villupuram l wednesday l february 04, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Paris prosecutors raid X offices over child abuse images, deepfakes The search at the offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform was part of a preliminary probe into a range of offences, including child porn Charges include denial of the Holocaust Musk summoned for ‘interview’ on Apr 20 The investigation was opened in January last year by the cybercrime unit. It is looking into alleged “complicity” in possession and spreading of pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of the Holocaust—which is a crime in France—and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organised group, among other charges ■ ■ In addition, the Paris prosecutors have sought “voluntary interviews” of Musk and Linda Yaccarino, former CEO of X, on April 20 The investigation was first opened following reports by a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X were likely to have distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system X Denied the charges and termed the investigation ‘politically motivated’ 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 B ig d e a l Sensex soars 2,072 points, investors richer by `12 lakh cr No word from India yet on halting oil purchases: Russia The equity markets gave a thumbs up to the US tariff cut with the Sensex zooming 2,072 points and the broader Nifty closing above 25,700 on Tuesday. Stock investors’ wealth surged by `12.10 lakh crore following the sharp rally in equities in response to the positive news | P12 Russia has not heard any statement from India about stopping Russia oil purchases, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that Russia will continue to develop its relations with India. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Kremlin is closely monitoring the situation Jt statement soon, not opening up agri, dairy to US: Goyal P USH P ITA DE Y @ New Delhi INDIA’s sensitive sectors, including agriculture and dairy, will remain protected under the trade deal with the US, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday . “Interests of farmers have been safeguarded. There has been no compromise on sensitive sectors like dairy and agriculture,” Goyal said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently paid attention to the welfare of stakeholders in these sectors. Goyal’s clarification came after US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins claimed in a social media post that the new deal would allow exports of more American farm products to India’s massive market, thus lifting prices and pumping cash into rural America. A commerce ministry official said that no new items of agriculture will be allowed to be imported; the deal will include only some products that are currently allowed, such as dry fruits. On Monday Trump announced that , the US tariff on Indian goods would be cut from 25% to 18%. He said Washington would also remove the additional 25% tariff imposed on New Delhi as a penalty for buying Russian oil. Trump also said India has agreed to $500 billion worth of imports from the US. In a clarification, India’s commerce ministry said the $500 billion imports would be spread over five years, primarily driven by imports for India’s data centres and global capability centres. Thus, imports from US could touch $100 billion annually — up from $45.62 billion merchandise imports in 2024. Goyal said the deal will open up huge opportunities for India’s labour-intensive sectors. A joint statement is likely this week followed by a fact sheet. According to sources, as of now only the framework addressing the tariff challenges have been negotiated. Quad gets lifeline, Trump may visit India this year J AYA N TH J A C O B @ New Delhi EVEN as the fine print of the India-US trade deal is awaited, key political and strategic doors appear to be opening from the revival of Quad momentum to the possibility of US President Donald Trump visiting India later this year. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are set to hold talks in Washington, DC on Tuesday at 3.30 pm EST (around 2 am IST on Wednesday), amid heightened anticipation over the India–US trade deal. At the heart of the announcement is Trump’s claim that India’s “reciprocal tariff ” rate would be reduced from 25% to 18% under the deal. White House sources have also indicated that the additional 25% duty imposed on India in August for purchasing Russian oil would be eliminated. However, as of now, there is no executive order, legally required for tariff changes to take effect. New Delhi, for its part, has remained cautious. There has been no formal response to Trump’s assertion that India has stopped buying Russian oil, and officials are waiting for the Office of the US Trade Representative to share the detailed contours of the agreement. The proposed 18% headline tariff places India in a relatively favourable position compared to competitors Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and China. But experts say the real impact will depend on the fine print. “Purchase of oil is largely left to the companies and many of them are in the private sector. They will purchase oil which is most cost-competitive,” said ex-foreign secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Vardhan Shringla. Martial artist to be Manipur CM P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati Martial artist-turned-politician Yumnam Khemchand Singh (62) of BJP is set to become the chief minister of Manipur. The swearing-in could take place on Wednesday . The state’s BJP MLAs, who met in New Delhi on Tuesday, elected Khemchand — a two-time MLA, former minister and former assembly speaker representing Singjamei in Imphal valley — as the BJP legislature party leader. Khemchand’s election signalled the withdrawal of President’s rule that was imposed on February 13 last P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi With the face-off between the government and the Opposition sharpened over blocking Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi from speaking in the Lok Sabha on the Sino-Indian border issue, seven Congress members and one CPI-M MP were suspended on Tuesday for ‘throwing papers’ at the Chair. The suspended members are Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam E x p r e ss R e a d Class 11 boy found with ganja on school premises Chennai: A ganja packet was found in the possession of a 16-year-old Class 11 boy at a government school in Vyasarpadi on Tuesday, raising concerns over easy access of drugs to schoolkids. While sources said the contraband was found during an inspection by a teacher, the police claimed that the boy had picked up the packet from the ground while on his way to school | P2 Stalin: DMK panel for seat-sharing talks soon Chennai: CM MK Stalin on Tuesday said DMK would start seat-sharing talks with its allies by forming a panel soon. “The committee may be formed within a week. Since alliance partners are with the DMK from 2019, it should not take much time to finalise the numbers. New allies will be accommodated only if they accept the proposed number of seats,” a party source said | P4 earful from the SC Power point Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Amit Shah, BJP national president Nitin Nabin and others during the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday | PTI Annamalai quits as BJP in-charge for 6 seats express news Service @ Chennai/Coimbatore Former BJP state president K Annamalai on Tuesday said that he has decided to step down as the party’s election in-charge for six assembly constituencies for the Assembly elections due to his father’s ill health. The six seats for which he was appointed as the BJP’s point man included Singanallur in Coimbatore from where he is widely expected to contest in the forthcoming polls. Annamalai’s announcement comes amid speculation that he was unhappy about being given charge of just six Assembly constituencies. After his exit as state president, he was widely expected to be given a national role, but that too has not happened yet. Fifth-dan black belt holder Khemchand was recently awarded a fifth-dan black belt by the Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation (GTTF) in Seoul, South Korea. He is the only Indian to get a fifth-dan black belt from GTTF LS suspends eight ‘unruly’ Opposition MPs Meta and Whatsapp get an Tech giants told by the Supreme Court that they cannot play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing | P7 year for six months and later, extended by another six months. It will expire on February 13. It remains to be seen if the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs, including seven from BJP, will participate in the government. The Kuki-Zo community has stuck to its guns on the Union Territory with separate legislature demand. Khemchand’s attempt to break the ice in the ethnically partitioned state by visiting Kuki-Zo villages in Naga-majority Ukhrul and Kamjong districts was the first hint on him being the chosen one for the next CM. It was seen as a confidence-building measure in Manipur. According to a senior party source, who denied any unhappiness on Annamalai’s part, the former IPS officer was not keen on limiting his activities to the state but was expecting a national-level responsibility . Several BJP leaders, however, voiced dissatisfaction over his public announcement to the media about his inability to be fully involved in poll works when elections are fast approaching.  P5 Tagore, Prashant Padole and Dean Kuriakose (all Congress) and S Ventakesan (CPI-M). There was a massive uproar after Rahul was stopped by the Chair from continuing with his reference to an article on former Army Chief Gen M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. He resumed his speech after authenticating the magazine article with the Chair. While he tried to address the points without directly quoting the article, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the chair, objected and called the names of the next speakers from the Opposition side. However, the Opposition members refused to speak. Amid the chaos, the House was then adjourned till 3 pm as Opposition members protested, raising slogans and throwing papers. Earlier, though Speaker Om Birla called a meeting of the Opposition and the treasury benchs to break the deadlock, it did not yield any result. Both sides remained firm on their stance regarding Rahul’s reference to the article quoting Gen Naravane. As soon as the House met at 3 pm, Dilip Saikia, who was in the Chair, named the eight ‘unruly’ members. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju then read out a resolution seeking their suspension for the remaining period of the Budget session. The resolution was passed by a voice vote.