hubballi l thursday l april 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 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 | p16 ■ ■ 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 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associated with the the entry its nationals, service advisors will faces of citing clear cross-border also be withdrawn from terror links to the assault.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.  P4,5,9 J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Bodies of 2 K’taka tourists likely to reach B’luru today E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru The bodies of two of the three tourists from Karnataka, who were shot dead by terrorists at Pahalgam in Kashmir, were expected to reach Bengaluru early Thursday . The flight carrying the bodies of Bharath Bhushan from Bengaluru and realtor Manjunath from Shivamogga, was expected to land at 3.45 am. Thirteen members of the victims’ families will also arrive by the same flight. The body of software engineer Madhusudhan Rao from Bengaluru’s Ramamurthy Nagar will be taken to Chennai and from there to his hometown Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya’s office said that the MP was travelling with the families of the victims. 180 tourists to arrive Meanwhile, a special flight carrying 180 tourists from Karnataka stranded in Kashmir will also land here on Thursday morning. P4 express read Ranya Rao, 2 others placed under COFEPOSA Bengaluru: Actor Ranya Rao and her two accomplices have been placed under detention under the stringent Conversation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act 1974 (COFEPOSA Act, 1974) | P5 Pak’s Military diplomats expelled Diplomatic Staff reduced 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 Navy Lt Vinay Narwal’s wife Himanshi breaks down while paying tributes to her husband killed in the attack | pTI Local lad fought assailants, laid down his life Sketches of terrorists out, top Lashkar leader Saifullah mastermind of carnage F aya z w a n i @ Srinagar When terrorists opened fire at tourists at Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam on Tuesday , local pony ride operator Syed Adil Shah’s first instinct was not to run for cover, but to save the lives of the tourists around him. The sole breadwinner of his family , Adil charged at the terr o r i s t s, t r y i n g t o snatch the gun from one of them to stop the attack. This selfless act cost him his life. “He attempted to snatch the rifle of a militant to prevent him from firing and save the lives of the tourists. That is Syed Adil Shah why he was then targeted,” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters. Adil’s body was handed over to his family on Wednesday “We have to take care of his . family. The government stands with him,” Abdullah said while attending his funeral. Adil left home on Tuesday morning for work, his father said. “Around 3 pm, we heard that tourists were attacked at Baisaran. We tried to call him, but his phone was switched off,” he said. The family lodged a complaint with the local police station. In the evening, they were informed that Adil was shot dead. “He was our sole breadwinner and we were dependent on him for our survival,” Adil’s father said demanding justice. F aya z W a n i a n d MU K E SH RA N J A N @ 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 pro- 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 vided 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 that it was because of Pakistan’s de- cision 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.