U.S. court strikes down Trump’s 10% global tariffs A US trade court dealt a fresh blow to President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy on Friday, ruling that his new 10% global tariffs were unlawful. Trump had imposed the temporary 10% duty in February under a national emergency law, shortly after the Supreme Court struck down double-digit tariffs the president had levied in 2025 on most nations around the world. In a 2-1 ruling, the panel of judges at the US Court of International Trade found the “administration lacked the justification to enact the tariffs” | P11 mangaluru l saturday l may 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION 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 IUML backs out, VCK yet to confirm support Mamata’s nemesis elected BJP Legistature Party leader KC key contender for Kerala CM Left backs Vijay but Suvendu is the chosen one in WB TVK still 2 seats short s u v e n d u m a i t i @ Kolkata e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai Four days after the elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly resulted in a fractured mandate, the fledgling TVK, with its 108 seats, on Friday was still two seats short of the 118 MLAselect required for the party to form a government and its chief C Joseph Vijay to occupy the chief minister’s seat. For the third day in a row, Vijay called on Governor Rajendra Arlekar to stake his claim as the leader of the single largest party in the new House. From its 108 seats in the Assembly the TVK’s , strength will reduce to 107 once Vijay resigns from one of the two constituencies from which he was elected. The TVK’s postpoll alliance with the Congress (five seats) takes the tally up to 112. On Friday the CPI and CPM, , with two MLAs-elect each, offered their support to the TVK from the outside, bringing TVK’s strength up to 116, only two short of the magic figure. The bone of contention turned out to be the will-they, won’tthey dance of two DMK allies, the VCK and IUML. Lok Bhavan sources said during that Friday’s meeting, Vijay said both parties, with two MLAselect each, promised to support the TVK and that their letters would come in due course. The governor was said to be waiting for the letters to arrive. However, the IUML, by evening, clarified TVK founder-president Vijay meets Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar on Friday, and submits letters of support from MLAs-elect | Express that they remained with the DMK camp and would not be supporting the TVK. The VCK, which appeared to have all but sealed the deal with the TVK, did not send any letter of support by end of day VCK leaders visited . DMK chief M K Stalin at his house late on Friday night but sources maintained that VCK would announce its outside support to Assembly TVK on Saturday . elections In his 15-minute meeting with the governor, Vijay had showed his letters of support from the Left parties and explained that the VCK and IUML had promised support. He requested that the TVK be invited to form the next government. He was accompanied by senior TVK leaders N Anand, K A Sengottaiyan, and Aadhav Arjuna. Curiously , Venkat Narayanan, the producer of Vijay’s film Jana Nayagan, also accompanied the TVK functionaries. With the Lok Bhavan yet to respond to the TVK’s latest effort, the party has put off the swearing-in ceremony that was tentatively planned for May 9 as the governor had given them time only till May 10. At present, only the Congress has taken up the TVK’s offer of a share of power in the state government and is likely to receive a ministerial berth in the cabinet. S Rajeshkumar, who was elected leader of the legislative party for the Congress, would likely take office as minister in a Vijay cabinet, Congress sources said. Adding to the drama in a week with no shortage of it, a lawyer claiming to be a TVK member on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to the governor to invite the single largest political party to form the government.  P7 SENIOR BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, the giant-slayer who defeated TMC chief Mamata Banerjee for two consecutive terms, was unanimously elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party and the next chief minister of West Bengal on Friday . Adhikari and his council of ministers will be sworn in at a grand ceremony at the Brigade Parade Grounds on Saturday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, top ministers and some 20 chief ministers of BJP-ruled states. Shah, the BJP’s central observer for the elections, made the announcement of Suvendu’s election before the 207 newly elected MLAs at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre on Friday . “Eight proposals were given but all of them elected Suvendu Adhikari as the leader. No sec- Swearing-in ceremony expected on Monday Sources said a consensus is likely after the high command meets K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan, and Ramesh Chennithala. The final decision would be taken after internal deliberations among Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. An announcement is likely within a day or two and the swearing-in ceremony is expected to be held on Monday Union Home Minister Amit Shah with West Bengal CM-elect Suvendu Adhikari after his election as BJP Legislature Party chief on Friday in Kolkata | PTI ond proposal came. Therefore, I announce Suvendu Adhikari as the chief minister of West Bengal,” he said. “Suvendu has defeated Mamata-di at her home turf,” Shah added. Names of journalist Swapan Dasgupta and state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya had surfaced in the race, but Adhikari remained the frontrunner after the BJP’s landslide on May 4. Hours after his election, Adhikari proceeded to Lok Bhavan with MLAs’ letters of support staking his claim to form the government. Governor R N Ravi had dissolved the assembly on Thursday, clearing the path for the new administration. Adhikari will be Bengal’s ninth Chief Minister. The last time Bengal had a chief minister from its rural backyards and not from its capital in Kolkata was in 1971 when Ajoy Mukherjee, representing the Indian National Congress (Requisitionists), a breakaway faction led by Indira Gandhi after the Congress split in 1969, took charge for his third stint as the state’s CM. Adhikari quit Trinamool in 2020, joined the BJP and defeat, ed Mamata in Nandigram in 2021 and Bhabanipur in 2026. express read Oil firms took `30Kcr hit to hold fuel prices New Delhi: India’s state-run oil marketing companies have bled an estimated Rs 30,000 crore in losses since mid-March as they kept fuel and LPG supplies flowing without raising retail prices despite facing an energy disruption that is bigger than all previous crises combined. The firms have maintained uninterrupted supplies since the start of the West Asia conflict | P12 Kerala CM race shifts to Delhi PREE T H A N A IR & K S SREE J I T H @ New Delhi / T’Puram amid a three-way leadership contest within the Congress over Kerala’s next CM pick, the stakes are high for AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, according to sources familiar with the developments. Veteran leader Ramesh Chennithala and Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly V D Satheesan are the other two contenders. AICC-appointed observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik, who met the newly elected party MLAs, MPs, allies and senior leaders on Thursday, submitted their report to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday. A copy of the report was also sent to senior leader Rahul Gandhi. Sources indicated that Kharge and Rahul are likely to hold oneto-one meetings with each of the CM contenders. “Since one of the contenders, Venugopal, is currently serving as the AICC general secretary the final deci, sion will largely rest with Rahul,” high command sources said. The prospects of Venugopal emerging as the CM pick gained fresh momentum after a TNIE report, along with a photograph of the list of supporters in the possession of Wasnik, showed a considerable section of Congress MLAs endorsed him. P7