KOZHIKODE l monday l april 28, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Global Economic Uncertainty Hits New Highs Amid U.S. Tariff International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook warns economic uncertainty has surpassed levels seen during Covid-19 ‘an environment of fear and volatility’ world trade uncertainty index up The report attributes this uncertainty to the unpredictable nature of the US tariff policy under President Trump. Recent tariff hikes, including a significant increase to 145% on Chinese products, have created an environment of fear and volatility in financial markets, said the report released on Sunday in Barcelona ■ ■ IMF’s world trade uncertainty index is seven times higher than in October 2024, with global GDP growth forecasts revised downward to 2.8% for 2025 and 3% for 2026 Financial markets are experiencing instability similar to Covid19, with US bond prices falling as investors begin to sell them 1.2% is the The euro area’s growth forecast figure for 2026 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 heads-up: chief of defence staff meets rajnath singh Navy conducts war drills in arabian sea 537 Pak nationals left India SINCE April 24 NIA takes over probe, forces ready to strike China calls for restraint, backs ‘impartial probe’ to shut its airspace to Indian airliners and suspend all trade with India. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into the Pahalgam terror attack, intensifying efforts to collect evidence and identify perpetrators. NIA teams, overseen by an Inspector General of Police, a Deputy Inspector General of Police and a Superintendent of Police, are examining eyewitnesses, analyzing videos, and scrutinizing entry and exit points to piece together the sequence of events. Intelligence agencies have traced the attack’s digital footprints to safe houses i n Muzaffarabad and Karachi, suggesting a clear Pakistan hand, sources said. A local videographer, who was there to film reels for tourists in Baisaran, has now become one of the key witnesses for the NIA, as a senior official said, “The photographer in a bid to save his life climbed a tree, but he continued videographing the incidents that unfolded there.” Meanwhile, Sunday was the last day for Pakistanis having short-term visas in 12 categories to leave India. A long queue of vehicles was seen at the Attari-Wagah border crossing. As many as 537 Pakistani nationals, including nine diplomats and officials, left India in four days since April 24 after the government announced the visa revocation the previous day officials said. , Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, China on Sunday urged restraint by both sides. Beijing also backed Islamabad’s demand for an ‘impartial investigation’ into the Pahalgam terror attack, adding that it is ‘closely monitoring’ the situation. “Conflict is not in the fundamental interests of India and Pakistan, or conducive to regional peace and stability… Both countries should exercise restraint, meet each other halfway and promote the cooling of the situation,” Chinese state media quoted Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi as saying during a phone call with Pakistan’s deputy PM and foreign minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Sunday During the call, Dar . briefed Wang on the latest developments and the latter offered support for Pakistan’s “legitimate security concerns and its efforts to uphold sovereignty and security interests”. Reaffirming Beijing’s support for Islamabad, Wang added, “China fully understands Pakistan’s reasonable security concerns and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty and security interests.” m aya n k s i n g h & m u k e s h r a n j a n @ New Delhi IN the wake of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives and the possibility of an Indian retaliation against Pakistan-backed terror groups, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday to brief him on key military decisions taken after the attack. The Indian Navy on Sunday conducted successful multiple anti-ship firings, showcasing its readiness for longrange precision strikes. “Indian Navy stands combat ready , credible, and future-ready in safeguarding the nation’s maritime interests anytime, anywhere, anyhow,” the Navy said in a statement. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have taken a hit, after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met on April 23 followed by India withdrawing its Defence, Navy and Air Ad, visors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, reducing the overall strength of the high commission to 30 from 55. The Indus Waters Treaty func, tional since 1960, has been suspended, and the only operational land border crossing at Attari has been shut down. Diplomatic ties with Pakistan have been downgraded, prompting Pakistan More ‘torpedoes’ likely in Trump’s next 100 days Agencies US President Donald Trump, who completes 100 days in power on April 29, will spend his next 100 days of his presidency to seal trade and peace pacts, media reports quoting White House officials said. After a series of ‘loud’ changes during his first 100 days, including social policy areas such as transgender rights, Trump may deploy some ‘torpedoes in reserve’ over the next three months, reports said quoting of ficials. This could mean more ‘executive actions’ that have become the hallmarks of Trump’s first 100 days. Sources hinted that the administration was still working on a travel ban for citizens from multiple countries. Since taking office on January 20, Trump has enacted sweeping changes on domestic and foreign policy priorities, upending the world economic order with tariffs, slashing the size of the federal government with job cuts, and scrapping diversity programmes. He is expected to travel to Michigan this week for a rally marking the 100day milestone. JAYA N TH JACOB @ New Delhi Navy ships undertake multiple anti-ship firings in Arabian Sea to demonstrate its readiness for long range strikes | PTI Cattle bound & left to die Traders accused of animal cruelty for insurance claims P o o j a N a i r @ Malappuram Every morning, Rajesh N P a dairy , farmer in Edachalam in Kuttippuram, walks along the banks of the Bharathappuzha with a heavy heart. Where healthy cows once grazed and local farmers shared stories are disturbing signs of neglect: Starving animals bound under the sun, too weak to stand. It’s not disease or old age that’s claiming them, but deliberate cruelty fuelled by greed. , A chilling scam has come to light, where a group of unscrupulous cattle traders are allegedly allowing cows to die in agony just to cash in on inflated insurance claims. The practice, described by locals as “murder for money”, has triggered widespread protest and demands for urgent government intervention. What began as whispers among farmers has now erupted into a fullblown scandal. Allegedly, certain cattle traders have been buying cows for as little as `15,000-20,000, only to insure them for amounts as high as `80,000. But what’s truly horrifying is what follows: the animals are abandoned on the riverside under the guise of grazing, left to suffer without food, water, or shelter. Within A cow on the sandbed of Bharathapuzha weeks, many die of sheer neglect. “It’s murder for money says Rajesh, ,” a third-generation farmer. “They don’t even pretend to look after these animals. You see the same cow today , weak and restrained, and by next month, it’s gone. We know what’s happening. They just wait for them to die and then cash in on the insurance,” he says. The scam, according to farmers and activists, is more than just cruelty: It’s organised exploitation. They allege that some local veterinary officers are turning a blind eye or are even complicit. In several cases, postmortem reports needed for insurance claims are suspected to have been falsified or conducted in a rushed, negligent manner. Sulaiman C P another dairy farm, er, recalls seeing at least six cows perish along a stretch of the river bank last month alone.  ● More on P4 ‘purification’ drive K-Smart uncovers 1.4 lakh ‘ghost buildings’, adds `394 crore to govt kitty R a j e s h R a v i @Kochi Sniffing out tax dodgers, the innovative K-Smart platform, a gamechanger for local self-government services, has unearthed nearly 1.4 lakh buildings in urban local bodies t h at we re p l ay i n g hooky from revenue records and giving taxmen the slip. This clever sleuthing has the potential to plump up local body coffers by a hefty `394 crore through taxes, arrears and fines. And the plot thickens! With K-Smart now cast- ing its digital net in panchayats, authorities anticipate a significant surge in the regularisation of such ‘ghost buildings’, potentially unlocking a treasure trove of almost `1,000 crore, according to senior government officials. Santhosh Babu, chairman and managing director of the Information Kerala Mission (IKM), the implementing agency of the K-Smart project, told TNIE that the Kerala government initiated a data purification project to include buildings not previously recorded or taxed in official records. The ‘purification’ drive by the LSGD found that of the 44,85,891 buildings for which records existed in the 87 municipalities and six city corporations in the state, taxes were collected from only 36,55,124 buildings. Inaccurate data in the old software ‘Sanchaya’ had resulted in 8,30,737 buildings being wrongly classified as non-taxable for years. This was due to various reasons, including data duplication, failure to remove demolished buildings from records and junk data. Despite an estimated 9095% of city buildings being registered, many were found to be operating without tax assessments, even after receiving electricity and water ● More on P4 connections. PM vows justice for kin of dead, ‘harshest punishment’ for conspirators’ of attack rajesh kumar thakur @ New Delhi prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the families of the victims of the recent Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir will receive justice, and the perpetrators and conspirators will face the harshest response ever imagined. Addressing the nation through his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modi expressed deep anguish over the attack that claimed the lives of at least 26 civilians, mostly tourists. “The whole world stands with 140 crore Indians in our fight against terrorism,” Modi said, adding that the unity of the country and solidarity of its people is the biggest strength in the war against terrorism. He accused the terrorists and their masterminds of trying to push Kashmir back into turmoil, by executing a major conspiracy . “This attack in Pahalgam shows the desperation of the patrons of terrorism; displays their cowardice.” A BSF personnel guides Pakistani nationals arriving at Wagah border to cross over to their country | PTI He noted that the attack was a setback to the progress and peace that was returning to Kashmir, where construction work had gained unprecedented pace, democracy was getting stronger, and new opportunities were being created for the youth. The prime minister urged the nation to demonstrate strong willpower in the face of terrorism, and said, “Today the world is watching, after this terrorist attack, the whole country is speaking in one voice. The anger that the people of India feel is also being felt across the whole world.”