vijayawada l thursday l december 11, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION india secure bronze, Germany lift junior hockey crown India produced a brave-heart performance to nullify a two-goal deficit to beat Argentina 4-2 in the third-place play-off in Chennai on Wednesday Pic: Ashwin Prasath Set piece goals help hosts Sreejesh remains coy on what next On a night when nothing worked for India, they managed to win and convert four deadball situations; three penalty corners and one penalty stroke. Arshdeep Singh won each of India’s first three set-pieces in the 4th quarter. Ankit Pal converted the first while Manmeet Singh the second. Shardanand Tiwari struck from the spot while Anmol Ekka scored the last mould this squad. When asked if he will remain with the junior programme, ex-India goalkeeper said he will continue to learn ■ Germany, who breezed past India in the semifinals, beat Spain 3-2 via penalties to win an incredible eighth title at this level | p13 ■ Over the last 12 months, coach PR Sreejesh has dedicated his time to 04 India won 4th medal at this event (gold in 2001 & 2016, silver in 1997) CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI US gives mixed signals as trade talks resume PUSHPITA D E Y @ New Delhi AS the US and India look to finalise a broader bilateral trade agreement, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said that India’s offers are “the best Washington has received”, though challenges remain in getting New Delhi to open up its agriculture sector. “There is resistance in India for certain crops and meats and products. They are a difficult nut to crack… but they have been quite forward leaning. The types of offers they have been talking to us about are one of the best that we have ever received as a country,” said Greer while speaking at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC. The comments came as the US trade negotiation team led by Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer commenced the two-day talks in New Delhi on Wednesday. On the first day he held dis, cussions with Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal. Both reviewed the ongoing negotiations for the agreement. Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch is the US’ chief negotiator. India’s chief negotiator is Darpan Jain, They have been a tough nut to crack... but they have been quite forward leaning. The type of offers they have been talking to us about have been the best US team during negotiations with Indian officials in New Delhi on Wednesday | X — US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce. India’s former chief negotiator and current Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal will be supervising the progress of the negotiations. “The two sides exchanged views on matters related to In- Wednesday, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal reiterated that the ongoing trade negotiations with the US are progressing well. “Talks are continuously progressing. We are moving forward towards a bilateral trade agreement,” Goyal said. reply to opposition Want to remove all infiltrators: Shah j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi A combative Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at the Opposition in the Lok Sabha for its campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that the Opposition wanted to keep infiltrators on the voter list. The Narendra Modi government’s policy, Shah said, was unambiguous — “detect all aliens from the rolls and throw them out of the country Shah .” said that the Opposition had raised the issue only because it could no longer win elections through “corrupt practices,” asserting that “the Congress’ repeated poll defeats stemmed from its leadership and not from EVMs or vote theft.” Intervening in the debate on electoral refor ms, Shah rebutted the Opposition’s charges. His 90minute speech saw frequent inter ruptions from Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who challenged him to a debate on his three press conferences alleging “vote chori” by the BJP. The heated exchanges eventually led to an Opposition walkout. Seeking to corner the Congress, Shah claimed three episodes of “vote chori” involving party icons, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. He said Nehru became Prime Minister in 1947 despite having fewer internal votes than Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; that Indira Gandhi New cic appointment An outstanding speech by Home Minister Amit Shah Ji. With concrete facts, he highlighted diverse aspects of our electoral process and also exposed the lies of the Opposition —Narendra Modi, Prime Minister dia-US trade and economic ties, including on the ongoing negotiations for a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement,” the Department of Commerce said. Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the Pravasi Rajasthani Divas in Jaipur on Growth target set Naidu noted that AP had recorded a growth rate of 11.28% in Q2 of 2025-26, He set an ambitious target of 17.11% for the future E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has underscored the need to simplify governance by revising business rules wherever necessary .   “The Constitution itself has been amended several times for public welfare. Likewise, business rules should be evolved to serve citizens better,” he said, E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in the Lok Sabha | PTI Oppn seeks poll reforms Opposition MPs on Wednesday sought machinereadable voter lists, a rollback of the 45-day CCTV wipe-out rule, access to EVMs, and changes to laws that allow ECI officers to act with impunity | P9 PM-led panel on Wednesday met to decide on the new Chief Information Commissioner and commissioners. LoP Rahul Gandhi gave dissent note | P9 INDIGO’s top management has broken its silence on the largescale flight disruptions caused by the airline this month. Late on Wednesday night, the airline’s chairman Vikram Singh Mehta said that exter nal experts would be roped in to ensure no disruption occurs again. “The Board will involve external technical experts to... identify root c au se s Vikram Mehta and ensure corrective action so that this disruption never occurs again,” Mehta said in a video message released by IndiGo. “On 3rd December, an unexpected chain of events led to large-scale flight cancellations... I know how much distress this caused. I want to say, We are sorry!” he said. The disruptions were due to a combination of internal and external events, adverse weather conditions, congestion, and implementation of/ and operation under the crew roster rules, Mehta added. AP set to lead India’s AI revolution: Lokesh E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada HRD, IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh has used his ongoing US tour to pitch Andhra Pradesh as India’s emerging hub for artificial intelligence, semiconductors, smart manufacturing, and global technology investments. During a series of high-level meetings with leaders of Google, Intel, NVIDIA, Adobe, and Zoom, Lokesh outlined Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s vision of positioning Andhra Pradesh at the forefront of India’s AI revolution, and building a robust ecosys- IT Minister Lokesh meets Google CEO Sundar Pichai in the US | Express tem for next-generation industries. He emphasised that Andhra Pradesh, with its $180 billion economy, aims to grow into a $2.4 trillion economy by A day after Microsoft committed $17.5 billion investment in India to help build AI capabilities, Amazon said it will invest $35 billion in India over the next five years to expand its businesses in the country from quick commerce to cloud computing and AI. The $35-billion investment, the company said, would create one million job opportunities and quadruple cumulative e-commerce exports to $80 billion by 2030. Amazon has 1.7 million sellers in India. Of these, over 200,000 export to more than 200 countries and have generated $20 billion in cumulative exports. Since 2010, Amazon has invested $40 P12 billion in India.  CM lays emphasis on simple governance IndiGo to rope in external tech experts for help granted herself immunity after her election was set aside by courts. He said the dispute of the third “vote chori” has just reached the civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi “became a voter before becoming a citizen of India,” a remark that invited sharp reactions from the Congress benches. Shah said SIR was a long-standing administrative exercise to maintain integrity of elections. No party, he said, had opposed SIR between 1952 and 2004. He listed revisions carried out under former Prime Ministers Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, A B Vajpayee and even during the Manmohan Singh government. Shah also accused the Opposition of attempting to “normalise and formalise” infiltrators by resisting SIR in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Amazon to invest $35 bn more in India leveraging cluster-based development across nearly 20 identified sectors, including automot ive, r e n e w a b l e e n e r g y, electronics and AI. He said the State’s strong political will, infrastructure, and skilled workforce make it an attractive destination for global technology giants. In his meeting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Lokesh reviewed progress on the $15 billion AI data center project in Visakhapatnam, which Pichai described as their largest FDI outside the United States. Lokesh urged Google to support server manufacturing ecosystems through Wistron. P4 Explore AP: IT Minister to Canada During his visit to Canada, HRD and IT Minister Lokesh urged investors to explore opportunities in AP, highlighting rapid industrial growth, strong connectivity, and major global investments already underway directing officials to clear files without any delay cut down on , redundant procedures, and ensure every department is brought under audit by March 2026. Speaking at a high-level review meeting at the State Secretariat on Wednesday, Naidu laid out the NDA government’s reform agenda for the coming months, combining a frank assessment of past challenges with a roadmap for transparent, efficient, and people-centric governance. He stressed fiscal discipline, accountability across departments, and the use of technology to deliver services more effectively . The Chief Minister pointed out that loans raised at unsustainable interest rate by the previous government had eroded Andhra Pradesh’s financial P4 credibility  . express read child welfare Anganwadi staff get smartphones Vijayawada: In a significant move to strengthen child and maternal welfare delivery, the Andhra Pradesh government distributed 5G smartphones to 58,204 Anganwadi workers, supervisors, and block coordinators at a cost of `75 crore on Wednesday | P4 mayoral poll YSRCP finalises its candidate Kadapa: The election to the Mayor of Kadapa Municipal Corporation will be held during a special council meeting at 11 am on Thursday. The YSRCP has unanimously nominated 47th Division Corporator Paka Suresh as its candidate | P4 Agriculture Equipment bank to come up in AP Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed the Agriculture Department to set up an Agriculture Equipment Bank to ensure small and marginal farmers get affordable access to modern machinery | P4