Facebook to slash another 10,000 jobs Facebook parent Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social media firm will cancel low priority projects and not fill 5,000 vacant positions. Zuckerberg said he underestimated the indirect costs associated with these projects. The company said it will reduce the size of its recruiting team and make further cuts in its tech groups in late April, and then its business groups in late May. kollam l wednesday l march 15, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 Supporters of Imran clash with police to resist his arrest SC dismisses plea to hike Bhopal gas tragedy relief Asks Centre to use I50 cr parked with RBI for pending claims, if any E x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e Protests broke out in various Pakistan cities on Tuesday after ousted prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan posted a dramatic video message saying he may be killed or jailed but his supporters must continue their fight against the present government. The message was posted soon after clashes between PTI workers and police officials who reached Khan’s Lahore residence to arrest him in the Toshakhana case. A large nu m b e r o f P T I wo rke r s equipped with clubs and sticks were present outside Khan’s residence to resist the police. According to local media reports, police fired tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse PTI supporters, who pelted stones, resulting in injuries. Both Khan’s supporters and policemen were injured in clashes. Islamabad DIG (operations) Shahzad Bukhari was among the injured, reports said. In the video message, Khan urged his supporters to come out to protest. “They think that after my arrest, the nation will fall asleep. You have to prove them wrong,” 70-year-old Khan said in the video. “If something happens to me and I am sent to jail or if I am killed, you have to prove that you will struggle without Imran Khan and not accept the slavery of these thieves,” he added. S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Centre’s curative plea seeking additional compensation of over `7,400 crore for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy from Union Carbide (UCC), which is now owned by Dow Chemical. It sharply criticised the Centre for not framing an insurance policy for the victims despite the SC’s directions in a review verdict. Calling it gross negligence, the bench said, “The Union cannot be negligent on this aspect and then seek a prayer to fix the responsibility on the UCC.” The bench pointed out that a settlement can be set aside only if there is a claim of fraud. “Either a settlement is valid or it is to be set aside in cases where it is vitiated by fraud. No such fraud has been pleaded by the Union and their only contention relates to a number of victims, injuries and costs that were not contemplated at the time when the settlement was effected.” A five-member Constitution bench comprising justices S K Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, A S Oka, Vikram Nath and J K Ma- heshwari, while expressing dissatisfaction over the Centre’s inability to furnish any rationale for raking the matter up after more than two decades, directed it to use a sum of `50 crore lying with the RBI to satisfy pending claims if any in accordance with the Bhopal Gas Scheme Disaster Act, 1989. The bench noted that the settlement amount of $470 million that was paid by UCC was sufficient to compensate the claimants and said the Centre’s claim for a top up had no foundation in any known legal principle. The court made this observation after considering the government’s stand that all the claims were adjudicated by the Commissioner in accordance with the procedure established by law. No Muslim outreach, says RSS gen secy H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Tuesday said it had no outreach programme for Muslims intellectuals, but was ready to meet if the initiative came from the other side. Talking to the media after the threeday meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Partinidhi Sabha, the apex decisionmaking body of the RSS at Samalkha near Panipat, its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said, “RSS leaders are meeting Muslim intellectuals and their spiritual leaders on their invitation. The initiative is from that side; there is no outreach from the Sangh.” no term Separate protests bring to for ‘transgender’ in malayalam Panel tasked with finding a word puts efforts on hold after failing to identify suitable term | P5 Now, public auditing to streamline waste mgmt Shainu Mohan @T’Puram Under attack from various corners over the Brahmapuram dumpyard fire, the state government has initiated strict and time-bound measures to streamline waste management in local bodies across the state. The High Court had also criticised the authorities’ failure to tackle the Brahmapuram fire and the lackadaisical approach towards waste management. Now, the local self-government department (LSGD) has come up with a comprehensive yearlong campaign to make the state free of waste. To ensure effective implementation of the action plan drawn up for the campaign, the department has opened a war room and announced strict public auditing of the local bodies’ efforts. Considering the gravity of the issue in Ernakulam, the LSGD will issue separate orders New strategy War room opened to monitor waste management LSG dept asks local bodies to publish report cards, which can be evaluated by the public and more stringent timelines for Kochi corporation and other local bodies in the district. The LSGD has directed the local bodies to publish their report cards — which can be evaluated by the public — upon completion of the campaign. The local bodies have been directed to take strict action against defaulters and form vigilance squads to assess household waste management facilities. More on P4 fore cracks in Oppn unity PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi CRACKS in the Opposition ranks once again came to the fore on Tuesday during protests demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on the Hindenburg report, which accused the Adani group of fraud and stock manipulation. Soon after the Lok Sabha was adjourned in the morning due to protests over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks, the Congress and several other parties, including the DMK, CPM, JDU, RJD, NCP, SP and others staged a protest outside Parliament demanding a JPC probe. However, the division among the opposition was ap- parent as the BRS and AAP chose to stand a little away from other parties, holding placards demanding a JPC investigation. Raising the same demand, the TMC chose to go alone by holding a protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament complex. The disunity among the parties was also evident at the Opposition party meeting called by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in the past two days to fine-tune strategy for the Parliament session. The AAP was present, but TMC stayed away on both days. The AAP and the Congress are at loggerheads in several states.