thrissur l saturday l november 07, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Amazon to invest `20,761 cr in Hyderabad for new data hub Largest FDI in telangana’s history It will be the largest-ever foreign direct investment in Telangana, the state’s IT & Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said. The AWS Asia Pacific Hyderabad Region will have three Availability Zones (data centres) with independent power, cooling and physical security systems. Mumbai is presently the only Indian city housing an AWS region It will be operational by mid-2022, and is meant to protect data from disasters, Amazon Web Services said on Friday ■ 26 T’gana’s startup ecosystem credited ■ Telangana was chosen due to its successful startup and enterprise ecosystem. Other factors like availability of talent, Hyderabad’s connectivity to other metros also played a role The new data hub will enable more startups and big companies access to better cloud infrastructure, the AWS said in a statement Availability Zones in Asia, including in Australia, Japan and China CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Biden blitzkrieg continues 264 JOE BIDEN Races past Trump in Pennsylvania; recount set to be ordered in Georgia where he now has a narrow lead; also ahead in Nevada 214 DONALD TRUMP Electoral college votes Electoral college votes 73,670,575 popular vote 69,732,717 popular vote 270 TO WIN E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e Democrat Joe Biden on Friday got within kissing distance of the White House as he overtook President Donald Trump in the vote count in the big battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia. The two states have 20 and 16 electoral college votes respectively and their vote tabulation is expected to end by Friday Bi. den needs just six to reach the halfway mark of 270. However, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger indicated a recount. “With a margin that small, there will be a recount... “The final tally in Georgia at this point has huge implications for the entire country he ,” told CBS News. If Biden wins Georgia, he would be the first Democrat to flip it since Bill Clinton in 1992. Biden is also ahead in Nevada that has six electors, but its final vote tally is expected to take a few more days. A desperate Trump continued haranguing the tabulation of mail-in votes, since most of them are expected to be Democrat leaning. It is these postal votes that snuffed out his leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia. “They’re trying to rig an election, and we can’t let that happen,” he argued, but several media networks cut off telecast of his briefing at the White House midway as he charges were unsubstantiated. In contrast, Biden was measured and presidential in his response: “No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever.” Trump’s aides initiated legal challenges in several states, but judges in Georgia and Michigan threw them out, putting his campaign’s legal strategy — to attack the integrity of the voting process — in disarray . Trump also stood increasingly isolated even within his Republican party His sons Don . Jr and Eric articulated the frustration, accusing the party of being “weak”, adding “Our voters will never forget you if your [sic] sheep!” “The total lack of action from virtually all of the ‘2024 GOP [Republican] hopefuls’ is pretty amazing,” Don Jr tweeted, which was directed among others at former UN amP9 bassador Nikki Haley  . E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ T’Puram President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Thursday in Washington | AP Don losing steam in postal ballot count n Joe Biden n Donald Trump In Progress While tabulation of mail-in votes in five states is still on, Trump is ahead only in North Carolina and Alaska, not enough for re-election Georgia 2,450,152  49.4% 2,448,565  49.4% Electoral votes: 16 Vote counted:99% Pennsylvania 3,301,186  49.5% 3,292,153  49.4% Electoral votes: 20 Vote counted:98% North Carolina 2,655,383  48.7% 2,732,084  50.1% Electoral votes: 15 Vote counted:94% 624,246  49.8% 602,170  48.1% Electoral votes: 6 Vote counted:84% Nevada Alaska 63,992  33.5% 1,18,602  62.1% Electoral Votes: 3 Vote counted:50% RSS to Surendran: Cadre CDS rules out redrawing border line, won’t back BJP in polls if but not a larger conflict with China discord not addressed m ayan k s i n g h @ New Delhi “Three senior RSS leaders have been assigned to hear the WITH dissidence in the BJP grievances of Sobha, Velayudstate unit threatening to ad- han and Sreeshan and to reversely affect the saffron par- solve the crisis at the earliest. ty’s performance in the upcom- They’ll meet these leaders ing local body polls, Sangh soon,” said the source. Parivar fountainhead RSS has Recently Sobha, Velayudhan , stepped in to quell the discord. and Sreeshan, along with Sources said BJP former and serving president K Surendran state office-bearers as was given a stern ultiwell as national counmatum by the RSS top cil members numberIf there are any leadership that its cading over 20, had come issues in the party, re would not cooperate together and sent a there is an in the ensuing polls if joint petition to the organisational dissidence is not ended BJP national mechanism to immediately The RSS rectify them. The leadership. . stepped in after senior focus of the party Surendran continBJP leaders Sobha should be to work ued to be in denial unitedly for the Surendran, P K Velaymode. He lost his cool upcoming local udhan and K P Sreein Kochi on Friday body polls shan came out in the when reporters asked open with their grouse about the RSS interP K Krishnadas, of being sidelined by vention. He dubbed the former state president, BJP Surendran in the party entire dissidence epireorganisation. sode as a “creation of Sobha’s studied silence to the the media”. speculation that she was all set It is learnt that dissident to leave the party also made the leaders told the RSS that the RSS leadership intervene saffron party can perform well quickly in the matter. A source in the local body polls only if said the RSS expressed its dis- around 100 state-level leaders pleasure at Surendran totally and around 1,500 local leaders, sidelining leaders who are not who have been totally sidelined, identified with the V Muraleed- are given opportunity to funcP4 haran faction. tion in the party  . S O VI VI D YA D H A R A N @ T’Puram A larger conflict with China cannot be ruled out, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat, the senior-most military officer in the country , warned on Friday He said the . situation along the border with China remains tense and China’s People’s Liberation Army is facing “unanticipated consequences” for its misad- venture in eastern Ladakh thanks to India’s strong response. “In the overall security calculus, border confrontations, transgressions, and unprovoked tactical military actions spiralling into a larger conflict cannot be discounted,” he said, adding that the PLA is facing unanticipated consequences of its misadventure in Ladakh thanks to Indian forces’ firm and strong response. “Our posturing is unambiguous. We will not accept any shifting of the LAC,” he said. The CDS was delivering a keynote address at a webinar on ‘India’s National Security- The Decade Ahead’ at the National Defence College. Election notification Nov 19 Last date for filing of nominations Nov 20 Scrutiny of nominations Nov 23 Last date for withdrawal of candidature Dec 8 Polling in T’Puram, Kollam, P’Thitta, Alappuzha, Idukki Dec 10 Polling in Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad Dec 14 Polling in Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod Dec 16 Counting of votes Dec 23 Election process to be completed confidence that polling could be completed within the extended time despite Covid restrictions. As many as 2.71 crore voters --- 1.29 crore males, 1.45 crore females and 282 transgenders --- figured in the final electoral roll published on October 1. A supplementary list will be published on Tuesday . Elections will be held in 21,865 wards in 1,199 local bodies including 941 grama panchayats, 152 block panchayats, 14 district panchayats, 86 municipalities and six corporaP4 tions.  express read Benami deals: ED team to stay in capital city Pennar Industries MD no-show for quizzing Kochi: Adithya N Rao, MD of the Pennar Industries which bagged the LIFE Mission project contract for seven districts, failed to turn up for questioning before the Enforcement Directorate on Friday. According to the agency, M Sivasankar had leaked information on LIFE Mission project to Swapna Suresh, which may have helped Pennar get the contract. E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @T’Puram green cycle Farmers plant seedlings for the season’s second cycle of paddy cultivation near Edarikode in Malappuram | Manu R Mavelil JUMBO STATS 5,706 wild elephants in Kerala as per the 2018 census 60 yrs is the life expectancy of wild elephants 80% causes B N Anjan Kumar, technical assistant to chief wildlife warden. Nov 12 Kodiyeri to stay on as CPM state chief 849 wild elephants died in Kerala forests from ’09 to ’19 THE death rate of wild elephants in Kerala is high, reveals statistics shared by the forest department. According to an RTI reply, 849 wild elephants died in the state during the last decade, from 2009-10 to 2018-19. As per the 2018 census, the wild elephant population in the state is 5,706. The death rate is high, say experts. “The life expectancy of captive elephants in Kerala is 70 to 75 years while that of wild elephants is only 60 years,” said LOCAL body elections in the state will be held in three phases on December 8, 10 and 14. The counting of votes will be held on December 16 so that newly elected councils assume office before the end of the year. The civic body polls, which have usually been held in two phases, were rescheduled to three phases this time in view of the Covid situation. With the election dates having announced, the model code of conduct has come into effect in the state. The election notification will be issued on November 12. The first phase will see Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki districts going to polls. While polling will be held in Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad on December 10, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod will go to polls on December 14. “Being the first election to be held in the state since the pandemic broke out, Covid protocol will be strictly followed. Besides officials on poll duty, Covid patients and those in quarantine will be allowed to postalvote,” State Election Commissioner V Bhaskaran told reporters. The duration of polling, extended by an hour, will be from 7am to 6pm. The State Election Commission exuded KEY DATES T’Puram: After conducting extensive raids in connection with Bineesh Kodiyeri’s alleged benami deals here, a team of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers has decided to continue their stay in the capital city for further probe. Officials seized some documents from the bank locker of Al Jasam Abdul Jaffar, who is suspected to be Bineesh’s benamidar, sources said. P4 ‘high death rate’ A S at i s h @ Palakkad 3-phase local body polls from Dec 8, results on Dec 16 of wild elephants die due to natural Around 80 per cent of wild elephants die due to natural causes and the remaining due to electrocution, fight among tuskers, injuries caused by snares planted by humans and poaching. After 50 years, these elephants lose chewing teeth which makes it difficult for them to eat. This affects the health of the animal. The mortality rate of juvenile elephants is also high. In many cases, the elephants were found suffering from TB, Anjan Kumar said. “We’ve to analyse the reasons based on postmortem examination reports to find out whether the mortality rate is high. We’ve to find out whether it is old age, disease or unnatural causes like poaching that caused their deaths. The forest department of late has also been following up on the postmortem reports,” said Dr P S Easa, a member of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group. Recently, there were reports of the presence of herpes virus, he said. Forest veterinary surgeon Arun Zachariah said most deaths could be due to natural causes and diseases.  ● More on P4 CONTRARY to speculation that he may have to step down from his post as CPM state secretary in view of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe against his son Bineesh Kodiyeri, the party secretariat has decided that there is no reason for Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to stay away from office. After assessing the political scenario, the CPM has reached the conclusion that the situation has to be handled by the family and not the party , . Speaking at the CPM party secretariat meet on Friday, Kodiyeri reiterated his earlier stance that Bineesh would have to face action if he was guilty Neither he nor . the party would intervene in the matter, he said. Backing the CPM state chief ’s stance, party sources too pointed out that Kodiyeri could have interfered with the ED’s 25-hour-long raid at Bineesh’s house, but he chose not to. “In fact, the day-long raid by ED amounted to human rights violation. Let the family take legal action,” said a source. Meanwhile, the CPM has challenged the central agencies to find evidence against its party leaders. “If he steps down now, it would seem as if we are owning up to some wrongdoing. If they have any proof that the CPM state chief intervened in the matter or tried to help his son using either the party or the government machinery, let them publicise it first,” said a source. The ED action against Bineesh is part of an attempt to mount pressure on Kodiyeri and thereby target the party. In such a scenario, there’s no need for him to step down — A CPM source