denim’s magic lies in its blend—35% wool mixed with breathable hemp, banana fibre, bamboo and recycled cotton. “It’s all-weather and moistureabsorbent. You may board a flight wearing it in Delhi in December and not need to take it off when you land in a warmer Bengaluru — it will dry out your sweat,” explains Gupta. By removing the scales from wool fibres,Singh hasimproveditsmechanical and moisture management properties: in otherwords,itismachine-washable and quick-drying. “Dry CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 Lucknow