Top World News

Nov 21, 2024 - World

Billionaire Indian industrialist Gautam Adani, whose business empire has been rocked by US bribery charges against him, is one of the corporate world's great survivors.The tycoon -- a close ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- oversees a vast conglomerate encompassing coal, airports, cement and media operations.The US court charges that he paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes sent his companies' shares plunging. But Adani has seen off big threats before.On New Year's Day in 1998, Adani and an associate were reportedly kidnapped by gunmen demanding a $1.5 million ransom, before being later released at an unknown location.A decade later, he was dining at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace hotel when it was besieged by militants, who killed 160 people in one of India's worst terror attacks.Trapped with hundreds of others, Adani reportedly hid in the basement all night before he was rescued by security personnel early the next morning."I saw death at a distance of just 15 feet," he said of the experience after his private aircraft landed in his hometown Ahmedabad later that day.Adani, 62, differs from his peers among India's mega-rich, many of whom are known for throwing lavish birthday and wedding celebrations that are later splashed across newspaper gossip pages.A self-described introvert, he keeps a low profile and rarely speaks to the media, often sending lieutenants to front corporate events."I'm not a social person that wants to go to parties," he told the Financial Times in a 2013 interview.- 'Stop Adani' -Adani was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, to a middle-class family but dropped out of school at 16 and moved to financial capital Mumbai to find work in the lucrative gems trade.After a short stint in his brother's plastics business, he launched the flagship family conglomerate that bears his name in 1988 by branching out into the export trade.His big break came seven years later with a contract to build and operate a commercial shipping port in Gujarat.It grew to become India's largest at a time when most ports were government-owned -- the legacy of a sclerotic economic planning system that impeded growth for decades and was in the process of being dismantled.Adani in 2009 expanded into coal, a lucrative sector for a country still almost totally dependent on fossil fuels to meet its energy needs, but a decision that brought greater international scrutiny as he rose rapidly up India's rich list.His purchase the following year of an untapped coal basin sparked years of "Stop Adani" protests in Australia after dismay at the project's monumental environmental impact.Similar controversies plagued his coal projects in central India, where forests home to tribal communities were cut down for mining operations.- 'Extraordinary growth' -Adani is considered to be close to Prime Minister Modi, a fellow Gujarat native, and offered the leader the use of a private company jet during the 2014 election campaign that swept him to power.The tycoon has invested in the government's strategic priorities, in recent years inaugurating a green energy business with ambitious targets.In 2022, he completed a hostile takeover of broadcaster NDTV, a television news service considered one of the few media outlets willing to outwardly criticize Modi.Adani batted away press freedom fears, but told the Financial Times that journalists should have the "courage" to say "when the government is doing the right thing every day".Last year a bombshell report from US investment firm Hindenburg Research claimed the conglomerate had engaged in a "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades".Hindenburg said a pattern of "government leniency towards the group" stretching back decades had left investors, journalists, citizens and politicians unwilling to challenge its conduct "for fear of reprisal".Adani Group denied wrongdoing and characterized the report as a "calculated attack on India" but lost $150 billion in market capitalisation in the weeks after the report's release.Its founder saw his own net worth plunge by $60 billion over the same period, and he is now ranked by Forbes as the 25th-richest person globally.US prosecutors on Wednesday charged the tycoon and two other board members with paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes and hiding the payments from investors.The indictment accuses Adani Group's leadership of bribing Indian government officials to secure lucrative government contracts.The conglomerate and its founder have yet to respond to the charges.

Nov 21, 2024 - World

Indian chair of Adani Group, worth about $85bn, accused of agreeing to pay bribes to obtain solar energy contractsGautam Adani, one of the world’s richest men, has been indicted in New York over an alleged multibillion-dollar scheme to pay $250m in bribes and conceal it from US investors.Prosecutors charged the chair of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group and two other executives of a renewable energy company with securities fraud and conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud. Continue reading...

Nov 20, 2024 - World

President-elect Donald Trump's decision to select a former Rose Bowl tight end embroiled in a masculine toilet scandal to represent the nation abroad was received with the all the decorum such an announcement could expect. "UPDATE: Trump picks Matthew Whitaker for NATO ambassador," the news outlet Tennessee Holler told readers Wednesday. "You may remember him as the acting attorney general who was on the board of a company that boasted toilets for 'well-endowed men.'"Whitaker was indeed acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and, as multiple reports show, subjected to intense media scrutiny for pedaling toilets purportedly designed to keep large penises from touching human waste, as a "MASCULINE TOILET" press release explained in 2014. But as Vanity Fair, the Washington Post, Miami New Times, the Wall Street Journal and GQ reported in 2018, the former federal prosecutor ran a Florida-based invention company that the news outlets, customers and investigators described as "a scam.""Whitaker was also a cartoonish, grifting dope who shilled for a company that hawked time-travel cryptocurrencies, Bigfoot dolls, and toilets specially designed for men with big d----," GQ reported at the time. "[It] was shut down for good and paid a $26 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year for its alleged wrongdoing."The Post added, "The FTC alleged in a 2017 complaint that the company bilked customers with fraudulent promises that it would help them market their invention. The FBI has also investigated World Patent Marketing."It appears political spectators have not forgotten these reports, as responses to Trump's latest appointment pick show. ."Everything old and disastrous is new and disastrous again," replied writer Polly Sigh. "Trump’s former inept acting-AG and 'masculine toilet' salesmen, Matthew Whitaker, will be Trump’s NATO Ambassador.""The guy who ran a major toilet scam is now Trump’s nominated US Ambassador to NATO," wrote American public health scientist Eric Feigl-Ding. "That is all."ALSO READ: A giant middle finger from a tiny craven man"Trump's choice for Ambassador to NATO was out here running toilet scams and intimidating people who complained," wrote Brandon Weathersby, of the anti-Trump political group American Bridge. "Another [poo emoji] pick." "This isn’t a nomination—it’s a sabotage mission," Democratic activist Chris D. Jackson replied. "This move is a direct attack on the foundation of our global partnerships." "He has no foreign policy experience of any kind that I can find in his bio, announcement or wiki," added NBC News reporter Garrett Haake, "but appears to be the only NATO ambassador who would have played in a Rose Bowl."However Brooke Rollins, of the influential conservative political group America First Policy Institute, said she was thrilled."FOR THE WIN! Strength. Smarts. Dedication. MAGA. All the qualities in our own [Whitaker] that will make him an outstanding United States Ambassador to NATO," Rollins wrote. "Congratulations, my friend!!! You are the right man to represent America in a continent at war and under threat."

Nov 20, 2024 - World

On Wednesday morning, MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire reported that current and former domestic and foreign intel officials are expressing extreme alarm over the nomination by Donald Trump about his choice of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as his Director of National Intelligence (DNI).Following a discussion on other problematic nominees, including ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, Lemire stated there is a growing consensus that Gabbard is completely unacceptable and key U.S. allies are sending out warnings they will not share intel with her."What do you hear in talking to your sources in Washington at the edge of the intelligence community?" Morning Joe regular Mike Barnicle asked. "Do you hear the same thing that a lot of other people are hearing: that the British, the French, the Israelis, are coming in with hints that, you know, we're not going to share intelligence, our intelligence with Tulsi Gabbard?"ALSO READ: A giant middle finger from a tiny craven man"Yes. Current and former intelligence officers have expressed that fear and have heard that from their colleagues overseas saying there is going to be real reluctance to share some of their, those nation's, top secrets and intel with the United States," Lemire replied. "There are some concerns about Trump who, as we know, revealed intel, but Tulsi Gabbard in particular –– someone who voiced talking points that emanated from Moscow, has cozied up with the Syrians.""There is real concern here that the nation will be less safe because allies aren't going to trust us with their intel," he added.You can watch below or at the link here. - YouTube youtu.be

Nov 20, 2024 - World

Ukraine is having a tough time as its neighbor Russia wages war against it and "it’s going to get so much worse under the Trump administration," according to a Trump family member.Donald Trump's niece, trained psychologist Mary Trump, on Wednesday wrote about the war in Ukraine. Specifically, she talked about all the terrible things Ukraine has already gone through, and then issued a warning about what could come next."Of all the unthinkable scenarios we’ve been forced to consider since Donald won the election on November 5th is the possibility that all of this will have been for naught," Mary Trump wrote. "After all, the fate of Ukraine and Zelesnkyy may rest with Donald Trump, Putin’s puppet, a man who is enamored of and beholden to the very autocrat who wants to destroy our ally."ALSO READ: A giant middle finger from a tiny craven manMary Trump went on to note that Trump ally Elon Musk has been on calls with foreign leaders, including Zelesnkyy and Putin. Musk has also mocked Zelesnkyy."As unthinkable as it may be, we must contemplate how the world will react if, as seems likely, Donald withdraws the United States’ support from Ukraine in order to appease Vladimir Putin, his puppet-master—and our enemy. What will happen to Ukraine and Zelenskyy when one of their staunchest allies betrays them?" she asked."Ukraine has been through hell, but they remain an example of how to beat extraordinary odds. Remember this?" Mary Trump wrote before reminding readers that Ukraine once said, "Russian warship, go f--- yourself.”She added, "It’s going to get so much worse under the Trump administration so we must continue to support Ukraine in whatever way we can."She then continued, "And we can start by saying to my uncle, “Go f--- yourself.”