BHUBANESWAR l thursday l august 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION Air India taps former Ethiopian Airlines Group chief as new CEO Ethiopian national Tewolde Gebremariam will replace New Zealander Campbell Wilson, who had announced his resignation in April Piloted a major expansion at previous role Change of guard amid multiple headwinds 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 | P10 ■ ■ The change of guard also comes amid multiple headwinds, including the 2025 Ahmedabad crash, soaring fuel costs and mounting losses Air India had been searching for a replacement for Wilson for months amid the scrutiny that followed last year’s crash. Multiple candidates from India and abroad were considered, the airline said 5-10 yr timeline set for air India’s comprehensive turnaround 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 Shah may speak on FCRA bill in LS, Rijiju meets Rahul 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.” Spl court grants bail to former SCERT director E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Cuttack A special court here on Wednesday granted bail to former State Council of Educational Re s e a r c h a n d T r a i n i n g (SCERT) director Manoj Kumar Padhy, holding that his continued detention in the school textbook error case would amount to “pretrial punishment” when the prosecution had yet to establish any prima facie personal gain or criminal benefit. Padhy arrested by the Crime , Branch on July 13 in connection with the controversial publication of error-ridden school textbooks, had challenged the rejection of his bail plea by the JMFC-III Cuttack, on July 14. He faces allegations of criminal negligence, conspiracy and criminal breach of trust for allegedly approving print-ready manuscripts without ensuring proper factual verification.  Continued on P5 Another meeting likely today Government sources said Meta’s global officials have been asked to stay back for another round of questioning on Thursday, when IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will meet the firm’s executives once again 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 gover nment’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 ter ms such as “rape video” and “child video”. Meta officials were summoned after Facebook briefly removed a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra 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. The panel also warned that Meta could lose the safe harbour protection, which shields platforms from liability for user-generated content, if it uses algorithms to curate content instead of merely hosting third-party material. P r ee t ha N a i r @ New Delhi 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 Bi g mo ney to boost content Government sources said Vaishnaw asked Meta whether it accepted payments to promote content that could trigger public disorder. After the meeting, Meta executives admitted to failures involving child sexual abuse content and deepfakes and that “a lot of money was paid for boosting certain content” Political Party prevails over legislature party: SC S U C H ITR 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 observed on Wednesday . The oral remark came from a bench of Chief Justice Surya 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 anti-defection law. “The control of the political party subsists over the legislature party Any decision of the political . party validly demonstrated, must pre, vail over any will, even of the majority of the legislature party,” said Justice Bagchi. The top court was also hearing Uddhav Thackeray’s plea challenging the ECI order that recognised the Eknath Shinde group as the real Shiv Sena. Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Uddhav faction, argued that the ECI was wrong in refusing to accept the 2018 party constitution. He added that both sides were appointed under the 2018 constitution and that the 10th Schedule does not recognise ‘split’ any- more—the only defence is merger, which has not happened. He argued that the ECI lacked jurisdiction to determine the validity of a political party’s constitution. “The poll panel’s decision refusing to recognise the 2018 party constitution on the ground that it was not on record was e r ro n e o u s, ” t h e s e n i o r l aw ye r contended. Sibal further argued that Article 11A of the constitution had already been brought to the ECI’s notice in 2013. CJI Kant asked if there are clear parameters in ECI rules or the party constitution to define “majority of the political party”, calling it a grey area. To this, Sibal cited the Sadiq Ali judgment as laying down the law. On the point of 10th Schedule, Sibal argued that the concept of ‘split’ stands abolished—merger alone is recognised, and no such merger has occurred. In that light, it was contended that a splinter legislative group cannot lay claim to being the real party . The SC is examining the interplay between party constitution, ECI powers, and the 10th Schedule. The hearing on Wednesday was inconclusive and would continue on Thursday . Sheikh Hasina sticks to December return plan, seeks ban on Awami League lifted J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi 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 to be lifted. In her first interaction with the media since being ousted from power in August 2024, Hasina addressed journalists remotely at an event hosted by the 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. The remarks come two years after the mass protests that forced her try’s Liberation War and those who from office and months after Bang- died defending its independence. ladesh’s International Crimes Tri- “For the last two years, I watched bunal sentenced her to death in ab- my beloved Bangladesh suffer. This sentia for allegedly ordering a is not the Bangladesh we built; this deadly crackdown on prois not the Bangladesh for testers during the 2024 which three million peouprising. Making it clear ple sacrificed their lives that she intended to rein 1971,” she said, adding turn despite the risks, that although she had Hasina said, “I know they been “forced away” from may put me in jail or kill her country, she was me. I will go back home to “never separated” from be with my people.” She its people. said she had chosen the Hasina also defended last month of the year beher government’s hancause “December is our dling of the unrest, revictory month. So, I want Sheikh Hasina jecting the widely held to go back in December. I characterisation of the know I may face anything.” protests as a peaceful student moveAt the outset of her address, an ment. “Let me begin with the truth emotional Hasina paid tribute to about July and August 2024. It was Bangladesh’s founding leader not a peaceful student movement,” Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her father, she said, alleging organised groups who was assassinated along with had turned genuine student demost of her family in the 1975 mili- mands into “a violent political intary coup. Her voice repeatedly strument” aimed at ousting her broke as she remembered the coun- government. 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, Congress 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 No proposal on special session of Parliament: Govt Amid speculation on a special session of Parliament from August 16 to 18 to take up the women’s reservation and delimitation bills, Rijiju dismissed the reports, saying there was no such proposal expressed his conA key point of concerns, and the party tention is the proposa n d O p p o s i t i o n’s al empowering the stand is also very Centre to appoint a clear. They cannot ‘designated authoribring the FCRA bill ty’ who would control in its old format. We the funds and assets will oppose it very in case the FCRA cerstrongly. We are not tificate is cancelled, going to allow them to surrendered or Kiren Rijiju pass such a draconian ceased. The concern bill,” he said. is that it could lead to Though the bill was excessive gover nintroduced in the Lok ment control and arSabha on March 25 bitrary action against this year, the Centre NGOs. deferred its passage Speaking to this paafter facing fierce obper, DMK MP P Wiljections from the Opson said, “The proviposition parties and sions in this FCRA various civil society amendment bill are Rahul Gandhi organisations. so draconian that While several prothey resemble the Envisions of the bill have been op- emy Property Act, 1968, which posed by political parties, allowed the government conchurch heads and NGOs, it was trol over assets left behind by learnt that the government people who moved to enemy may bring some amendments countries like Pakistan or to the proposed legislation. China.”