tirupati l monday l january 20, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION AXELSEN, aN SE-yOUNG CRUISE TO EASY TITLE WINS AT iNDIA oPEN Viktor Axelsen An Se-Young great dane erases malaysia heartbreak Viktor Axelsen erased the disappointment of falling in the opening round of Malaysian Open super 1000 last week to the same opponent. For An, it was an effortless 21-12 21-9 win over P Chochuwong. Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin, who ended India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty’s run in semis pocketed the doubles title Double Olympic gold medallist Viktor Axelsen secures third India Open title as Olympic & world champion An dominated right from word go doubles delight for japanese, chinese pairs ■ ■ In the women’s doubles final, Japan’s Arisa Igarashi and Ayako Sakuramoto beat Kim Hye Jeong and Kong Hee-Yong of South Korea 21-15, 21-13 In mixed, China’s Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin prevailed 21-18 21-17 over Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue | P11 3rd Axelsen wins India open for record third time 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 Peace dawns on Gaza after 15 months of war Hamas releases three hostages; hardliner quits Netanyahu’s govt A G E N CI E S THE much-awaited ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took effect on Sunday following an almost three-hour delay after Hamas was late to name the three hostages it plans to release first. The truce, which started at 11.15 am local time (2.15pm IST), is the first step toward ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and returning the remaining hostages abducted in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack. Hamas blamed the delay in handing over the names on “technical field reasons,” and said it is committed to the deal announced last week. An Israeli official confirmed that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were released in the evening. Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival, while the other two were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen. Hamas was supposed to provide the three names before the start of the ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin express read 8.5 gm cocaine seized, three held in Guntur Guntur: Excise officials seized 8.5 grams of cocaine and arrested three individuals in Guntur on Sunday. This is the first such case to be reported in Guntur district. The trio were reportedly purchasing cocaine from an unidentified supplier and selling it for `3,000 to `6,000 per gm | P3 Man loses `2.8 cr after receiving free phone Bengaluru: After the ‘dubious parcel at Customs’ scam & ‘digital arrest’ scare, cyber fraudsters have come up a new trick. In a case reported in Bengaluru, a man received a free mobile phone, only to lose `2.8 crore to fraudsters. A cloning software was installed to access OTPs & banking details | P5 MAJOR FIRE AT KUMBH MELA NO CASUALTIES REPORTED  A major fire broke out at the Kumbh Mela site  in Prayagraj on Sunday after a suspected leak from an LPG cylinder caused an explosion  The fire is believed to have started at Geeta  press tent in Sector 19 around 4 pm  The blaze quickly spread and engulfed around  40 tents  15 fire tenders were pressed into action  & the blaze was brought under control in an hour  UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached the  spot and directed authorities to take steps to avoid such incidents in future PM Modi also enquired the CM about the fire ‘`3L cr-projs approved for AP in six months’ E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Emphasising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support for the development of Andhra Pradesh, Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah highlighted that the Centre has approved projects totalling over `3 lakh crore for the State in the last six months. As part of his two-day tour to Vijayawada, he addressed a gathering on the 20th Raising Day of the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) at Kondapavuluru in Krishna district on Sunday He also inaugurated . the southern campus of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and the NDRF’s 10th Battalion campus near Vijayawada. Additionally , he inaugurated and laid the Saif attack: Suspected Bangladeshi national held S U D H IR S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai MUMBAI police on Sunday arrested Shariful Islam Shehzad, a suspected Bangladeshi national, in connection with the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan. He was produced before a local court, which remanded him in five days in police custody . Shehzad, 30, was arrested from Thane’s Labour Camp area, where he used to work as a housekeeper in a bar. “Prima-facie, the accused is a Bangladeshi and he changed his name to Vijay Das after entering India illegally. He came to Mumbai some 5-6 months ago. The accused used to work in a housekeeping agency,” said Dixit Gedam, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 9. While seeking 14 days police custody in court, the prosecution said the police was looking to probe if there was an “international conspiracy” behind the attack. Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurating the NIDM building at 10th NDRF Battalion campus in Kondapavuluru on Sunday | Express foundation stones for various projects worth approximately `220 crore. Shah remarked, “Today I can , say with confidence that NDRF’s implementation of NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) policies on the ground has played a pivotal role in positioning India as a global leader in disaster management. India has taken the lead worldwide in disaster-resilient infrastructure by setting up CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure).”  P4 Naidu is propelling the State forward with sound strategies, while PM Modi has facilitated investments exceeding `3L crore in the past six months Amit Shah, Union Minister Displaced Palestinians walk through the destruction caused by Israeli offensive in Rafah, as a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect Sunday | AfP Netanyahu said the militants had not lived up to their commitment. In the interim between 8.30 am and when the ceasefire took hold, Israeli fire killed at least 26 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry . Israel’s hardline national security minister Itamar BenGvir, meanwhile, said his Otzma Yehudit party was quitting the government in protest over the ceasefire agreement. BenGvir’s departure weakens Netanyahu’s coalition but will not affect the truce. The ceasefire deal was announced last week after a year of intensive mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see a total of 33 hostages returned from Gaza and the remaining Palestinian prisoners and detainees released. Negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of this ceasefire should begin in P9 just over two weeks.