The New Indian Express Wishes its readers a Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Tuesday Nagapattinam l Monday l October 20, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Gone in 4 minutes: Thieves steal Napoleon-era jewels at Louvre Robbers on Sunday broke into the iconic Paris museum and made off with the jewels in an audacious daylight robbery lasting 4 minutes nine items stolen from gallery of apollo Around 9.30 am, several intruders broke a first-floor window, cut through the glass with a disc cutter, and headed straight to the Gallery of Apollo, officials said. They are believed to have entered the museum from the riverfront side, where construction is underway, used a freight elevator to reach the gallery, stole nine items from a 23-piece Napoleon collection and fled on scooters diamonds and emeralds, which belonged to Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, was found damaged near the building ■ The value of the stolen items is still being assessed. Meanwhile, a manhunt is underway. It is unclear how many people were involved 800 Diamond-adorned crown recovered ■ Shortly after the thieves fled, a 19th-century crown adorned with Metres is the distance from the robbery site to the Paris police HQ 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 Gaza truce strained after Israel, Hamas trade fire 15 reported dead; Both sides blame each other of breaching ceasefire Agencies Just nine days after the guns fell silent in Gaza, the landmark ceasefire agreement appeared to be faltering on Sunday, with Israel carrying out fresh airstrikes in Gaza after accusing Hamas of violating the truce terms by firing at Israeli troops. Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority, said at least 15 people, including a woman and two children, were killed in Israeli strikes across the territory on Sunday Israel said it was check. ing reports of casualties. Israel’s military said Hamas militants opened fire on troops in parts of Rafah city that fall under Israeli control according to the agreed ceasefire lines. In response, the military launched fresh airstrikes on Hamas targets in southern Gaza, it said. Israel said it responded to at least three incidents in which “Hamas fired towards our troops standing behind the yellow line in the agreed-upon positions.” Hamas, however, insisted it was complying with the truce. Smoke billows following an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday | afp The group said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months, and “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas”. The group reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire, claiming in a statement that Israel “continues to breach the agreement and fabricate flimsy pretexts to justify its crimes”. The escalation comes just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed security forces to take “strong action” against Hamas targets in Gaza over alleged ceasefire violations. Israel informed the Trump administration in advance of the strikes via the US command centre overseeing the ceasefire, Axios reported. A US official said Washington urged Israel to “show restraint”. The renewed tensions follow Israel’s demand on Saturday for Hamas to fulfil its ceasefire obligations by returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages. meeting on oct 22 in delhi Ladakh representatives called for talks with MHA KDA to resume talks. The delegation will include three representaIN a significant thaw after months tives each from LAB and KDA, of impasse, Ladakh’s key agita- their legal advisor, and MP Haji tors are set to resume talks with Haneefa. Dorjay said they would the Centre, with an eight-member push for the release of all detaindelegation from the Leh Apex ees, including climate activist Body (LAB) and Kargil Democrat- Sonam Wangchuk, who remains ic Alliance (KDA), alongside MP jailed under the National Security Haji Haneefa Jan, scheduled to en- Act, and seek compensation for gage a Ministry of Home Affairs the victims. (MHA) sub-committee on “The sub-committee October 22 in New Delhi. meeting will allow us to LAB co-chair man raise our issues freely, Chering Dorjay told this from detainees’ release to newspaper that the MHA We welcome the core demands of statedecision of the has invited them for talks hood and the Sixth SchedGovernment of chaired by the Union India to invite us ule,” Dorjay said. Home Secretary. This KDA leader Sajjad Kar(LAB, KDA and marks the first direct en- others) for talks in gili said the LAB and Delhi and look gagement between LadaKDA will jointly attend forward to a kh representatives and the sub-committee the Centre after the dia- positive outcome meeting. of the dialogue logue broke down follow“We are meeting for with respect to our ing protests in Leh on statehood & Sixth Scheddemands September 24 demanding ule status, justice for Sepstatehood and inclusion Chering Dorgay, LAB tember 24 victims, and under the Sixth Schedule. release of detainees inThe violence left four people dead cluding Sonam Wangchuk. We beand over 80 injured in police lieve only genuine dialogue can action. restore trust & fulfil Ladakh’s asAhead of the meeting, the MHA pirations,” he said. on October 17 announced a judiThe LAB and KDA, representcial inquiry led by a retired Su- ing political, social, religious, and preme Court judge into the Sep- trade bodies across Leh and tember 24 incident—one of the Kargil, have been seeking statekey preconditions set by LAB and hood and Sixth Schedule status. f aya z w a n i @ Srinagar Centre writes to States states directed to snuff out bonded labour, trafficking J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi express read Centre mulls QR code on cough syrup, meds New Delhi: The Union government plans to mandate barcoding and QR code-based traceability for vaccines, antimicrobials, narcotic and psychotropic drugs, and anticancer medicines. This decision follows the tragic deaths of over 20 children due to substandard cough syrups in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan | P7 Gogoi: SIT formed to save Assam CM Guwahati: On the one-month death anniversary of Zubeen Garg on Sunday, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi alleged that the Assam government constituted a nine-member Special Investigation Team to hide CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s proximity with chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and Siddharth Sharma, the singer’s manager | P8 Need organ, tissue donation teams in all hospitals K AVITA BA J E L I - DATT @ New Delhi THE Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) ALL hospitals in India should have dedicated teams has directed all states and Union Territories to intento counsel families of potential organ and tissue dosify action against inter-state human trafficking and nors, the Centre said in a communication to all states. bonded labour, following mounting concerns over Hospitals have been asked to report all deaths, make slow progress in rehabilitation efforts. efforts for timely counselling of family members, and In a government order issued on September 25, Secencourage them for organ and tissue donation. retary Vandana Gurnani instructed all Chief SecreThe move comes as India faces a huge gap between taries to constitute vigilance committees in every the number of patients requiring human organ and district and sub-division to track bonded and child tissue transplants and the availability of donors. labour cases. States have also been asked to submit “It is essential that hospitals should constitute orproposals for immediate financial asgan and tissue donation teams by insistance to rescued labourers within volving brain stem death committee three months of issuing release members and transplant coordinator / certificates. counsellor,” said the National Organ The directive follows a Supreme and Tissue Transplant Organization Even if the Centre will rehabilitate Court order of November 22, 2024, (NOTTO) in a letter to all states. NOT- family does 1.84 crore which asked MoLE to conTO is a national-level ogan- not agree to bonded sult with states to simplify isation set up under the Un- organ press donation, the labourers by procedures for identifying clusive ion health ministry. option for 2030. So far, and rehabilitating bonded NOTTO director Dr Anil tissue 35,000 Kumar, in his letter, said donation labourers labourers. This is the secthe organ and tissue donation team must be given have been ond such directive since December must be mandatorily notified of all the to the family freed 2024, after the Centre expressed dissatisfaction with the states’ progress. deaths happening in hospitals. Ministry of “However, not much progress seems to “Even if the family does not agree to Dr Anil Kumar, Labour have been made,” the order observed. organ donation, the option for tissue director, NOTTO MoLE oversees the Bonded Labour donation must be given to the family ,” System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and implements the “ReDr Kumar said in the letter dated October 17. habilitation of Bonded Labour-2021” scheme, which Tissues such as corneas, skin, bones, and heart provides compensation of `30,000 and rehabilitation valves can be donated from cases of brain-stem-death grants of `1 lakh for men and `2 lakh for women. and cardiovascular deaths in hospitals or due to natuNCRB data for 2023 shows forced labour (23,520 casral death cases. Tissues can be harvested up to 10 es) as the largest human trafficking crime, followed hours after death. One donor can save eight lives. by sexual exploitation (17,944). Maharashtra, Telan“India requires nearly one lakh corneas annually , gana, and Odisha reported the highest cases. yet only about one-third of this demand is being met. Tina Kuriakose Jacob of the International Institute Bone donation, in particular, plays a vital role in the for Migration Development termed the order “a step treatment of patients with trauma, nonunion of bone toward systematic review and monitoring to protect fractures, congenital abnormalities, and other bonethe poorest and most vulnerable workers.” related disorders,” the letter said. Four killed as firecrackers illegally stored in house explode Express News Service @ Chennai Four men were killed on Sunday after noon after an explosion caused allegedly by illegally stored firecrackers and country-made bombs at a house in Thandurai in Pattabiram in Chennai resulted in a portion of the structure collapsing and trapping them inside. Though the fire and rescue personnel reached the spot within minutes, they were unable to rescue the victims. Pattabiram police identified two Firefighters and policemen undertake rescue operations at the blast site in Pattabiram on Sunday afternoon | Express of the deceased as Yasin (25) and Sunil Prakash (23) of Thiruninravur who are believed to have visited the house to buy crackers. The bodies of the other two men had been charred beyond recognition and have not yet been identified. Neighbours had alerted emergency services after the blast that caused structural damage to several adjoining houses, shattering windowpanes across the street. Five fire engines from Avadi, Ambattur and neighbouring districts were deployed to the spot, and rescue personnel worked for hours to douse the fire amid intermittent explosions from the smouldering debris. The operation continued late into the evening, with cranes brought in to clear the remains of the collapsed structure. A fire department official said the operation was particularly dangerous as smaller explosions occurred for nearly 20 minutes after the initial blast. Quoting the neighbours, the Pattabiram police said as the house was located in a narrow lane, the impact was felt almost in all the neighbouring houses.  P5 af, pak agree on ceasefire deal The two sides have agreed to set up “mechanisms” to ensure lasting peace after days of violent clashes along the border that left several dead on both sides | P9 RTE admissions: Only 16K apply for 35K seats S u b a s h i n i V i j aya k u m a r @ Chennai The Tamil Nadu School Education Department’s attempt to fill 25% of seats in unaided non-minority private schools under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, for this academic year with children already admitted in the entry-level classes of these schools has hit a roadblock. Official data show that only 16,707 applications have been received for 34,666 seats in 3,220 private high and higher secondary schools as of October 14, the date on which the list of eligible applicants was originally scheduled to be published. Meanwhile, 65,306 applications were received for 45,721 seats in private primary schools. In the previous academic year of 2024-25, the department received a total of 1.7 lakh applications under the RTE Act. As a result of the shortfall and a recent Madras High Court order, sources said the department has extended the deadline to complete the RTE admission process from October 17 to October 31. While the notification for admissions under the RTE Act is usually issued in April, this year the TN government released it only on October 6, four months after the beginning of the academic year. The reason cited for the delay was the non-release of Samagra Shiksha funds by the union government. The centre eventually decided to sanction RTE funds to the state based on an HC order.P5