COIMBATORE l Thursday l November 05, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY 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 | P13 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 ayanth J aco 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. MID-TERM ELECTIONS Senate 54 House of Representatives 7 50 Democrats Not up for election 7 44 Republicans 228 25 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 C I 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 outpress Intake Top court stays HC order on Chidambaram temple administration | P5 Nine Kasimedu fishers missing after distress call during cyclone Murasu | P4 HC asks govt not to proceed with registration of 3,085 acres of temple land | P5 TN urges Nilekani panel to scrap NEET, entrance tests ing Agency . The state cited the resolution adopted by the Tamil Nadu The Tamil Nadu government Legislative Assembly on Auon Wednesday urged the cen- gust 11, 2026, seeking abolition tre’s examination-reform task of NEET for undergraduate force headed by Nandan Nile- medical admissions. The resokani to recommend lution, passed after scrapping of NEET CM asks for an the TVK-led governand other similar en- SC bench in TN ment assumed office, trance tests for medi- The CM has urged also urged the centre cal and higher educato bring education PM Modi to take tion courses, and steps to set up a back to the State List. admit students on the All parties except the Supreme Court basis of their Class 12 Bench in Chennai, BJP had supported marks. it. as litigants from The demand was Task force memthe south faced conveyed during the bers V Kamakoti, didifficulty in panel’s meeting with travelling to Delhi rector of IIT Madras; Chief Minister C to seek justice | P2 Anita Karwal, former Joseph Vijay at the Union Education SecSecretariat. The High-Powered retary; and Shankar MaruwaTask Force has been mandated da, chief executive officer of with recommending reforms in EkStep, attended the meeting. the conduct, security, design School Education Minister Raand governance of public ex- jmohan, Chief Secretary M Sai aminations, including those Kumar and senior government conducted by the National Test- officials were also present.  P5 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai 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 Poll bar on people with over two kids irrelevant, says SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi 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. The state law has imposed this restriction on candidates since September 2000. However, the bench of justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said the rationale for restricting democratic participation based on family size has crumbled due to demographic changes. In 2003, the SC had upheld the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act of 1994, validating the disqualification of local poll candidates with more than two children, in the Javed vs State of Haryana case. With the latest order finding it infructuous and sending the 2003 verdict for review to a larger bench, the court has opened the door to an overhaul of poll eligibility rules across local bodies. Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Narasimha said, “The foundation of such laws, that is the fear of overpopulation, has crumbled due to demographic changes... We have explained how, from 2003 after Javed vs State of Haryana upheld such laws, India’s total fertility rate has fallen from 3 to 1.9. A total rate of 2.1, known as the replacement rate, would allow one generation to completely replace itself... the total fertility rate falling below the replacement rate would soon result in a demographic transition to an older population, with a declining share of the working population.” In a rare tragedy, tiger run over by train in TN E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Tenkasi A male tiger aged between four and five years was fatally knocked down by the PalakkadThoothukudi Palaruvi Express train near Shengottai early on Wednesday The forest depart. ment has registered a forest offence case and launched a probe into the circumstances that led to the animal’s death. This could possibly be the first time a tiger has been run over by a train in the state 218 to win The tiger died on the tracks | Express The incident took place on the tracks between Bhagavathipuram and Poolankudiyiruppu. “As Kerala was just a km away from the spot in the Courtallam Forest Range, a team will visit the neighbouring state and examine CCTV footage to check if the wild cat arrived from there,” District Forest Officer (DFO) R Rajmohan said. According to the DFO, the forest personnel received information about the incident around 3.30 am. P5 Entered from Kerala? The wild cat was fatally knocked down by the PalakkadThoothukudi Palaruvi Express train near Shengottai. The tiger could have come from Kerala forest 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 | P9 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 social media.  P9, 11 Early Diwali for Agniveers as def hire path opens J avaria R ana @ 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.