The editorial Page: The indo-Pacific is here to stay, with or without Washington 8 WEdNESdAY, JUlY 1, 2026 Journalism of Courage MuMbAi, lAte city, 20 PAGes ₹5.00 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 rEG.no. MCS/067/2018 - 20 rni rEGn. no. 1543/57 THEIR FIRST CONVERSATION AFTER IRAN-U.S. MOU PROBE INTO ‘THEFT’ AT RAM TEMPLE Safe Hormuz is key, Modi tells Pezeshkian; extended invite to BRICS summit in India: Tehran Police approach Rai, Mishra for details, another arrest likely President briefs PM on developments in West Asia and the way forward Divya A in hiS first conversation with iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian who signed a Memorandum of Understanding with USPresidentDonaldtrumpon June17toendhostilities,Prime Minister narendra Modi tuesday expressed the hope for “lasting peace in the region” and underlined “the impor- tanceoffreedomofnavigation” in the Strait of hormuz, key to india’s energy imports. according to the iranian readout of the phone conversation,postedonXbyitsembassy in new Delhi, Prime Minister Modi “formally invited the President of iran to attend the upcoming BriCS leaders’ Summit to be hosted by india Under fire, Trust likely to move informal staff to non-cash duties hope for lasting peace in region, PM tells iran President New Delhi, June 30 125 153 191 93 AfterJunedeficit, below-normal rainfallexpected inJulytoo:IMD Amitabh Sinha New Delhi, June 30 While JUne recorded a 40 per cent rainfall deficit, the india Meteorological Department (iMD) on tuesday said rainfall in the month of July was also expected to be below normal, less than 94 per cent of the long period average. the iMD had predicted 92 per cent rainfall for June, but themonthbroughtinjustabout 60 per cent of normal rains, making it the fifth driest June since 1901 — the year from whichrainfallrecordsareavailable in india. the shortfall in June has put a question mark over the rainfall prediction for the entire monsoon season. in May, the iMD had said that under the influence of a developing el nino phase in the Pacific region, the fourmonth monsoon season starting in June was expected to bring less than normal rainfall. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RainfalldeficitinJune State/Ut Deficit Dadar & Nagar haveli and Daman and Diu 84% Gujarat 82% chandigarh 75% Meghalaya 74% Manipur 71% source: iMD and expressed hope that the meeting would contribute to furtherstrengtheningmultilateral cooperation among the member countries”. Modi, the iranian readout said, “conveyed the condolences and sympathy of the government and people of indiafollowingthemartyrdom »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In setback for Trump, US top court upholds birthright citizenship Andrew Chung Washington, June 30 hanDing PreSiDent Donald trump a stinging defeat, theUSSupremeCourtontuesday rejected his attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in theUnitedStates—arightlong woven into the fabric of american society — scuttling one of his top priorities in his crackdown on immigration. the 6-3 ruling marked the second time this year that the court has invalidated a major trump initiative, following its februarydecisiontostrikedown his sweeping global tariffs. the Justices upheld a lower court’s decision that blocked »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 As rain lashes Mumbai, tree crashes on school van in Chembur; boy killed Mumbai, June 30 aS heavy rain continued to lash Mumbai on tuesday, a large peepal tree uprooted and crashed on a school van carryingchildrenhomeinChembur, killing an 11-year-old student andinjuringatleastfourothers in one of the city's worst rainrelatedtragediesthismonsoon. the accident took place around 2.50 pm on road no. 11 in Subhash nagar near heritage Pride building when the tree fell on a Universal high School van carrying 12 children, according to the police. the van had left the school Another blow to Shiv Sena UBT: Aaditya aide Ahir switches sides Vallabh Ozarkar Mumbai, June 30 Barely eight days after six ShivSena(UBt)lokSabhaMPs quitthepartyandjoinedtheeknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Uddhav thackeray camp on tuesday suffered another setback after party MlC Sachin ahir filed nomination for the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Sachin Ahir (left) at a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. AkAsh PAtil Two European giants out, Paraguay, Morocco win in tense shootouts eXpReSS at World Cup Sandip G Boston, June 30 gerManS are masters of penalties,especiallyatWorldCups. they had won the last four shootoutsbeforeParaguay’s6’6” goalkeeper Orlando gill beat them at their own game. gill made himself look even bigger to make two crucial saves in the tie-breaker to script a historic South american victory. the netherlands, blessed Germany lost to Paraguay in the penalty shootout, Monday. reuters withincredibleattackingprowess and midfield riches, are knowntosettlemattersinopen play. Morocco held them 1-1 for more than 120 minutes, and »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l AfTEr yEArS of PrivATE PErforMAnCES, hE iS TAkinG hiS PASSion for MEnTAliSM PubliC Before his next film, director Chaitanya Tamhane wants to read your mind Alaka Sahani on July 3 at Mumbai’s 3 art house. Currently developing his MUCh BefOre Chaitanya thirdfeaturefilm,withtwo-time tamhane made it to global at- Oscar-winner alfonso Cuarón tention and acclaim with his on board as a producer, tamdebut feature Court (2014), he hane, who penned the script was studying magic. two years ago under page 1 the writer-directhe working title tor, who has often ‘Who Is Metcena’, spoken about how says that pivoting to magic has influenced his film- mentalism fulfills his need for making, will be holding his “more autonomy”. maidenpublicmentalismshow, “filmmaking takes a long ‘While i Still Can: Mindreading, time — raising funds, making Wonder and other lost Causes’, thefilm,workingwithdistribuMumbai, June 30 anchor Magic and cinema are both forms of illusion, says Chaitanya Tamhane tors and exhibitors. i felt the need for something more im- mediate and autonomous, where i could create and perform entirely on my own terms… Magic has been a significant part of my life for nearly 20 years, and now i've decided to share that publicly,” says the 39-year-old director. Mentalism,hesays,ismagic of the mind. “this involves playing with attention, perception and, moreover, storytelling, while using techniques from magic. intuition and psychology are also involved in »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 vihan Srivastava the city page 4 only Child of parents, loved footBall By EP UNNY Bhupendra Pandey & Divya A The tree fell on a universal high School van carrying 12 children. AMit chAkrAvArty Nayonika Bose & Pratip Acharya Business as Usual with 18 students. By the time it reached Subhash nagar, six children had been dropped, leaving 12 inside when the tree came crashing down. residentsrushedtothespot after hearing a loud crash followed by cries from inside the vehicle. "initially, it felt like something had happened in thenearbybuildingwhereconstruction activity was underway. But soon we started hearing loud cries and screams of children when i realised that something was amiss. When we looked out, we saw a huge commotion and rushed to the accident site," said rashi Shah, a local resident of the Subhash nagar area. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow, New Delhi, June 30 POliCe in ayodhya, investigatingtheallegedtheftandembezzlement of funds and valuables donated to the ram temple, have been seeking detailsfromChampatrai,general secretary of the Shri ram Janmbhoomi teerth Kshetra trust, and trustee anil Mishra on the duties and responsibilitiesofeightpersonsarrestedso far in the case. rai and Mishra sent their resignationstothetrustfollowingtheregistrationofanfiron June 25 and the arrest of avinash Shukla, lavkush Mishra, anukalp Mishra, Manish Kumar yadav, Karunesh Pandey, ramashankar Mishra, ramShankaryadavaliastinnu yadav and Subhash Srivastav. tinnu yadav is rai’s former driver. all the arrested men are currently in judicial custody. followingcourtpermission, nation page 12 Cong leaders pUt Under hoUse arrest for 24 hrs a police team visited the jail tuesday to question avinash Shuklaontheroleoftheprivate agency hired by the State Bank of india for counting of cash and its dispatch to the bank branch.Shukla,anofficialsaid, was recruited by the agency and the bank. it is likely that another arrest will be made soon, an official said. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2