United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the justice department to pause prosecutions of Americans accused of bribing foreign officials to secure business deals. The order halts enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law barring US companies from bribing foreign government officials. Trump directed the attorney general to review actions related to the Act and draft new enforcement guidelines.

The decision has been viewed as a potential relief for the Adani Group and its chairperson Gautam Adani. With the pause in prosecutions under the Act, ongoing investigations against them could be delayed or potentially weakened, according to reports.

In November, the US authorities indicted Gautam Adani, who is the chairperson of the conglomerate, in a $265 million bribery and fraud case.

While the indictment document outlines conspiracy to obstruct justice and violations of the Act, Adani and his executives were not charged on these counts. The indictment document does, however, name Gautam Adani, among others, in what it describes as a “massive bribery scheme”.

The conglomerate has denied the allegations. Read on.

The Bangladesh government has urged Adani Power to fully restore power supply to the country from its plant in Jharkhand’s Godda. The Adani Group company exports electricity to Bangladesh from the 1,600-megawatt plant under a 2017 agreement.

In October, the company had halved its supply on account of delayed payments triggered by a shortage of foreign exchange in Bangladesh. The company on November 1 shut one of its two units, leaving the plant operating at a capacity of about 42%. Dhaka subsequently asked Adani Power to continue supplying only the electricity from the lone operating unit.

However, the government-run Bangladesh Power Development Board has now asked the firm to resume supplies from the second unit. It said it had been paying $85 million, or Rs 737.4 crore, per month to the Adani Group to settle outstanding dues.

The controversial deal between the Adani Group and Dhaka was signed during the Sheikh Hasina-led government, which was toppled in August. Opposition parties in India have questioned whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi was directly involved in the deal. In Bangladesh, experts contend that it entails Dhaka buying power at exorbitantly high prices. Read on.

The Supreme Court has disposed of a plea seeking action against mob lynchings, saying it cannot “micromanage” such cases from Delhi. The petition, filed by the National Federation of Indian Women, raised concerns about cow vigilante attacks.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran noted that its 2016 guidelines on mob lynching remain binding and that aggrieved parties were free to seek legal remedies. The court also refused to examine the validity of cow protection laws in various states, saying that such challenges should be addressed in state high courts.

Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha argued that lynching incidents had increased under cow protection laws, but the court maintained that law enforcement was a state responsibility. It also declined to set uniform compensation for victims, stating that the amounts must be decided case by case. Read on.

The Congress has accused Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla of violating the Constitution by failing to summon the state Assembly on Tuesday, citing Article 174(1) which mandates that no more than six months can pass between two sittings. Party leader Jairam Ramesh questioned why Bhalla revoked his January 24 order convening the Winter Session, which was to begin on Monday.

The Congress claimed the session was scrapped as the Bharatiya Janata Party had failed to appoint a successor to former Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who resigned from the post on Sunday. His resignation followed longstanding demands from Kuki-Zomi-Hmar groups, who accused him of a partisan response to the ongoing ethnic violence in the state. The conflict between Meiteis and Kuki-Zomi-Hmar communities, which began in May 2023, has killed at least 258 people and displaced over 59,000. Read on.

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