villupuram 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 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associated with the the entry its nationals, service advisors will faces of citing clear cross-border also be withdrawn from terror links to the assault.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. J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi 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 Stating that the allegations and complaint against the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) are ‘ g r av e i n n a t u r e ’ a n d warrants‘deeper investigation’, the Madras High Court on Wednesday cleared the decks for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to proceed with the probe by dismissing the petitions filed by Tasmac and the Tamil Nadu government against the recent raids conducted on the retail liquor business entity. A bench of Justices S M Subramaniam and K Rajasekar negated the contentions raised by the petitioners, including non-fur nishing of “reasons to believe” the com- 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 E S H R AN 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 banch against killings by terrorists for the first time in more than 35 years 1 Army personnel at the site of the attack mission of the offence, and the FIRs relied upon by the agency for proceeding under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), violations of principles of federalism, political motive and violation of human rights of e m p l o y e e s , p a r t i c u l a rl y women. The high court said the fact that the central agency had recorded the reasons to believe the commission of the offence of generating proceeds of crime in writing, as explicitly mandated under Section 17 of PMLA, on information in possession is sufficient to conduct search. Sufficiency of adequacy of the infor mation cannot be gone into by the court at this stage, it said.  P5 Pahalgam terror attack is direct assault on Indian state, the country is one in fighting, says Cong chief Kharge 2 @ New Delhi T he S u p re m e C o u r t o n Wednesday warned Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji that if he does not resign from his ministership, the bail granted to him in the money laundering case linked to the ‘cash-forjobs’ scam would be cancelled. The two-judge bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih gave Balaji time till next Monday (April 28) to decide. The court, which took strong objection to Balaji becoming a minister soon after he got bail, was hearing the applications filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking recall of the bail granted to him for “influencing witnesses in the case”. The Supreme Court granted bail to Balaji in the money laundering case on September 26 last year. But immediately after getting bail, Balaji took oath as minister, assuming charge of electricity non, conventional energy, and excise portfolios in Chief Minister MK Stalin’s cabinet on September 29. During the hearing the bench questioned his conduct and reappointment by referring to the observations in a previous judgment which recorded that, as a minister, he had forced people to withdraw the complaints filed against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Justice Oka said the bail was 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 ‘Hate speech’: HC orders case against Ponmudy Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered a suo motu case against Minister for Forests and senior DMK leader K Ponmudy for his alleged derogatory speech against Saivism, Vaishnavism and women. Justice N Anand Venkatesh slammed the state police for staying motionless and not taking action against the minister even after the court directed it to do so | P2 Govt and aided schools in TN to reopen on June 2 Chennai: The Tamil Nadu school education department on Wednesday announced that all government, aided high and higher secondary schools in the state will reopen on June 2 for the academic year 2025-26 after summer holidays. According to an official circular, summer holidays for students of classes 6 to 9 will begin on April 25, while the last working day for teachers will be April 30 Quit as minister in a week or lose bail, SC warns Balaji S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y 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 Tasmac raid: HC allows ‘deeper probe’ by ED R S I V A K U M A R @ Chennai Diplomatic Staff reduced granted only on the grounds of delay in trial and long incarceration. “You were granted bail not on merits, but on the ground of Article 21 violation.” Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, for the Enforcement Directorate, pointed out that Balaji, to plead for bail, had said that he had resigned as a minister. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Balaji, said that the trial can be shifted out of the state if there was an apprehension of him influencing witnesses. “That will not serve the purpose. There are 1,000 witnesses,” Justice Oka said.  P5 ‘We have made a mistake’ Justice Oka said, “We will record it in the order we have made a mistake by ignoring judgments against you, as entire hearing proceeded on footing that you are no longer minister” 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 Local lad fought assailants, laid down his life 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 terrorists, trying to 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 why he was then targeted,” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Syed Adil Shah Abdullah told reporters. Adil’s body was returned to his family on Wednesday “We have to take . care of his family. The government stands with him and whatever it can do, it will do,” 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.