bhubaneswar l Thursday l November 05, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l jeypore EDITION Kohli in cruise control as India take 1-0 lead against Black caps Kamboj puts behind debut blues While Virat Kohli stole the show with a sublime fifty, Anshul Kamboj, with just two wickets, broke the match for India during the middle-overs. Arshdep Singh (4/70) and Gurnoor Brar (3/44) led the charts, but Kamboj, after a forgettable debut vs West Indies, stole the show with a mesmerising spell of 2/22 in 10 overs as NZ were all out for 185 Virat Kohli turned back clock, rising to the occasion in a rain-affected encounter to help visitors beat New Zealand. A look... vintage virat in full flow at eden park ■ ■ On an Auckland pitch that had lot of assistance for pacers, Kohli made a mockery of the hosts as he cruised to 51-ball 74, making it look like he was batting on a different surface Despite not having any game-time since the WI series, Kohli smashed 13 fours and a six in his stroke-filled knock | P11 80 It was Kohli’s 80th half-century in the odi format 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 Iran exempts Indian vessels from Hormuz transit curbs J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Iran has exempted merchant vessels from India, China, Iraq and Qatar from restrictions on transit through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, with the move aimed at facilitating medicine imports from India, a senior Iranian lawmaker has said. Amir Hayat-Moghaddam, deputy chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said ships from the four countries were allowed to pass freely through the waterway and were not being intercepted by the United States. “We have currently exempted India, China, Iraq and Qatar from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz. Ships from these countries pass freely and , the Americans do not intercept them either,” Hayat-Moghaddam told the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) in an interview on Tuesday . Explaining the rationale behind the exemptions, HayatMoghaddam said Iran was facilitating the passage of Indian vessels to enable the procurement of medicines from India. The exemption for Chinese ships, meanwhile, was intended to secure Beijing’s political support, he indicated. There was no immediate reaction from the Ministry of External Affairs or Iran’s Foreign Minister. But Tehran seems to be using selective exemptions from transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz to advance its diplomatic and economic interests amid tensions over the strategic shipping route and fresh threats from Donald Trump. express read Poll bar on people with over two kids irrelevant, says SC IN a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the poll disqualification of a former sarpanch for having more than two children, noting that laws prescribing such penalties have lost all relevance in modern India. The court also referred the SC’s 2003 precedent-setting judgment on such laws to a larger bench. Mangala Bhimrao, former sarpanch at the Kakoda Gram Panchayat, was disqualified under Section 14(1)(j-1) of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act, 1959, following the birth of her third child | P5 MID-TERM ELECTIONS Senate 54 House of Representatives 7 Democrats 7 50 44 Republicans Not up for election 228 25 218 to win Democrats 25 139 Republicans Trump loses U.S. grip Democrats wrest control of both Senate and House of Representatives in mid- term polls A G E N CI E S @ Washington IN a major political setback to US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, the opposition Democratic Party swept the mid-term elections by winning a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate and flipping key gubernatorial posts. Of the 470 Congressional seats for which elections were held on November 3, the Democrats won 282, according to the Associated Press race call. The Dems crossed the halfway mark of 218 in the 435-seat House with 228 seats, pushing the Republicans to 139, with 68 seats yet to be called. In the outgoing House, the Republicans had a slim margin of 220-215. In the 100-seat Senate—of which 35 went to polls—the Democrats now have a comfortable majority with 54 seats, while the Republicans have been reduced to 44. Republicans had a 53-47 majority in the out- First Muslim Senator has India connection Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and his wife, Dr Sarah Jukaku, take the stage after he declares victory; and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman (R) dances with supporters at an election night event Wednesday | afp/ap going Senate. With an upper hand in Congress, the Democrats have effectively ended the Republicans’ hold on Washington and opened the window to block Trump’s legislative agenda and launch Congressional investigations over the remaining two years of his presidential term. The results are believed to indicate voters’ frustration with Trump’s policies, including the war on Iran, which contributed to rising living costs. Trump conceded defeat and congratulated the Democrats, saying he was ready to work with them. However, he refused to take responsibility for the debacle. In a social media post, he claimed the outcome would have been different had he been running. “I wasn’t on the ballot, and there was nothing that could be done about that. If I 76-year-old woman killed at home during robbery, caretaker suspect The Budddha Nagar house where the elderly woman was found murdered on Wednesday | Express A s i s h M e h ta @ Bhubaneswar In a gruesome incident, a 76-year-old woman living alone in the Buddha Nagar area of the city was allegedly murdered during a robbery bid in her house late on Tuesday night. The victim, Kunjalata Nanda, suffered grievous head injuries after apparently being hit with a blunt object. She was the wife of Hadibandhu Nanda, a retired divisional forest officer who passed away about six months ago. Police suspect the victim’s caretaker could be behind the brutal killing. A manhunt has been launched. The couple’s elder son, Sambeet, lives in the US, while their younger son, Asheet, is based in Mumbai. Their daughter is married and lives with her husband in the city . Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh and Bhubaneswar DCP Saravana Vivek M visited Nanda’s house to take stock of the investigation. Initial investigation revealed that Nanda’s family had engaged a 58-year-old man, identified as Balabhadra Maharana, as her caretaker about five months ago. Maharana is a native of Tangi. Nanda had rented out the ground floor of the house and lived on the first floor. Maharana was provided with a room on the terrace of the two-storey building in Buddha Nagar, under Laxmisagar police limits. It was Nanda’s cook who alerted the police. She arrived at the house only to find the iron grill locked from inside. When neither Nanda nor Maharana responded to her calls, she alerted the police. Police reached the spot and recovered Nanda’s body with her hands tied. Injuries on her head suggested that she had possibly been hit with a blunt object. Some marks were also noticed on her neck. Postmortem report will establish whether she was strangulated as well, police said. Police found that Maharana had stolen the victim’s gold chain, earrings and ring, besides cash worth lakhs of rupees. He had also opened an almirah in an attempt to steal valuables but apparently failed to find anything. Police found articles scattered around the almirah. “We believe the suspect was aware that CCTV cameras were installed inside the house and disconnected them before committing the crime. The victim’s elder son used to access the CCTV footage on his mobile phone,” said an officer. Maharana also allegedly stole the family’s scooter to escape. Footage from a CCTV camera installed near the house showed him fleeing at around 2 am. “We strongly suspect the domestic help is behind the crime and efforts are being made to nab him,” said Saravana. AP shifts Kotia polling booth after Odisha protests, situation tense E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Jeypore The Andhra Pradesh administration on Wednesday decided to shift the polling booth proposed at Neredivalsa in the disputed Kotia region to Sarika village on its side of the border, in a move aimed at defusing tension as Koraput administration put up a strong protest. The decision followed discussions with officials of the Koraput district administration, a day before Andhra Pradesh is scheduled to hold panchayat elections in the disputed villages. Tension, however, persisted in Kotia amid heightened election-related activity prompting the Koraput administra, tion to step up security and intensify outreach programmes in the border villages. Eight platoons of police per- sonnel were deployed in different villages to prevent any untoward incident and maintain law and order. As part of the outreach efforts, health camps and public service camps were organised in several villages of the Kotia panchayat by the Koraput administration. A large number of villagers attended the camps and availed themselves of healthcare facilities and various government services. Political activity also intensified after leaders and workers of various political parties from Koraput district visited the region. Koraput MLA Raghuram Machha, Kotpad MLA Rupu Bhatra, Pottangi MLA Ramchandra Kadam and former MP Pradeep Majhi, accompanied by local residents, visited the Neredivalsa border post, where people from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh had gathered. The gathering at the border also triggered tension in the area, with the situation remaining sensitive amid the growing face-off over Andhra Pradesh’s election-related activities in the territory. In another development, Odisha Police shifted an Andhra Pradesh police post from Upper Sembi, officials said, as part of measures to address the emerging situation along the border. Koraput sub-collector Fabi Rasheed said the situation was under control and the administration was closely monitoring developments in the region. “The administration is keeping a close watch on the situation in Kotia. Adequate security arrangements have been made to maintain peace and law and order in the border villages,” she said. Progressive Democrat Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed (42), America’s first Muslim Senator, has an India connection. His wife, Dr Sarah Jukaku, a psychiatrist, has her roots in Karnataka’s Bhatkal. Abdul El-Sayed, of Egyptian descent, won against Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan | P7 was, we would have won,” he boasted on Truth Social. He also threatened to use his presidential veto power to strike down legislation passed by Congress. “I think they’re gonna want to work with me. Otherwise I’d just veto everything, and they’re not gonna want that,” he said. He later posted an image of a red cap bearing the word VETO on soP9, 10 cial media.  Early Diwali for Agniveers as def hire path opens J a v a r i a Rana @ New Delhi The Union Cabinet on Wednesday rewrote a key provision of the Agnipath scheme, giving two more years in uniform for 75% of personnel not retained after the initial four-year stint, along with another shot at becoming regular soldiers. It comes weeks before the first batch of Agniveers, who joined in 2022, is due to leave the armed forces after completing their four-year stint. The new “second engagement period” effectively creates a six-year pathway to regular military service for those willing to stay on and able to meet the selection criteria. The original provision for 25% of each batch to be absorbed on merit at the fouryear mark remains untouched. Announcing the decision, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General NS Raja Subramani said the scheme was “not set in stone” and would be reviewed periodically, adding that more tweaks could fol- Army personnel patrol along the Line of Control (LoC) in Akhnoor | PTI low. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dubbed it a ‘Second Tour of Duty’. To sweeten the deal, the second tour comes with higher pay and a bigger Seva Nidhi package. Agniveers, however, remain outside the pension and gratuity net. Those enrolled as regulars after six years will rank below the 25% of personnel absorbed at the four-year mark, the CDS said. The push came from the ar med forces themselves. They had increasingly questioned the logic of showing the door to soldiers just when they had become operationally useful.