BHUBANESWAR l sunday l march 22, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late CITY EDITION Muslims gather to offer Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan at Don Bosco School, Broadway, Chennai on Saturday | P Ravikumar 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 Loaded message in Iran attack on Diego Garcia a gen c i e s @ London, Tehran, Tel Aviv WITH THIS ISSUE Two Tales of One City PLUS 12 P AGES Punjab min resigns after his name surfaces in suicide of govt official Punjab minister Laljit Singh Bhullar resigned from the state cabinet amid allegations of abetment of suicide of a state warehousing corporation official | P8 IRAN was “unsuccessful” in targeting the joint UK-US Indian Ocean military base at Diego Garcia, a UK official source confirmed to AFP on Saturday , after the Wall Street Journal reported that Tehran fired two ballistic missiles at it. Die go Garcia, which is around 4,000 kilometres from Iranian territory, is one of the two bases the UK has allowed the US to use in this war. The launch suggests that Tehran has missiles with longer ranges than previously thought. Iran has “always had missiles of that sort of range that we’ve known about, maybe not declared”, former UK Royal Navy commander and defence expert Tom Sharpe told AFP . The US military said on Saturday it had taken out an Iranian bunker housing weapons threatening oil and gas shipments in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s atomic energy body said US-Israeli strikes hit the Natanz nuclear facility, but “no leakage of radioactive materials” was reported. In response, an Iranian missile penetrated the Israeli air defence and hit targets in Dimona city Times of Israel said. , The Simon Peres nuclear facility lies just outside Dimona. The Revolutionary Guards said they “struck” an Israeli F-16 over Iran. Shortly after, Russian president Vladimir Putin said “Moscow remains Tehran’s loyal friend.” iraq Tehran Iran Saudi arabia The big picture Sending missiles to Diego Garcia, a strategic UK-US base in the Indian Ocean about 4,000 km away from Tehran, sent a loud message that Iran could even reach the US. This was the first time Iran fired missiles beyond 2,000 km range INDIA Cannon Point Peacekeeper Inn (PK) Sunset View Park Diego Garcia Nsf Point Marianne day 22 Commercial LPG supply The petroleum ministry on Saturday increased the allocation of commercial LPG by an additional 20% to states and UTs, taking the total allocation to 50%. The ministry said the enhanced allocation would support restaurants and hotel industry. indian ocean Diego Garcia Protect shipping routes, Modi urges Pezeshkian j aya nt h j a c o b @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stressed the urgency of protecting global shipping routes and critical infrastructure during a phone call with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian. In a post on X, Modi said, “Spoke with President Dr Masoud Pezeshkian ... condemned attacks on critical infrastructure in the region, reiterated importance of safeguarding freedom of navigation and ensuring that shipping lanes remain open and secure,” the post said. The PM said uninterrupted maritime movement is vital for global commerce. Fitness policy Shape up or ship out, Air India tells its cabin crew S l a l i t h a @ New Delhi Air India has given its cabin crew a shape up or ship out warning. Under its new ‘Cabin Crew Health and Fitness Compliance Policy’, cabin crew members who are found underweight, overweight, or obese could be derostered or even placed on loss of pay . Those who are obese will be given 30 days to shed weight or face further action. A BMI reading of 18 to 24.9 will be considered desirable. Those with BMI above 30 will be marked obese, bracketed as ‘Non Acceptable Range’. Crew members with a BMI of 18 or less will be considered underweight while those with a reading between 25 and 29.9 will be viewed as overweight. Crew members who are underweight and overweight will be derostered and sent for a complete medical evaluation and functional assessment test at the Air India Training Academy “If cleared, then . they will be allowed to fly. If not, they will be placed on loss of pay,” an aviation expert said. The action will be swift for those in the obese category “Obese crew . will be instantly grounded and placed on loss of pay Within seven . days, the crew must undergo certain medical tests including getting their glucose tolerance and lipid profile checked. They will be given 30 days to report back with an acceptable BMI,” the expert said. If after further follow-ups, they have not lost weight, then a letter of final warning will be issued. BJD suspends 6 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar The BJD on Saturday suspended six MLAs for defying the party whip and cross-voting in favour of BJP-supported Independent candidate Dilip Ray in the recent Rajya Sabha election. The decision was taken at the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting chaired by BJD president Naveen Patnaik. Senior leaders Debi Prasad Mishra, Pramila Mallick, Pranab Prakash Das, Sanjay Das Burma, Sudam Marndi and Tukuni Sahu were present. The suspended MLAs are Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishore Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol) and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki). An office order issued by the party president said that they were found involved in “anti-party activities”, including cross-voting, in violation of the BJD’s core principle of adhering to collective decisions. The action follows a detailed review of replies submitted by the legislators to the show cause notices issued to them.  Continued on P5