DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 DEAL WORK IN PROGRESS 94 122 150 80 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 50%tariffon copper,pharma mayinviteupto 200%:Trump US isIndia’slargestmarketforpharma; Indiaisits3rdbiggestcopperexporter AGGAM WALIA & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA STATE VISIT TO BRAZIL NEW DELHI, JULY 8 Govt said block Reuters & over 2,000 other accounts: X; ministry denies SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, JULY 8 DAYS AFTER the X (previously Twitter)accountsofnewsagency Reuters were blocked over the weekend — the handles have since been restored — the social media company and the Indian government traded charges and counter-charges on Tuesday. While the government had earlierdenied any order towithhold Reuters’ account, X claimed on Tuesday that it had received orders last week “to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like Reuters”. It also expressed concernover“ongoingpresscensorship in India”. The government, however, doubled down on its earlier stanceandsaidithad“notissued any fresh blocking order on July 3,2025”.AMinistryofElectronics and Information Technology spokesperson said the government had stepped in “immediately” after the Reuters accounts wereblockedonJuly5night,but X“unnecessarilyexploitedtechnicalities” and “took more than 21 hours to unblock” them. In a post via its Global Government Affairs handle, X said on Tuesday: “On July 3, 2025,theIndiangovernmentordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, under Section 69A of the IT Act. Non-compliance risked criminal liability. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology demanded immediate action — within one hour — without providingjustification,andrequired the accounts to remain blocked until further notice.” “After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld. We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders. X is exploring all legal options available. Unlike users located in India, X is restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legalchallengesagainsttheseexecutive orders. We urge affected AS INDIA and the US work on an interim trade deal — Washington’s pause on reciprocal tariff ends July 9 but it has kept the window open for negotiations until August 1 — President Donald Trump Tuesday announced 50 per cent tariffsoncopper,afterhavingimplemented similar duties on steelandaluminium.Hesaidtariffs on pharmaceuticals could rise to 200 per cent after a year. This is significant for India whichexported$2-billionworth of copper and copper products globally in 2024-25, with the US accounting for $360 million, or 17 per cent, of that total. The US is also India’s largest overseasmarketforpharmaceuticals. Drug exports to the US rose to $9.8 billion in FY25, up 21 per cent from $8.1 billion the previous year, and now account for 40 per cent of India’s total pharma exports. Trump said he is planning to imposetariffsonimportedsemiconductors and pharmaceuti- Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife Rosangela da Silva welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Alvorada Palace in Brasilia on Tuesday. AP REPORT,PAGE10 US President Donald Trump at the White House. AP cals,withmedicinetariffspotentially reaching 200 per cent. However, he said drugmakers would be given about a year “to get their act together”. “We are going to give people about a year, a year and a half to come in and, after that, they are going to be tariffed,” he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Reiterating his threat of a 10 per cent tariff on BRICS, Trump said the bloc was “not a serious grouping” but acknowledged that it is challenging the US dollar. “It’s alright if you want to challengethedollar.Buttheywill have to pay the tariffs. I don’t think they want that,” he said. “If they have to bring the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FATF: Online sites used for terror attacks in Pulwama, Gorakhnath Watchdog says ‘delegations reported state sponsorship for terror financing’ AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, JULY 8 CITING THE use of online paymentservices,virtualprivatenetworks (VPNs) and e-commerce platforms in the terror attacks in Pulwama in February 2019 and Gorakhnath Temple in April 2022, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in a report released Tuesday, said digital platforms such as social media, messaging applications and crowdfunding sites are increasingly being abused for terror financing. The FATF report, without naminganycountry,notedithad received reports from its delegationsabouttheuseof statesponsorshipforterroristfinancing(TF), eitherasfundraisingtechniqueor as part of the financial management strategy of certain organisationsengaginginterroristacts. A variety of publicly available sources of information and delegations’ inputs to the report CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D 09/07/2025 ThePak ● fingerprint INDIAN AGENCIES established the role of Pakistanbased terror outfit Jaish-eMohammed in the Pulwama attack. In May this year, the Indian armed forces said an estimated 100 terrorists were killed on the first day of Op Sindoor when India struck nine terror hubs in PoK and Pakistan. US student visas for Indians lowest since Covid in March-May F-1 VISAS ISSUED TO INDIANS 2021* 2022 March 1,102 1,476 736 640 397 April 1,876 2,368 10,589 1,009 2,525 May 503 7,050 3,662 11,829 6,984 Total 3,481 10,894 14,987 13,478 9,906 *Pandemic year ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, JULY 8 THE US student visa season is off to a slow start for Indians, with the number of F-1 visas issued from March to May falling to the lowest level for these months since the pandemic, recording a 27% drop compared to the corresponding period last year, ac- 2025 cording to the latest available data from the US State Department. The months from March to July typically mark a busy visa season for students preparing to begin their studies in the Fall semester (August/ September). From March to May this year, Indian students were issued 9,906 F-1 (academic) visas – CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Carnac bridge renamed after Op Sindoor, to be reopened tomorrow NAYONIKA BOSE ANURADHA MASCARENHAS MUMBAI, JULY 8 PUNE, JULY 8 Vijay Soni completed 64-km cross-country flight in 2000. endadaybeforetheeventbegan. His family is now waiting for his body to be brought back. Soni,whobeganhisparagliding journey in 1996, was an instructor at Harley India Para School and later started his own school, Orangelife, at Kamshet near Lonavala, where he trained hundreds of students, including those from the Indian armed CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK TN: 3 CHILDREN DIE AS TRAIN HITS VAN AT CROSSING YEMEN TO EXECUTE NURSE NIMISHA PRIYA ON JULY 16 P 11 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2024 Source: US State Department monthly reports Paraglider from Pune dies during practice session in Macedonia INTHEcountry’sparaglidingcircuit, Vijay Soni was as good as they come. The Pune resident completed a 64-km cross-country flight back in 2000 that ignited national interest in the sport. He represented India in over 40 international competitions, including 10 prestigious category 1 events of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) — a feat no other Indian pilot had achieved. Soni(53)passedawayonJuly 5 following a mishap in North Macedonia. His family was told thathemetwithanaccidentduring a practice session. Soni had travelledtheretorepresentIndia at the Flymaster Open paragliding competition, but he met his 2023 MNS members take out a counter rally against traders’ protest in Mumbai on Tuesday. Sankhadeep Banerjee MNS, Sena (UBT) hit Mumbai streets on Marathi issue, BJP & Sena try to firefight EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, JULY 8 THE PROTESTS over Marathi blewupinMaharashtraTuesday as political workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Shiv Sena (UBT), and activists of the Marathi Ekikaran Samiti, hit the streets in Thane. As the ruling coalition of the BJP and Shiv Sena tried to contain the damage, Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik came to join the protest, but was turned away. Theprotesthadbeencalledin responsetoabandhorganisedby local shopkeepers in Thane on July 3 over the assault on one of theminMira-BhayandarbyMNS supporters,whodemandedthat he speak in Marathi. Policehadwarnedagainstthe MNS-Sena (UBT) protest, citing law and order.Anticipatingtrouble, on the night of MondayTuesday, they detained several MNSleaders,includingitsThane districtpresident,AvinashJadhav. On Tuesday, hundreds of MNS and Sena (UBT) workers poured onto the streets. As news of the detention of MNS leaders spread, more supporters joined them, crowding Mira Road and saying they would not leave until Jadhav was released. MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande was heard taunting the business community:“Youaretraders,remain traders. Don’t interfere in politics or insult Marathi.” MNSleaderNitinSardesaiand the Sena (UBT)’s Rajan Vichare also asserted that “the insult of Marathi” would not be tolerated. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE BRIHANMUMBAI Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to reopen the new Carnac bridgeonThursdayafterrechristening it as “Sindoor bridge”, in honour of Operation Sindoor — the military operation launched against terror sites in Pakistan. AseniorBMCofficialtoldThe Indian Express Tuesday that the proposal to rename the bridge was put forth by Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narvekar. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is set to inaugurate the bridgeat10amonThursdayand the inauguration ceremony will also beattendedbyDeputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, and Narvekar. A key east-west connector linking Masjid in south Mumbai with P D Mello Road, the 154year-old bridge was razed in a four-dayoperationin2022,after a structural audit deemed it unfit for use. It was following this thattheBMC,alongwiththerailways, launched the reconstruction of the British-era bridge at a costof overRs60croreoveraperiod of three years. While the civic body had completed works on the bridge and load testing by June 13, its CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Off Andhra coast, a duel with a giant fish, and a missing 28-year-old PAGE 1 ANCHOR NIKHILA HENRY HYDERABAD, JULY 8 YERRAYA C was no Santiago. For one, he was only 28, his years stretchingoutliketheendlessexpanse of sea he ventured into everydayashesetoutfishing.But like Santiago, the ageing protagonist of the Ernest Hemingway classic, The Old Man and the Sea, one day, the young fisherman met his marlin. At the end of a gruelling battle, the marlin dragged Yerraya into the waters. He has been missing since then. Marlinsareoneof thefiercest predatory fish species, with black marlins, the one Yerraya encountered,consideredamong the fastest. That day, July 3, Yerraya, his younger brother C Koralaya, 26, and two others, had set out in their fishing boat from Pudimadaka village in Anakapalli district of Andhra Pradesh. “We set sail around 2 am. By around 9 am, a Kommu Konam (Telugu for marlin) got caughtinthenet.Itwasbig,must have weighed about 200 kg,” says Koralaya. While the others suggested that they cut the net, Yerraya insisted that they will be able to haul in the fish. “After all, he has been fishing since he was 7. He was a big, strong man, so he kept fighting with the fish,” Koralaya says of his elder brother. The marlin splashed and pulled at the net from the other end, with Yerraya trying hard to draw the line. But his legs got caught in the net and the fish dragged him into the waters. His fellow fishermen tried rescuing Yerraya. One of them, V Yellaji, swam after Yerraya for about30minutes.“Hekeptlooking for Yerraya under the waters, Yerraya went missing off the Anakapalli coast in Andhra Pradesh on July 3 but couldn’t find him,” says Koralaya. On July 4, the Anakapalli police lodged a missing person’s complaint after the Coast Guard searched for an entire day. “The search operation by the Coast Guard was launched after the fishermen could not find Yerraya. We suspect no foul play intheincident.Itwasanaccident as per our investigation,” said N Ganesh, Inspector of Atchutapuram police station. “Asperthestatementgivenby co-fishermen,it’samarlinattack. The Coast Guard too indicated that it is a Marlin attack,” said P Vijaya, District Fisheries Officer. “It has been six days and there’s no news of him,” says C Devi, Yerraya’s elder sister. Marlin attacks are not uncommon along Andhra Pradesh’s northern coast with the fish, weighing 80-200 kg, sometimes getting caught in the nets of unsuspecting fishermen. In February 2022, fisherman Molli Joganna was impaled by a marlin along the Anakapalli coast. As Joganna tried hauling in the catch, the marlin, which had broken free, pierced his stomach with its long, sharp snout. Joganna’s body was retrievedfrom the sea. “Atleast his body was found. My brother is missing,” says Devi. Yerraya family and the other villagersinPudimadakasaythey arenotsurprisedhevolunteered to haul in the marlin. “He loved the sea. He started accompanyingourfathertotheseawhenhe was seven,” says Bhavani, Yerraya’s younger sister. Marlins, if netted well, are a bonus for the fishermen as the meaty fish sells for Rs 1,000 a kg, almost as much as seerfish. But the fish is also hunted for sport. “It is considered an adventure to net a marlin and bring it to the shore. Yerraya would always be the first to take on a challenge. No wonder he tried pulling the marlin into the boat,” says Devi. Venkata Ramana, sarpanch of Pudimadakavillageandafishermanhimself,says,“Fromwhat the other fishermentold me, the line got heavy but Yerraya was adamant that he could pull the line and catch the fish, however big it may have been. But then thingswentoutof control.Tonet amarlinisconsidered aonce-ina-lifetime opportunity.” According to the AP Traditional Fisher Workers Union, between 2015 and 2025, around 200 fishermen have gone missing in the sea during deep-water fishing. “There are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2