DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES BY UNNY INSIDE DEAL WORK IN PROGRESS 50%tariffon copper,pharma mayinviteupto 200%:Trump US isIndia’slargestmarketforpharma; Indiaisits3rdbiggestcopperexporter AGGAM WALIA & RAVI DUTTA MISHRA MNS-SENA (UBT) HIT MUMBAI STREETS ON MARATHI ISSUE YEMEN TO EXECUTE NURSE NIMISHA PRIYA ON JULY 16 PAGES 6, 13 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 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 STATE VISIT TO BRAZIL NEW DELHI, JULY 8 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,PAGE6 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 Why even this village Mukhiya worries she may not be able to vote Along Nepal-Bihar border, lines have blurred; now EC drive casts a shadow 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 Nitish move in counting season: 35% women job quota only for domiciles The Nitish govthad rolledout thequotain January2016 SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JULY 8 The India-Nepal border in Sursand, Sitamarhi. The border pillars show India on one side, Nepal on the other. Damini Nath DAMINI NATH MADHUBANI, SITAMARHI, JULY 8 FOUR YEARS ago, the 34-yearold was elected the mukhiya of hervillageinMadhubanidistrict. Now, amidst the confusion stirredupbytheongoingSpecial Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, a question mark hands over her status — as it does over hundreds of others originally from Nepal who, for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHAT WILL NOT COUNTINBIHAR AN EXPRESS SERIES PART 6 INAdeparturefromtheBihargovernment's policy of not requiring domicile status for state government jobs, the Nitish Kumar CabinetonTuesdayapprovedthe applicationofthedomicilerulefor theexisting35%quotaforwomen in all government jobs. Thismeansthatwomenwho arenotresidentsof Biharwillnot be eligible for government jobs. In the past, the government faced criticism for not applying the domicile criteria during the mass recruitment of teachers. This is the first instance in recent timesthattheBihargovernment has applied the domicile policy. “A woman who is a resident of Biharalonewillnowbeableto avail the existing 35% quota in jobs,” state Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet) S Siddharth told reporters after the Cabinet CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Off Andhra coast, a duel with a giant fish, and a missing 28-yr-old fisherman PAGE 1 ANCHOR NIKHILA HENRY HYDERABAD, JULY 8 YERRAYA C was no Santiago. For one, he was only 28, his years stretching out like the endless expanse of sea he ventured into every day as he set out fishing. ButlikeSantiago,theageingprotagonist 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 Yerraya went missing off the Anakapalli coast in Andhra Pradesh on July 3 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 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 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 BUSINESS AS USUAL `7.00 (`8 RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 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 2023 2024 2025 Source: US State Department monthly reports 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- 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