DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES ‘NOT HURT CHINA’ Indian team headed back to Washington for trade talks RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 13 U.S., EGYPT, TURKEY, QATAR SIGN CEASEFIRE DOCUMENT Hostages back, prisoners freed; Trump says long nightmare over Youcanbealittlebitnicer,Bibi...you’renotatwaranymore:TrumptoNetanyahu SIGNALLING A likely thaw in trade talks with the US, Indian negotiators are set to reach Washington this week to bridge differences with American negotiators and inch closer to a trade deal, a senior government official said Monday. This comes after newly appointed US Ambassador-designate Sergio Gor met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as well as Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal over the weekend. While it’s unclear if the upcomingmeetingwiththeUnited States Trade Representative (USTR) will be a formal round of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Gujarat nursing college staffer gets life term for killing principal KAMAL SAIYED SURAT, OCTOBER 13 AN ACCOUNTANT working at a government nursing college in Daman has been sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping and murdering the principal of a government nursing college, who hailed from Puducherry, who had confrontedhimonsuspicionthathe siphoned off the mess fees paid by students. The sentence was handed CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Alon Ohel, one of the 20 hostages released by Hamas, reunited with his family in Reim, Israel; (right) a Palestinian prisoner freed from an Israeli jail hugs his family member in Ramallah, West Bank, on Monday. Reuters FULLCOVERAGE,PAGE17 NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI & MAAYAN LUBELL CAIRO, JERUSALEM, OCTOBER 13 HAMAS FREED the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza on Monday under a ceasefire deal andIsraelsenthomebusloadsof Palestinian detainees, as US President Donald Trump told Israel's Parliament that peace had arrived in the “holy land”. TheIsraelimilitarysaidithad received all 20 hostages confirmed to be alive, after their transfer from Gaza by the Red `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 THE EDITORIAL PAGE BUSINESS AS USUAL HOPE IN GAZA BY UNNY Trump, disruptor-in-chief, becomes the unlikely peacemaker; what next depends on Hamas and Israel moving to Phase 2 PAGE 8 Cross. The announcement promptedcheering,huggingand weeping among thousands waiting at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv. In Gaza, thousands of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MoSKirtiVardhanSinghwith PresidentTrumpinSharm el-Sheikh.ThePM,inapost onX,saidIndiasupports Trump’s‘sincereeffortsto bringpeacetotheregion’. PTI REPORT, PAGE 12 EPFO allows 100% withdrawal of eligible balance, eases corpus access FEWERCATEGORIES,FLEXIBLENORMS AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 13 IN A significant change in the withdrawalconditionsforover30 croremembersoftheEmployees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the retirement fund body’s Central Board of Trustees, in its 238th meeting Monday, streamlined the categories for drawing funds to just three — essential needs (illness, education, marriage); housing needs; and ‘specialcircumstances’—fromthe existing 13 categories. Withdrawal limits have now been eased with education withdrawals allowed up to 10 timesandmarriageupto5times during the membership from the existing limit of 3 partial withdrawals for marriage and education combined, a statement by the Ministry of Labour and Employment said. Under the ‘special circumstances’ category, the Ministry said the EPF members can now 3withdrawalcategories Essentialneeds(illness, education,marriage) ■ Noreasonneededunder Housingneeds Specialcircumstances withdrawupto100per centof‘eligiblebalance’ Minimumserviceperiod Before Now Housing needs 5yrs 1yr Educationand 7yrs 1yr marriage apply for withdrawals without specifying any reason as against the earlier requirement to clarify the reasons for partial withdrawalssuchasnaturalcalamity, lockouts/closure of establishments, continuous unemployment, outbreak of epidemic etc. which would often result in rejection of claims. The agenda for theBoardmeetinghadproposed that such special claims will be allowed twice every financial specialcircumstances ■ Memberscannow ■ Membersmustearmark 25%ofcontributions asminimum balance Source: Ministry of Labour & Employment year. The Board, chaired by Union Minister of Labour and Employment Mansukh Mandaviyawithrepresentatives of employees and employers, also approved the requirement of the minimum service period to withdraw funds to 12 months fromminimum5yearsforhousing,minimum7yearsforeducation and marriage and any time CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘When I took charge of Gujarat BJP, started boosting workers’ morale’ state’s history. In an interview with The Indian Express, Patil speaks on various aspects of his tenure and future plans. Excerpts: KAMAL SAIYED SURAT, OCTOBER 13 UNION JAL Shakti Minister Chandrakant Raghunath Patil, 70,recentlysteppeddownasthe Gujarat BJP president after completing a successful stint lasting for more than five years, including over two years on extension. The high point of Patil’s innings marked by several firsts was the 2022 Assembly elections which sawthepartyreturningtopower by winning 156 of 182 seats — the largest-ever majority in the THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW WITH C R PATIL FORMER PRESIDENT, GUJARAT BJP What were the challenges when you took charge of the Gujarat BJP? When I was appointed the party president on July 20, 2020, we had 99 Assembly seats, five district panchayats... Karyakarta ka morale down tha (party workers' morale was low)... So I first started with boosting their CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Trust an expert who knows when to switch the tune Flexi Cap Fund^ for agility Scan to know more or contact your MFD/RIA Benefits of investing in Flexi Cap Fund 1 Flexibility to adjust Market Cap allocation 2 Managed by experts with experience across market cycles 3 Flexible approach helps mitigate risk over the long term ^An open ended dynamic equity scheme investing across large cap, mid cap & small cap stocks. 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