HYDERABAD l tuesday l july 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION India’s crude basket at lowest level since start of west asia war India’s crude oil basket averaged $67.88 per barrel so far in July, below the $69.01 per barrel recorded in February, before the start of the West Asia war Down sharply from $113.49 per barrel in mar July purchase price lower than fy26 avg Crude oil prices had surged sharply during the West Asia conflict that began on February 28, with the crude oil basket averaging $113.49 per barrel in March. It moderated to $106.23 per barrel in May and further declined to $83.22 per barrel in June. It has averaged $67.88 per barrel in July, the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data showed | p10 ■ ■ According to the PPAC data, India’s average purchase price of crude oil so far in July is lower than the FY26 average of $70.99 per barrel Though the crude purchase price has fallen, a cut in fuel prices is unlikely to happen soon with the government indicating prices must be stable at the pre-war level for months before that can happen $62.20 per barrel in December was the lowest purchasing price in fy26 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 Lift on Balogun ban sparks outcry Early exit for Selecao USA’s Folarin Balogun was set to play the last 16 tie against Belgium despite being sent off in 2-0 win against Bosnia thanks to “phonecalls,” before Brazil got eliminated. A look... Belgium appeal rejected FIFA has dismissed Belgium’s challenge over the eligibility of Balogun after they decided to suspend his one-game ban. “The RBFA is not a party to the proceedings and, has no standing to appeal the decision,” FIFA stated i started this process, says Trump US President Donald Trump said that he called FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to review red-card decision on Balogun. Then, FIFA stated that his red card has been lifted and instead ordered a probationary period of a year under Article 27 of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code A late brace from Erling Haaland against Brazil sealed Norway their first quarterfinal spot with a 2-1 win. Following elimination, superstar Neymar announced his international retirement. Haaland and Co will face England in the quarterfinals, who beat a strong Mexico side at the daunting Estadio Azteca in Mexico City Today’s matches (Round of 16): Argentina vs Egypt | 9.30 PM; Switzerland vs Colombia | 1:30 AM* ( *IST Wednesday) Can’t police videos: Meta, Google to HC PIL against sharing court proceedings and recordings on social media u d ayan k i s hor e @ New Delhi Express exclusive ‘AI won’t kill jobs, only professions’ ture (from semiconductors to data centres)”, he said. While India’s strength has been “software, not hardware,” AI leaders invest 3-4% of GDP in technology and R&D, compared with about 1% in India. On manufacturing, Sharma offered a blunt assessment of India’s performance in attracting global supply chains. “The big beneficiaries of China+1 (a supply chain strategy where companies keep part of their manufacturing operations in China but move some production to another country) have been Vietnam and South Korea. We have not seen anything really on that front in any meaningful way .” He said India’s biggest obstacle is the domestic business climate. “At the end of the day , India is a very tough place to do business,” Sharma said, citing coordination challenges across different levels of gover nment. He also war ned against complacency . “There is this underlying attitude that ‘where else will the money go?’ It has to come to India because the market is so large. I think that prevents the most efficient policymaking.”  (Edited excerpts of interview on op-ed page on Thursday) J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi ACB arrests DSP with `300 cr assets E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ Hyderabad Days after uncovering assets worth `300 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday formally arrested DSP Bheem Reddy. The ACB had, four days ago, conducted extensive searches at 16 locations, including the DSP’s residence and several other places linked to the officer. Officials suspect that a substantial portion of the assets was acquired in the names of benamis. Although there was widespread speculation that the officer would be arrested immediately after the searches, the ACB had initially served him a notice after he cited health concerns. The delay drew criticism. On Monday however, the , agency took Bheem Reddy into custody and shifted him to the AC B h e a d q u a r t e r s i n Nampally . He is expected to be produced before a court, following which the ACB will seek judicial remand as part of the ongoing investigation. ACB sources said that officials will continue scrutinising documents seized during the raids, including records related to movable and immovable properties. The investigation will also focus on tracing assets allegedly purchased in the names of family members and benamis, besides verifying the ownership of additional investments, bank deposits, gold, jewellery and other undisclosed assets linked to the officer. The ACB was yet to issue a detailed statement explaining the four-day gap between the searches and the arrest. continued on p2 I NDIA is yet to meaningfully benefit from the global ‘China+1’ supply chain shift and remains a difficult place for foreign investors to do business, according to Ruchir Sharma, chairman of Rockefeller International. Speaking to TNIE in a wide-ranging interview, he said the world risks overestimating the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI). “We are in an AI bubble,” said Sharma, adding that and one of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it will ‘kill jobs’. “Technology doesn’t kill jobs. It kills professions,” the prominent global investor and author said. “Every technological revolution destroys certain professions but creates entirely new ones. We tend to focus on what’s b e i n g d e s t r o ye d rather than what’s being created.” He pointed to historical technological shifts Five years from now, the belief that the entire world order is going to be built solely on AI will look wrong Ruchir Sharma, chairman, Rockefeller Int’l and the Jevons Paradox— technological progress increases efficiency and so over, all consumption goes up rather than decreases—as reasons to believe AI will create new forms of work even as it automates existing roles. “I don’t believe the world is going to be defined by an ‘ I or A bye-bye’ mindset.” He then clarified: “I am a huge believer in AI as a technology It is go. ing to be transformative. But the current view is far too unifocal.” On India’s AI ambitions, Sharma said partnerships with countries from France to Japan are impor tant but can’ t quickly bridge India’s infrastructure gap. “The winners are the count r i e s p ro ducing AI infrastruc- YouTube is a dynamic platform where millions of videos are uploaded every hour. It is impossible to proactively monitor the videos uploaded on the platform Google, in Delhi HC Behind the petition Lawyer Vaibhav Singh had filed the PIL against unauthorised sharing of court proceedings on April 13 by several Opposition leaders and journalists, in which Arvind Kejriwal had sought recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma in the liquor policy case. The other respondents in the case include Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, AAP leaders Sanjeev Jha, Mukesh Ahlawat, and Jarnail Singh, and journalist Ravish Kumar SOCIAL media behemoths Google and Meta on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that they cannot be burdened with an obligation to police millions of videos uploaded on their platforms worldwide. They submitted that they were only intermediaries and neither create nor control third-party content, and cannot be “compelled to proactively monitor their platforms for unlawful content”. While Google said it was impossible for it to proactively monitor “millions of videos uploaded on the YouTube every hour throughout the world”, Meta said there were over 2.9 billion users of Facebook, and over 1.5 billion users of the Instagram Service worldwide and it was “impracticable (if not impossible) for Meta to locate or identify the contents posted on them without URLs.” The submissions were made in affidavits filed by the social media companies before a bench of justices V Kameswar Rao and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora in a PIL concerning circulation of videos of hearing in Arvind Kejriwal’s recusal plea on April 13. The court had earlier ordered takedown of the video from YouTube and Facebook/Instagram, owned by Google LLC and Meta respectively, which was complied with. The petitioner later moved the court alleging that the video in question was resurfacing on the platforms, and sought a direction to prevent their recurrence. Both Google and Meta opposed the submission, claiming that YouTube and Facebook/Instagram were merely intermediaries under the IT Act, and that the liability if any “rests with the publisher , , or uploader of the content”. Meta in its submission termed monitoring of content on Facebook or Instagram as “impracticable”. The bench deferred hearing on the petition till August 27. Govt crackdown on aides of environment minister Yadav S u m it K u m ar Singh @ New Delhi gone with the rain Debris blocks a newly-opened section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway following a landslide amid heavy rainfall in Pune and neighbouring districts on Monday. The weather office issued a ‘red alert’ for the district, warning of further rains ahead | PTI | P8 In a significant crackdown, the Union government recently purged the private secretary and two additional private secretaries from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. All three were part of minister Bhupender Yadav’s team. Mass transfers/sacking of a minister’s aides does not happen frequently Sources . said a similar action is afoot against the aides of three other ministers. Three separate office orders issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on July 3 to effect the changes. The first order “terminated with immediate effect” the appointment of Ayush Saran, Additional Private Secretary to Yadav. The second order repatriated Shailesh Kumar Singh, a Central Secretariat Service officer, who also served as Additional Private Secretary to minister Yadav, to his parent cadre at the Department of Personnel and Training, with what the order described as an “extended cooling off ” period be- fore further posting. The third order sent Amar Singh, an Indian Revenue Service officer from the 2010 batch, who served as the minister’s Private Secretary, back to his parent cadre at the Department of Revenue “on administrative ground”. The orders were copied to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Department of Personnel and Training and others. In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second innings from 2019 to 2024, around 102 officers and personal staff of various ministers were removed and transferred, sources said. Trust president Nritya Gopal Das (R) on his way to the meeting in Ayodhya | PTI Rai resignation okayed, interim gen secy named N a m ita B aj pai @ Lucknow THE Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Monday accepted the resignations of Champat Rai as its general secretary and member Anil Mishra in the wake of alleged embezzlement of donations. Trustee Krishna Mohan has been named as interim general secretary . Trust Treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri announced the decision after a crucial meeting on Monday and named trustee Krishna Mohan as interim general secretary. Both leaders had resigned on June 27 following allegations of theft of Ram temple donations. Krishna Mohan, 74, a former Indian Forest Service officer and RSS’s eastern UP Kshetra Sanghchalak from Hardoi, had filed the police complaint that led to the FIR and arrests. Giri said the temple Trust would meet again on July 22 to decide on the appointment of a new trustee. He also announced the formation of a three-member panel to identify a CEO for the Trust, comprising retired judge Pramod Kohli, retired Lt Gen Vishnukant Chaturvedi and trustee Suresh Haware. Meanwhile, special invitee Gopal Rao Nagarkotte, who has been in the eye of a storm over the theft controversy, was debarred from the Trust. Giri described the donation theft as a matter of “deep embarrassment” for the Trust, saying the controversy had cast a shadow over a temple built after a centuries-long struggle. However, he rejected claims of missing valuables, and said detailed records of donated items exist. “Some people claimed that many valuable items donated have disappeared. We have registers of about 2,800 donated items. These records are available, and we are prepared to show them,” he said. SLBC Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy sets june 2028 deadline for its completion. He directs officials to expedite works and complete the tunnel and canal network simultaneously | P4 No coercive action against Pleas for help from neglected parents flood Nalgonda Prajavani Fatima college for now: HC V o i c i n g the i r a n g u i s h A SES H A C H A R Y ULU @ Nalgonda An official holds a counselling session for the sons of an aged couple at the District Welfare Office in Nalgonda on Monday Elderly parents abandoned by their children after being stripped of their properties — including the roof over their heads — are no longer willing to suffer in silence. An increasing number of senior citizens are approaching the district administration through the ‘Prajavani’ grievance redressal programme, seeking protection from their own children and restoration of their homes and property . As many as 22 elderly couples have petitioned the Nalgonda district administration, seeking the return of their houses and properties, along with the right to live with dignity Their . decision to come forward appears to have been inspired by the recent action of district collector B Chandrasekhar, who, on June 8, ordered the restoration of a house to an elderly couple from Miryalaguda — M Ramana Reddy and Chandrakala — after evicting their son. Acting on the couple’s complaint, the collector ordered an inquiry under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act and restored the house to them. The Telangana High Court later upheld the collector’s order after the son challenged his eviction. The administration’s prompt intervention, coupled with the high court’s endorsement of the collector’s decision, appears to have given hope and confidence to other elderly parents facing neglect and abuse at the hands of their own children.  continued on p5 T G N ai d u @ Hyderabad The Telangana High Court on Monday directed status quo on a petition filed by the Salar-e-Millat Educational Trust, restraining the GHMC from taking coercive action against the Fatima Owaisi Educational Campus run by the trus at Bandlaguda, until further orders. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy passed the interim order while hearing Writ Petition No. 21450 of 2026 and directed the GHMC to obtain instructions and file its response. The matter has been posted to August 3, 2026. The trust sought a declaration that the GHMC’s attempts to interfere with, seize and demolish its property bearing Municipal No. 18-13-18, admeasuring 2,360 sq yd, comprising a ground-plusseven-floor building in Survey Nos. 62/2 and 62/3, Town Survey No. 8, at MM Colony Bandlaguda, Hyderabad, were illegal, arbi, trary and unconstitutional.  continued on p2