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The seventh round of the 2024 Qatar Off-Road Championship (Moto) concluded at the Sealine Region on Saturday, with South Africa’s Michael Anderson finishing ahead of Championship leader Mohammed al-Balooshi. Anderson claimed the overall victory, completing 16 laps in 1:24:28, while UAE’s al-Balooshi finished second with a time of 1:25:15. Al-Balooshi’s brother, Sultan secured the third place at 1:27:26. Heat 1 at the 6.1 kilometre track saw Mohammed leading with a time of 32:47.0 in a six-lap event, but Anderson dominated Heat 2, completing 10 laps in 51:41.0. UAE’s Mansoor al-Suwaidi won the quad category, followed by his compatriots Abdulaziz Ahli and Abdullah Alfalasi, who took second and third places, respectively. The eighth and final round of the Championship takes place on December 6-7.

Novak Djokovic announced on Saturday that his retired long-time rival Andy Murray is joining the 24-time Grand Slam-winning player’s coaching team, starting at the Australian Open in January.“I’m thrilled to have one of my biggest rivals on the same side of the net with me, this time as my coach. I look forward to starting the season with Andy and having him by my side in Melbourne, where we’ve shared many exceptional moments throughout our careers,” Djokovic said in a statement.Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion who retired from competitive tennis at the Olympics in August, said: “I am very excited about this and look forward to being on the same side of the net for a change.“I’m also grateful for the opportunity to help him achieve his goals for the upcoming year.”Djokovic posted a video on X of him and Murray during the Scotsman’s playing career, jokingly titled: “He never liked retirement anyway.”The 37-year-old Serb has won the Australian Open a record 10 times, defeating Murray in four Melbourne finals.Djokovic failed to win a Grand Slam in 2024 and has slipped to seventh in the world, although he did land the Olympic singles title in Paris, a victory he described as his “greatest achievement”.Jannik Sinner, who will finish the year as the runaway world number one, beat him in the Australian Open semi-finals and Djokovic lost to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in the Wimbledon final. He is level with Margaret Court for the most major singles titles by any player and would dearly love to overtake the Australian in Melbourne.Djokovic and Murray faced each other 36 times in their careers with the Serb winning 25 times. Nineteen of those clashes came in finals, including seven at the Slams. For Murray, two of those major championship duels were significant. He captured his maiden Grand Slam title with a five-set victory over his rival at the 2012 US Open while, a year later, he famously became the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years courtesy of a straight sets victory in the final at the All England Club.“We played each other since we were boys – 25 years of being rivals, of pushing each other beyond our limits. We had some of the most epic battles in our sport,” added Djokovic on Saturday.“They called us gamechangers, risk takers, history makers. I thought our story may be over. Turns out, it has one final chapter. It’s time for one of my toughest opponents to step into my corner.”Djokovic ended his coaching partnership with Goran Ivanisevic in March despite winning 12 Slams together. Former Wimbledon winner Ivanisevic had admitted Djokovic is “not an easy guy” such is his intensity to make history in the sport.“Especially when something’s not going his way. Sometimes it’s very complicated,” said Ivanisevic after Djokovic had claimed the 2023 French Open.

Some of the world’s top cricketers will be among 574 players seeking an Indian Premier League (IPL) payday when the lucrative T20 tournament begins its annual auction today. AFP Sport looks at five stars up for grabs during the two-day bidding frenzy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The season is likely to start in March.James Anderson (England): The England Test great wants to add a final chapter to his storied career and is seeking an IPL berth for the first time, entering the auction at a base price of $148,115. The 42-year-old fast bowler retired from Tests earlier this year after 704 wickets, the third-highest in five-day history after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and Australian spin king Shane Warne. He has limited experience in 20-over matches, playing 19 internationals for England with his last 15 years ago. But Anderson has said he isn’t ready to call time on his career, prompting West Indies great Viv Richards to liken his longevity to LeBron James.Mitchell Starc (Australia): The 34-year-old smashed the IPL auction record last year when Kolkata Knight Riders netted his services for $2.98mn. The left-arm quick and handy lower-order slugger was instrumental in their run to the title, including taking 2-14 in the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kolkata nevertheless opted not to retain him. “It is what it is, that’s franchise cricket,” Starc said. With 193 wickets in 142 T20 matches, the imposing Starc - he is 1.96 metres (6 feet 4 inches) tall - enters the auction at the top base price bracket of $237,000.Rishabh Pant (India): Pant, 27, was forced out of competitive cricket for more than a year after a serious car crash in December 2022 but returned to captain the Delhi Capitals this year. India’s top wicketkeeper-batsman and the franchise parted ways after their disappointing sixth-placed finish and Pant will also enter the auction at a $237,000 base price. With his sharp glovework and knack of taking on bowlers with attacking and unconventional batting, pundits believe he is in the running to secure a record payday. “Mitchell Starc’s auction record is in danger,” former India quick Irfan Pathan said on social media.David Miller (South Africa): Known as “Killer Miller” for his destructive batting, the South African has a T20 international strike rate of close to 140. The 35-year-old is also looking for a new home after playing with Gujarat Titans since the team’s inception in 2022, smashing 210 runs in nine matches in this year’s season. India’s dismissal of Miller in this year’s T20 World Cup final in Barbados was a key moment in the match and the Proteas went on to lose. He is likely to set off a bidding war after registering for the auction at a base price of $178,000.Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand): Ravindra made an instant impact in his IPL debut this year, smashing 222 runs at a punishing strike rate above 161 for Chennai Super Kings. The left-hander’s ability to play spin with aplomb on subcontinent pitches saw him fare well during last year’s ODI World Cup and in New Zealand’s recent 3-0 Test whitewash in India. The Wellington-born Ravindra’s parents hail from Bengaluru and hopes abound there that he will join the city’s franchise, which also features fan favourite Virat Kohli. The 25-year-old’s first name reflects his father’s love of India’s cricket greats - “Ra” from Rahul Dravid and “chin” from Sachin Tendulkar. Ravindra enters the auction at a $178,000 base price.

Yashasvi Jaiswal hit a composed unbeaten 90 and K L Rahul a stylish 62 on Saturday as India built an ominous 218-run lead over Australia to take a stranglehold on the opening Test in Perth.A determined and gritty effort by both men against a world-class attack put the visitors in the driving seat as they look to draw first blood in the five-match series.Jaiswal faced 193 balls while Rahul fended off 153 to steer India to 172 without loss at the close on day two. India have won their last two Border-Gavaskar trophy series in Australia but came into the Perth Stadium clash after a devastating 3-0 home loss to New Zealand.After making a miserly 150 on a lively pitch in their first innings, the pressure was again on. But their response proved admirable.They took a 46-run advantage into the second innings after dismissing the hosts for a meagre 104 at lunch. Dynamic skipper Jasprit Bumrah blitzed 5-30 and Harshit Rana grabbed 3-48.“When Bumrah took wickets I was also desperate to do well,” said Rana, who is making his debut.“He sets the tone for us and I delivered.”Young gun Jaiswal, just 22 and in his 15th Test, failed to score in his first knock and began tentatively before a boundary off Mitchell Starc settled him.Batting alongside the more experienced Rahul, who was playing in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, they were resolute against the new ball on a pitch more placid than the treacherous one that greeted the players on Friday. Both ran well between the wicket and cracked anything loose to the boundary, playing their shots as their confidence grew. With the ball not moving nearly as much, Australia were in dire need of some inspiration, but it failed to come as the partnership flourished. Left-hander Jaiswal brought up his ninth Test half-century off 123 balls, slapping Nathan Lyon for a single.He had a let-off on 52 when attempting a drive off Starc, with the ball flying to Usman Khawaja at second slip, but he failed to take a difficult chance.The elegant Rahul also had a scare, surviving a run-out on 42.He regrouped to reach his 16th half-century in his 54th Test, taking one more ball than Jaiswal, and with those landmarks reached they began playing more freely.“I think the wicket has changed considerably,” said Australia coach Andrew McDonald.“The seam and swing was down compared to on Saturday, but KL and Jaiswal played extremely well.“We have some problems to solve ahead of us, there’s no doubt,” he added. “We’re clearly well behind the game at this point. “But that’s not to say that tomorrow can’t change very quickly, Test cricket ebbs and flows.”After an astonishing 17 wickets fell on a chaotic opening day, Australia resumed on 67-7 and put on 37 thanks to a dogged last wicket holdout. They reached three figures courtesy of Starc and Josh Hazlewood, with their 25-run stand the longest of the Australian innings.Bumrah was India’s chief destroyer with his 11th five-wicket haul in Tests. Home hopes rested on Alex Carey as he began on 19, but after nudging two from Rana he came up against an irrepressible Bumrah. Coming round the wicket, the Indian captain made Carey play and he nicked to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.Lyon (5) did well to hang around for 16 fiery balls before gloving a short one from Rana to Rahul in the slips. That brought Hazlewood to the crease and it seemed only a matter of time before India were batting again. But he and Starc gamely stuck around, bringing up the 100 to huge cheers from the crowd. It was an intelligent innings by Starc, who doggedly faced 112 balls and protected Hazlewood to add crucial extra runs before holing out Rana to Pant on 26.BRIEF SCORESIndia 150 and 172 for 0 (Jaiswal 90*, Rahul 62*) lead Australia 104 (Bumrah 5-30, Rana 3-48) by 218 runs.

Imal Liyanage’s blistering knock of 86 powered Qatar to a 48-run win over Cambodia, securing their third consecutive victory in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier B on Saturday. Liyanage hammered eight sixes and three boundaries in his 54-ball innings, steering Qatar to 170-7 after they elected to bat first at the University of Doha for Science and Technology ground.The left-hander forged a pivotal 98-run opening stand in 10.1 overs with Saqlain Arshad, who contributed a quickfire 38 off 24 balls. Their partnership laid a solid foundation as the rest of the batting lineup struggled, with only Muhammad Tanveer (19) managing double figures.On debut, 41-year-old Mohammed Aslam spearheaded Qatar’s bowling attack, claiming 3-20 as Cambodia were restricted to 122-8. Arumugaganesh Nagarajan bagged two wickets while Owais Ahmed and Ikramullah Khan picked up one apiece. Cambodia’s Lakshit Gupta top-scored with 49.Qatar are set to face Bahrain tomorrow. In other matches, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continued their dominant run, thrashing Thailand by 155 runs at the University of Doha for Science and Technology ground. Meanwhile, Bahrain crushed Bhutan by 90 runs at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium. UAE lead the standings with eight points from four matches, while Qatar remain in contention for a top-two finish with six points from three games. Bahrain and Thailand are tied on four points, followed by Saudi Arabia (2 points).Cambodia and Bhutan are yet to register a win. The top two teams will qualify for the Regional Final, joining Nepal, Oman, and Papua New Guinea.

Three-time champion Max Verstappen criticised his Red Bull team but added it was a “nice surprise” to have qualified ahead of title rival Lando Norris for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.The 27-year-old Dutch driver, who leads Norris by 62 points with three races remaining, said Red Bull had “thrown away two race weekends” by failing to have a dedicated low-downforce rear wing for circuits with high-speed straights such as Monza and Las Vegas.The pair qualified fifth and sixth and will share the third row of the grid for Saturday night’s ‘Sin City’ race in which Verstappen can seal a fourth consecutive drivers’ crown by beating his friend and nearest rival.He said he had not expected to be faster than the British McLaren driver in a session topped by George Russell of Mercedes, who claimed his fourth career pole.“We are in front of McLaren and that’s a nice surprise for me,” said Verstappen.Norris was despondent about his chances, saying he felt “top four was out of reach” for him.“Mercedes have been easily quickest,” added Norris.“I was struggling in corners and could not find the balance. It was too much of a challenge.“But I will do all I can in the race to do what I need. I will keep going to the end and will do my best in every race whether I am fighting for the championship or not.”Verstappen, though, was unhappy with his team for not updating their rear wing.“We opted not to make one,” he said of Red Bull’s lack of a circuit specific rear wing.“We don’t have one. This is from 2022. I think we thought we would never run it that low and then, with the budget cap, it stayed like that.“But I think it is a decision that needs revising.“With the budget cap, you choose your priorities and we shifted on that.“It feels like we throw away two race weekends like this because you lose too much on the straights.”He added he felt that despite trimming their rear wing in Las Vegas, it remained “a bit of a handicap”.“We knew it and that’s something that we have to deal with on a track like this and like Monza,” he said.“I think we did the best we could with what we had.“We got a bit lucky with Lewis (Hamilton) not putting a lap in otherwise I would have been sixth. But I feel happy with my laps.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed the membership of HE Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri in the Board of Trustees of the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) until 2027.The UN secretary-general had selected HE Dr al-Marri in 2020, thanks to his work and activities with several UN agencies, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the International Criminal Court (ICC).HE Dr al-Marri participated in the 56th session of the UNITAR Board of Trustees, which was held in Geneva on Nov 21-22.Chaired by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Luis Gallegos, the UNITAR Board of Trustees listened to the annual report presented by the Executive Director of UNITAR, Nikhil Seth, in which he outlined in specifics the volume of training offered by UNITAR to roughly 140,000 beneficiaries in a sheer number of diverse training programs which significantly focus on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through establishing new programs and forging partnerships with a wide diversity of sectors operating in the area of development, as well as identifying new global challenges and designing adequate programs to tackle these challenges.In addition, the Board of Trustees discussed the future projects and financial budget and wound up its meetings by electing a new director of UNITAR Board of Trustees, namely the Permanent Representative of Denmark to Geneva, Ib Petersen, and elected the former Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Kenya, Amina Mohamed, as deputy director.The UNITAR's annual strategy emphasises the engagement of peoples in safeguarding the earth and forging long-term strategies to achieve the UNITAR's objectives, including the UN system, as well as international financial institutions, transnational corporations, the private sector, and governments.The UNITAR Board of Trustees includes several ministers, ambassadors and permanent representatives accredited to the UN in Geneva and New York, alongside a number of representatives of non-governmental organsations.

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday praised the “courageous decision” of the International Criminal Court to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.“We support the arrest warrant. We consider it important that this courageous decision be carried out by all country members of the accord to renew the trust of humanity in the international system,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.The ICC issued the warrants against the Israeli leaders on Thursday on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza conflict.“It is imperative that western countries — who for years have given the world lessons on law, justice and human rights — keep their promises at this stage,” added Erdogan, whose country is not a state party in the ICC accord. Erdogan has become a fierce critic of Israel since the start of its military offensive on Gaza in October 2023.He has vowed several times to make sure that Israel’s prime minister, who has angrily condemned the ICC warrants, is “brought to account” over the Israeli military campaign in the Palestinian territory. Turkiye and 52 other countries this month sent a letter to the UN demanding an end to arms sales and deliveries to Israel.WARRANTS AREBINDING: BORRELLEuropean Union governments cannot pick and choose whether to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against the two Israeli leaders, the EU’s foreign policy chief said.The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged crimes against humanity.All EU member states are signatories to the ICC’s founding treaty, called the Rome Statute.Several EU states have said they will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would face no risks if he did so.“The states that signed the Rome convention are obliged to implement the decision of the court. It’s not optional,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.Those same obligations were also binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said.“It would be very funny that the newcomers have an obligation that current members don’t fulfil,” he told Reuters.The US rejected the ICC’s decision and Israel said the ICC move was antisemitic.“Every time someone disagrees with the policy of one Israeli government — (they are) being accused of antisemitism,” said Borrell, whose term as EU foreign policy chief ends this month.“I have the right to criticise the decisions of the Israeli government, be it Mr Netanyahu or someone else, without being accused of antisemitism. This is not acceptable. That’s enough.” Israel’s 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed about 44,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population while creating a humanitarian crisis, Gaza officials say.Israel began its offensive after the Hamas-led storming of the country in October 2023.In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza”.

In heavily forested Gabon, elephants are increasingly wandering into villages and destroying crops, angering the local population who demand the power to stop the critically endangered animals in their tracks.“The solution to get rid of the pachyderms is to kill them,” said Kevin Balondoboka, who lives in Bakoussou, a mere scattering of wooden huts in the sprawling, lush forest.Villagers across the central African country live in fear of close encounters with elephants, whether on the road, going to wash in the river or especially in fields where they grow their crops.Strict conservation policies have made Gabon “the refuge of forest elephants”, Lea-Larissa Moukagni, who heads the human-wildlife conflict programme at the National Agency of National Parks (ANPN) said.African forest elephants, which inhabit the dense rainforests of west and central Africa, are smaller than their African savanna elephant cousins.Poaching for ivory and loss of habitat have led to a decline over decades in their numbers and conservation groups now list the African forest elephant as critically endangered. But that does not stop villagers from viewing the animals as a pervasive problem.With a population of 95,000 elephants compared to 2mn inhabitants, the issue is a “real” one, said Aime Serge Mibambani Ndimba, a senior official in the ministry of the environment, climate and — recently added — human-wildlife conflict.“What are the men in government protecting? Human being or beast?” Mathias Mapiyo, another Bakoussou resident, asked, exasperatedly.“I don’t know what the elephant brings them,” he said.Some worry their livelihoods will be stamped out.“We provide for our children’s needs through agriculture,” Viviane Metolo, from the same village, said.“Now that this agriculture is to benefit the elephant, what will become of us?”William Moukandja, the head of a special forest brigade, has grown used to the anti-elephant complaints.“The human-wildlife conflict is now permanent, we find it across the country, where we are seeing devastation from north to south and from east to west,” he said.Moukagni, from the national parks agency, said people’s perception that there are more elephants than before was borne out by the figures.“It is scientifically proven,” she said — but what has changed is that the elephants no longer shy away from villages and even towns.To protect crops, the agency has experimented with electric fences, not to kill but to “psychologically impact the animal” and repel it.Experts have looked into why the “Loxodonta cyclotis” — the African forest elephant’s scientific name — is venturing out from the depths of the forest.Climate change is affecting the plants and food available to the animals, Moukagni said.But humans working the land that is the animals’ natural habitat is another factor, while poaching deep in the forest also scatters herds, she said.‘RESPONSIBILITY’The population of the African forest elephant plummeted 86% over 30 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which has placed it on its red list of threatened species.While they are still a long way from extinction in Gabon, Moukagni said the country had a dual responsibility “to keep this species alive for the world and for the sustainability of forests”.Last December, just three months after seizing power in a military coup, transitional President Brice Oligui Nguema publicly sided with “victims of human-wildlife conflict”, in a shift from the conservation priorities of the previous government.“I authorise you to kill these elephants... I am a humanist,” he told the crowd to applause, also announcing he had asked for “all those jailed for killing elephants to be released without delay and conditions”.Jeremy Mapangou, a lawyer with the NGO Conservation Justice, said the message to the people was “strong” but added: “When the president said ‘shoot them’, he was referring to self-defence.”Hunting and catching elephants in Gabon is banned and carries a jail term. Ivory trafficking is also severely punished.But in cases of self-defence, the killing of an elephant is permitted under certain conditions.The weapon must comply with the law, the relevant administration must be informed, a report written and the ivory handed over as “state property”.Other measures permit the worst-affected communities to file a complaint and request “administrative hunting” to remove the four-legged troublemakers.“But how can you file a complaint against an elephant?” Marc Ngondet, Bakoussou village chief, asked.Mibambani Ndimba, wildlife management chief in the environment ministry, stressed that “the protection of elephants remains a priority”.Known as the “forest gardener”, the mammals play a crucial role in the biodiversity and ecosystem of the forests of the Congo Basin, which has the second-biggest carbon absorption capacity in the world after the Amazon.“We must provide help to Gabon so that we do not get to situations where the population rises up and wants to take justice into its own hands,” Mibambani Ndimba said.Otherwise, “elephant heads will roll”.

When Lebanese carpenter Samir awoke in a panic yesterday to the sound of explosions and screams, he thought his own building in central Beirut had been hit by an air raid.As it turned out, the early morning air strike — which killed at least 15 people and injured 63, according to authorities — had actually brought down an eight-storey building nearby, in the second such attack on the working-class neighbourhood of Basta in as many months.A Lebanese security source told AFP the target had been a senior Hezbollah figure, without naming him.“The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads,” said Samir, 60, who lives with his family in a building facing the one that was hit.“It felt like they had targeted my house,” he said, asking to be identified by only his first name because of security concerns.There had been no evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military for the Basta area.After the strike, Samir fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and two children, aged 14 and just three.Yesterday morning, dumbstruck residents watched as an excavator cleared the wreckage of the razed building and rescue efforts continued, with nearby buildings also damaged in the attack, AFP journalists reported.The densely packed district has welcomed people displaced from traditional Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon’s east, south and southern Beirut, after Israel intensified its air campaign on September 23, later sending in ground troops.“We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more,” Samir said, reporting minor damage to his home.Since last Sunday, four deadly Israeli strikes have hit central Beirut, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.Residents across the city and its outskirts awoke at 0400 (0200 GMT) yesterday to loud explosions and the smell of gunpowder in the air.“It was the first time I’ve woken up screaming in terror,” said Salah, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in the same street as the building that was targeted.“Words can’t express the fear that gripped me,” he said.Yesterday’s strikes were the second time the Basta district had been targeted since war broke out, after deadly twin strikes early in October hit the area and the Nweiri neighbourhood.Last month’s attacks killed 22 people and had targeted Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, who made it out alive, a source close to the group told AFP.Salah said his wife and children had been in the northern city of Tripoli, about 70 kilometres away, but that he had to stay in the capital because of work.His family had been due to return this weekend because their school reopens tomorrow, but now he has decided against it following the attack.“I miss them. Every day they ask me: ‘Dad, when are we coming home?’” he said.Lebanon’s health ministry says that more than 3,650 people have been killed since October 2023, after Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in solidarity with its ally Hamas over the Gaza war.However, most of the deaths in Lebanon have been since September this year. Despite the trauma caused by yesterday’s strike, Samir said he and his family had no choice but to return home.“Where else would I go?” he asked. “All my relatives and siblings have been displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs and from the south.”

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s feverish push to expand his global energy and infrastructure empire has been knocked by US bribery charges, but analysts believe the tycoon will bounce back.The bombshell indictment in New York on Wednesday accusing Adani and his associates of paying more than $250mn in bribes to secure lucrative government contracts sparked a frenzied sale of stocks.Within hours, India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi demanded Adani’s arrest and Kenyan President William Ruto scrapped airport and electricity deals worth about $2.5bn.The Adani Group dismissed the bribery charge as “baseless” but Shriram Subramanian, founder of corporate governance advisory firm, InGovern Research Services, said it has “huge” implications.“They will defend themselves by appealing, or go for a settlement,” Subramanian told AFP from Bengaluru.“It is a big blow to their reputation and corporate governance practices,” he added. The meteoric rise of Adani, once the world’s second-richest man, has been dogged with controversies - and allegations he benefited from his close ties to Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The conglomerate weathered previous allegations of impropriety that wiped $150bn from its market value in 2023, after a report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research accused it of “brazen” corporate fraud. “Given Adani’s clout, his resources, and his access, he has the capacity to bounce back, (and) we saw that the last time around,” Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute Director at The Wilson Center told AFP.Adani’s empire spanning coal, airports, cement, and media has interests in countries ranging from Australia to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Israel, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Nepal. But Kugelman warned that this time the challenge is “unprecedented”. “If you’re indicted by the US justice system, the seriousness and the scale is altogether different”, Kugelman said. “Hindenburg pales in comparison to what he is facing right now”.The bribery charges are a huge hurdle for key investors, and sparking grassroots demands for greater scrutiny of major projects. In neighbouring Sri Lanka, activists opposing a $442mn wind power project by Adani Green Energy have demanded the deal be stalled. “The tolerance for risk among the investors who stuck with him during Hindenburg would be much lower,” Kugelman said.Adani is India’s largest private port operator, and operates key airports including in the financial capital Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the biggest city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The group is also involved in vast coal and renewable energy projects across the world’s fifth-largest economy.In October, Gautam’s nephew and board member Sagar Adani - also named in the indictment - told AFP there was “no political connection” between Adani Group and Modi’s government.Hemindra Hazari, a Mumbai-based markets research analyst, said that the conglomerate, a relatively new player in key infrastructure sectors, was backed by large investors who would otherwise have been cautious because it “was considered to be close to the ruling dispensation”.“Most of them invested despite the group’s limited managerial bandwidth and experience...precisely because...it was seen to be getting highly remunerative terms...which, in any normal market-based economy, would not have been possible,” he told AFP.A “significant component” of Adani debt was raised from foreign sources, including banks and institutional investors, he said, and “everything will slow down for them for now”.India’s government is yet to comment. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi however was swift to demand Adani be arrested - but telling reporters he knew that would not happen, alleging that “Modi is protecting him”.Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back saying the alleged bribery was linked to Indian states led by opposition parties. Subramanian believes it is just “a dent” to Adani’s reputation and that they will “continue to seek out and win projects across India and rest of the world”. But Kugelman warned the “reputational blows”, not only to the Adani Group but to India, were “severe”.As for the future, how the charges will influence incoming US president Donald Trump remains an “unknown”, Kugelman said. “I don’t think it’d really affect the broader India-US relationship”, he said.But he noted that Trump may eye a wily businessman like Adani “favourably”, or “leverage it for more favourable policies on tariffs”.

Civil liberties and immigration rights groups worry Donald Trump’s incoming administration could use powerful law enforcement surveillance and big data technology to press ahead with some key policies, risking infringing on privacy rights.Republican Trump has repeatedly said he would “militarise” certain law enforcement activities, which could involve using the military for domestic law enforcement, though he has not provided any specifics.The Thomson Reuters Foundation reported in July that a victorious Trump could use surveillance systems and artificial intelligence to supercharge his plan to carry out a mass deportation of illegal immigrants.When the former president returns to the White House in January, he will have across-the-board powers backed by a Republican-controlled Senate and Congress, and a conservative majority in the Supreme Court.Against this backdrop, experts worry that an emboldened and more powerful and organised second Trump administration could exploit advances in technology and surveillance to forge ahead with policies ranging from immigration to policing.“He is likely to further empower law enforcement to invest in and deploy surveillance tools, with little regard for civil liberties concerns,” said Andrew Ferguson, a law professor at the American University in Washington, DC.The Trump campaign did not respond to the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s questions about its views on surveillance technology.“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance Transition team.The concerns about surveillance powers are particularly acute among immigration rights groups, which worry that a Trump administration would be able to harness data brokers, facial recognition, and other tools to create lists of immigrants it would want to deport.Data brokers are companies that track and collect personal data and, in the United States, there are few regulations restricting what they can sell to law enforcement.J D Vance, Trump’s running mate, has said the Trump administration could aim to deport around 1mn people a year. By comparison, the Biden administration deported around 150,000 illegal immigrants in 2023, the vast majority of which were new arrivals at the border.“These technologies will be exploited, and probably in the worst possible way,” said Paromita Shah, the executive director of Just Futures Law, a legal immigration advocacy group.In recent years, Shah and other immigrant rights advocate groups have asked regulators to restrict immigration authorities’ access to big data tools, and filed lawsuits alleging data brokers who share such information violate consumers’ privacy. The efforts have had little results so far.After his victory, Trump told NBC News he would prioritise the deportation plan, adding there was “no price tag” on the operation.It is unclear how many undocumented migrants Trump aims to deport. The US Department of Homeland Security estimated there were 11 million immigrants without legal status in 2022.Immigration experts, however, have pointed to some bureaucratic and legal hurdles, such as insufficient immigration judges and tight budgets for hiring agents to conduct the operations.Efforts by Trump’s first administration to deport long-standing immigrants from the interior of the country were at times hampered by a lack of co-operation between local law enforcement agencies and immigration authorities, according to a study from the libertarian Cato Institute.Another concern is that Trump could exploit advances in the police’s surveillance capacity to implement his vision of “restoring law and order and public safety in America”.There has been an explosion in surveillance tools in US police department in recent years, while law enforcement’s access to commercial databases has also increased, allowing them to track people without a warrant.The number of local police departments with “real time crime centres” — central hubs where surveillance from cameras, license plate readers and other inputs flow — has almost doubled over the last four years, according to data collected by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group.Over 90% of large police departments in the United States currently have access to automatic license plate readers, up from around 66% in 2016, data from the Department of Justice showed.Meanwhile, the data broker industry — where law enforcement can buy location information and other personal data without a warrant — has grown four-fold since 2020 to over $411bn, according to market research firm MMR.Experts worry about the implication of this for privacy but also for racial justice in policing, which has come under close scrutiny since the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.“I don’t think that (The Trump administration) is going to be taking the time to look deeply into the racial justice or privacy arms of these new technologies,” Ferguson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.“In fact, I think they are going to open the commercial floodgates to allow...new policing technology companies into the market.”Civil liberties and immigration rights groups say they are looking for ways to make it more difficult for the incoming Trump administration to harness these powers.The ACLU, the largest US national public interest law firm, is calling on local lawmakers to build “firewalls” that could limit Trump’s access to local policing resources.Immigration groups say they are planning to press the Department of Homeland Security to abandon some technology tools before it hands over power to the Trump administration in January, including winding down deals between immigration authorities and data brokers.During the last Trump administration, the ACLU and other civil liberties groups documented how local authorities would often share those license plate reading data with federal immigration authorities to support deportation operations.The day after Trump’s victory, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a public notice asking companies to submit plans to support expanded programmes for tracking migrants, including with ankle monitors, GPS tracking, and biometric check-in technology, the technology publication Wired reported.After Trump’s victory, the ACLU created a petition asking Americans to write to Congress, calling on lawmakers to pass laws that would restrict the federal government’s ability to purchase Americans data from data brokers.“If Donald Trump’s administration gains unfettered access to our personal data, they could use it to go after communities of colour, political opponents, people seeking reproductive or gender-affirming healthcare, and anyone who disagrees with their policies,” the group wrote.Matt Cagle, a lawyer with the ACLU in California, said he also fears a Trump administration could exploit data collected by local police departments from tools like automatic license plate readers, or facial recognition systems.“When localities are collecting tons of information about their residents it becomes ripe for exploitation by any administration to try and target and locate all sorts of people,” he said.Earlier this year, a federal law that would have limited the ability of law enforcement to buy and use privately collected data — such as location information collected by apps — passed the US House of Representatives, but stalled in the Senate.“Commercial data is definitely a free for all,” Shah said.Police departments have also made the most of the Biden administration’s decision to give them access to Covid relief funding for “public safety” purposes.Many have used this to buy sophisticated surveillance systems — including social media monitoring systems, expanded surveillance camera systems, and license-plate readers, according to an analysis by non-profit Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).Policing groups say these tools make crime fighting more efficient — but civil libertarians have warned about dragnet surveillance, which collects data on everyone and not only those suspected of crimes.Trump’s language during the campaign — including his promise to deploy the military against the “radical left” or “enemy within” and pledge to persecute his political enemies — raises broader concerns about what the administration could do with these kinds of powerful surveillance tools, Ferguson said.“They might start with undocumented individuals,” he said. “But then you can turn the same power on any disfavoured group.” – Thomson Reuters Foundation