The week in five charts

(1) Supreme Court gives verdict on Tamil Nadu Governor withholding assent to Bills

The Supreme Court in a two-judge bench verdict approved 10 Bills for which the Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi had withheld assent and fixed a 90-day maximum time period within which the Governor must take action on Bills sent to him by the State Assembly that he disagreed with.

The flowchart below shows the process of enacting a Bill into law and the Governor’s role in it.

Chief Minsiter M.K. Stalin, along with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder Dr. S. Ramadoss hailed the verdict delivered last Tuesday (April 8, 2025) as a win for State governments. The verdict comes after a series of disagreements between the State government and the Governor over the past couple years on various Bills.

(2) U.S. auto tariffs come into effect and other tariff-related updates

Canada said 25% tariffs on U.S. auto imports will come into effect on April 9 following U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on automobile parts imports effective from April 3. Canada’s tariffs are part of the ongoing trade adjustments made by American trade partners in response to Mr. Trump’s tariff changes.

Besides Canada, America’s principal trade partners for automobiles include Mexico, China, Japan, Korea and Germany.

The intention behind imposing tariffs is to spur domestic manufacturing in the automotive industry. However, the current supply chain involves a network of countries from where different components are sourced before the final vehicle is sent for sale in the U.S.

This means an increase in costs for U.S. automakers as they import auto parts from various countries. A study by Center for Automotive Research found that costs will increase by $108 billion, according to Reuters. Large automakers in the American city Detroit – like Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis – will face a cost increase of $42 billion.

Asian shares sank Friday (April 11, 2025) after U.S. stocks reversed much of their historic gains from the day before.

The deepening worries over U.S. President Donald Trump’ s trade war initially helped pull Japan’s Nikkei 225 share index down 5.6%.

By mid-morning in Tokyo, it was down 4.7% at 32,969.95. The yen surged against the U.S. dollar, which also lost value against the euro. One dollar bought 143.48 Japanese yen, down from about 146 yen a day earlier. The euro rose to $1.1305 from $1.1195. China announced more countermeasures against the United States and losses for U.S. stocks accelerated after the White House clarified that the United States will tax Chinese imports at 145%, not the 125% rate that Mr. Trump had written about in his posting on Truth Social on Wednesday, once other previously announced tariffs were included.

Mr. Trump’s escalating trade war with the world’s No. 2 economy, China, has fuelled fears of recession and further retaliation, and foreign leaders are trying to work out how to respond to the tariffs.

(3) U.S. and Iran meets for a nuclear deal

The U.S and Iran met in Muscat to discuss a nuclear deal on the back of U.S. fears that Iran’s nuclear enrichment would lead to use of nuclear weapons.

While Iran has said that it has no plans of developing a nuclear bomb, its restrictions to surveillance by the International Atomic Energy Agency, reports of increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium and the shrinking time required to manufacture nuclear warheads are all American concerns.

According to Reuters, Iran has five key facilities for uranium enrichment, nuclear research and building centrifuges for enrichment.

The U.S.-Iran talks come after a series of events since 1957 when both countries signed the first nuclear cooperation deal. Here is a timeline.

(4) 2008 Mumbai attack accused Tahawwur Rana is back in India after 17 years

Mumbai terror attack case accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana was successfully brought back to India from the US on Thursday (April 10, 2025). He landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 6.30 pm and later produced in NIA Special Court at Patiala House.

A key accused in the 26/11 attacks, Rana departed from the US on a special flight on Wednesday (April 9, 2025), after his last-ditch attempt to evade extradition failed. He was brought back by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The court on Friday (April 11, 2025) sent Rana to 18-day NIA custody, following which he was brought from Patiala House courts complex to the NIA headquarters in a heavily-secured motorcade comprising Delhi Police’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and other security personnel.

The 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman, was a close associate of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks main conspirator David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, a U.S. citizen.

Rana is accused of conspiring with Headley and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the three-day terror siege of India’s financial capital.

(5) Karnataka 2nd PUC results 2025 announced, pass percentage sees a dip compared to last year

The results of the 2nd PUC exam-1 for 2024-25 were announced on April 8. The overall pass percentage is pegged at 69.16%, as against 81.15% last year. For exam-1, a total of 6,37,805 students had appeared of which 4,68,439 managed to clear the exams.

Due to several examination reforms, including installation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled CCTV cameras in the examination hall to check malpractices and webcasting of the entire process, the results seem to have dipped by 11.99% compared to the previous year.