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 ■ ■ chennai l saturday l october 10, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l late city EDITION Navi Pillay Peace Nobel Pillay held Israel guilty of Gaza genocide a g e n c i e s @ Oslo NAVI Pillay, a South Africanborn jurist and former UN human rights chief, of Tamil descent, whose career has spanned from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday . Her win is sure to be seen as a high-profile rebuke to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have both rejected the findings of the UN commission she led on Gaza. The leaders also have been highly critical of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Pillay 85, has worked at , both courts. Pillay chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created by the UN-backed Human Rights Council. Hours after the award was announced in Norway the , Donald Trump administration imposed sweeping new sanctions on the ICC. Gaza was among Pillay’s first comments after hearing she had won. “What’s happening there is genocide,” she said in Germany . Russian fuel gets a new buyer in Donald Trump J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Under pressure from runaway fuel prices ahead of the midterms, US President Donald Trump on Friday did a surprise about turn: he said he will buy diesel from, of all places, Russia. He made the announcement after talks with his Russian counter par t Vladimir Putin. The stunner came against the backdrop of a US law seeking to impose steep tariffs against top purchasers of Russian oil and gas. “I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Die- sel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace,” he said on social media. India pushback Earlier in the day India termed , US Vice-President J D Vance’s remarks on foreign workers “unwarranted” and “deeply offensive”, asserting that Indian professionals make significant contributions to the American economy, innovation and job creation. New Delhi also said the US decision to suspend Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) applications for certain companies does not advance the shared ambitions of the two nations. Curbs off till Apr 7: Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the US administration lifted sanctions on the sale of Russia diesel till April 7, 2027 “Talent mobility is of tremendous mutual benefit for the two countries and our expectation is that all stakeholders in this process can appreciate this fact,” the MEA said. “The steps announced by the US do not advance the shared ambitions of both countries.” The response came after the US suspended new PERM applications and halted the processing of pending applications for eight companies, including Microsoft, Adobe and Capgemini, as well as Indian IT firms Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL. The move is part of the wider US push to tighten employment-based immigration, with officials arguing that companies should prioritise American workers. Vance accused Microsoft of using the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and his cabinet colleagues rejoice after TVK’s victory in Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls on Friday | x Vijay aces bypoll test TVK flips 2 AIADMK seats, DMK comes 2nd E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e s @ Chennai/Tiruppur Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s TVK consolidated its position in the Tamil Nadu Assembly by winning the bypolls to Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies on Friday The victory elevates the ruling party’s strength in . the 234-member House to 109, just nine members short of an independent and absolute majority . The CM’s last-minute roadshows appear to have paid off, despite the AIADMK labelling the defectors “traitors” and the DMK levelling horse-trading allegations against the former MLAs following their switch to the TVK. Despite losing most of its alliance partners to the ruling TVK, the opposition DMK managed to secure second position in both constituencies. But the AIADMK — which originally won these seats in the April election — was relegated to a distant third place in both the seats. Meanwhile, both the NTK and the Left parties, who contested independently lost their deposits. , In Dharapuram, P Sathyabama won the bye-election by polling 66,841 votes and defeated her nearest DMK rival S Suganya by a margin of 9,471 votes. AIADMK’s K Banumathi got 45,280 votes. NTK’s M Karthika secured 5,268 and CPI’s P Lakshmanan got 1,157 votes. In Madurantakam, TVK candidate K Maragatham Kumaravel polled 74,048 votes and trounced DMK’s I Paranthamen (54,008) by a margin of 20,040 votes. AIADMK’s S Kanitha Sampath (47,450), NTK’s G Janakiraman (2,709) and CPM’s P Suganthi (1,986) secured the next three spots. P9  AINRC wins Thattanchavady: P6 E x p re s s R e a d Rahul Gandhi to meet Vijay in Chennai today Chennai: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will arrive in Chennai at 12.30 pm on Saturday and will have a lunch meet with CM C Joseph Vijay at his residence in Neelankarai. He will later take part in the ‘Maanavargalin Kural’ programme at Island Grounds | P6 State gets new home secretary, DVAC director Chennai: Senior IAS officer A Karthik on Friday replaced K Manivasan as the new TN Home Secretary, and Rajesh Lakhoni has been brought back to head the TNPDCL. Senior IPS officer Prem Anand Sinha has been appointed as the DVAC director | P6 BJP in wins bypolls west bengal, assam BJP won in Bengal’s Rejinagar and Nandigram, and Assam’s Nagaon| P12 INDIA bloc meets Prez, says she sought evidence on charges of ‘vote theft’ Total shutdowm in Delhi for CJP protest P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi After meeting with President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, INDIA bloc leaders on Friday said the President neither denie d t h e opposition’s allegations nor questioned them, but asked the delegation to provide evidence of “vote theft”. A 10-member delegation, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress presi- Prez Murmu with Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Kharge, TMC’s Mamata and CPI’s D Raja on Friday | PTI dent Mallikarjun Kharge, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and CPM general secretary M A Baby, met the President in the Ahead of Saturday’s CJP march, Delhi Police and central agencies imposed a total clampdown on the capital with over 25,000 police and paramilitary personnel deployed. Additional CCTV cameras were installed at key locations and 57 Delhi Metro stations were closed. Railway said 38 trains, scheduled to arrive at New Delhi and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations between 4 am and 2 pm, had been cancelled | P11 evening and submitted a memorandum. The demands in the memorandum included the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a return to ballot papers for polls and the repeal of the 2023 law that provides life-long immunity to the CEC and Election Commissioners. Other demands included suspension of the SIR and restoration of all 13.30 crore voters “illegally” deleted from electoral rolls. It urged the repeal of all Assembly polls in the last two years, in which conclusive evidence of ‘vote chori; has been presented. Speaking to reporters after the hour-long meeting, Rahul termed it an “unbelievable meeting”. “I was shocked and stunned that the President of India accepted what we said,” he said, adding the opposition will provide the evidence when the President is ready to accept it. He said INDIA bloc would approach the Supreme Court on Monday to meet the Chief Justice and hand over a memorandum. According to sources, Rahul’s claims suggesting Murmu accepted assertions of ‘vote theft’ are incorrect.