Air India taps former Ethiopian Airlines Group chief as new CEO kochi l thursday l august 06, 2026 l `10.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Ethiopian national Tewolde Gebremariam will replace New Zealander Campbell Wilson, who had announced his resignation in April Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said that after completing the initial phase of stabilisation, integration, and fleet commitments under Wilson, the airline is now entering a critical era of execution and expansion. Air India cited Gebremariam’s experience spearheading a major expansion that transformed Ethiopian Airlines into Africa’s largest and most profitable carrier Tewolde Gebremariam The change of guard comes amid multiple headwinds, including the 2025 Ahmedabad crash, soaring fuel costs & mounting losses 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 Meta apologises to govt for removing PM’s video It received “a lot of money” to boost certain content, say govt sources R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi US tech giant Meta on Wednesday apologised for promoting ‘biased’ and anti-government posts on Instagram and Facebook and admitted to being paid “a lot of money” to boost certain types of content, government sources said. The firm also expressed regret for briefly removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video posted on Facebook, which it claimed was due to an error by automated content filters. Earlier in the day, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan and members of his team met Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S Krishnan for about 45 minutes. The delegation later met Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. In a statement, Kaplan said: “I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post.” Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg must apologise within three days. If he does not apologise, we will withdraw the safe harbour protection that has been given to these social media platforms which they misuse Nishikant Dubey, IT panel chief However, Meity sources claimed the apology came from the Meta CEO. “Mark Zuckerberg sent his apologies for the CSAM (child sexual abuse material) content, deepfake content and errors in operating the platform. They admitted that a lot of money was paid for boosting certain types of content. They apologised and regretted the mistake.” Sources said Meta officials will be summoned again. Meta-owned platforms Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp have been under the government’s radar over allegations of algorithmic bias. Sources said the platform promoted one-sided content during the recent student protests. Another major issue flagged was the presence of CSAM on Instagram. The move followed a BBC report which found that Instagram displayed paid ads containing terms such as “rape video” and “child video”. Meta officials were summoned after Facebook briefly removed a video posted by PM Modi addressing the youth during the student protest. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT, headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, asked Zuckerberg to apologise within three days. typhoon powers monsoon Kerala braces for more heavy rain S hainu M ohan @ T’Puram Kerala is bracing for another spell of heavy rain over the next three days, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing orange alerts for several districts on Thursday . According to meteorologists, the indirect influence of Typhoon Dolphin over the western Pacific is expected to strengthen the southwest monsoon over Kerala until Saturday, bringing heavy rain to a state that has already received nearly half of its Shah likely to speak on FCRA Hasina sticks to bill in LS, Rijiju meets Rahul December return J ayanth J aco b @ New Delhi P r e e tha N air @ New Delhi Political party prevails over legislature party: SC Kiren Rijiju Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana during the hearing of a plea against the Maharashtra Speaker’s decision not to disqualify Shinde faction MLAs under the antidefection law. “The control of the political party subsists over the legislature party Any decision of the . political party, validly demon- Rahul Gandhi S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi A political party retains control over its MPs and MLAs and the party’s official directives prevail over the will of the elected members, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday . The oral remark came from a bench of Chief Justice Surya strated, must prevail over any will, even if of the majority of the legislature party said Jus,” tice Bagchi. SC was also hearing Uddhav Thackeray’s plea challenging the ECI order that recognised the Eknath Shinde group as the real Shiv Sena. The hearing on Wednesday was inconclusive and would continue on Thursday . normal August rainfall in the first five days of the month. According to IMD data, Kerala recorded 226 mm of rainfall between August 1 and 5 against the normal 90.6 mm — an excess of 149%. The IMD has upgraded rain alerts in several districts, warning of heavy to very heavy rain over the next two days. IMD Director Neetha K Gopal said the impact of the fresh spell could be significant as many parts of the state have received substantial rainfall over the past ● More on P4 few days.  Even as the deadlock in Parliament persists, the Centre is likely to introduce the contentious bill to amend the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing session, sources privy to the development said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to intervene in the debate and reply to the discussion on the proposed legislation, sources said. The proposed tabling comes amid repeated disruptions in both Houses, with the Opposition insisting that Shah make a statement in Parliament on the alleged police action against protesting students. In a bid to break the logjam, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju met Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and sought his cooperation in passing crucial bills, said sources. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Cong ress MP K C Venugopal said the Opposition will not allow the bill to pass in its current form. “The Leader of the Opposition has strongly expressed his concerns, and the party and Opposition’s stand is also very clear. They cannot bring the FCRA bill in its old format. We will oppose it very strongly,” he said. Though the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25 this year, the Centre deferred its passage after facing fierce objections from the Opposition parties and various civil society organisations. Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday reiterated that she would return to Bangladesh in December despite facing criminal convictions and the prospect of imprisonment or worse, while demanding that the ban on her Awami League party be lifted. In her first interaction with the media since being ousted from power in 2024, Hasina addressed journalists remotely at an event hosted by Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi. Although she was expected to appear on video, she delivered only an audio message. “I will return to my people,” Hasina said, adding that she would announce the exact date “when the time is right”. “They may try to implicate me with fabricated cases, but fear cannot decide my duty to the people, my life or beyond,” she said. 16 pages, including 4 pages of kochi Express