MADURAI l Monday l April 28, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late 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’ 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 ■ 1.2% world trade uncertainty index up ■ 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 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 China calls for restraint, backs an ‘impartial investigation’ @ 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, functional 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 to shut its ‘zero tolerance for terrorism’ New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday dialled his British counterpart David Lammy and spoke about India’s policy of “zero tolerance” for terrorism while discussing the Pahalgam terror attack, three days after UK PM Keir Starmer spoke to PM Modi tourists return to pahalgam Srinagar: Resilience has triumphed over terror and fear as tourists have begun returning to Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam 5 days after the terror attack. On Sunday, tourists from across the nation arrived in Pahalgam, and tourismrelated activities sprung back to life 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. , PM vows ‘harshest punishment’ for conspirators, justice for kin of dead 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 Expect more ‘torpedoes’ 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 officials. 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 Navy ships undertake multiple anti-ship firings in Arabian Sea to demonstrate its readiness for long range strikes | PTI Donald Trump Michigan this week for a rally marking the 100-day milestone. The White House intends to highlight his economic vision, handling of undocumented immigrants, foreign policy changes, and work by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to purge the federal bureaucracy . While Trump’s supporters have lauded his efforts to remake American society critics , say he has trampled on the rights of citizens as well as non-citizens, alienated allies, and weakened US’ standing on the global stage. Next month, Trump is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE to push for peace in Russia’s war with Ukraine. A BSF personnel guides Pakistani nationals arriving at Wagah border to cross over to their country | PTI 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.” 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.” Hackers steal data from labour dept’s sites twice in 2024 JAYANTH JAC O B @ New Delhi NIA takes over probe, forces ready to strike m aya n k s i n g h & m u k e s h r a n j a n Navy conducts war drills in arabian sea NIRU PAMA V ISWANATHAN 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 prime minister 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 has always supported Pakistan in its resolute anti-terrorism actions. As a staunch friend and all-weather strategic partner, China fully understands Pakistan’s reasonable security concerns and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty and security interests.” Pakistan, which is going through an economic crisis amid rising tensions with India and potential global isolation, is looking at China to come to its rescue. According to reports, it has now sought an additional 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) on its Chinese swap line, over and above the existing 30 billion yuan swap line. Meanwhile, sources said the Pakistani military continued its unprovoked firing along the Line of Control for the third consecutive day The Pakistan . military was engaged in similar firing on Thursday and Friday nights as well. “Our troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire,” said an official. An employee said that the department mentioned a ‘data loss’ but has not, till date, informed stakeholders their sensitive data has been stolen | Express cluding the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, Tamil Nadu Industrial Personal infor mation Establishments (National of lakhs of employers and Festival and Special Holitheir staf f from across days) Act, Motor Transport Tamil Nadu has been sto- Workers Act, Inter-State len from the state govern- Migrant Workmen Act and ment’s labour department Beedi and Cigar Workers portal twice in the last (Conditions of Employyear. The stolen details be- ment) Act, among others. long to employers and their Apart from the labour employees in shops and department portal, data businesses, industries and from the department’s Inprivate fir ms, and also ter-State Migrant Workers comprises sensitive data MIS—which was launched including bank account de- in 2023—has also been stotails of guest workers in len. This system is used for the state. registration of inter-state The data was stolen twice migrant workers employed in May and November 2024 in commercial establishby two sepaments, a g rir a t e h a c ke r c u l t u r e , press g roups who, clusive schools, colaccording to le ges, local an FIR regisbodies and tered on November 14, 2024, motor establishments, and claimed to have hacked the has details of their Aadentire database from the la- haar and even their bank bour department portal accounts. and the inter-state migrant The department has been workers’ portal for sale on able to recover most of the the dark web. lost data with help from the The database contained Tamil Nadu State Data the Aadhaar and PAN de- Centre which maintains tails of employers, their the server for the departphone numbers and ad- ment. However, instead of dresses. The hackers also acknowledging the large accessed documents relat- scale data theft, the state ed to the addresses and oth- government has been treater personal details of sev- ing the incidents as merely eral thousands of their a ‘data loss’ event in which employees. they have been able to sucThe stolen data belongs cessfully avoid severe reto employers and their em- percussions because the ployees as registered under data was recovered fairly various labour laws, in- quickly.  P5 @ Chennai 2 kids among 6 killed in Nellai car accident NINE killed in canada festival after a driver ploughed through a crowd at a Filipino cultural celebration in Vancouver on Sunday, police said while ruling out terrorism as the motive for the incident in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; the driver acted deliberately and had a history of mental health problems, according to Canadian officials | P9 Express news service @ Tirunelveli riding the (heat) waves A massive crowd spotted at the Marina Beach, Chennai, seeking respite from the heat on Sunday evening | ashwin prasath Cabinet rejig: Balaji, Ponmudy out, Thangaraj in T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai Tamil Nadu Ministers V Senthil Balaji and K Ponmudy resigned from the Cabinet on Sunday and their portfolios have been re-allocated among Ministers S S Sivasankar, S Muthusamy and R S Rajakannappan. Balaji’s resignation follows a directive from the Supreme Court to decide between ministership or freedom in a money laundering case. Ponmudy’s departure from Cabinet is a fallout of his recent controversial remarks, which are believed to have caused the party embarrassment and had already cost him his party post of deputy general secretary . Governor R N Ravi accepted the recommendations made by Chief Minister M K Stalin to accept the resignation of the two ministers as well as to reallocate their portfolios to the three other ministers. According to a Raj Bhavan communique, Senthil Balaji’s portfolio of electricity has been given to Transport Minister Sivasankar and he will now be designated as Minister for Transport and Electricity Sim. ilarly Minister for Housing and , Urban Development S Muthusamy has been given the Prohibition and Excise portfolios, which were under Senthil Balaji, and he has been designated as Minister for Housing, Prohibition and Excise. Meanwhile, Ponmudy’s portfolios of Forests and Khadi have been given to Dairy Development Minister R S Rajakannappan, who is now redesignated as Minister for Forests and Khadi. In addition, the CM has recommended the induction of T Mano Thangaraj, former minister and MLA from Padmanabhapuram Assembly constituency into the Cabinet.  , At least six people, including two children, were killed in a collision involving two cars on the Tirunelveli-Kanniyakumari National Highway at Thalapathisamuthiram village near Nanguneri on Sunday evening. District Collector Dr R Sukumar told reporters that the bodies of a child, two women and a man were taken to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, while the bodies of one child and another man were taken to the Kanniyakumari Government Medical College Hospital. Police did not confirm the identities of the deceased till 10 pm on Sunday . Police said Mariappan of Anjugramam village in Kanniyakumari had visited the Nellaiappar temple in Tirunelveli in a car, accompanied by his wife and their two children. On their way back, the vehicle rammed into the median of the four-lane highway, veered into the opposite lane.  P5