tadepalligudem l thursday l april 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION European Union hits Apple, meta with 700 million euros in fines In a decision likely to further strain its ties with the US, the EU has slapped steep penalties on the American firms for breaking its competition rules Penalty over App store monopoly, ads First action under digital markets act Apple must pay 500 million euros for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store. As for Meta Platforms, it must pay a 200 million euro fine for forcing Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing personalised ads or paying to avoid them. Both companies indicated they would appeal | p10 ■ ■ The penalties were the first issued under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, designed to give consumers and businesses more choice and prevent Big Tech “gatekeepers” from cornering digital markets “Both Apple and Meta have taken away free choice from their users,” Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive V-P said 60 days timeframe for Apple and Meta to comply with the decision 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 CCS also decides to shut Attari Check Post to coax pak, Indus treaty put on ice J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Commission in New Delhi have been declared persona non In response to the deadly Pa- grata and must leave India halgam terror attack that killed within a week. India will with26 people, including a Nepali draw its own Defence, Navy, national, India on Wednesday and Air Advisors from its High put Pakistan on notice, placing Commission in Islamabad. the Indus Waters Treaty in These positions in both misabeyance, expelling military at- sions are now considered antachés, slashing diplomatic nulled, and five support staff staff and suspending associated with the the entry its nationals, service advisors will faces of citing clear cross-border also be withdrawn from terror links to the assault. each side. Diplomatic India also decided to strength in both misshut down the Integratsions will be reduced ed Check Post at Attari from 55 to 30 by May 1. with immediate effect, India suspendas part of the measures ed the Indus Wataken by the Cabinet ters Treaty with Committee on Security immediate ef(CCS) chaired by Prime fect “until PakiM i n i s t e r N a re n d r a stan verifiably Modi. The CCS assessed ends support for the overall security situcross-border terroration and instructed ism,” Misri said. The “all forces to remain on treaty signed in 1960, is , high alert”. “It (CCS) reconsidered one of the solved that the perpetramost generous and entors of the attack will be during water-sharing brought to justice and pacts globally. Now, Intheir sponsors held to dia has frozen it, halting account,” Foreign Secall data exchange and retary Vikram Misri said. suspending “its obligations” to “In the briefing to the CCS, share river waters. the cross-border linkages of It has been decided the Intethe ter rorist attack were grated Check Post at Attari will brought out. It was noted that be closed, with a May 1 deadthis attack came in the wake of line for return of those who the successful holding of elec- crossed over with valid docutions in the Union Territory ments. Travel under the SAARC and its steady progress towards Visa Exemption Scheme is now economic growth and develop- barred for Pakistani nationals, ment,” Misri said. with existing visas cancelled The Defence, Naval and Air and current holders given 48 Advisors in the Pakistani High hours to exit. 50% US tariffs on Chinese goods could come down to between 50% and 65%, a senior White House official told Wall Street Journal Vietnam began trade talks with the US to avert the 46% tariffs set to kick in when the 90-day pause ends Finance Secretary Ajay Seth said direct impact of US tariffs on India’s GDP growth would be around 0.2 to 0.5% Pak’s Military diplomats expelled Navy Lt Vinay Narwal’s wife Himanshi breaks down while paying tribute to her husband killed in the attack | pTI @ Vijayawada Former Intelligence Chief PSR Anjaneyulu has been remanded to judicial custody till May 7 by a Vijayawada court in connection with the case involving Mumbai-based actress Kadambari Jethwani. The senior police officer was arrested on Tuesday and produced before the Third Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court following a medical examination at the Government Hospital in Vijayawada on Wednesday . According to the remand report, serious allegations have surfaced against Anjaneyulu, including abuse of power and fabricating evidence. The report claims that fake docu- Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Wednesday that decided on coercive action against Pakistan over the J&K massacre | PTI Sketches of terrorists out, top Lashkar leader Saifullah mastermind of carnage F aya z W a n i a n d M U K ESH RAN J AN @ Srinagar/New Delhi A day after 25 tourists and a local were mowed down by terrorists in Pahalgam, security agencies on Wednesday released sketches of the three terrorists involved in the attack. Intelligence agencies also identified Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba’s top commander Saifullah Khalid alias Khalid as the mastermind behind the carnage. One of the three terrorists is suspected to be a local while the others are Pakistani nationals. “The team of three was led by one Pakistani militant Asif Fauji,” sources said. “We suspect the terrorists were provided support by some locals by way of logistics and reconnaissance,” a security official said. Security agencies reckon that the assailants may have used M4-carbine rifles. They possibly crossed over from Kishtwar, where three terrorists were recently killed in a threeday long encounter. The police have also questioned some locals. Khalid, the mastermind behind the attack, also heads the LeT’s Peshawar unit. In the past, he had expressed frustration over Pakistan’s strategic shift in its Kashmir policy, particularly after the India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution. Khalid has always held the view Kashmir observes bandh against killings by terrorists for the first time in more than 35 years 1 Army personnel at the site of the attack ments were created and used to frame the actress and a case was re gistered under his instructions. It is also alleged that he influenced other police officers Kranti Rana and Vishal Gunni to file case and directed lowerlevel officers to act on forged evidence. The remand report further states that Anjaneyulu is capable of tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses, posing a threat to further probe. The court took note of these findings while remanding him. Following the court order, Anjaneyulu was shifted to the district jail in Vijayawada. The arrest of such a high-ranking former officer has sent ripples through the police and administrative circles in the state. Pahalgam terror attack is direct assault on Indian state, the country is one in fighting, says Cong chief Kharge 2 @ Vijayawada Girls outshone boys again in the SSC Public Examinations 2025 with a pass percentage of 84.09% compared to 78.31% among boys, marking a 5.78% higher success rate for girl students. The overall pass percentage stood at 81.14%. HRD Minister Nara Lokesh announced the results on Wednesday via the social media platform ‘X’, congratulating students on their performance and encouraging those who did not pass to utilise the supplementary exams scheduled from May 19 to 28, 2025. Yalla Nehanjani of Bhashyam School, Kakinada scored a perfect 600 out of 600 marks while Yanda Anisha from Sri Chaitanya School in Yelamanchili, Anakapalli district, Prema Satya Likhita from Pithapuram, Kakinada District, K Harshit, Bommuru, East Godavari, A Likhitha, MVP Colony , Visakhapatnam who studied in Bhashyam Institutions all secured 599 marks. Government school student Pavani Chandrika from ZP HS, Oppicharla in Palnadu district, scored 598 marks. Of the total 6,14,459 students, who appeared for the SSC exams this year, 4,98,585 emerged Yalla Nehanjani | express successful. Parvathipuram Manyam district secured the top spot with an impressive 93.90% pass rate, while Alluri Sitharama Raju district recorded the lowest with 47.64%. No- Exodus begins, 90% tour bookings for Kashmir cancelled, say Delhi travel agencies 3 Airlines operate addl flights to Srinagar with reasonable airfare for tourists wanting to return home early 4 We will not only trace those who perpetrated it. We will also go after those who, sitting behind the scenes, conspired to carry out the attack. They will face a strong response in the near future —Rajnath Singh, defence minister express read Kesi Reddy remanded to 15 days judicial custody The ACB Special Court in Vijayawada on Tuesday night remanded Raj Kesi Reddy, the main accused in the high-profile liquor scam, to 15 days of judicial custody. Kesi Reddy, alleged to be the mastermind behind the scam, was taken to the Vijayawada sub-jail following his remand. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which arrested Reddy, presented him before ACB Court Judge Bhaskar Rao | P3 Trump signals U-turn, says China levy will drop Washington: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had no plans to fire the Federal Reserve chief, in apparently conciliatory remarks after berating him. Wall Street investors dumped US assets on Monday, with all three main indexes down after Trump took a series of swipes at Jerome Powell, head of the US central bank. He criticised Powell for warning that the White House’s sweeping tariffs policy. SSC: Girls dominate boys, Manyam claims top position Express News Service that it was because of Pakistan’s decision to scale back LeT’s operations in Kashmir that violence escalated in Balochistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area, sources said. The TRF is alleged to have gunned down tourists to retaliate against 85,000 domicile certificates issued to non-locals, though there is no conclusive evidence to establish the claim. Since its inception, the TRF targeted non-Kashmiris and religious minorities, including Pandits. The murders of well-known chemist Makhan Lal Pandita and school principal Supinder Kaur in 2021, the 2023 Anantnag encounter, and the killing of civilians at a construction firm in Ganderbal in 2024, were all done by the TRF. India is united in fighting it, says Kharge Ex-Intel chief remanded to custody till May 7 Express News Service Diplomatic Staff reduced tably, 1,680 schools achieved a 100% pass rate, while 19 schools recorded zero pass percentage. Andhra Pradesh Residential Schools led institutional performance with a 95.02% pass rate followed by private unaided with 94.4%. The divisionwise distribution showed that 65.36% of students secured First Division, 10.69% Second Division, and 5.09% Third Division. A total of 6,19,286 students from 11,819 schools appeared under the regular stream. In the SSC 2025 results, the subject-wise pass percentages reflected strong performance P4 across most areas.  ‘perfect’ nehanjani Yalla Nehanjani, a student of Bhashyam School in Kakinada, scored a perfect 600 out of 600 marks to bag the top ranking in the SSC public exams on Wednesday. SAARC visa scheme off J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah consoles the father of Syed Adil Shah who was killed in the terrorist attack | PTI 2 AP men killed in Pahalgam terror attack U s h a P e r i / D Su r e n d r a K u m a r @ Visakhapatnam/Nellore Two residents of Andhra Pradesh were among the 26 civilians killed in the terrorist attack near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday The victims have been iden. tified as J S Chandramouli (68), a retired bank employee from Visakhapatnam, and S Madhusudan, a senior architect from Kavali in Nellore district. Chandramouli had travelled to Kashmir on April 18 with his wife, J Naga Mani, and two other family members. The group was staying in Srinagar and visiting tourist locations across the region. On April 22, they went to Pahalgam as part of their itinerary . According to Mouli’s brother-in-law, Kumar Raja, the group reached Pahalgam around 1:30 pm. “While the others managed to flee, Mouli, who had a heart condition, could not run fast. He was chased and shot dead by the attackers,” Kumar Raja said. He added that the family initially presumed him missing but later found his body at the site. Mouli is survived by his wife and two daughters, both of whom are settled in the United States. The family plans to shift the body to Kanaka Durga Hospital, near the Zilla Parishad office in Visakhapatnam. His daughters are expected to arrive by Thursday evening, and the funeral is likely P4 to be held on Friday  .