PRESIDENT Joe Biden walked a muddy stretch of the US- Mexico border and inspected abusyportofentrySundayon his first trip to the region after two years noffice, a visitshad- cowed by the fraught politics of immigration as Republicans blamehim{orrecord numbers of migrants crossing into the country, Athisfirststop, the President observed as border officers in Paso demonstratedhowthey search vehicles fordrugs, mon- eyandothercontraband. Next, he traveled to a dusty street withabandonedbuildingsand walked along a metal border fence that separated the US City from Ciudad Juarez. His last stop was the El Paso County Migrant Services Center — but there were no ‘migrantsin sight. Ashelearned President Joe Biden talks with US Border Patrol agents as they walk along a stretch of the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas on Sunday. abouttheservicesoflered there, he asked an aid worker, “If T could wave the wand, what should I dot” Biden's nearly four-hour visit to El Paso was (APIPTD highty controlled. He encoun- tered nomigrants exceptwhen hismotoadedrovealongside the border and about a dozen lined up on the Ciudad Judrez side. His visit did not include timeata Border Patrol tation, ‘where migrants who crossille- gally are arrested and held before their release. The visit seemed designed to showcase asmoothoperationtoprocess Jegal migrants, weed outsmug- pledcontrabandandhumane- Iytreatthosewho haveentered. illegally, creating a counter- narrative to Republicans’ claims of a crisis situation ‘equivalent to an open border. ‘But his visit was likely do lit- tle to quell critics from both sides, including immigrant advocates who accuse him of establishing cruel policies not unlike those of his hard-line predecessor, Donald Trump, Elsewhere in El Paso, hun- dreds of migrants were gath- ‘eredoutsidetheChurch, where they have been sleeping out- doors and receiving three meals.Unregistered devices in increase hacking ri NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (IANS) AS HYBRID work empowers employees to work from any- where and ensures business continuity for enterprises, theuseofunregistered devices by employees has increased the risks around hybrid work in India, a new report showed on Monday. ‘According to the network- ing giant Cisco report, overnine in 10 (95 percent), respondents inthe countrysaytheiremploy- ees are using unregistered devices to log into work plat- forms. About 82 per cent say their employees spend more than 10 per cent of the day working from these unregis- tered devices. “Today, disruption is hap- rer than ever. Itcalls -evaluation ofthe cyber- securityarchitecture toensure that predictivity and intelli- gence are embedded at the core providing real-time visi- bility into distributed applica- tions, security, networks, users, and services. Security resilience, pre- paredness, and response must be at the forefront in order to navigate through the intensi- fying threat landscape in2023,” Samir Kumar Mishra, Director ofSecurity Sales, Cisco India & ‘SAARC, said in a statement. ‘As employees are logging into work from multiple net- worksacross theirhomes, local coffee shops, and even super- markets, about 94 per cent of respondents saytheiremploy- rid work ees use at least two networks for logging into work, and 57 per cent say their employees use more than five networks, according to the report. Moreover, it also said that over80 percentofrespondents had experienced a cybersecu- rity incident in the past 12 months, in which the top three types of incidents suf- feredwere malware, dataleaks, and phishing. As security leaders in the countryacknowledgethechal- lenges, 95 percent expect their organisations to increase their cybersecurity spending by over ten per cent over the next year, and 99 per cent expect IT infrastructure upgrades within the next 24 months, said the report.Reconstruction work of ce track in SL begins und COLOMBO, Jan 9 (PTI, THE reconstruction work of a century-old railway track in northern Sri Lanka began under India’s assistance here on Monday, in a move aimed at enhancing mobility of goods and services and boostingeco- nomic activity in the cash- strapped island nation. The43km long railway track between Medawachchiya and Madhu Road represents the first phase of the project to reconstruct the Northern Railway Line, covering252km, will be completed at a cost df USD 81 million. IRCON International, an Indian company that has con- tributed to several railway reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka, is headlining this proj- ect. Additionally, ancillary works from Maho to Omanthai 128 km is also being under- taken by IRCON, under an existing line of credit (LoC) of USD 318 million, at a cost of USD 91.27 million. “As a long-standing devel- opment partner of Sri Lanka, the Government of India exe- cuted several projects in Sri Lanka under its concessional loansandgrantschemes. Ofthe different sectors of coopera- tion, theupgradation and mod- ernisation of Sri Lankan Railways has been one of the priority areas,” the Indian High Commission said. Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay said the move “underscored the importance of modernisation of Railways in enhancing mobility of goods andservicesin SriLanka thereby boosting economicNEW DELHI, Jan 9 (PTI) ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGO), has re-taken a 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas fields in the far east region of Russia, an official said on Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin in October last year disbanded Exxon Neftegaz - a regional subsidiary of US super major ExxonMobil - as operator of the Sakhalin-1 and transferred the proj- ect and all of its assets and equipment to anew operator. The other former foreign shareholders in the project - Japan's Sodeco consortium and ONGC Videsh - were asked to apply to the Russian Government to regain theirshareholdings in the project. OVL applied and has been given the same shareholding as it had previously, the official said. Production from Sakhalin-1 stoppedin April 2022 after Exxon Neftegaz declared force majeure at the project in response to international sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow assigned the Sakhalin- 1 project and operatorship to a regional subsidiary ofRussian oil producer Rosneft. Russia then asked foreign shareholders in the project - ExxonMobil, Sodeco and ONGCVidesh - to apply to reinstate their shareholdings in the project before mid- November. TheSodeco consortium too hasretained its stake but there is no clarity on what will happen to ExxonMobil's stake.India today is land of op partner in glo EDISON (NEW JERSEY), Jan 9 (PTD) INDIA today is land of opportu- nityand can bea'trusted partner” for global and American corpo- rations in their supply chains and investment portfolios, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal Piyush — Goyal aad. He also exuded confidence that the coun- try will soon be the third largest economy in the world, as trans- formational reforms and a young population drive future growth. “Lwould urge all of you to take this message to the world, to the Americans and American corpo- rations and to the sphere of influ- ence that each oneof you has that India is the place to be, India can be your trusted partner in your supply chains, in yourinvestment portfolio, in yourbusiness,” Goyal said on Sunday as he addressed diaspora and members of the Indian-American communityata reception here. Goyal arrived in New York on Sunday on an official visit till January 11 during which he will also travel to Washington DC. In the firstlegof the visit, he willinter- act with CEOs of multinational enterprises, join roundtablemeet- ings with business leaders and think tanks and visit industries in New York. He will attend the 13th ‘Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meet- ing in Washington on January 11 and also hold bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai. Addressing the community reception attended by Consul General of India in New York Randhir Jaiswal and prominent members of the diaspora from the nity, trusted chains: Goyal tri-state area on the eve of the PravasiBhartiyaDivas2023, Goyal saidmembersofthe diaspora, their forefathersimmigrated fromindia tothe US in search of a better life. While America “has given you a lot and I'm sure each one of you has givenback tothe US manifold, today India is that land of oppor- tunity. Today India beckons your contributiontomake Indiaagreat superpower,” Goyal said adding that as “we work towards making Indiaadeveloped nation’; heiscon- fident that the country's diaspora will also be contributing to take India back to the ‘old giory that we hada few 100 years ago” to the time when India was one of the largestcontributorsto global econ- omy. “I think it's time we got that glory back in our nation.” Goyal highlighted that India quickly rebounded after the lock- down and economic stress unleashed by pandemic.Clear OROP arrears Times News Network : New Delhi: The Supreme : Courton Monday asked the : Centre to clear the arrears : under the one-rank-one- : pension (OROP) policy to : retired servicemen by : March 15 even as attorney : general R Venkataramani : said disbursement of ar- : rears are likely to com- ! mencepriortothedeadline. The AG informed a : bench of Chief Justice D Y : Chandrachud and Justice P : S Narasimha that tabula- : tion of pension due to 25 : lakh retired servicemen has : beencompleted by thecomp- : troller of defence accounts, : Allahabad, and that its vet- ting is only left to be carried out by the ministry before payments are released, Appearing for the re- tired servicemen, senior ad- ? vocate Huzefa Ahmadi told LONG WAIT the court that the govern- : ment was required tomake the payments in 2019 and : that it had continuously : breaching the deadlines set: by the SC. He said nearly : four lakh pensioners : have passed away await- : ing the arrears of pen- : sion. He also drew the : court’s attention toa gov- : ernment letter which al- : legedly revealed that the : arrears in pension would : be released in four equal : six monthly instalments. Let this be done at one go, he requested the court.| Plan for 18% power urbana 16% Increase Proposed Fo! ‘pankajshatatimessroup.com Leknow: Your power bil tap pon ded mon our monthly big {the UP Power Corporation Limited WPPCLen Monday Submited propel with iho UP Elecriley Regalato By Commission COPERO), Sigzerting hie of around {nts ipower tarif for urban dameaticeonsuiers cont ‘ningthe development, high ipplaced sourcr in UPERC faltat the proposed tart troule be subjected > ‘hus scrutiny bore theme Dor rif isennounced st ertwomonths Power NUP was lat increased ‘mies. tothe proposal. ‘According’ svabmitted by the UPPCL. an fverage hike of around 16% ‘has been proposed for vario- final SHOCK VALUE Five chargeinereased from "1110 per kW to 120 per KW Fr industries he rate as ‘been proposed to be inerased by lesnwhlleineaseot agricul tral consumers a ike of 2% Increase Pet Unit for Urban domestic consumer 0-100 units| From ¥550 102652 | 101-150 uns | From 7550 t0 650 151-300 units | From €6t027 ‘Above 30 units | Fro 650108 (Gee fable), UPPCL as also ‘proposed to nereasethefixed ‘Wher Kor ofthe electric b> ‘ac, The maximum rate ha l- sobeon uppadfrom RS6.50 0 fatto RS per unit — when. ‘the power consumption wes beyond 900 units {twas only Indulplastyearwhenthestate fovernment had capped the Hike of around 17% has also been proposed for the lifeline category ‘consumers — rural/ turban poor who are provided power ata low rate figueinitonsocoperani Power eonsimer forum, UP Rajya Vidyat Upthoges Parishad, has opposed the proposal Submitting a pti Bon with hoclectreity regu: lator parisad president AK ‘erm sald that the UPPCL. ‘ued 8 total of over 25000 frome inthe form of waivers foward power consumes ‘Up="Tharalso needs tobe ta keen nto aceaunt before ny {d'atermeeting UPRRC cha rman RPSinghand member in 2 months ries, Months Before Investor Summit Vinod Srivastava The PERC is now proposed to hholdpublichearingsatthelo. el of various disrihuton ‘companies inthe state The ‘EPERC souroes sala thathe lectricity reguatcr would faseatially seoount the