vijayawada l friday l november 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION mass federal job cuts in doge’s blueprint for mega U.S. reforms Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy provided the blueprint for an unprecedented US government reform in an op-ed on the Wall Street Journal Crackdown coming on work from home driving change through executive action The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will suggest job cuts after identifying the minimum number of employees required at each federal agency, Musk and Ramaswamy wrote. Federal employees will not have the option of work from home. “If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them,” they wrote ■ ■ DOGE, they wrote, will present a list of ‘illicit’ regulations to President Donald Trump, who can then pass executive orders to pause them The 2022 US Supreme Court ruling that restricted the Environment Protection Agency’s power to regulate carbon emissions will be a reference in their crackdown on regulations, the two wrote | P9 $500 bn how much doge hopes to help the U.S. government save each year 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 US court cloud over Adani group Bribery charges against Adani Group chairman and seven others Kenya cancels Adani projects Kenyan President William Ruto said that he has cancelled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy deals with Adani after US indictments. He said the decision was made ‘based on new information’ Rahul demands immediate Arrest Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded immediate arrest of Gautam Adani. “Why is he roaming around like a free man?” he asked, demanding his arrest Curious timing, Quips bjp The BJP said all the states mentioned in the US indictment were at that time ruled by opposition parties. It also questioned the timing, just before the start of Parliament session ARS HA D K HAN @ New Delhi THE US Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and seven others on bribery charges involving over $250 million in payments to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts. The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York charged Adani and others with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, as well as substantive securities fraud, for their involvement in a multi-billion dollar scheme to deceive US investors and global financial institutions with false and misleading statements. The indictment alleges that between 2020 and 2024, the accused conspired to pay bribes to officials in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jammu & Kashmir to secure lucrative solar energy supply contracts. These contracts were expected to gener- The defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian govt officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and lied about the bribery as they sought to raise capital from US - US Attorney Breon Peace ate post-tax profits exceeding $2 billion over an estimated 20year period. The prosecutors said the Adanis raised more than $3 billion in loans and bonds by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors. Following the reports, Adani Green Energy cancelled plans to raise $600 million in US dollar-denominated bonds. The other executives who are indicted are Vneet S Jaain (ex-CEO of Adani Green), Ranjit Gupta, Rupesh Agarwal, Saurabh Agarwal, and Deepak Malhotra. An indictment is the formal charges prepared by prosecutors and returned by a grand jury to start criminal proceedings. It is not a conviction and the accused remains innocent until proven guilty in court. Adani Group denied the allegations and called them baseless, adding that it will take all possible legal steps. “The Adani Group has always upheld Arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu A G EN C IE S @ The Hague A video grab shows flashes over the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, which Kyiv claimed was attacked by a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It was in apparent retaliation to Ukraine firing longer range missiles at Russia, sourced from the US and the UK. Russian President Vladimir Putin later said it was a combat test of a new mid-range ballistic missile in a non-nuclear hypersonic configuration. Named Oreshnik, it travels at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5-3 km per second. Modern air defence systems are not equipped to intercept the Oreshnik, he bragged | AFP | P9 and is steadfastly committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance, transparency and regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions of its operations,” it said. Adani shares crashed up to 23% on Thursday . In another investigation, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said that hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid or promised to officials in Odisha to buy 500 MW power from the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) to which Adani Green Energy was supplying power. SEC also alleged that Adani paid $200 million to Andhra officials following his meeting with the then chief minister. Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party strongly condemned the allegations, saying they were false. In his pushback, Tamil Nadu electricity minister V Senthil Balaji said the electricity corporation run by his government does not have any commercial ties with Adani’s firm. As stated by DoJ itself, “the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” All possible legal recourse will be sought - Adani Group war Crimes Russian retaliation $250 million kickbacks to Indian govt officials to sign power supply contracts THE International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’ military chief Mohammed Deif, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with their war that began more than a year ago. The warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant focus on allegations that Israel has used food as a weapon in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, a charge Israeli officials deny . The warrants were issued by a three-judge panel in a unanimous decision. The panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe they “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival”, including food, water, medicine, fuel and electricity . Reacting sharply Netanyahu , said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”. The Israeli Prime Minister said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.” USSEC accuses Adani of bribing former CM Jagan with `1,750 crore BSN Malleswara Rao @ Vijayawada The serious fraud charges brought by a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, against the Adani Group and its Chairman Gautam Adani put Andhra Pradesh under the spotlight.  The court charges revealed in an indictment document dated November 20 mention only an unnamed “Foreign Official #1” as being offered a bribe of $228 million (nearly `1,750 crore) to facilitate a power purchase agreement with the State of Andhra Pradesh. But the original complaint by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (USSEC) directly charges Adani as having met then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister (YS Jagan Mohan Reddy) in this regard in August 2021. In a statement, the Adani Group strongly denied the charges of bribery calling them , baseless. The YSRCP — in a YSRCP condemns allegations In a three-page rebuttal, the YSRCP condemned USSEC’s allegations. It explained that the deal was extremely favourable for the interests of the State three-page note — has said the accusations are incorrect. The current NDA-led State government is ‘looking into’ the allegations. In the indictment document, Gautam Adani and co-accused Sagar R Adani are alleged to have offered or paid approximately `2,029 crore ($265 million) in bribes to secure power purchase agree- ments (PPA) with various State government power distribution companies (DISCOMs). Adani Green Energy Limited had entered into an agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for sale of 8 Gigawatt solar power. According to the indictment document and USSEC complaint seen by TNIE, various State governments refused to purchase power from SECI as prices were too high. At the time Gautam Adani, assisted by Sagar Adani, intervened and paid or promised to pay huge amounts of bribes to government officials in various P4 States.  ‘YSRC leaders sought shares in IT cos’ S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) and Information Technology (IT) Nara Lokesh on Thursday alleged that investors deserted Andhra Pradesh as a few leaders in the previous YSRC government had demanded shares in tech companies. Replying to a question in the State Legislative Assembly Lokesh revealed , that representatives of IT companies told him that some leaders of the YSRC regime sought shares in IT companies. Pointing out that he held talks with several IT companies in the last five months, the Minister said as a result of those discussions Tata Consultancy Services has agreed to set up its office in Vizag. He added he has also urged Infosys to set up another campus. He maintained that the State government has set a target of providing five lakh jobs in five years in the IT sector. Further, he highlighted his discussions with representatives of various data centres during his recent visit to the US. He stated that as the previous government did not focus on setting up data centres in the State, the firms moved to neighbouring States of Karnataka and Telangana. Lokesh announced that at least two data companies are going to set up their units in the Port City soon. He added that efforts are Ready for With the five-Test series between India and Australia getting underway in Perth on Friday, a look at some key talking points... thunder Down Under pace vs pace captains face-off In the absence of a fulltime captain Rohit Sharma, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah will step in to lead the side for the second time in his career. India lost to England, but times have changed since then. After a long time, two pacers — Bumrah and Pat Cummins, his Australian counterpart — would lead their sides chance for youngsters to steal the show In Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel, India have batting stars who have not yet played the longest format in Australia. This is their opportunity to make an impact in the series. Jurel, who played in the A series, managed to impress many, but for others, this is the golden opportunity to prove their mettle ‘baggageless’ India seek quick turnaround India are going into the series after a 0-3 loss against New Zealand on home soil. Multiple players, including Kohli, Sharma, and Bumrah, could not make their mark in the series. “We are not carrying any baggage from the New Zealand series,” said captain Bumrah ahead of the Perth Test. It is time to show that in Perth Eyes ON WTC table In the five-match series, both teams’ eye would also remain on the World Test Championship points table where currently five teams are fighting to make it to the final of the event. India need to win at least four matches in their last series of the cycle to make it to their third consecutive WTC final in England on to get NICSI (National Informatics Centre Services Inc) to Vizag. The IT Minister opined that if a national-level data policy is adopted, companies will certainly come to the State with massive investments. He declared that of the total $300 billion invested in the sector annually the State has set a target , of attracting at least $100 billion. He asserted that the issues raised by the representatives on data security and taxation are being resolved. e x p r e ss r e a d High Court bench to come up in Kurnool Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution to set up the High Court Bench in Kurnool. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu made an announcement in the Assembly on Thursday | P4 Assembly resolves to provide 33% BC quota Vijayawada: The Legislative Assembly on Thursday resolved to provide 33% reservation to Backward Classes (BCs) in the legislative bodies. Minister for BC Welfare S Savitha introduced the resolution | P4 India demands $600 billion in grants as climate finance from developed nations S V Krishna Chaitanya EXPRESS IN BAKU Y ear after year, COP after COP, we keep discussing what needs to be done without addressing how it is to be done,” said Leela Nandan, deputy leader of the Indian delegation at COP29 and secretary of the Union environment ministry . Talking at an open-ended ‘Qurultay’ summit convened by the COP29 presidency after it released a set of decision draft texts, including the one on New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), Nandan said the climate talks began with a clear focus on enablement through the NCQG. “However, as we approach the conclusion, we see a troubling shift towards mitigation without the cor responding means of implementation. This is unacceptable. Mitigation ambitions are meaningless without the financial support to make them a reality .” The NCQG must reflect fi- nance as the critical enabler for developing nations to formulate and implement their ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This requires specificity—on structure, quantum, quality, timeframes, access, transparency and review. “We demand a mobilisation goal of $1.3 trillion, with at least $600 billion in grants or grant-equivalent resources. Proposals to expand the contributor base, introduce macroeconomic and fiscal conditionalities, or push for carbon pricing and private sector-driven investment flows Leela Nandan are contrary to the NCQG mandate. This goal is about financial support, not an investment target,” Nandan said. India also said climate action in developing countries must remain country-driven, aligned with national priorities and cir- cumstances, and rooted in sustainable development goals and poverty eradication. On mitigation, India said it rejects the prescriptive approach in the draft. Introducing targets for 2030, 2035, and 2050 in a manner that shifts responsibility onto developing nations while ignoring the historical emissions of Annex I countries creates a crisis of climate leadership. Annex I parties must shoulder their obligations. Their emissions continue to rise, and they have yet to close the pre-2020 mitigation gap. On just transition, the draft text unacceptably reinterprets the shared understanding. Transitioning must begin globally, with developed countries taking the lead in mitigation. Domestic transitions in developing nations cannot succeed when constrained by the inaction of developed countries, India said in its statement. India said this is the Finance COP—the enabler COP. “If we fail to achieve a meaningful outcome, we fail in our fight against climate change. Developed countries have a clear responsibility to fulfill their commitments. Climate justice and the survival of millions depend on it,” Nandan said. Latest negotiating text rejected by all The latest negotiating draft text on the NCQG for climate finance has once again failed to specify a concrete funding target. This has frustrated developing nations, which had hoped for a firm commitment to address their escalating needs for climate adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage. The NCQG, set to replace the $100 billion per year commitment under the Paris Agreement, is critical to scaling up financial support from developed to the developing nations post-2025. | P9