24 candidates secure a perfect 100 in JEE Main Twenty-four candidates scored a perfect 100 in JEE (Main) 2025, the results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday. Rajasthan, India’s coaching hub, had the highest number of candidates — seven — with a 100 percentile villupuram l sunday l april 20, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 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 Putin springs a short Easter truce surprise Unilateral gesture by Russian leader after US hard talk truces, having previously rejected a January 2023 ceasefire. Zelenskyy AMID growing frustration in Washing- wrote on X that the truce plan came as ton over stalled peace efforts, Russian air raid alerts were announced in President Vladimir Putin announced a Ukraine due to drone attacks. surprise Easter truce in the The ceasefire announcement conflict in Ukraine. follows fresh Russian claims of The truce will pause “all hosterritorial gains, including the tilities” from 6 pm Moscow time capture of another settlement on Saturday (11 am Eastern near the Kursk border region. Time) until midnight on MonPresident Putin suggested the day (5 pm ET Sunday). truce would serve as a test of The announcement came on Ukraine’s sincerity about wantthe same day as Russia, Ukraine ing peace. US Secretary of State swapped hundreds of prisoners Marco Rubio had signalled in the war’s largest exchange. Our troops must growing impatience with the be ready to Russia said 246 Russian service peace process. members were returned from repel violations On Friday he warned that the , of the truce territory controlled by Kyiv, United States is prepared to and any and that ‘as a gesture of good“move on” from its role in broprovocations will’ 31 wounded Ukrainian kering peace talks unless there prisoners of war were trans- —Vladimir Putin are tangible signs of progress ferred in exchange for 15 woundin the coming days. “We can’t ed Russian soldiers. keep chasing a breakthrough that isn’t Putin said he expects Ukraine to re- coming,” he said. President Donald ciprocate: “We assume that the Ukrain- Trump, too, weighed in, saying that the ian side will follow our example.” negotiations between Russia and Ukraine has been wary of short-term Ukraine are “coming to a head.” E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE The Great New AdVentures PLUS 12 PAGES 1st in-person trade talks with U.S. from April 23 D i pak M o nda l @ New Delhi Aiming to quickly wrap up the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the US before the September-October deadline, India is sending a small delegation of five-six negotiators to the US on April 23. The delegation is likely to stay there for three days, commerce ministry sources said. US vice-president J D Vance is due to arrive in India on Monday, April 21. The Indian delegation’s visit a couple of days later indicates the mutual urge to expedite the talks. Earlier, the ministry had indicated that physical negotiations will begin only in the first week of May “While . virtual negotiations have started, we thought we will send a small delegation to the US to carry forward the discussions,” a commerce ministry official told this newspaper. India’s chief negotiator — additional secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal — will lead the team for the first in-person talks. He was appointed the next commerce secretary on April 18. He will assume office on October 1. Though some reports suggest both sides have agreed to have the discussions covering 19 chapters, including tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and customs facilitation, the ministry official quoted earlier denied it. e x p r ess r e a d West Bengal governor meets victims of riots, assures help Thackeray cousins spark buzz on political alliance Kolkata: West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Saturday met families of victims who lost their lives during the communal violence triggered by protests against the anti-Waqf Act in Murshidabad district. The governor assured them of all possible support | P8 Mumbai: Estranged cousins Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray have hinted that they can come together for the larger interest of Marathi manoos and Maharashtra, fueling speculation about a possible alliance that could reshape the state’s politics | P8 Rift in MDMK: Durai resigns as principal secy S K U M A R E S A N @ Chennai In an indication of irreconcilable differences between top leaders within the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Durai Vaiko—Lok Sabha MP and son of party founder Vaiko—resigned from his post of principal secretary on Saturday a day , before the party’s high-level committee is scheduled to meet in Chennai on Sunday . Durai, in a statement, expressed his anguish over “persistent personal attacks” against him in the past four years. Though he did not name anyone, party sources said he was referring to the rift between him and senior party leader Mallai Sathya. He said while he had endured the attacks silently, time had come to step down from organisational responsibilities.  P5