The Editorial Page: R&D underspending in India has no one cause. It’s systemic as well as cultural 10 FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2026 JournalisM of Courage koLkATA, LATE CiTy, 18 pAgES ₹6.00 (₹12 in North East states, ₹20 in Andaman) l www.indianexpress.com dA i Ly f R o M : A h M E dA B A d , C h A N d i gA R h , d E L h i , j A i p u R , ko L k ATA , L u C k N o W , M u M B A i , N Ag p u R , pAT N A , p u N E , vA d o dA R A Happening today l The Supreme Court is set to hear Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s plea against rejection of her nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls. l The Women’S T20 World Cup begins with England facing Sri Lanka in Birmingham. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com business as usual By EP UNNY announcemenT on SociaL media poST hourS afTer ThreaTeninG freSh aTTacKS TurmoiL in TrinamooL ‘Choose between Trump calls off Iran strikes, claims Abhishek or us’: progress in talks towards a deal Mamata’s troubles modi, Trump aT G7 nexT WeeK mount as loyalists Says ‘all parties’ Third ship hit by US serve her ultimatum have approved; no immediate near Oman, all 20 Tehran response Kalyan Banerjee targets Abhishek, Indians rescued, safe Sougata Roy says Mamata must tackle CENTCOM: Fired Hellfire missiles at its engine room, was trying to ship Iran oil Shubhajit roy, Sukalp Sharma & purnima Sah New Delhi, Mumbai, June 11 says discussions were brought to the highest level of Iran’s leadership and approved. Ap fiLE parisa hafezi & Susan heavey Dubai, Washington, June 11 nation Pages 8,9 tWo killed in fresh violence as tensions boil over in ManiPur Motoraccident claiMs:consider rs30,000/Month ashoMeMakers’ incoMe,sayssc gangster extradited froM georgia PreSiDent DonALD trump called off plans for renewed US military strikes on iran at the last minute on thursday, saying negotiations with tehran had advanced to the highest levels of iran's leadership and had been approved by a broad coalition of regional powers. the dramatic reversal came hoursbeforethestrikeswereexpectedtobecarriedout.Butdetails of the diplomatic breakthrough after more than three monthsofwar—includinghow iran’s leadership had signaled its approval — were not immediatelyclearintrump’spost on truth Social. “Based on the fact that discussions with the islamic republicofiranhavebeenbrought to the highest level of iranian leadershipandapproved,ihave, asPresidentoftheUnitedStates ofAmerica,cancelledthescheduled strikes and bombings »conTinued on paGe 2 Tanker mT Jalveer was attacked near the oman coast, Thursday. ANi pavneet Singh chadha, Bhupendra pandey, nikhila henry & Sreenivas Janyala safety concerns mount amid strikes US enforcement of a naval blockade of Iran has raised fears about safety of seafarers on board ships in the region. Officials say at least 562 Indian seafarers are on ships near the Strait of Hormuz — 329 in the Persian Gulf west of the Strait, and 233 in the Gulf of Oman to the east. ontHelastphonecallwithhis father on Sunday, indian seafarer Aditya Sharma confided in him about “warnings” from United States forces and the tense situation aboard his Palau-flaggedmerchanttanker, mt Settebello, as the ship navi- (From left) shivanand chaurasia, aditya sharma and suresh Patnala died after mT settebello came under attack. gated waters off the coast of oman, amid a naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz. explained Page 14 a look at the key theories behind the flight crash Leena misra Ahmedabad, June 11 Vishwas kumar ramesh (right), and his advisor sanjiv Patel. June 12 last year, with 242 passengers and crew on board — killing all but him. Tanusree Bose & manoj c G Kolkata, New Delhi, June 11 AS one more rajya Sabha mP of the trinamool Congress (tmC)resignedthursday,troubles mounted for party chairpersonmamataBanerjeeastwo ofhercolleaguesstillconsidered partofherfactiongaveheranultimatum, saying she must choose between her nephew and tmC’s Lok Sabha mP Abhishek Banerjee and those who were standing by her. Banerjee, one of the mPs said, must take note of the “grievances” against Abhishek and that he was with her “as of now”. this came on a day a singlejudge Bench of the Calcutta High Court granted Abhishek interimprotectionfromanycoercive action by the CiD for three weeks in a case of alleged signature forgery, while rajya Tmc mPs kalyan Banerjee and sougata roy inside Page 4 Why rebel tMc MPs haven’t yet Written to lok sabha sPeaker SabhamPPrakashChikBaraik, known to be close to the tmC national general secretary, resigned from the Upper House »conTinued on paGe 2 least two warnings from the US navy in the past fortnight, and that the ship was still trying to push towards the Strait of Hormuz.Wewereworried.Another ship, in their vicinity, was attacked on the same day, but he Panaji, Lucknow, Hyderabad, June 11 Lone survivor Vishwas Kumar Ramesh says final probe report will ‘help us know what happened’ a year later »conTinued on paGe 2 explained Govt confirms three Indian seafarers killed in US strike, families left with memories of phone calls Man in 11a: ‘Won’t be at peace, i have to live with what i lost, went through’ letter: 11A. that was the seat allotted to 39-year-old Vishwas Kumar Some StorieS start with a ramesh on Ai 171, the GatwickboundBoeing787striking anecdote, 8 Dreamliner that some with hard air india craSh crashed minutes facts. this one after takeoff from needs only a Ahmedabad on number and a FeArS For the safety of indian seafarers on board ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz heightened thursday when the USmilitaryattackedmtJalveer, aGuinea-Bissau-flaggedtanker, near the oman coast, the third such incident in the area in four days. All 20 indian seafarers on board were safely evacuated after the missile strike. theattackonthetankertook place on the day Sarbananda E. charge of nephew’s ‘high-handedness’ With Friday marking a year since the tragedy, this lone survivorisstillstrugglingtopickup thepiecesfromthatday.“idon’t think i can ever be completely at peace. i will have to live with what i have gone through and »conTinued on paGe 2 “Wespokealmosteveryday. on a WhatsApp call on Sunday, he told me that they received at »conTinued on paGe 2 indian navy reMoves unexPloded Warhead froM kochi-bound shiP Page 7 Tmc mP abhishek Banerjee arrives at Bhabani Bhawan, the cId headquarters in kolkata, for questioning, on Thursday. ExpRESS Abhishek questioned by A-I: Victims’ belongings CID for over 5 hours in returned, 15 families didn’t take back anything signature forgery case ritu Sharma Ahmedabad, June 11 oF tHe families of 241 passengers and crew on board the Ahmedabad-Gatwick Ai 171 flight, which crashed minutes after taking off on June 12, 2025, as manyas15declinedtotakeback the personal belongings of their deceasedkin,includingclothes, passports, wallets and photographs, an Air india spokesperson told TheIndianExpress. the spokesperson also said that the airline has so far paid an interim compensation of rs 25 lakh each to 96 per cent of the families of victims. the crash killed 241 of the 242 people on board, leaving VishwasKumarramesh(39)as thesolesurvivor,andalsokilled 19 individuals on the ground. there were 169 indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian among those on board. Following the crash, Air »conTinued on paGe 2 HC grants him protection from arrest for 3 weeks Tanusree Bose & Sweety Kumari Kolkata, June 11 tmC nAtionAL general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was questioned for over five hours by the Criminal investigation Department (CiD) of West BengalPoliceonthursdayevening in connection with the mLAs’ signature forgery case. the Diamond Harbour mP, who had skipped the CiD summons thrice earlier, citing illness and his petition in the High Court against the probe, appeared before the probe agency hours after the Calcutta High Court granted him interim protection from arrest in connection with the ongoing »conTinued on paGe 2 l ‘hand oF God’ Goal sTaTue noW In sToraGe, BuT azTeca sTIll hIs — From PhoToGraPhs on Wall To ‘maradona TorTa’ In caFe ouTsIde Mexico’s ‘cathedral of football’, the stadium Maradona never really left express at World Cup Sandip G Mexico City, June 11 tHe SeCUrity officer near tunnel eight of Azteca Stadium istired.Asmallcrowdhasgathered at the alley leading to the dressing room and he is holding them back. on the wall nearby hangs a photograph: Gonzales, who runs the staDiego maradona on the dium tours. thegoalthatmadehimand shoulders of his teammates after the 1986 quarter-final at unmade england, boxed up in this very stadium, hair fanned storage beneath the stadium outlikeahalo.Sometrytobribe where it happened. Azteca and their way past, but the security maradona have given each other footballing immortality. officer doesn’t move. “Almost every nearthestadium page 1 visitor comes in café,thereusedtobe search of maradona a small bronze memorabilia. Some statueofmaradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal. it was re- get so emotional that they even moved during renovation be- cry,” says Gonzales. When mafore this World Cup. “We had to radona died over five years ago, make some space, but it will be thousands turned up at the Azrestored soon,” says Juventino teca. “He is not mexican, but he anchor diegomaradona’sstatueandamuralinsidetheaztecastadiumwhere hescoredthehandofGodgoalin1986Worldcup. SpECiAL ARRANgEMENT iskindofaherohere.everyyear onhisdeathanniversary,people come and place bouquets. Last time, we kept a mural of him in a churro hat,” he says. outside, the rumbling streets around the Azteca are stacked with taco and torta stalls. martina’s has a torta named after every legendary footballer. the maradona torta is hot on one side and sweet on the other. “Poco diablo,” says martina, the cafe owner. A little devil. Her husband watched that 1986 game live, she says. “the World Cup brought us Kolkata happiness,” martina says, “and maradona was a big reason.” the earthquake had come the year before the 1986 World Cup and took everything from thecountry.ninemonthslater, maradona arrived. inside the press pack that day was Luis Caledron, then at Excélsior, now long retired. He remembers the press conferences. Journalists from Argentina and england would pressmaradonaonhispersonal life, trying to unsettle him. “He rattledthemmorethantheydid him.Helikedthereporterswho askedgoodquestions,andgave them long answers,” he recalls. He also remembers a story about the famous 1986 Argentina jersey. Since the original match jerseys were too heavy, coach Carlos Bilardo needed something lighter, with two days to go for their opening game. the manufacturers said it was too late. So Bilardo sent secondchoice goalkeeper Héctor miguelZeladaintothecity.Zelada had played in the local league for years and knew where to go »conTinued on paGe 2