vijayawada l thursday l august 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Air India taps former Ethiopian Airlines Group chief as new CEO Ethiopian national Tewolde Gebremariam will replace New Zealander Campbell Wilson, who had announced his resignation in April Piloted a major expansion at previous role Change of guard amid multiple headwinds Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said that after completing the initial phase of stabilisation, integration, and fleet commitments under Wilson, the airline is now entering a critical era of execution and expansion. Air India cited Gebremariam’s experience spearheading a major expansion that transformed Ethiopian Airlines into Africa’s largest and most profitable carrier | P12 ■ ■ The change of guard also comes amid multiple headwinds, including the 2025 Ahmedabad crash, soaring fuel costs and mounting losses Air India had been searching for a replacement for Wilson for months amid the scrutiny that followed last year’s crash. Multiple candidates from India and abroad were considered, the airline said 5-10 yr timeline set for air India’s comprehensive turnaround 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 Shah may speak on FCRA bill in LS, Rijiju meets Rahul Meta apologises to govt for removing PM’s video It received “a lot of money” to boost certain content, say govt sources RA K ESH K U MAR @ New Delhi P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi its old format. We will oppose it very strongly We are not going . Even as the deadlock in Par- to allow them to pass such a liament persists, the Centre is draconian bill,” he said. likely to introduce the contenThough the bill was introtious bill to amend the Foreign duced in the Lok Sabha on Contribution (Regulation) Act March 25 this year, the Centre in the Lok Sabha during the on- deferred its passage after facgoing session, sources privy to ing fierce objections from the the development said. Opposition parties and various Union home miniscivil society ter Amit Shah is exorganisations. pected to intervene in While several prothe debate and reply visions of the bill to the discussion on have been opposed by the proposed legislap o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s, tion, sources said. church heads and The proposed taNGOs, it was learnt bling comes amid rethat the government peated disruptions in m ay b r i n g s o m e Kiren Rijiju both Houses, with the amendments to the Opposition insisting proposed legislation. that Shah make a A key point of constatement in Parliatention is the proposment on the alleged al empowering the police action against Centre to appoint a protesting students. ‘designated authoriIn a bid to break ty’ who would control the logjam, Parliathe funds and assets mentary Affairs Minin case the FCRA cerister Kiren Rijiju met tificate is cancelled, Rahul Gandhi Leader of Opposition surrendered or in the Lok Sabha Raceased. The concern hul Gandhi and sought his co- is that it could lead to excessive operation in passing crucial government control and arbibills, said sources. trary action against NGOs. Speaking to reporters after Speaking to this paper, DMK the meeting, Congress MP K C MP P Wilson said, “The proviVenugopal said the Opposition sions in this FCRA amendment will not allow the bill to pass in bill are so draconian that they its current form. “The Leader resemble the Enemy Property of the Opposition has strongly Act, 1968, which allowed the expressed his concerns, and government control over assets the party and Opposition’s left behind by people who stand is also very clear. They moved to enemy countries like cannot bring the FCRA bill in Pakistan or China.” No proposal on special session of Parliament: Govt Amid speculation on a special session of Parliament from August 16 to 18 to take up the women’s reservation and delimitation bills, Rijiju dismissed the reports, saying there was no such proposal Mark Zuckerberg must apologise within three days. If he does not apologise, we will withdraw the safe harbour protection that has been given to these social media platforms which they misuse Nishikant Dubey, IT panel chief Big money to boost content Government sources said Vaishnaw asked Meta whether it accepted payments to promote content that could trigger public disorder. After the meeting, Meta executives admitted to failures involving child sexual abuse content and deepfakes and that “a lot of money was paid for boosting certain content” AP gets $933.86 million FDI in three years Andhra Pradesh attracted 933.86 million dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI) equity between April 2023 and March 2026, with the State recording its highest-ever inflow during this three-year period at 608.59 million dollars in 2025-26 | P4 US tech giant Meta on Wednesday apologised for promoting ‘biased’ and anti-government posts on Instagram and Facebook and admitted to being paid “a lot of money” to boost certain types of content, government sources said. The firm also expressed regret for briefly removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video posted on Facebook, which it claimed was due to an error by automated content filters. Earlier in the day, Meta’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan and members of his team met Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S Krishnan for about 45 minutes. The delegation later met Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. In a statement, Kaplan said: “I apologised to the minister on behalf of Meta for the error restricting PM Modi’s post.” However, Meity sources Another meeting likely today Government sources said Meta’s global officials have been asked to stay back for another round of questioning on Thursday, when IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will meet the firm’s executives once again claimed the apology came from the Meta CEO. “Mark Zuckerberg sent his apologies for the CSAM (child sexual abuse material) content, deepfake content and errors in operating the platform. They admitted that a lot of money was paid for boosting certain types of content. They apologised and regretted the mistake.” Sources said Meta officials will be summoned again. Meta-owned platforms Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp have been under the government’s radar over allegations Political Party prevails over legislature party: SC S U CHITRA K ALYAN MOHANTY @ New Delhi A political party retains control over its MPs and MLAs and the party’s official directives prevail over the will of the elected members, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday . The oral remark came from a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana during the hearing of a plea against the Maharashtra Speaker’s decision not to disqualify Shinde faction MLAs under the antidefection law. “The control of the political party subsists over the legislature party. Any decision of the political party, validly demonstrated, must prevail over any will, even of the majority of the legislature party said Justice Bagchi. ,” The top court was also hearing Uddhav Thackeray’s plea challenging the ECI order that recognised the Eknath Shinde group as the real Shiv Sena. Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Uddhav faction, argued that the ECI was wrong in refusing to accept the 2018 party constitution. He added that both sides were appointed under the 2018 constitution and that the 10th Schedule does not recognise ‘split’ anymore—the only defence is merger, which has not happened. He argued that the ECI lacked jurisdiction to determine the validity of a political party’s constitution. “The poll panel’s decision refusing to recognise the 2018 party constitution on the ground that it was not on record was erroneous,” the senior lawyer contended. Sibal further argued that Article 11A of the constitution had already been brought to the ECI’s notice in 2013. CJI Kant asked if there are clear parameters in ECI rules or the party constitution to define “majority of the political party”, calling it a grey area. To this, Sibal cited the Sadiq Ali judgment as laying down the law. On the point of 10th Schedule, Sibal argued that the concept of ‘split’ stands abolished— merger alone is recognised, and no such merger has occurred. In that light, it was contended that a splinter legislative group cannot lay claim to being the real party . The SC is examining the interplay between party constitution, ECI powers, and the 10th Schedule. The hearing on Wednesday was inconclusive and would continue on Thursday . express read AP to submit draft BC Bill to NCBC soon groundbreaking fete Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, along with HRD and IT Minister Nara Lokesh, lays the foundation stone for the expanded vision of the PV Sindhu Centre for Sports Excellence in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday | Express Premature to talk about UPI charges: RBI Vijayawada: BC Welfare Minister S Savitha and Agriculture Minister K Atchannaidu have informed that the State government will soon submit the draft BC Protection Bill to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) for its recommendations before tabling it in the State Assembly | P4 Mumbai: RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday termed speculation over charges for UPI transactions as “premature”, saying the laws governing payments ecosystem are in the process of being amended. “Costs have to be paid by someone. Let us wait and watch for further developments.” | P12 Hasina sticks to Dec return, seeks ban on Awami League lifted J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday reiterated that she would return to Bangladesh in December despite facing criminal convictions and the prospect of imprisonment or worse, while demanding that the ban on her Awami League party to be lifted. In her first interaction with the media since being ousted from power in August 2024, Hasina addressed journalists remotely at an event hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi. Although she was expected to appear on video, she delivered only an audio message. “I will return to my people,” Hasina said, adding that she would announce the exact date “when the time is right”. “They may try to implicate me with fabricated cases, but fear cannot decide my duty to the people, my life or beyond,” she said. The remarks come two years after the mass protests that forced her from office and months after Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia for allegedly ordering a deadly crackdown on protesters during the 2024 uprising. Making it clear that she intend- Sheikh Hasina ed to return despite the risks, Hasina said, “I know they may put me in jail or kill me. I will go back home to be with my people.” She said she had chosen the last month of the year of algorithmic bias. Sources said the platform promoted one-sided content during the recent student protests. Another major issue flagged was the presence of CSAM on Instagram. The move followed a BBC report which found that Instagram displayed paid ads containing terms such as “rape video” and “child video”. Meta officials were summoned after Facebook briefly removed a video posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the youth during the student protest. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and IT, headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, asked Zuckerberg to apologise within three days. The panel also warned that Meta could lose the safe harbour protection, which shields platforms from liability for user-generated content, if it uses algorithms to curate content instead of merely hosting third-party material. because “December is our victory month. So, I want to go back in December. I know I may face anything.” At the outset of her address, an emotional Hasina paid tribute to Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her father, who was assassinated along with most of her family in the 1975 military coup. Her voice repeatedly broke as she remembered the country’s Liberation War and those who died defending its independence. “For the last two years, I watched my beloved Bangladesh suffer. This is not the Bangladesh we built; this is not the Bangladesh for which three million people sacrificed their lives in 1971,” she said, adding that although she had been “forced away” from her country, she was “never separated” from its people. Hasina also defended her government’s handling of the unrest, rejecting the widely held characterisation of the protests as a peaceful student movement. “Let me begin with the truth about July and August 2024. It was not a peaceful student movement,” she said, alleging organised groups had turned genuine student demands into “a violent political instrument” aimed at ousting her government. vizag region Micro-level planning must for balanced growth: CM S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to evolve micro-level plans for comprehensive development of Visakhapatnam Economic Region (VER), ensuring that no area or sector within the region is left behind. He emphasised that the development strategy should promote balanced and holistic growth across the entire region. Reviewing the VER development plans at his camp office in Undavalli on Wednesday, he said from Mulapeta Port in Srikakulam to the Akhanda Godavari project in Rajamahendravaram, every region and every sector should be developed to attract investments. “Experience zones should also be created wherever required. All projects should be integrated to ensure the region’s overall progress. The Visakhapatnam Bay City project will play a pivotal role in the VER. Large-scale urban development should take place through this project by converging funds from various schemes. Greater efforts should also be made to secure Central funding. The six Urban Development Authorities within the VER should witness remarkable transfor mation. T his project should be leveraged to create world-class infrastructure across the VER,” he said. The officials informed him that the VER has the potential to attract investments worth `9.5 lakh crore, including `5.3 lakh crore from the private sector, while government investment of `3.5-4 lakh crore would also be required. They highlighted that major projects such as the Google AI Data Centre and the ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Plant have already positioned Visakhapatnam and North Andhra as emerging investment destinations. They further explained that Visakhapatnam already possesses a strong ecosystem for IT and data centres, and that the VER development plan has been designed accordingly, with the Bay City serving as P4 the anchor project. FutureNow Centre of IBM comes up in Vizag U s h a P e r i @ Visakhapatnam Global technology company IBM on Wednesday opened its new IBM Consulting FutureN ow C e n t re i n Visakhapatnam. Officially inaugurated by HRD and IT Minister Nara Lokesh, the centre will work on projects involving AI, hybrid cloud, software engineering, data and analytics, cybersecurity and enterprise transformation. It will also support AI-based cloud transformation, platfor m engineering, service integration, quality engineering and user experience services. Speaking on the occasion, Lokesh said the centre would strengthen Visakhapatnam’s position as an emerging technology destination and create opportunities for skilled professionals in the State. He said the government was working to attract technology investments while developing a workforce capable of participating in the global digital economy . “We welcome IBM’s contin- ued commitment to Andhra Pradesh and look forward to working together to make Vizag one of India’s leading destinations for AI and digital transformation,” he stated. IBM India and South Asia Managing Director Sandip Patel opined that India has an opportunity to expand its role in the digital economy by combining its talent and technology capabilities. He stated that the Visakhapatnam centre would support clients in adopting AI and other emerging technologies while strengthening India’s role in global technology delivery . Usha Srikanth, Managing Partner of IBM Consulting FutureNow Centre, India, said Visakhapatnam’s growing pool of digital talent, educational institutions and technology ecosystem made it suitable for s u p p o r t i n g g l o b a l cl i e n t projects. “The centre would combine IBM’s technology expertise with local talent,” she added. IBM Consulting now operates FutureNow Centres in 15 locations in India.