Amazon set to invest $13 bn more in cloud, aI Amazon will invest an additional $13 billion in India, taking its planned capital commitment to $48 billion between 2026 and 2030. Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Amazon India’s business is seeing strong momentum, driven by robust customer demand across e-commerce and Amazon Web Services (AWS). He described India as one of their most important growth markets globally visakhapatnam l friday l june 26, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 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 Passport proof: Govt, Oppn spar Venezuela quake: 185 dead, 24K missing A g en c i e s @ Caracas Can be issued to non-citizens as well under certain situations, says govt in its pushback E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi The Centre on Thursday sought to defuse the controversy over whether an Indian passport can be treated as proof of citizenship, asserting that the position being cited in recent debates is neither new nor a policy shift. Government sources said there was no change in stance and rejected suggestions that the clarification issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) marked a fresh interpretation of law. “It was not decided yesterday that a passport is not proof of citizenship. It was not even decided in the last 12 years. A passport has never been considered conclusive proof of citizenship,” a government source said. The clarification came after political criticism and an online debate over whether the government was diluting the evidentiary value of one of the country’s most trusted documents. In a post on X, Congress leader K C Venugopal said the government excels in creating panic and helplessness among ordinary citizens. “By declaring that even a Passport doesn’t certify one’s citizenship, they are laying the groundwork to arbitrarily deny citizenship rights to Indians who they disagree with,” he wrote. Echoing the concern, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal sought to know which document qualifies for the proof of citizenship. “A passport is a travel document, and not a document of citizenship. Which document then is proof of citizenship? BLO can doubt my citizenship. Deprive me of my vote. Result, BJP wins the election. Over to the Supreme Court!,” wrote Sibal on X. However, officials pointed to the legal framework governing issuance of passports. “The Passports Act, 1967 clearly provides that passports may be issued to non-citizens under certain circumstances,” a source said. VISA No change in position Govt sources said the interpretation was being misread, adding the position has remained unchanged for decades. “A passport is issued after due verification, but it is not, in law, a conclusive determination of citizenship,” a source said Pricey passport A fresh passport or its reissue for applicants will cost `2,500 under normal category, up from `1,500. Corresponding Tatkal fee is `5,000 | P7 A heavily damaged apartment building following an earthquake in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state, about 30 km northwest of Venezuela capital Caracas | AFP At least 185 people were killed and over 1,000 injured after two powerful earthquakes ripped through Venezuela in the wee hours on Thursday The quakes, . with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, hit a minute apart on Wednesday around 6 pm local time (Thursday 3.30 am IST). The second tremor was the strongest to hit Venezuela since 1900. “At the moment, the figure we have registered is 185 deaths, 1,520 injured,” Acting President Delcy Rodriguez was quoted as saying by El Nacional newspaper, adding that there were as many as 30 aftershocks. A website set up by leaders from the country’s opposition parties to track the missing people showed more than 24,000 Ganga-Cauvery link project will make India unstoppable: Naidu E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu declared that India’s progress would be “unstoppable” if the Ganga and Cauvery rivers were interlinked. Speaking at a public meeting in Hosapete, Karnataka after inaugurating 33 new crest gates of the Tungabhadra Dam, Naidu pointed to the successful Ken-Betwa Link Project connecting rivers in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The Chief Minister emphasised that linking the Godavari and Cauvery rivers would serve the long-term needs of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, ensuring water security and prosperity across southern India. The high-profile gathering, held under the chairmanship of Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil, also featured Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. Prior to addressing the joint public rally, the four leaders held an extensive apex-level meeting to discuss optimised water utilisation of river water, dam safety protocols, and measures to protect the irrigation and drinking water interests of riparian farmers across t h e t h re e n e i g h b o u r i n g P4 states.  people as unaccounted for, a Reuters report said. Local media said frantic rescue efforts were on in the state of La Guaira, near capital Caracas and home to the city’s airport. Visuals showed panic all around as ceilings came down in the airport and rubble from destroyed buildings along the seafront. “Dozens of buildings have collapsed, and we are currently carrying out very intense rescue efforts to save as many lives as God allows us to save,” Rodriguez said on state television. According to the US Geological Survey’s predictive modelling to estimate the death toll, the total casualties could run into thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding P9 10,000 fatalities.  FIR against 8 in Ram temple scam, 2 held N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow TWO days after the SIT submitted its preliminary probe report on alleged swindling of Ram temple donation funds and valuables, an FIR was lodged against eight persons on Thursday . The FIR names key a ccused Ramshankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Lavkush Mishra, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Manish Yadav, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Chandra Srivastava, and Karunesh Pandey Two of the accused in the . FIR—Anukalp and Lav Kush, who were involved in counting the cash and valuables received as donations—have been reportedly arrested after money was recovered from them. CO of 17 Rashtriya Rifles booked for bashing cops f aya z w an i @ Srinagar JAMMU and Kashmir police on Thursday booked 40 army men from 17 Rashtriya Rifles, including its Commanding Officer, a Major and a Naib Subedar for allegedly “assaulting police officers and damaging public property” in a police station in the mountainous Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. The FIR names Commanding Officer Colonel N Arun Gandhi, Major Vikas Sharma, Naib Subedar Shankar Gurkhe, Sepoys Raj Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Anoop Singh and Omkar Ingale, and other unidentified Army personnel of 17 RR. Sources said the trouble was caused after DC Kishtwar Pankaj Sharma’s convoy while passing through a road for a public outreach programme encountered a private car driven by a soldier of RR. When the DC’s escort asked the soldier, who was not in uniform, to stop his vehicle and let the convoy pass, an argument took place.