Meta India apologises for Zuck’s poll remark Meta India on Wednesday apologised for CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s incorrect claim that the NDA government lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Meta India’s Vice President Shivnath Thukral on Wednesday apologised for the “inadvertent error”. “Mark’s observation that many incumbent parties were not re-elected in 2024 holds true for several countries, BUT not India.” | P9 chennai l THURSday l JANUARY 16, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l lATE 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 Deal reached to pause Gaza war, free hostages and determined US diplomacy . The deal is expected to delivAfter more than 15 months of er an initial six-week halt to grueling war, Israel and Hamas fighting that is to be accompaagreed to a ceasefire deal and nied by the opening of negotiathe release dozens of hostages, tions on ending the war altomultiple officials confirmed on gether. Egypt is exploring the Wednesday . possibility of opening the RaTrump, who had warned Ha- fah crossing to sent aid. mas of hell to pay if it did not The deal promises the release free the remaining capof dozens of hostages tives before he took ofheld by Hamas in fice, said, “We have a phases in exchange for deal for the hostages in the release of hunthe Middle East. They dreds of Palestinian will be released shortly. prisoners in Israel. It Thank you!” would also allow hunThe deal comes after dreds of thousands of mediators Qatar, Egypt people displaced in and the United States inGaza to return to what tensified their efforts in remains of their recent days to cement an We have a deal homes. for the hostages agreement. Qatari Prime Soon after the news in the Middle Minister Mohammed broke, thousands of East. They will bin Abdulrahman Al Gazans gathered in be released Thani said the deal groups, hugging and shortly. would come into effect taking photos with Thank you on Sunday . their mobile phones to Donald Trump Three officials from mark the announcethe US and one from Hament in central Gaza’s mas confirmed that a deal had Deir el-Balah and other area. been reached, while Netanya- Earlier, over 100 hostages were hu’s office said that final details freed from Gaza in 2023. were still unresolved, but that it Trump said his Mideast enhoped “details will be finalised voy, Steve Witkoff, would contonight”. The pact is expected tinue “to work closely with Isto discussed by the Israeli cabi- rael and our Allies to make sure net on Thursday . Gaza NEVER again becomes a US President Joe Biden terrorist safe haven”. Hamas hailed the agreement, asserting triggered the war with its Octoit is the result of the pressure ber 7, 2023, attack, which killed and isolation placed on Hamas some 1,200 Israelis. BJP raps Rahul’s claim of fighting Indian state Pa r v e z S u lta n a n d RA J E S H K U M AR T H A K UR @ New Delhi agencies Sonia Gandhi inaugurates the new All India Congress Committee HQ at 9A, Kotla Road, in New Delhi on Wednesday, as party chief Mallikarjun Kharge looks on | PTI A rather sharp attack by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday against RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent remarks, drew heavy retaliatory fire from BJP’s biggies. At the inaugural event of the party’s headquarters here, Rahul criticised Bhagwat’s claim that India achieved “true independence” only after the Ram temple was consecrated, saying it amounts to treason. “Bhagwat has the audacity to say what he thinks about the independence movement and the Constitution. What he said yesterday is treason… Because he is stating that the Constitu- ED attaches `101cr assets of ex-min E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) Chennai zonal office has provisionally attached two immovable properties worth `100.92 crore, belonging to Orathanadu MLA R Vaithilingam, in a money laundering case, an official release said on Wednesday. Vaithilingam had served as minister for housing and urban development during the AIADMK regime between 2011 and 2016. The attachment was made under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2022, on January 9. The properties are in the name of M/s Muthammal Estates Private Limited, owned by Vaithilingam’s family ED said. , The central agency’s investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Chennai, under Section 120B of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against Vaithilingam, for alleged corruption in 2016 during his term as minister. It is alleged that he had accepted a bribe of `27.90 crore from Shriram Properties & Infrastructure Private Limited in exchange for granting planning permission for a real estate project. Earlier, ED searches conducted during the probe uncovered a carefully-planned modus operandi involving the use of shell entities to layer and disguise bribe payments as share application money the agency said. , These payments, purportedly made by Shriram Group entities for the purchase of land, were instead routed through multiple shell entities and ultimately parked in M/s Muthammal Estates Private Limited, a company controlled by Vaithilingam’s family members. The illicit funds were then utilised to acquire various immovable proper ties in Tiruchy which have now been , provisionally attached. Further probe is on, ED added. Vaithilingam was expelled from the AIADMK along with former chief minister O Panneerselvam in 2022. tion is invalid,” the Congress leader claimed. Rahul went on to say that the BJP and RSS have captured almost every institution, adding the Congress is now fighting not just both of them but the Indian state itself. The BJP launched a bazooka against Rahul for claiming the Congress was fighting the Indian state. Party president J P Nadda and others castigated Rahul, adding it exposed his mindset. “I compliment Mr Rahul Gandhi for saying clearly what nation knows... It is not a secret that Mr Gandhi and his ecosystem have close links with Urban Naxal and the deep state who want to defame, demean and discredit India.” express read Bodies of 3 minor boys found in Kanchi lake Chennai: Bodies of three minor boys were found in a lake near Uthiramerur in Kancheepuram district on Wednesday. While it was initially alleged by locals the boys’ faces were found to be burnt, police have denied it. Further investigation is under way, they added | P3 Exports contract 1% in December 2024 New Delhi: India’s merchandise exports contracted 1% year-onyear to $38.01 billion, while imports rose by 4.9% to $59.95 billion in December. The trade deficit narrowed to $21.94 in December month-on-month compared to $32 bn in November Sue handler of Pannun plot, says top panel M U K E S H RAN J AN @ New Delhi A high-powered committee set up by the government in the wake of a botched operation to bump off Khalistani radical Gurupatwant Singh Pannun on US soil, recommended legal action against ‘an individual’ who masterminded the plot. While the home ministry did not name the individual, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified him as Vikash Yadav. In its lookout notice, the FBI said Yadav was wanted in a “murder-for-hire case; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire; and money laundering”. The US District Court, Southern District of New York, issued an arrest warrant against him on October 10, 2024. The home ministry said in a statement that the panel was formed in 2023 to probe the individual’s links with the drug mafia and criminal gangs after allegations that a plot was hatched to disturb American security interest in 2023. “After a long enquiry, the Committee has recommended legal action against an individual, whose earlier criminal links and antecedents also came to notice during the enquiry the ministry said. ,” Yadav was with the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) when the alleged plot to bump off Pannun went sideways. He was later sacked. The ministry said the panel recommended expeditious legal action against him.