New York, Oct 28 (PTI) "The bird is freed," billionaire Elon Musk tweeted on Friday after completing the whopping USD 44 billion takeover of Twitter and firing the social media giant's four top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and legal executive Vijaya Gadde.
The New York Times said that Musk, the world's richest man, closed the deal to buy Twitter on Thursday.
"The bird is freed," Musk, 51, tweeted, referring to Twitter's popular logo, and indicating that he has closed the deal.
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that Musk “has started cleaning house at Twitter with the firings of at least four top executives”.

The Twitter executives who were fired include Agrawal, Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
“At least one of the executives who was fired was escorted out of Twitter’s office,” the report said.
The deal’s closing removes a cloud of uncertainty that has hung over Twitter’s business, employees and shareholders for much of the year, CNN commented.
After initially agreeing to buy the company in April, Musk spent months attempting to get out of the deal, first citing concerns about the number of bots on the platform and later allegations raised by a company whistleblower.
Agrawal, 38, was appointed Twitter CEO in November last year after the social media site’s co-founder Jack Dorsey had stepped down.
An IIT Bombay and Stanford alumnus, Agrawal had joined Twitter over a decade ago when there were fewer than 1,000 employees at the company.
“Agrawal, who was appointed Twitter’s chief executive last year, had clashed” with Musk “publicly and privately in recent months about the takeover,” the NYT report said.
Musk also “singled out” Gadde, 48, “criticising her for her role in content moderation decisions at the company”, it added.
As the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump was permanently suspended in January last year, Hyderabad-born Gadde was at the forefront of this dramatic decision undertaken within days of the attempted insurrection by pro-Trump supporters at the US Capitol.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone thanked Agrawal, Segal and Gadde for their "massive contribution" to the business.
Thank you to @paraga, @vijaya , and @nedsegal for the collective contribution to Twitter. Massive talents, all, and beautiful humans each!" Stone tweeted.
Musk arrived at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday and had been meeting with engineers and advertising executives. Musk tweeted a video of himself walking into Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco carrying a kitchen sink with the caption: "let that sink in!"

When Parag Agrawal was appointed CEO of Twitter in November 2021, the IIT graduate joined a steadily growing club of executives from India rising to the top of global corporations, but the 38-year-old executive's brief tenure at the helm of the social media giant was challenging and chaotic.

 TOKYO: Japan has stepped up its push to catch up on digitization by telling a reluctant public they have to sign up for digital IDs or possibly lose access to their public health insurance.

As the naming implies, the initiative is about assigning numbers to people, similar to Social Security numbers in the U.S. Many Japanese worry the information might be misused or that their personal information might be stolen. Some view the My Number effort as a violation of their right to privacy.

So the system that kicked off in 2016 has never fully caught on. Fax machines are still commonplace, and many Japanese conduct much of their business in person, with cash. Some bureaucratic procedures can be done online, but many Japanese offices still require “inkan,” or seals for stamping, for identification, and insist on people bringing paper forms to offices.

Now the government is asking people to apply for plastic My Number cards equipped with microchips and photos, to be linked to drivers licenses and the public health insurance plans. Health insurance cards now in use, which lack photos, will be discontinued in late 2024. People will be required to use My Number cards instead.

 BENGALURU: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has congratulated his son-in-law Rishi Sunak, who will be sworn in as Britain's prime minister today.

"Congratulations to Rishi. We are proud of him and we wish him success. We are confident he will do his best for the people of United Kingdom," Murthy said in a statement.

His wife Sudha Murthy too congratulated Sunak, who married their daughter Akshata Murthy in 2009.

Sunak became the ruling Conservatives new leader on Monday, and he will be sworn in on October 25th as Britain's third prime minister this year.

 Melbourne, October 25

When Rishi Sunak was elected by Conservative MPs as their new leader and hence Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the British nation breathed a sigh of relief: thank God it wasn’t Boris Johnson.

Had Johnson been re-elected leader it would have had serious consequences, not just for the Conservatives, but in the real world too.

Only the most obtuse political observer could have failed to see that the optics of cutting short your Caribbean holiday to try to resolve a cost of living crisis was not good politics. It sounds hard to believe, but this was not obvious to everyone.

Johnson garnered public support from some of the Brexiteer old guard like Jacob Rees-Mogg and in the pro-Boris media.

But in characteristic fashion, Johnson exaggerated his chances. This latest act of self-promotion backfired and he withdrew from the leadership race on Sunday (regretably having missed half his holiday). Nevertheless, the fact that many Conservatives seriously thought a chaotic government could be brought under control by someone known for chaotic management, shows how deep the ideological divisions within the party have become.

With the third contender, Penny Mordaunt, falling just shy of the 100 MPs’ votes needed to send the leadership contest to a vote of the grassroots party members – a fate to be avoided at all costs after they forfeited the confidence of MPs by installing Truss – Rishi Sunak will become the next prime minister of the UK.

Sunak’s elevation is a socially significant moment. He is the first British-Asian, or any person of colour, to become PM. Much of the credit can go to David Cameron’s attempts to modernise the Conservative party in the mid-2000s. The Conservatives have done a better job than other parties in putting more women and people of colour into positions of political influence and power. In a system that only had its first openly Catholic prime minister in 2019, Sunak is the first Hindu to assume that role.

But the significance of the first person of colour as British Prime Minister will probably get lost in the class dynamics of this political moment.

Like Johnson, Sunak isn’t short of a bob or two. This will make the economic politics of Sunak’s tenure difficult. Having a multi-millionaire telling the nation to tighten its belts and make sacrifices to its already declining living standards won’t go down well.

And like Johnson, Sunak also went to an elite private school. In Sunak’s case it was Winchester rather than Eton, just for a bit of variety. This will matter for perceptions of the new PM among the wider electorate. The Conservatives are seen as a party of – and for – the wealthy. They increasingly appear as a small, ageing and out of touch privileged class unable to see the true extent of the crisis that their choices in government have exacerbated.

Sunak’s in-tray is bulging. The cost of living and energy crises will be the foremost political and economic challenges, but the B-word (Brexit) still casts a shadow. It has not lived up to the over-inflated expectations of its most ardent boosters. Increasing numbers of voters think it was wrong to leave the EU. How Sunak manages this coming “winter of discontent” will define his premiership.

However, the policy levers he has at his disposal have been discredited by the Truss-onomics episode. Truss’s long-term legacy may well be the conclusion that neoliberal economics worked well in theory, but not in practice.

Sunak will probably enjoy a longer honeymoon period than his predecessor. His election has calmed one part of the Conservatives’ core constituency: the bond markets. However, his future with the electorate is less secure. For better or worse, leaders influence how people choose to vote; or at least parties behave as if this were true. His legitimacy with the electorate is not as strong as it could be given that he is the third Conservative leader and PM since the last election in 2019.

Calls for a general election are growing. Presumably, with the Conservatives so far behind in the polls, Sunak will try to hold on as long as possible. But this may only prolong the pain and defer a significant loss of seats whenever the next election arrives.

This all feels a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Part of the difficulty for the Conservatives points to a growing structural problem for centre-right parties: intra-party ideological divisions. This issue has weakened the centre left for a couple of decades. These parties saw their support base split between tertiary-educated urban dwellers interested in post-material issues, and blue-collar supporters from declining manufacturing industries with some residual, but weakening, loyalty to social democracy.

Now such divisions seem to be affecting the right of politics too. As we saw in the 2022 federal election in Australia, the right’s traditional support base is split between affluent moderates concerned about climate change, and older social conservatives concerned about immigration. This appears to be happening in the UK too.

This internal division can be exploited by the opposition as we saw with the fracking vote. On paper, Sunak should feel secure with a 71-seat majority in a 650-seat parliament. But the Conservatives have lost confidence. The party is behaving like one that has only the slimmest of majorities and is on its way out. Sunak’s premiership may well be a case of the band playing on.

Washington, (PTI) Eminent Indian-American entrepreneur and activist Swadesh Chatterjee, who is known for his immense contribution to strengthening the US-India relationship over the past three decades, has been presented with the highest award by the US state of North Carolina.

North Carolina’s Governor Ray Cooper presented the Order of the Long Leaf Pine to Chatterjee, 75, at a ceremony on Friday in Cary, a town in the state.

Cooper described Chatterjee as “a spark plug among us” as he applauded his contribution not only to the development of North Carolina but also to the India-US relationship and enriching the cultural milieu of the United States.

America’s former ambassador to India, Rich Verma, said Chatterjee who received Padma Bhushan from the Indian Government in 2001, has been at the centre of the key moments that have brought the Indian and US governments closer.

Beginning in 2000 when things started to turn upward in the India-US relationship, Chatterjee “was at the centre of the quintessential events that have defined modern US-India ties”.

The key developments included former president Bill Clinton’s trip to India in 2000 when he brought to India a message of hope and renewal in the partnership.

“Swadesh was not only on the trip with the president, but he was also one of the community leaders who made the trip happen,” he said.

Chatterjee played a big role in the Us-India Civil Nuclear deal, he said, adding that he was instrumental in the evolution of bipartisan support to this relationship over the past two decades.

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna recognised him as a great leader for the national Indian American community.

Khanna said Chatterjee was one of the very first Indian Americans in the entire country to get politically engaged.

“He has been instrumental in really forging a post-Cold War relationship between the United States and India, which is going to be critical as we see the rise of China,” he said.

In a video message, India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu said that Chatterjee put in tireless efforts to strengthen bilateral ties between India and the US.

“He is an example of how the diaspora plays an important role in creating a better understanding of India in the United States and vice versa,” Sandhu said.

In his acceptance speech, Chatterjee said that the India-US relationship has come a long way thanks to the efforts of the Indian-American community in the state and in the US.

“But, there are still a lot more important challenges to be done, because the world has changed drastically in the last five-six years,” he said.

“The US-India partnership has just scratched the surface in global health, education, clean energy, and innovation,” Chatterjee said.

“I am really optimistic and also very gung ho about the future of the US- India relationship,” he said. PTI LKJ NSA

 IANS

London, October 22

Amidst an ongoing political turmoil in the UK, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak is close to reaching the threshold of receiving 100 MP endorsements needed to enter the race to become the next Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, a media report said on Saturday.

So far, Sunak has received 93 endorsements from Conservative MPs, the BBC report said.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is expected to arrive in London on Saturday from a vacation in the Carribean, is in second place with 44 endorsements.

Sunak and Johnson are however yet to officially declare their bids in the contest to succeed Liz Truss who resigned as head of government on Thursday after only 45 days in office -- the shortest period for any British Premier in history.Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is expected to arrive in London on Saturday from a vacation in the Carribean, is in second place with 44 endorsements.

Sunak and Johnson are however yet to officially declare their bids in the contest to succeed Liz Truss who resigned as head of government on Thursday after only 45 days in office -- the shortest period for any British Premier in history.

Meanwhile, sources from Sunak's campaign told the BBC that he has secured support from a number of senior colleagues, including former Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and former Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

"It is abundantly clear that Rishi Sunak has what it takes to match the challenges we face, he is the right person to lead our party and take the country forward," Javid said.

Another backer, Tobias Ellwood, claimed he was the 100th MP to endorse Sunak, saying: "Time for centrist, stable, fiscally responsible government offering credible domestic & international leadership." Speaking to the BBC on Friday night, Trade Minister James Duddridge, a Johnson supporter, said the former Prime Minister had "momentum and support" "He is coming home and is up for it. He is the only election winner we have that has a proven track record in London, on Brexit, and in gaining the mandate we have now," he added.

Another contender in the race is Penny Mordaunt, the current leader of the House of Commons, has 21 supporters so far. She was also the first to declare that she was in the running.

The contenders have until 2 p.m. on October 24 to get the required 100 endorsements. If three reach the threshold, Conservative MPs will knock one out in a ballot on the same day, the BBC reprted.

MPs will hold an "indicative" ballot of the final two, with the winner then decided in an online vote of party members, to end on October 28.

The key Congress of China's ruling Communist Party concluded its week-long session on Saturday after electing the party's Central Committee and passing several key resolutions, including an amendment to its Constitution to grant more powers to President Xi Jinping.

The meeting was presided over by Xi, who is expected to be endorsed for an unprecedented third term on Sunday.

It elected the Central Committee comprising over 370 senior leaders. The Central Committee, a powerful body comprising top leaders, will meet on Sunday to elect the Political Bureau which will elect the powerful Standing Committee of about seven members.

The Standing Committee in turn will elect the General-Secretary as per the party's procedure.

Xi, 69, who remained the General Secretary of the party since 2012, is expected to be part of the new Standing Committee which will endorse a third five-year term to him.

Xi, who is completing a 10-year tenure this year, will be the first Chinese leader after party founder Mao Zedong to continue in power, ending three decades of the rule followed by his predecessors to retire after two five-year tenures.

Observers say the new tenure will put him on course to continue in power for life like Mao.

After the end of the new election process, Xi along with the new Standing Committee members will appear before the media on Sunday.

A large number of Beijing-based journalists have already been put in a closed-COVID-loop system for the past four days to cover the media appearance of the new leaders.

NEW DELHI: China on Wednesday put a hold on a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorist Hafiz Talha Saeed, the son of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed, in the second such move within 24 hours. 

 By Associated Press