chennai l friday l january 17, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 38 l late city EDITION fresh strikes kill 70 in gaza hours after ceasefire deal announced Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy Israeli strikes that killed more than 70 people since a ceasefire agreement was announced on Wednesday night ‘No Cabinet approval till hamas backs down’ tightrope walk for bibi amid pressure Fresh Israeli strikes on Gaza come as Netanyahu signalled there were issues with the deal just hours after US President Joe Biden and key mediator Qatar announced it was complete. Netanyahu’s office said his Cabinet won’t meet to approve the deal until Hamas backs down, accusing it of reneging on parts of the agreement to gain concessions | P11 ■ ■ It is not clear if Netanyahu’s statements merely reflected jockeying to keep his fractious coalition together or if the deal was at risk While Netanyahu is under pressure from families of hostages to strike a deal, his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions 94 israelis are reportedly held hostage by Hamas in gaza 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 India joins elite club with docking of space capsules 8 Central pay panel gets nod E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru 6th pay panel (October 2006 — March 2008) Introduced pay bands and grade pay. Minimum proposed salary: `7,000/month; maximum salary: `80,000/month IN a big push for India’s space ambitions, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully docked two spacecraft as part of its Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission early Thursday This feat makes India the fourth . country to achieve the milestone, after USA, Russia and China. The docking occurred at 1.04 am, but ISRO scientists took time to analyse data and confirm the achievement before making it public. ISRO announced the successful A STEPPING docking on ‘X’, stating, STONE: PM “Spacecraft docking sucPrime Minister cessfully completed! A hisNarendra Modi took toric moment. Post docking, to X to congratulate control of two satellites as a the ISRO team. single object is successful. “Congratulations to Undocking and power transour scientists at fer checks to follow in com@ISRO. This is a ing days.” Although India’s significant stepping docking capability is behind stone...” he said the other three countries, ISRO scientists said this was a “challenging mission”. The docking occurred at a lower earth orbit, making communication more difficult. Additionally, docking smaller spacecraft is more challenging than larger ones, an ISRO scientist said. The `370 crore SpaDeX mission was launched on December 30, 2024, from Sriharikota, on the PSLV- C-60 launcher. WITH THIS ISSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 38 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) th Union Cabinet okays proposal; panel chairman, members to be appointed soon Look back 7th pay panel (Feb 2014 — Nov 2016) Minimum pay raised to `18,000/month; maximum pay `2,50,000/month MUKESH RAN J AN @ New Delhi Aiming to enhance the purchasing power of its employees amid high inflation, the government on Thursday approved the constitution of the eighth Central Pay Commission. The new panel is expected to recommend the revision of salaries and allowances of over one crore employees and pensioners. The term of the seventh Pay Commission will end this year. Briefing the media after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Min- 6 dead In jallikattu and majuvirattu in TN Five spectators, a bull owner, and two bulls died at jallikattu and manjuvirattu events held across TN on ‘Kaanum Pongal’ day on Thursday. Abichithar, who tamed 20 bulls, won the first prize of car in Alanganallur | P4 A bull racing past the tamers at Alanganallur. About 989 bulls & 500 tamers took part in the event | Express ister Narendra Modi, Union minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said: “Prime Minister has approved the 8th Central Pay Commission for Central government employees. Its chairman and two members will be appointed soon.” Over 50 lakh Central government employees and nearly 65 lakh pensioners are the expected beneficiaries of the eighth Pay Commission. Setting up of the new pay panel in 2025 will ensure that its recommendations are received well before the completion of the term of the 7th Pay Commission, Vaishnaw said. The new panel will hold consultations with Central and state governments and other stakeholders before submitting its recommendations, the minister added. The 7th Pay Commission was constituted in 2014 and its recommendations were implemented on January 1, 2016. It resulted in an expenditure increase of `1 lakh crore for fiscal 2016-17. As for the new pay panel, employee representatives and leaders of various trade unions have had numerous meetings with the government in the last one year about its formation. twelve maoists killed in C’garh encounter As many as 12 Maoists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Thursday. In all, 26 Maoists have been shot dead in separate encounters in the state this month | P10 home invasion Two minor, two intermediate and two deep injuries One injury on the back close to the spine A major injury to his thoracic spine Two other deep wounds in his left hand and right neck Treatment Surgery performed to remove the knife and to repair the leaking spinal fluid Team of doctors: Neurosurgeon Dr Nitin Dange, cosmetic surgeon Dr Leena Jain and Dr Nisha Gandhi Saif Ali Khan is completely stable now. He is recovering well and is out of danger Dr Nitin Dange Lilavati Hospital Saif Ali Khan stabbed inside home, is ‘safe’ S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai BOLLYWOOD star Saif Ali Khan was stabbed multiple times inside his home in Mumbai’s Bandra early Thursday morning by an intruder armed with a knife. Mumbai police said the stabbing occurred around 2.30 am on Thursday The . Bollywood actor is admitted at Lilavati Hospital, where he is “safe” after a surgery Khan’s attacker, armed with a stick . and a knife, initially demanded `1 crore from his staff, Khan’s public relations team said while confirming the burglary attempt. The demand led to a scuffle with the actor leading to the attack. Some family members were present at the time. A preliminary probe found that the intruder did not break CCTV visuals of into the actor’s flat in the intruder ‘Satguru Sharan’ building, but sneaked in at some point earlier in the night through a fire escape staircase, a police official said. Khan’s house-help, who raised the initial alarm, also suffered a minor knife injury during the incident, police said. Under a barrage from opposition leaders and several actors on the deteriorating law and order situation in the city Chief , Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “...To say that Mumbai is unsafe is not right.”