New Delhi: The rates of gold and silver surged by over 1 per cent to hit fresh record highs on Tuesday, driven by safe-haven demand, notably due to escalating US-Venezuela tensions. 

MCX gold February futures rose 1.2 per cent to an all‑time high of Rs 1,38,381 per 10 grams and were up 1.01 per cent as of 10.48 am.

MCX silver surged 1.7 per cent to a record high of Rs 2,16,596 per kilogram and was up 1.30 per cent as of 10.48 am. The dollar index had declined 0.20 per cent during the session, making gold cheaper in overseas currencies.

Heightened geopolitical uncertainty, notably escalating US‑Venezuela tensions, has underpinned the rally, analysts said.

The US Coast Guard this month seized a super tanker under sanctions carrying Venezuelan oil and tried to intercept two more Venezuela‑related ships over the weekend, heightening tensions, according to multiple reports.

“Safe haven bidding is featured to start a holiday‑shortened trading week, amid heightened geopolitical tensions,” Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Intensifying US-Venezuela tensions and the killing of a Russian army general in a bomb attack on Monday increased geopolitical risk and supported gold and silver, Kalantri said.

Both precious metals also gained after cooling-off US inflation and no bigger surprise from the Bank of Japan policy meetings last week, he added.

Gold has support at the Rs 1,35,550-1,34,710 zone, while resistance is at the Rs 1,37,650-1,38,470 levels.

Silver has support at Rs 2,11,150-2,10,280 zone while resistance is at Rs 2,13,810, 2,14,970 levels, the analyst said.

Aggressive central bank buying, expectations of US Fed rate cuts, concerns over the impact of US tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and robust inflows into gold and silver ETFs drove the gold and silver prices this year.

Domestic spot gold prices have surged 76 per cent year‑to‑date and international gold prices almost 70 per cent in 2025, on track for their strongest annual performance since 1979.

Both domestic and international prices of silver have gained about 140 per cent YTD.

New Delhi: A social media post is going viral that claims, from 1st April 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the authority to access your social media, emails, and other digital platforms to curb tax evasion.

A post is being circulated by an X handle IndianTechGuide. Fact-checking agency PIB has refuted the social media claim. PIB has stated that the claim being made in this post is misleading.

Can Income Tax Department Access Your Social Media, Emails, Other Digital Platforms?

PIB further explained, the provisions of section 247 of the Income Tax Act 2025 are strictly limited to Search and Survey operations. Unless a taxpayer is undergoing a formal search operation due to evidence of significant tax evasion, the department has no power to access their private digital spaces. 

A post by @IndianTechGuide claims that from April 1, 2026, the Income Tax Department will have the ‘authority’ to access your social media, emails, and other digital platforms to curb tax evasion.#PIBFactCheck

_The claim being made in this post is #misleading! Here’s the real_ pic.twitter.com/hIyPPcvALF
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 22, 2025

It added, the powers cannot be used for routine information gathering/processing, or even for cases under scrutiny assessment. These measures are specifically designed to target black money and large-scale evasion during search and survey, not the everyday law-abiding citizen

PIB said that the power to seize documents and evidence during search and survey operations has existed since the 1961 Act.

How to get messages fact-checked by PIB

If you get any such suspicious message, you can always know its authenticity and check if the news is for real or it is a fake news. For that, you need to send the message to https://factcheck.pib.gov.in. Alternatively you can send a WhatsApp message to +918799711259 for fact check. You can also send your message to pibfactcheck@gmail.com. The fact check information is also available on https://pib.gov.in.

A top Amazon executive has said the US technology giant has blocked more than 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents.

North Koreans tried to apply for remote working IT jobs using stolen or fake identities, Amazon’s chief security officer Stephen Schmidt said in a LinkedIn post.

“Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime’s weapons programs,” he said, adding that this trend is likely to be happening at scale across the industry, especially in the US.

Authorities in the US and South Korea have warned about Pyongyang’s operatives carrying out online scams.

Amazon has seen a nearly one-third increase in job applications from North Koreans in the past year, said Mr Schmidt in his post.

He said the operatives typically work with people managing “laptop farms” – referring to computers based in the US that are run remotely from outside of the country.

The firm used a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and verification by its staff to screen job applications, he said.

The strategies used by such fraudsters have become more sophisticated, Mr Schmidt said.

Bad actors are hijacking dormant LinkedIn accounts using leaked credentials to gain verification. They target genuine software engineers to appear credible, he said, urging firms to report suspicious job applications to the authorities.

Mr Schmidt warned employers to look out for indicators of fraudulent North Korean job applications, including incorrectly formatted phone numbers and mismatched education histories.

In June, the US government said it had uncovered 29 “laptop farms” that were being operated illegally across the country by North Korean IT workers.

They used stolen or forged identities of Americans to help North Korean nationals get jobs in the US, said the Department of Justice (DOJ).

It also indicted US brokers who had helped secure jobs for the North Korean operatives.

In July, a woman from Arizona was sentenced to more than eight years in jail for running a laptop farm to help North Korean IT workers secure remote jobs at more than 300 US companies.

The DOJ said the scheme generated more than $17m (£12.6m) in illicit gains for her and Pyongyang.