fridAY mass federal job cuts in doge’s blueprint for mega U.S. reforms 22 Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy provided the blueprint for an unprecedented US government reform in an op-ed on the Wall Street Journal november, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard google suggested sell Chrome to end monopoly The proposed breakup floated in a document filed by the US Department of Justice calls for punishments that would include a sale of Chrome web browser. Page 9 driving change through executive action ■ ■ A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi war Crimes l PAGES 12 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 US court cloud over Adani Bribery charges against Adani Group chairman, 7 others $250 million kickbacks to Indian govt officials to sign power supply contracts $200 mn paid in Andhra alone AGEN C IES @ The Hague 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 Russian retaliation 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 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 ARSHA D KHAN & B SN M A L L ESWARA RAO @ New Delhi / Vijayawada 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 con- tracts were expected to generate 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 dollardenominated 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 Raj scrambles after Bikaner House attach order s h e k h a r s i n g h @ New Delhi A Delhi court has ordered the attachment of the historic Bikaner House, owned by the Nokha Municipal Council of Rajasthan, to recover `50.31 lakh owed to a private firm. The Patiala House Court issued the attachment in favour of Enviro Infra Engineers Pvt Ltd after the municipal council failed to honour a 2020 arbitral award. District Judge Vidya Prakash, citing repeated non-compliance by the council to dis- close its assets, said, “This is a fit case for issuance of warrants of attachment against the immovable property of the judgment debtor, Bikaner House, New Delhi.” The court also barred the municipal council from transferring, selling, or encumbering the property in any form and scheduled the next hearing for November 29. The Rajasthan government has mobilised efforts to protect the iconic property, located near India Gate. Housing and AAP makes early start, announces 1st list of 11 candidates for Assembly elections in Feb AN U P V ER M A @ New Delhi THE Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday released a list of 11 candidates for the Assembly elections, which are scheduled to take place in February next year. The party has awarded tickets to six new members, while denying them to three sitting MLAs. Earlier in the day the Politi, cal Affairs Committee (PAC) of the AAP convened a meeting to finalise the candidate list. According to sources, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal is personally reviewing J8.00 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 International court issues arrest warrant against Bibi 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 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, w at e r, m e d i cine, fuel and electricity . The decision came six months after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the warrants. Reacting sharply Netanyahu , said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”. He said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.” The ICC is a court of last resort that only prosecutes cases when domestic law enforcement authorities cannot or will not investigate. Israel is not a member state of the court. Despite the warrants, none of the suspects is likely to face judges in The Hague anytime soon. Member countries are required to detain suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that. l 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 each of Delhi’s 70 Assembly constituencies. He is assessing the performance of every MLA and developing a plan to counter anti-incumbency by not fielding unpopular MLAs. In the 2020 elections, the AAP had won 62 of the 70 seats and currently hold 58 of those. The party announced candidature of Brahm Singh Tanwar (Chhatarpur), Anil Jha (Kirari), Deepak Singhla (Vishwas Nagar), Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar), BB Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar), Ram Singh Netaji (Badarpur), Chaudhary Zubair Ahmad (Seelampur), Veer Singh Dhingan (Seemapuri), Gaurav Sharma (Ghonda), Manoj Tyagi (Karawal Nagar) and Sumesh Shokeen (Matiala) seats. The three MLAs denied tickets are Gulab Singh from Matiala, Ritu Raj Jha and Abdul Rehman from Kirari and Seelampur, respectively . urban development minister Jhabar Singh Kharra said the government would present its submission before the Patiala House Court during the next hearing. The submission aims to safeguard the status and ownership of Bikaner House. Sources said that the government would investigate the alleged laxity by the previous officer in-charge or the legal representatives and ensure accountability . Built in 1929 by the Bikaner royals in art deco and colonial styles, Bikaner House serves as a cultural hub with an art gallery and restaurants. Blaming administrative negligence for the crisis, the government dispatched additional advocate general Shiv Mangal Sharma to seek a stay on the attachment order. A government statement said: “Immediate steps are being taken to secure the property and challenge the court order.” During the pre-Independence period, Bikaner House hosted meetings between royal fami- lies, who contemplated their future. This was where they considered the accession policy that would allow them to formally join independent India. The colonial-era structure is recognised as a Grade-II heritage building by the ASI. Bikaner House has been restored to its original form. It opened to the public on November 18, 2015. The current episode follows a similar attachment of Himachal Bhawan by the high court to recover `150 crore owed to another private entity . 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. While India lost to England, but the 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. 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 Jaganmohan 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. P7 Even Kasab was given a fair trial: SC S U C HI T RA KA LYAN M O HAN T Y @ New Delhi Noting that even Ajmal Kasab received a fair trial in the country the Supreme Court in, dicated on Thursday that it may establish a courtroom inside Tihar Jail for the trial of J&K separatist leader Yasin Malik in a kidnapping case. A two-judge bench, comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih, was hearing a CBI plea against a September 20, 2022 order of a Jammu trial court that directed Malik, serving life term in Tihar, to be produced before it physically to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses in the kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The bench remarked, “How will cross-examination be done online? There is hardly any connectivity in Jammu... In our country even Ajmal Kasab was , given a fair trial and legal assistance in the high court.” The top court said that it could order trial to take place inside the jail besides asking the judge to come to the national capital for the proceedings. All the accused must to be heard before an order is passed, it emphasised. 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