First-ever victory in WC history for Egypt Mohamed Salah shone as Egypt earned their first win in World Cup history, beating New Zealand 3-1 on Sunday while Cape Verde conjured another memorable show to snatch a draw (2-2) with Uruguay. Today's matches COIMBATORE l tuesday l june 23, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION Mohamed Salah (L) celebrates after scoring against New Zealand on Sunday | P11 Group K: Portugal vs Uzbekistan (10.30 PM), Colombia vs DR Congo (7.30 AM*). Group L: England vs Ghana (1.30 AM*), Panama vs Croatia (4.30 AM*) *IST Wednesday Live on United8 Sports & ZEE5 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 Suspected AC defect leads to blaze in commercial building Meta ropes in CRED founder Kunal Shah as WhatsApp boss Pa d m i n i D h r u v a r a j @ Bengaluru Students among 15 dead in UP fire asset outsourcing centre. Most of those killed were stuAT least 15 people, mostly stu- dents who had come for interndents between 22 and 27 years, ship/work at the gaming stuwere charred to death after a dio. Around 35 students were fire broke out in a three-storey present when the fire broke commercial building in a posh out. As per fire department Lucknow neighboursources, the blaze hood on a busy Monoriginated in the pet day afternoon. The deshop due to a short circeased list includes cuit in an air-condifour women too. tioner around 2.30 pm, The fire broke out Most of the victims suddenly. It seems and spread rapidly bethat the children were trapped on the fore engulfing the ran towards the second floor of the building. backside but building, located on “22 people were couldn’t survive Usha Mehta Marg in brought to the TrauAliganj in north Lucma Centre of KGMU Brajesh Pathak, UP know, where students following the incident. deputy CM were attending classes Of them, 15 were deat an animation cenclared brought dead, tre. The building houses a pet while five injured were admitshop and clinic in the base- ted for treatment,” King George ment, ground, and first floors. Medical University PRO Prof K The second floor has a library- K Singh told PTI. cum-coaching centre called The state government has set “Learning Space”, and also up an SIT under ADG Praveen housed “Head Hopper Studio,” Kumar to ascertain the cause a 3D Art production and game of the fire. N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow Rescue efforts (L) in progress at the site of the fire in Lucknow; and videograb of students sliding down a cable (above) to save themselves | PTI/Express President, Vice President offer condolences President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President C P Radhakrishnan on Monday condoled the loss of lives in Lucknow. “The news of the deaths of numerous people in the horrific fire accident that occurred in Lucknow is extremely sad,” President Murmu said on X Adityanath promises strict action for lapses Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath on Monday evening said every person responsible will face strict action. He announced ex-gratia of `5 lakh for the kin of each deceased, while PM Modi offered `2 lakh each . META has appointed CRED founder Kunal Shah as the global CEO of WhatsApp. Shah replaces Will Cathcart, who has stepped down after running the messaging platform for seven years. As part of the deal, the US tech giant will invest about `8,550 crore, or $900 million, in the Bengalurubased fintech company. The investment values CRED at `43,239 crore or $4.5 billion. Meta will be a minority investor in CRED and will not receive access to customer information, the company said. E x p r e s s Re a d TNCC chief offers to step down from post Chennai: TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai has asked the Congress high command to relieve him from the post. The decision comes amid criticism from several Congress leaders regarding lack of transparency in selection of candidates in the recent assembly polls | P7 New tribunal won’t affect TN’s rights: Min Chennai: Minister Aadhav Arjuna on Monday assured the House that constitution of a new tribunal in Mekedatu dispute will not affect TN’s stance in the Cauvery row. There will be no change in Karnataka’s obligation to release 177 tmcft of water to TN, he said | P4 Shah will step away from his operating role at CRED while retaining his personal shareholding. Miten Sampat, who has led strategy and finance at the company since 2020, will become CRED’s interim CEO. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “Kunal Shah will join Meta as WhatsApp’s Kunal Shah next leader. Kunal built CRED into one of India’s most important technology companies, and he brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world’s biggest messaging app.” Shah said: “While it’s come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive.” Shah’s appointment marks a significant addition to the growing list of Indian-origin executives steering the world’s most influential technology companies such as Google (Sundar Pichai) and Microsoft (Satya Nadella). Toll up to 8 in ammonia leak, 6 more die in hosp R a j a l a k s h m i S a m pat h @ Chennai The death toll in Sunday’s ammonia gas leak at St Peter & Paul Sea Foods Exports in Kannigaipair, Tiruvallur district, rose to eight on Monday after six more, including a 15-year-old girl, died in hospital. All the victims belong to a Scheduled Tribe community in Odisha’s Kendujhar district. The deceased were identified as R Shibani, Phulomani Juang, Geetha Juang, Purnima Juang, Champabati Juang, J Parvathi Juang, Sita, and the minor girl. Labour Welfare and Skill Development Minister J Mohamed Parvas told the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday that the gas leak occurred due to an unexpected fault in a valve connected to a pipeline leading to an ice flake generator machine at the unit. Sunday’s incident was not the first at the facility Police . sources said an ammonia leak was reported at the same unit in 2014. An affected worker, hospitalised on October 23 that year, died of complications on January 15, 2015. A case registered in connection with that death is being heard by a Tiruvallur court.  P7  EMERGENCY ALARM FAILED: P2 India, China see progress to gradual normalisation J aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi India and China on Monday reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations and noted progress towards the gradual normalisation of ties as National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the BRICS National Security Advisers’ meeting in New Delhi. The meeting comes amid a cautious thaw in relations between the two neighbours following the tensions triggered by the 2020 military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Officials described the latest engagement as “constructive and forward-looking,” reflecting continued efforts by both sides to stabilise ties. External Affairs Minister spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Doval “underlined that stable, predictable and constructive bilateral relations contribute to building of trust and better understanding between the two sides.” “The discussions were constructive and forward-looking,” he added. The Indian delegation included Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Indian ambassador to China Vikram Doraiswami and Deputy NSA Pavan Kapoor.