Bengaluru launches ‘Ambari’ double-decker tourist bus service
Bengaluru: In an effort to promote city tourism, the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) on Wednesday launched the ‘Ambari Double-Decker Bus’ service in Bengaluru.
The service was flagged off by Tourism Minister H.K. Patil near Ravindra Kalakshetra. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said KSTDC, a government-owned undertaking under the Tourism Department, has been working for the past 55 years to strengthen tourism and hospitality services in Karnataka, providing quality facilities to both domestic and international tourists.
To popularise Bengaluru’s tourist attractions and offer visitors a new city-viewing experience, KSTDC plans to operate three London-style double-decker buses in the city. The buses will begin regular operations from January 21.
The Ambari Double-Decker Bus will operate on the route: Ravindra Kalakshetra – Corporation Circle – Hudson Circle – Kasturba Road – Visvesvaraya Museum – Chinnaswamy Stadium Road – General Post Office – High Court/Vidhana Soudha – K.R. Circle – Hudson Circle – Corporation Circle – Ravindra Kalakshetra.
The ticket price has been fixed at Rs 180 per person for a full-day ride. The lower deck of the bus is air-conditioned and fitted with comfortable seating, along with a microphone system to provide information about nearby tourist spots. The upper deck has 20 seats, allowing passengers to enjoy panoramic views of the city and its landmarks.
The minister said that separate routes for the double-decker buses will be planned in the coming days. Bookings and additional details are available on the KSTDC website (kstdc.co) or through the helpline numbers 080-4334 4334/35 and mobile numbers 89706 50070 / 89706 50075.
KSTDC Chairman Srinivas M, MLA Uday B Garudachar, Kannada and Culture Department Secretary Manjunath, Tourism Director Gayathri, KSTDC Managing Director Prashanth Kumar Mishra, and other officials were present at the launch event.
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Latest: Trump says he won't use force to acquire Greenland in Davos address
Davos (AP): US President Donald Trump insisted he wants to “get Greenland, including right, title and ownership,” but he said he wouldn't employ force to achieve that — using his speech Wednesday at the World Economic Forum to repeatedly deride European allies and vow that NATO shouldn't stand in the way of US expansionism.
He urged NATO to allow the US to take Greenland from Denmark and added an extraordinary warning, saying alliance members can say yes, “and we'll be very appreciative. Or you can say, No,' and we will remember.”
Trump tried to focus on his efforts to tame inflation and spur the economy back home. But his more than 70-minute address focused more on his gripes with other countries.
Here is the latest:
France's Macron cries fake news!' over Trump prescription drug claims
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President Emmanuel Macron's office is disputing Trump's assertion in Davos that he successfully pressured the French leader to increase prescription drug prices.
“It's being claimed that President @EmmanuelMacron increased the price of medicines. He does not set their prices. They are regulated by the social security system and have, in fact, remained stable,” Macron's office said in a post on X. “Anyone who has set foot in a French pharmacy knows this.”
It included a GIF of Trump speaking overlaid with the words, “FAKE NEWS!”
Trump says some countries' legislative bodies will need to approve joining his Board of Peace
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The president said while in a meeting with the Egyptian president that there will be “a lot” of countries represented on his Board of Peace.
“Some need parliamentary approval but for the most part, everybody wants to be on,” he said.
Business tycoons wait outside Trump's CEO reception
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The CEOs of Visa, Cisco, Salesforce, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon are among the high-profile figures gathering outside Trump's upcoming Davos event with global business leaders.
Sports will also be represented there, with Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein and FIFA president Gianni Infantino spotted among the expanding group.
After meeting Swiss president, Trump will meet with leaders of Poland, Belgium and Egypt
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said after those individual meetings, which was expected to occur behind closed doors, the president will address business leaders. He will then meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Denmark's foreign minister is guarded on Trump speech
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Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen was in a meeting on Ukraine and didn't hear Trump's speech, but says he has been briefed on it.
He said in Copenhagen that it's clear Trump's intentions toward Greenland remain “intact,” Danish public broadcaster DR reported.
Of Trump's statement that he won't use force to acquire the island, Løkke Rasmussen said: “That is positive in isolation, but it doesn't make the problem go away.”
Trump meets Swiss president and says he'll talk with Ukraine's Zelenskyy later this week
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Trump told Swiss President Guy Parmelin that his country was “great” and “beautiful.”
“You do make great watches, too,” he said during a brief part of the meeting that was open to the media.
Trump also clarified that he's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday, not Wednesday, as he said during his address.
Trump's chat with World Economic Forum CEO wraps
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The president did not make any major news in the discussion, which lasted about 20 minutes. Trump then left the stage.
Trump repeats campaign promises that US can grow its way out of debt problems
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Asked about US debt climbing toward USD 40 trillion — more than the size of the annual US economy — Trump insisted that he can solve the problem with economic growth and eliminating fraud and excessive spending.
“I think we're going to be paying off debt,” he boasted.
Trump made similar promises when he first ran for president in 2016 and again in 2024. He has added more to US debt totals than any president.
He repeated claims about fraud in Minnesota, mentioning the figure USD 19 billion — a miniscule fraction of annual federal spending that is measured in trillions. Trump also said the US is cutting spending, although he has exaggerated the effects of his government efficiency efforts.
Trump suggests a shared culture' between US and Europe
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Leaving vague exactly what kind of “culture” that he meant, Trump said the West has prospered because of a shared and “very special” one.
“This is the precious inheritance that America and Europe have in common,” Trump said. “We share it. But we have to keep it strong.”
Trump added that he wanted to “defend that culture” and “rediscover the spirit that lifted the West from the depths of the dark ages to the pinnacle of human achievement.”
Many Americans descend from Europeans, including settlers who came to the North American continent hundreds of years ago. But the Trump administration also has faced criticism at times for focusing on that side of US culture when the country's population is far more diverse.
Crowd groans as Trump derides the intellect of Somali immigrants
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“But equally importantly, we're cracking down on more than USD 19 billion in fraud that was stolen by Somalian bandits,” Trump said, referring to ongoing fraud investigations in Minnesota that have focused on members of the diaspora. “Can you believe that— Somalia? They turned out to be higher IQ than we thought.”
Trump wraps up his remarks after more than 70 minutes
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The president finished his speech by congratulating the people in the room for all their successes and declared that the US is “back, bigger, stronger, better than ever before.”
“I'll see you around,” he said.
He then sat down on a chair on stage for a question-and-answer session with World Economic Forum CEO Borge Brende, who was seated throughout Trump's remarks.
Trump claims without us, most of the countries don't even work'
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He's taken digs at French President Emmanuel Macron over Europe for selling pharmaceuticals to the US at a premium. He ripped Denmark for a lack of appreciation for the U.S. protection of Greenland during World War II. And he's blasted NATO for being too dependent on the United States.
“The United States is keeping the whole world afloat,” he said.
A tale about Swiss watches
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While speaking in Switzerland, Trump told a story about the country that he said “rubbed me the wrong way.”
He said Switzerland makes beautiful Rolex watches, but “were paying nothing to the United States” to export them. So, he set a tariff, which he said caused representatives from the country and the company to call and visit him and urge him to reverse it.
He brought down the tariff, but said he felt the country was “taking advantage” of the US.
“A majority of the money they make is because of us, because we never charge them anything,” he said.
Nearly an hour in, Trump talks US housing and pans some affordability policies
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Talking about the US market, Trump threw a curveball, saying essentially that he didn't want to simply expand housing supply because it could lower values for people who already own homes.
“If I want to really crush the housing market, I could do that so fast,” he said. But, “I don't want to do anything to hurt” people who have built wealth through their home equity.
“I don't want to do anything to hurt” existing homeowners, Trump said. He instead emphasized his desire to see lower interest rates, though that is a policy that, over time, would drive home prices up because it fuels demand.
Trump mocks Macron's sunglasses
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Trump mocked French President Emmanuel Macron's sunglasses to audience's laughter.
“I watched him yesterday with those beautiful sunglasses. What the hell happened?” Trump said to the loudest laughter so far.
The French president has worn sunglasses indoors in recent days as he's joked about a “completely harmless” eye condition.
Trump blasts Denmark for insufficient military spending on Greenland
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Trump asserted that Denmark promised to spend “over USD 200 million to strengthen Greenland's defences” and then insisted it has “spent less than 1 per cent of that.”
He was referring to a 2019 commitment from the Danish government, made during Trump's first presidency, when he first floated the idea of the US taking control of the semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Copenhagen has not disputed that the implementation of that commitment has been slow.
In recent weeks, with Trump pushing the US takeover again, Denmark's Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen unveiled an expanded defense plan with a USD 2 billion budget that includes three new ships, long-range drones and more satellite capacity.
Trump did not mention that latest commitment.
Trump taunts Canada
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Trump needled his northern neighbour after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that the current phase of global diplomacy was a “rupture” and called for “middle powers” to “act together.”
Trump said Canada gets many “freebies” from the US and “should be grateful.”
He said Carney's Davos speech showed he “wasn't so grateful.”
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Once again, Trump falsely insists the 2020 election was rigged'
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Before the audience in Davos, Trump repeated a claim he's said before that the Russian war on Ukraine “wouldn't have started” if the 2020 US presidential election “weren't rigged.”
One thing is for certain: The 2020 election was not stolen. Biden earned 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232. Trump's allegations of massive voting fraud have been broadly refuted.
Trump, who has long been calling for prosecutions related to the 2020 election, added that “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.” It wasn't immediately clear what he meant.
Trump says Venezuelan oil industry will do fantastically well' with US help
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Trump reiterated that he's getting cooperation from Venezuelan officials following the ouster of Nicolás Maduro and predicted good times for the South American country's economy.
“Every major oil company is coming in with us,” Trump said. 'It's amazing.”
Earlier this month, at a White House meeting, Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods said the Venezuelan market is “un-investable” in its current state.
Trump blasts wind energy, criticizing China and Europe in one swipe
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Windmills are “all over Europe” and are “losers” bought by “stupid people,” the US president said.
He made it clear that it was European nations that were the “stupid people” buying windmills from China.
It's part of his broad claims about energy. Trump is promoting oil and coal, traditional fossil fuels, and nuclear energy, while blasting newer, cleaner energy sources.
Calling windmills “those damn things,” he renewed his critiques that they “kill the birds” and “ruin the landscapes."
Trump mused that China owns the international windmill market but doesn't use them within its borders.
Trump goes after Europe
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Within 20 minutes of starting his speech, Trump had already criticized Europe several times.
He said he was European in heritage and wants to see it do well, but argued European countries are “destroying themselves.”
On windmills, immigration and trade, he tore into the continent, while many of its leaders were in his presence at the conference.
“Certain places in Europe are not even recognizable,” he said. “Here in Europe, we've seen the fate that the radical left tried to impose upon America.”
Trump touts efforts to address power supplies that AI data centres use
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The president referenced a recent push by his administration to get tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants, so that data centre operators, not regular consumers, pay for their own power needs.
“They're building their own power plants, which when added up is more than any country anywhere in the world is doing,” Trump said.
Audience laughs in response to Trump's one-liners
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The audience largely rewarded Trump's one-liners with laughter.
“People are doing very well,” the US president said to laughs inside the Congress Hall. They're very happy with me.”
The overflow room also produced chuckles and giggles as attendees watched the speech on screens.
Distant echo of protesters heard in Davos
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Distant protesters made their voices, though not their words, heard from the steps outside the Congress Centre as Trump addressed the gathering of elites.
Their words were too faint to be discernible, but they clearly expressed angry opposition to Trump.
Trump defiant about his results at the one-year mark
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In the first part of his Davos speech, Trump touted America's finances and living standards, which he said he achieved against expectations.
“Virtually all of the so-called experts predicted my plans to end this failed model would trigger a global recession and runaway inflation,” he said. “But we have proven them wrong.”
Trump said he wanted to spend the day discussing “how we have achieved this economic miracle” and suggested, as he did from the White House yesterday, that other countries in attendance could learn from his success.
Trump brags on US economy
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Trump touted economic growth in the US, using many of his characteristic superlatives that exaggerate circumstances on the ground.
“The USA is the economic engine on the planet,” Trump said. “You all follow us down, and you follow us up.”
Trump credited his tariff policies, which allies have harshly criticized ahead of his arrival at Davos. The president has also repeated his false claims that he inherited record inflation and has completely eliminated it.
His economic framing is similar to how he reviewed his first year back in power in a lengthy White House press briefing Tuesday before he travelled to Europe.
Trump says Europe is heading in the wrong direction
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The president echoed criticisms he had made of Europe in his United Nations address last year and his administration's latest national security statements.
“I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good, but it's not heading in the right direction,” he said.
