TIRUCHY l saturday l august 01, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION Hamas agrees to disarm, accepts Trump’s peace plan for Gaza Hamas on Friday threw up a surprise, saying it will disarm and accept a deal announced by US President Donald Trump to end its war with Israel Israel wary, No official reaction yet Concessions to save Gazans, says Hamas Israel is yet to officially comment, but sources said there will be no withdrawal of Israeli forces from their current lines untill the disarmament is genuine and total. “A lot needs to fall in place for this to work,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “Verifying Hamas’ compliance will be a challenge. Israel would need to eventually withdraw from Gaza,” he said ■ ■ Trump says “complete disarmament” by Hamas is a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’ negotiating team, said the movement was making “concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement” | P9 4-page plan for Hamas disarmament and gradual Israeli withdrawal CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Mega allocation for offshore oil & gas exploration Spain Strait of Gibralter Ceuta Morocco Cabinet clears `84K-cr Samudra Manthan plan to strengthen long-term energy security Risky business Drilling in ultradeepwater areas could cost up to `2,400 crore per well. Plus, there is no certainty that the investment will result in a discovery or production increase Floating solar projects To boost India’s solar power generation, the government approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana, a `5,070-crore scheme to set up 5,000 MW (5GW) of floating solar power projects over the next five years. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India currently has 0.7 GW of installed floating solar capacity Morocco R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi IN a bid to increase domestic oil and gas production, the government on Friday approved the `84,000-crore Samudra Manthan scheme to accelerate deep-sea exploration. According to the petroleum ministry, the scheme will add 600 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) to India’s hydrocarbon reserves. It is projected to increase annual domestic oil and gas production by 10-15 MTOE, with the potential to reach 20 MTOE at peak production. The biggest share of the scheme—`43,200 crore—has been earmarked to support the drilling of 60 deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration wells. The government will provide financial support to staterun ONGC and Oil India as well as private exploration firms to encourage drilling in deepwater areas where exploration is expensive and highly risky . The support comes after the government opened nearly 99% of the offshore areas that were earlier classified as ‘no-go’ zones due to defence and space-related restrictions. Another `28,500 crore has been allocated for large-scale 2D and 3D offshore seismic surveys and advanced data processing using technologies such as artificial intelligence. The surveys will help create detailed maps of the seabed and identify promising locations for drilling. The scheme also provides `10,000 crore to build common offshore infrastructure for developing stranded discoveries in basins such as Mahanadi and Kutch, where high evacuation costs have made projects commercially unviable. Shared infrastructure is expected to reduce project costs and bring these discoveries into production. In addition, `2,000 crore has been allocated for setting up an Oil and Gas Manufacturing and Services Zone to promote domestic manufacturing of oilfield equipment and services under the Make in India initiative. The government expects the move to reduce import dependence and strengthen the domestic supply chain. India currently imports more than 88% of its crude oil requirement. The scheme will help cut dependence on imported crude. The move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of the National Deep Water Exploration Mission, named Samudra Manthan, during his Independence Day address on August 15, 2025. 968 inspectors stuck in same rank for 18 yrs M S ara v anan @ Coimbatore stalled promotions in the Tamil Nadu police department have left 968 officers of the 1999 direct recruitment batch of sub-inspectors in limbo across the state for nearly two decades. Despite completing 27 years of service, members of the batch have secured just one promotion, to the rank of inspector, in 2008. They have remained as inspectors for the past 18 years, missing out on promotion to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) posts due to legal hurdles. According to sources, the delay in the promotion of these officers has also affected the elevation of officers of other batches and over 140 DSP posts are lying vacant across Tamil Nadu. The frustrated inspectors, who have remained in the same rank for more than 18 years, have now urged the department to resolve the issue by presenting their position before the court. Speaking to TNIE, Director General of Police (DGP) Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal said, “The department is closely following up the issue as we are also eager to promote our officers.”  P5 Algeria Mauritania Mali Migrant Tsunami Over 48,000 migrants returned to Morocco from Spain’s Ceuta after an estimated 60,000 of them crossed the frontier into its north African enclave in recent days. At least 43 migrants died during the crossing. The influx came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish exclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco | PTI | Report: P9 DKS postpones Vijay meet as tensions escalate E xpress N e w s S er v ice @ Bengaluru Amid tensions escalating in the state over the Cauvery river water issue, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has postponed the bilateral talks with his Tamil Nadu counterpart C Joseph Vijay, scheduled to be held at Vidhana Soudha on August 3. The decision was taken because of ongoing protests in the Cauvery basin by Kannada activists and farmer organisations against the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) order to release water to Tamil Nadu. The activists had also warned Shivakumar against holding talks with Vijay. Shivakumar on Friday requested Vijay, who had proposed the talks first, to defer their meeting till the situation returns to normal. Shivakumar, when he was deputy chief minister and water resources minister under TN may move SC soon Tamil Nadu is likely to approach the SC after August 5 over the delay by Karnataka in releasing Cauvery water despite CWRC and CWMA telling the upper riparian state to release 3,500 cusecs of water for 15 days to TN | P4 Siddaramaiah, had proposed that then Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin visit the state, but the latter had declined the offer. “After the elections in TN, the government changed. Vijay said he would come with his team, but protests do not give us confidence. We should resolve this with goodwill. If the problem is solved, both sides benefit. The situation is not good now. So, I request the TN CM to defer the meeting. When guests come from another state, we must show courtesy and respect. I will ask him to choose another date. If they (Vijay and team) want to protect their state’s interest, we Delhi riots: Ex-AAP leader, 4 others get life term for IB officer’s murder U D AYA N K I S H O R E @ New Delhi Former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain being escorted by police | PTI Will move HC: Hussain Tahir Hussain, 48, an AAP councillor from Nehru Vihar in northeast Delhi when riots erupted amid anti-CAA protests in February 2020, said on Friday, “The match was fixed and the High Court will give justice; it is not too late.” A Delhi court on Friday awarded life imprisonment to former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for killing Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots. Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh awarded the minimum punishment prescribed for murder under law, saying the prosecution was not able to prove that the convicts were not beyond reformation. The judge said the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty . “I find myself unable to agree with the SPP (special public prosecutor) that the convicts are beyond reformation, or have such a fiendish character that their continued existence, even in prison, will be a menace to society,” the judge said. Hussain and other convicts – Nazim, Kashim, Anas, and Javed – were present before the court while the order was pronounced. The convicts were brought before the court in tight security . The judge said the State had not brought anything on record to establish that any of the convicts had any violent disposition or propensity to crime.The convicts had urged the court to show mercy claim, ing that the offence did not fall under the category of “rarest of rare”. Police had submitted that Sharma was brutally killed and was not shown any mercy by the convicts, so they should not be given any leniency . IB officer Sharma was killed by the accused persons on February 25, 2020. Brothers kill mom, sibling in property dispute; two minors among five held E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai Two brothers have been arrested for allegedly murdering their mother and younger brother over a property dispute at Anna Nagar in Chennai on Friday morning. According to the police, the wife of one of the brothers and their two children, a son (17) and a daughter (15), have also been arrested for their alleged direct involvement in the double murder. The deceased were identified as a 68-year-old woman, who was partially paralysed, and her 42-year-old son, a dentist who ran a private clinic in the Fight over family home The 68-year-old woman and her murdered son were in favour of entering into an agreement with a builder for development of a family house which was opposed by her other two sons and their family members city. Sources said the five accused and the two victims lived under the same roof in the house that was under dispute. According to Anna Nagar police, the murders stemmed from a property dispute among the brothers over the house, which is estimated to be worth around `1 crore. The deceased had favoured entering into a joint development agreement with a builder regarding the disputed property in return for two flats, whereas the other family members allegedly opposed the move and sought to retain complete ownership of the property police said. , A police officer told TNIE, “The group strangled the mother and son to death one after the other early on Friday and tried to stage it as an accidental death.” (Names withheld to protect identity)  P5 historic gold rush Asmita Dey celebrates her gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Friday. Coming from a humble background, the judoka from a small town in Tripura became India’s first gold medallist. Later, Harsh Singh added another gold to tally | PTI I P11 Omar, Payal ‘embraced freedom’, will dissolve marriage: SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi PUTTING a lid on a long legal chapter of matrimonial dispute spanning over 16 years, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to dissolve the marriage of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Payal Abdullah after noting their joint position that they have “embraced freedom”. “We will make it a part of our order and will dispose it of in terms of that ... will pass a formal order later,” said a bench of justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the National Conference leader, on Friday informed the bench that an application under Article 142 of the Constitution, seeking dissolution was filed as the matter was “settled between the parties.” “Both of them have embraced freedom. It’s all settled. (Article) 142 has been filed in the case. Your lordships may grant divorce,” he contended before the court. Sibal added that all other matters will be withdrawn as it was set out in the application. The court was hearing two petitions, including Omar’s plea seeking divorce A ‘dead’ union The Supreme Court had asked the couple to resolve their disputes. Presenting the case for divorce, Sibal submitted that the marriage was “dead” as they have been living separately for 15 years on grounds of cruelty The cou. ple had got married on September 1, 1994. In July 2024, the court sought Payal’s response to Omar’s challenge to a Delhi High Court order that dismissed his appeal and upheld the 2016 family court decision denying divorce. After his plea was dismissed by Delhi HC, Omar moved the apex court. Before the HC passed the order, the family court on August 30, 2016 had dismissed the plea, ruling that Omar failed to prove cruelty or desertion. His petition claimed the marriage was irretrievably broken, with no conjugal relationship since 2007 and separation since 2009. want to protect ours. We are discussing whether this can be resolved amicably he said, ad,” dressing a press conference. The decision came after Shivakumar held a meeting with ministers and officials on the CWMA order. In fact, the conference hall at Vidhana Soudha had been decked up to host Vijay. The talks could still be held if there is good rain in both Karnataka and TN in August with weather predictions pointing to that.  P5 Weak monsoon IMD forecasts deficient rains in Aug-Sept J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi THE India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday forecast below-normal rains during the second half of the southwest monsoon season (AugustSeptember), raising concerns about the prospects of kharif crops, which heavily depend on rainfall for their water needs. The first half of the monsoon season (June-July) recorded 13% deficit of the long-period average rainfall, leading to a 5% fall in kharif crop sowing. The IMD estimates that August and September will receive 422.8 mm of rainfall, which is considered below normal. However, parts of eastern Peninsular India, some areas of northwest and central India, and isolated regions in the east and northeast could receive normal rains. In its monthly forecast released on Friday, the IMD said rainfall in the next two months is estimated to be less than 94% of the long period average (LPA). It cited the presence of El Niño in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which it said could strengthen in the second half of the monsoon season leading to above-normal daytime and night-time temperatures. El Niño is a phenomenon characterised by the warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, which is associated with a weaker monsoon in India. E x p r e s s Re a d SC grants anticipatory bail to Senthil Balaji New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to ex-minister V Senthil Balaji in `32.81 crore Tasmac corruption case booked by DVAC. The court permitted the state to seek modification of the order should the accused breach bail conditions or if custodial interrogation proves necessary. The Madras HC had earlier denied bail to Balaji stating his custodial interrogation was necessary considering the large-scale corruption | P5