During the visit, Austin met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Defense Minister Thabet Muhammad Al-Abbasi.
Iraq has served as a point of friction between the U.S. and Iran, with Tehran’s influence in the region growing over the past two decades. Despite U.S. successes in ousting the group from territory it controlled six years ago, Islamic State fighters and sleeper cells have continued to launch attacks in Syria and Iraq, killing or wounding dozens of Iraqi troops in recent months.
“We’ll continue working to accomplish this mission together. Through the global coalition to defeat Daesh, we liberated more than 50,000 square kilometers from Daesh and freed more than 4.5 million Iraqis from their cruel grip,” Austin told reporters, using an Arabic name for the Islamic State.
In his address, Austin also underscored the United States’ long-term commitment to Iraq, vowing to defend the nation and outlast the extremist group.
“We continue to believe that Iraq’s greater integration with its Arab partners in the region will deliver increased stability, security, and prosperity, and it will pay dividends not only for Iraqi citizens, but for all people of the region,” he said, according to a readout.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee vetting the nomination, asked Washington specifically about what a device known as an “angle of attack” sensor does, how many are equipped on Boeing’s troubled 737 MAX jetliner, and whether he’d ever flown a plane or been an air traffic controller, among others. (Details about Washington’s career are spelled out in documents already submitted to the committee.) The sensor is one of the systems implicated in two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, which killed hundreds of passengers on planes operated by Ethiopian Airlines and Indonesia-based Lion Air.
As part of the exchange, Cruz asked Washington what happens when a pilot gets two different readings from two different angle of attack sensors. Washington replied that “human reaction needs to take over.”
“Why did that not happen on the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air flights?” Cruz asked.
“Senator, I’m not a pilot — I don’t know if I can answer that particular question,” Washington replied.
Cruz shot back that Washington’s answer was part of the “fundamental problem” with his nomination.
Cruz capped off his questioning with a statement ripped straight from the culture wars, saying the flying public doesn’t care if pilots are “transgendered witches” and instead want someone who knows how to fly a plane. Neither Washington nor Cruz had referenced gender identity before or after that remark, which had Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) barely restraining her laughter.
Washington countered that though he has never been a pilot, he knows how to manage large bureaucracies and lead people to excel, and suggested that means he’s the right person for the job.
“As a military veteran and leader of three large transportation organizations, my broad transportation safety knowledge and real-world leadership experiences provide me a unique perspective of how aviation and all modes of transportation should integrate into a seamless system,” Washington said.
Cruz also referenced ongoing lawsuits in which Washington has been named, including a politically tinged corruption probe into Los Angeles County politicians, as well as a recent lawsuit filed by a former employee of Denver airport alleging racial discrimination in pay and other items. Washington has denied any wrongdoing and on Wednesday said he has “nothing to hide.”
After the hearing, Cantwell said she thought the hearing went well and that she supports Washington’s nomination. She said that Washington’s lack of ties to aviation manufacturers and airlines is actually an asset as the FAA tries to ensure that another 737 MAX incident does not happen again.
“He’s actually might be somebody who is more likely to continue to push for reforms and have a stronger, independent FAA,” Cantwell said.
And Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said GOP arguments against Washington amount to a “hatchet job.”
Democrats anticipated Cruz’s attack and circled the wagons ahead of the hearing, including blasting out a document rebutting some of Cruz’s assertions about Washington’s experience and his time overseeing Los Angeles Metro.
Just before the hearing, Democrats lined up key aviation figures such as former House Transportation chair Peter DeFazio and Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson to voice their support.
“Mr. Washington’s record and engagement with stakeholders gives me tremendous confidence in his ability to lead us forward for the industry, our world partners, and the traveling public,” Nelson wrote.
Other Republicans on the committee, including Aviation Subcommittee ranking member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and former committee Chair John Thune (R-S.D.), did not explicitly come out against Washington’s nomination during their questioning.
One Democrat on the panel, Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, said she was undecided on the nomination.
By law, the head of the FAA must have aviation experience, and must be a “civilian.” Whether Washington, who retired after 24 years in the military, can be considered a “civilian” has not been resolved, but after the hearing Cantwell said he will not need a waiver because he’s considered a civilian.
If he is not considered a civilian under the terms of the law, then he will have to seek a waiver. That could complicate his nomination, because it will involve the assent of the House, where Republicans such as Transportation chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) are opposed.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Jerusalem: Authorities in Israel have registered a police case against a 48-year-old Kerala farmer, who reportedly went missing in Israel earlier this month while visiting the country on a state government-sponsored trip to study Israeli modern agricultural techniques.
Biju Kurian, a native of Ulikkal panchayat in Kannur district, was part of a 28-member Kerala government’s delegation of farmers, sent to Israel to study state-of-the-art techniques such as hydroponics and precision farming.
On February 17, Kurian reportedly went missing.
Despite Israel’s law enforcement agencies’ best efforts to trace him, Kurian’s whereabouts were not known.
“We have registered a police case against him. He will be deported once we nab him,” an official said.
The delegation, led by Principal Secretary B. Ashok, left for Israel on February 11. The farmers’ delegation left Israel on Sunday without Kurian, they added.
Kurian’s family in Kannur are also clueless about his mysterious disappearance and were making desperate attempts to reach out to him.
Gautam Adani is a hard man to avoid in India. Whether it’s electricity, ports, power plants, coalmines, airports, cement, solar panels, apples, edible oils, storage of data or grains or even a television news channel, the colossal empire of India’s most powerful billionaire has reached into almost every corner of Indian life.
According to Adani, his staggering rise from a nondescript diamond merchant in Gujarat to Asia’s richest man – whose wealth at one stage surpassed Jeff Bezos – and with whom much of India’s future development has been entrusted, is due only to “hard work, hard work, hard work”. His own successes, he has said, are the successes of the “India growth story”.
Yet, as many have pointed out, Adani’s meteoric rise has mirrored that of another powerful man from Gujarat: Narendra Modi, who has been prime minister since 2014. In the past five years, the Adani Group, a sprawling conglomerate of companies, rose in value by 2,500%, with a private sector monopoly on everything from electricity to coal, and Adani’s net worth touched $127bn. That was, until two weeks ago.
It was a bombshell report by a US-based investment research firm Hindenburg that that has brought much of the Adani empire crashing down to earth. In a highly detailed document that took two years to research, Hindenburg said Adani was pulling off the “largest corporate con in history” through stock manipulation, eye-watering levels of debt and secret offshore accounts.
The Adani Group hit back, denying all the allegations as baseless in a response that stretched to 413 pages. It said the report was an “attack on India itself” and that its debt levels conformed to industry standards.
The impact continues to reverberate through the domestic and international markets. The Adani Group has lost over $100bn in market value, been forced to cancel a major share offering and its stocks continue to fall, while Adani himself dropped off list of the world’s top 20 richest men. But given the well-documented close relationship between Adani and the Modi, who has himself been dogged by allegations of indulging in crony capitalism, the repercussions have also reached into the political sphere.
Modi has been silent on all questions about his ties to Adani. Attempts by the opposition parties to get the matter debated in parliament have been shut down, causing the parliament session to be suspended for two days, and the government has refused to entertain demands for a supreme court investigation into the alleged fraud. Over 200 members of the opposition Congress party were arrested for holding protests outside offices which has stakes in the conglomerate.
After Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi stood up in parliament with photos of Modi and Adani on a plane together and accused the government of giving Adani preferential treatment, all of his remarks were ordered to be expunged from parliamentary record.
Speaking on Tuesday, home minister Amit Shah said the government had “nothing to hide or be afraid of” on the controversy over Adani Group.
A shared vision, a shared rise
The relationship between Modi and Adani dates back more than two decades to 2002. As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi’s close links with big industrialists like Adani helped him reinvent himself as the pro-business face of modern economic progress, while Adani was granted highly beneficial concessions on tax and regulation in the state that allowed his wealth and stature to grow exponentially.
“Adani’s astounding, debt-fuelled rise mixed entrepreneurial dynamism, extravagant risk taking and canny political connections,” said James Crabtree, author of The Billionaire Raj.
After Modi won the 2014 general election, he flew back to Delhi on Adani’s plane, captured in a now iconic photo of him in front of the Adani logo. Adani also became a regular companion on Modi’s international trips, sometimes officially as part of a business delegation but other times unofficially, and, according to a 2015 report, was present during Modi’s visits to the United States, Australia, Brazil, Japan, France and Canada.
Adani has repeatedly denied that his longstanding connection with the prime minister has led to preferential treatment, as has the Indian government. Yet it has been evident that much of Modi’s vision for the development of India, particularly his infrastructure and energy ambitions, have been placed in the hands of the Adani Group, even as accusations of tax evasion, over-valuation and heavy debt swirled for years. The industrialist’s personal wealth went from $2.8bn in 2014 to $127bn by the end of 2022.
Over the past decade, the Adani Group won an endlessly expanding list of nationally significant projects. It now owns a string of strategic ports along India’s coast that handle about 30% of all India’s international freight and been able to acquire some of India’s most valuable tracts of land, be it Dharavi slum in Mumbai for redevelopment or the ancient Hasdeo Arand forest in Chhattisgarh for coal mining. Many of their projects face ongoing protests for causing environmental devastation or displacing communities.
Gautam Adani speaks at the World Congress of Accountants in Mumbai. Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
Modi stands accused of helping Adani secure lucrative deals for coal and renewable energy projects in neighbouring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India’s ongoing commitment to coal has also been linked to the Adani group’s mammoth investment in India’s coal sector. “It’s interesting how the bigger Adani got in coal mining in India, the less momentum towards decarbonisation the Indian government seemed to be pursuing,” said Tim Buckley, a Sydney-based energy finance consultant.
The powerful connections wielded by the Adani Group have also appear to enable them to get projects done quicker than most, often sidestepping the entangled bureaucratic systems and regulations of India. On more than one occasion, legislation and regulations were amended or weakened to allow Adani to enter into new sectors or gain a significant tax advantage, including rules being changed so he could take ownership of six airports in Maharastra, India’s second busiest in Mumbai among them. The group denied any wrongdoing.
The activities of the group also became notoriously difficult to scrutinise, with journalists and news companies who reported critically on Adani slapped with lawsuits. After Adani recently pulled off a stealth take-over of India’s popular TV news channel NDTV, which had been seen as one of the last remaining bastions of mainstream independent journalism, the space for critical reporting on the Adani empire appeared to shrink further.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, one of the few journalists who produced critical reports on the Adani businesses, is currently subject to six defamation suits brought by the Adani Group and a gag order from the court. “No one else has built a corporate empire so vast, sprawling, diversified and dominant in so many sectors of the Indian economy than Mr Adani,” said Thakurta, who said he felt “vindicated” after the Hindenburg report.
What next for India?
With around 10% of India’s future infrastructure projects in the hands of the Adani Group, as well as a promised $100bn investment in India’s green energy sector in India, there is concern that India’s development could falter if the fortunes of the Adani Group worsen and it is unable to raise capital. The Adani group has insisted “all ongoing projects will continue according to plan”.
“If the bubble hasn’t already burst it has at least halved in size,” said Geoff Law, who runs Adani Watch, a website funded by an Australian non-profit that has reported on the Adani Group’s actions in Australia and India.
“It is inevitable that their more ambitious projects will be re-examined and authorities and corporations will have second thoughts about the ventures that they’ve entered into with Adani.”
This week, the country’s market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India, said it was “inquiring” into the allegations made in the Hindenburg report, while the government told the supreme court it had no objection to an expert committee looking into the impact on Indian investors.
Nonetheless, Crabtree was among those who were doubtful that Adani would be brought down entirely by the Hindenburg report, given the powerful political actors vested in his conglomerate.
“But it does suggest that a corporate growth model that combines heavy debt, complex financing and opaque governance might not be in India’s long-term interest,” he said.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
New Delhi: Google on Thursday shared its “Year in Search 2022” report which revealed that searches for ‘international trip’ nearly “doubled to grow at 80 per cent” in the country last year.
“Emerging from Covid-19 confident of their digital savvy, Indians are tapping into Search to strike a balanced blend of online convenience and real-world experiences,” the tech giant said in a statement.
“People are turning to digital services like electronic payments and instant delivery to simplify their everyday lives, and free up time for in-person activities and long awaited indulgences such as travel, live concerts, and dining out.”
While queries for ‘movie in theatre’ rose 220 per cent, ‘live concert’ grew by 80 per cent and ‘OTT release’ by 380 per cent last year.
Talking about sporting events, queries for ‘cricket match ticket’ grew by 170 per cent and ‘Fifa world cup ticket’ by over 140 per cent.
Moreover, searches for ‘instant delivery’ grew by over 180 per cent and ‘e-wallet’ by more than 40 per cent last year.
“As people become increasingly proficient in merging the ease of digital with the magic of experiential into a continuum, businesses too need to re-envision their channel strategies and minimise frictions between their online and in-store presence,” said Roma Datta Chobey, Senior Director-Digital First Businesses, Google India.
In 2022, search interest for ‘Thailand trip’ grew by over 90 per cent and for ‘Europe trip’ by more than 50 per cent.
“Increasingly discerning about value, consumers are searching for assurances that their choices will deliver quality and reliability at the correct cost,” the company said.
“Towards this, people are enhancing their financial and economic awareness with search interest for ‘fuel price rise hike’ by +150 per cent and ‘inflation’ growing by 50 per cent,” it added.
Here’s a day-to-day timeline of events leading up to the dramatic shootdown over the water off the East Coast on Saturday. The following is based on interviews with three senior U.S. officials, all of whom asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation.
Saturday, Jan. 28:
The balloon is first detected over U.S. airspace high over Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands. The military’s North American Aerospace Defense Command closely tracks the balloon, assessing it poses no threat or intelligence risk.
Monday, Jan. 30:
NORAD tracks the balloon as it travels into Canadian airspace. Officials determine it is used for spying, as it carries surveillance equipment including a collection pod and solar panels located on the metal truss suspended below the balloon. Based on its small motors and propellers, officials also assess it can be actively maneuvered to fly over specific locations.
The balloon is part of a Chinese fleet developed for spying, which over the past few years have been spotted over countries across five continents, including Asia and Europe. Balloons were observed over the United States three times in the Trump administration, and once before at the beginning of the Biden administration. What makes this new encounter different was the long duration over the continent.
Tuesday, Jan. 31:
The balloon re-enters U.S. airspace over northern Idaho. The Defense Department alerts President Joe Biden, who asks for military options to shoot it down.
The Pentagon begins working to keep the balloon from collecting sensitive information from sites on the ground. This was “straightforward,” a senior administration official said, “because we could track the exact path of the balloon and ensure no activities or sensitive unencrypted comms would be conducted in its vicinity.”
Wednesday, Feb. 1:
Pentagon officials are alarmed as the balloon makes its way over Montana, which is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, one of three sites that operate and maintain the nation’s silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convenes military and civilian leaders, including U.S. Northern Command Chief Gen. Glen VanHerck and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley, to discuss the situation.
All flights at Billings Logan International Airport are grounded for about two hours as authorities weigh what to do. The military scrambles F-22 fighter jets in case a decision was made to shoot it down.
Ultimately, Milley and VanHerck recommend against targeting the balloon over land due to the risk to civilians from the falling debris. Defense officials estimate debris from the balloon, which is the size of three buses, could fall in at least a seven-mile radius.
The president directs the Pentagon to come up with options to shoot down the balloon as soon as it is safe to do so over U.S. territorial waters, and in a way that allows them to recover the payload. He also directs the military and intelligence community to monitor the balloon to gain insight into its capabilities. NASA begins analyzing and assessing the possible debris field, based on the trajectory of the balloon, the weather and airship’s estimated payload.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman meet with Chinese embassy officials.
Thursday, Feb. 2:
The Pentagon issues a statement that a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon has entered U.S. airspace. Lawmakers call for briefings and begin criticizing Biden for not shooting it down. Reports emerge of a second balloon observed flying over Central and South America.
The military continues to work on options to bring down the balloon safely. National security adviser Jake Sullivan updates the president regularly.
Blinken decides to postpone his planned trip to China, and senior leadership across the administration agree.
Friday, Feb. 3
The Chinese Foreign Ministry releases a statement acknowledging the balloon is Chinese but claims it’s a civilian airship used to collect weather data. China says it entered U.S. airspace accidentally and expresses regret. But U.S. officials push back, saying the balloon is clearly used for surveillance and the breach is a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty.
Biden is briefed on Friday night on the plan to shoot down the balloon on Saturday over Wilmington, North Carolina, including what aircraft will be used to take it down and what naval vessels to recover it, as well as the initial intelligence analysis of its capabilities. Biden approves the plan.
Throughout the night, the National Security Council and the Pentagon work to ensure all measures are in place for the plan to succeed.
Saturday, Feb. 4:
In the morning, Biden speaks with Austin and Sullivan multiple times about the mission. Later, Biden pledges “we’re going to take care of it” when asked about the balloon during a stop in Syracuse, New York. He flashes a thumbs up to reporters when asked if the military was going to shoot it down, as he boards Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in New York.
The FAA temporarily grounds flights at airports in Wilmington and in Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina. This allows the military aircraft — an F-22 stealth fighter from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, F-15s from Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and tanker aircraft from multiple locations — to get into position.
At 2:39 pm, the F-22 flying at 58,000 feet shoots a single AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile that takes down the balloon, which is flying at an altitude of 60,000 to 65,000 feet. The military begins efforts to recover the balloon, which fell six nautical miles off the coast in an estimated 47 feet of water. The amphibious ship USS Carter Hall, destroyer USS Oscar Austin and cruiser Philippine Sea are in the area to aid with recovery. Navy divers are in position to descend to the site if needed.
Once the balloon is recovered, the intelligence community will begin efforts to further analyze the balloon.
“It’s actually provided us a number of days to analyze this balloon [and] learn a lot about what this balloon was doing, how it was doing, why the PRC might be using balloons like this,” said a senior DoD official. “We have learned technical things about this balloon and its surveillance capabilities. And I suspect if we are successful in recovering aspects of the debris, we will learn even more.”
Later Saturday, China issues a statement calling the shoot-down a violation of international practice and threatened repercussions. The U.S. government speaks directly with Beijing about the mission. The State Department briefs allies and partners around the world.
“The balloon never posed a military or physical threat to the American people. However, its intrusion of our airspace for multiple days was an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” said the senior DoD official.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“This event definitely strengthens the hands of the United States,” said Heather McMahon, a former senior director at the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. “Anytime an espionage operation is exposed, [it] gives the advantage to the targeted nation.”
Blinken was preparing to see top officials in China on Sunday and Monday in a follow-up to President Joe Biden’s meeting with Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping in Bali in November. At the time, Biden pledged to “maintain open lines of communication” with Beijing amid worsening bilateral tensions.
The Pentagon’s announcement Thursday of an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon hovering over Montana changed that plan. In canceling Blinken’s trip, at least for now, the State Department said the incident “would have narrowed the agenda in a way that would have been unhelpful and unconstructive.”
Beijing admitted Friday that the balloon was Chinese, reversing its initial claims of ignorance, and said it was a civilian airship used primarily for meteorological purposes that had been blown into U.S. airspace by high winds.
That admission and the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s rare expression of “regrets” for the incident in a statement published on Friday suggests Beijing is in damage control mode at a time when it’s trying to stabilize ties with the U.S.
The revelation “has pushed China a little bit on the back foot,” said Zack Cooper, former assistant to the deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism at the National Security Council and now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
And that could give Blinken an edge in his efforts to prod Beijing to deliver meaningful results when he eventually travels to China.
John Kamm, who has decades of experience negotiating with Chinese officials in his role as founder of the Dui Hua prisoner advocacy organization, said “it puts pressure on China to do something as a goodwill gesture in response to what they’ve done.”
Much of Blinken’s planned two days with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang — and a possible meeting with Xi — would have been lost to ritual recitations of respective U.S.-China positions on issues ranging from Taiwan and trade tensions to concerns about Beijing’s human rights record, its growing nuclear arsenal and its alignment with Russia’s war on Ukraine.
In an interview before the balloon was reported, David R. Stilwell, former assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the meeting was unlikely to produce movement on any of those issues. “Beijing uses ‘talks’ to reduce pressure — while giving nothing of significance — and to humiliate the other side,” Stillwell said.
Still, some say Blinken could have seized the opportunity to make heavier demands in person.
“If Tony went now, Xi and the Chinese would be deeply embarrassed, grateful that he came, wanting to put it behind him,” said Danny Russel, a former senior Asia hand in the Obama administration. The balloon incident could have become “a teachable moment,” he said.
Delaying the trip risks the Chinese becoming more defensive over time, and less inclined to come to a meeting of the minds, said Russel, who nonetheless stressed that he understood the Biden administration’s calculations.
The Chinese government had recently shifted to a softer diplomatic tone — an effort by Beijing to reduce U.S.-China tensions while it grapples with a disastrous Covid outbreak and an economic downturn.
Blinken’s indefinite postponement of his Beijing trip until “the conditions are right” has won him measured praise from GOP lawmakers.
Delaying the trip is “a right call for now,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) chair of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party, said in a video he tweeted on Friday.
The trip postponement “is an appropriate step to underscore the seriousness” of the balloon’s intrusion, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) said in a statement.
Blinken can now see if Beijing’s eagerness for even symbolic gestures of reduced bilateral rancor produces Chinese diplomatic sweeteners for a rapid rescheduling of Blinken’s China travel plans.
But time may not be on Blinken’s side given the crowded Chinese political calendar.
“The Chinese have their national legislative session in early March, and House Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy is projected to visit Taiwan around Easter, so the trip may not happen until the late spring, where the bilateral atmosphere arguably will be even more challenging,” said Chris Johnson, president and chief executive of the China Strategies Group, a risk consultancy.
Regardless of the spy balloon’s short-term diplomatic fallout and the possible short-term advantage Blinken could reap from it, the longer-term prospects for U.S.-China relations remain grim.
“Beijing is hoping talks provide a timeout from bilateral friction that allows it to focus on domestic issues; the U.S. wants China to agree to guardrails that allow relations to remain abrasive without getting too hot,” said Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center. “Those goals are probably irreconcilable.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks. | Pool photo by Stefani Reynolds
By Phelim Kine
Updated:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Beijing trip has been postponed due to concerns over the suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over the U.S., according to a Washington, D.C.-based foreign diplomat.
“We were told this morning” by the State Department, the diplomat told POLITICO. The diplomat was granted anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on the record.
Blinken had been scheduled to meet with top officials in China Feb. 5-6 in a follow-up to President Joe Biden’s meeting with Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping in Bali in November, in which Biden pledged to “maintain open lines of communication” with Beijing at a time of worsening bilateral tensions.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
