5 stories you must read today, October 8: From ED raiding Dulquer Salmaan to Hamas exchanging hostage list and more

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday raided the premises of Malayalam actors Dulquer Salmaan, his father Mammootty, and Prithviraj Sukumaran in connection with the probe into an alleged luxury car smuggling racket. Raids were carried out across Kerala and Tamil Nadu by the ED, a day after Dulquer challenged Customs in the Kerala High Court over the seizure of his Land Rover Defender. According to officials, high-end cars such as Land Cruisers, Defenders, and Maseratis were smuggled into India by a Coimbatore-based network through Bhutan and Nepal using forged papers and sold at undervalued rates to high-net-worth buyers, including film celebrities. Read more

Hamas on Wednesday said it had exchanged a list of the names of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be released under a swap deal. The two sides are engaging in talks in the presence of US and Arab officials in Egypt to end the war in Gaza. According to Hamas, the ongoing negotiations are focused on “the mechanisms to halt the conflict, withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the swap deal.” Read more

India has joined the Taliban, Pakistan, China and Russia to oppose US President Donald Trump’s bid to take over the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. In a joint statement issued by the countries, they called the attempts to deploy their military infrastructure in Afghanistan and neighboring states unacceptable. Recently, US President Donald Trump demanded that the Taliban must hand over the Bagram air base, the largest air base in Afghanistan, which was built by the US, to Washington. Read more

The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked celebrity hairstylist Javed Habib and his son Anos Habib for allegedly swindling Rs 7 crore from the people through an investment scheme. The father-son duo has been booked in 23 cases of fraud for allegedly scamming investors, promising annual returns of 50-70 per cent on Bitcoin purchases. The accused took around Rs 5-7 lakh from each investor, and the police have identified 38 people who were defrauded through the scheme. Read more

Google has said that its AI Mode will be available in seven more Indian languages – Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu starting next week. Google also announced a new feature called Search Live, which lets users talk to Search and use their camera to get help about what’s in front of them in real-time. Like Gemini Live, Search Live is helpful for making quick searches and instantly getting helpful advice. Read more