Iran says 2,000-km missile range limit off Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Saturday it has lifted a self-imposed limit of 2,000 km on the range of its ballistic missiles. While it is not clear whether Iran possesses missiles capable of exceeding 2,000km limit, US officials say technology from its space programme can be repurposed to build such intercontinental ballistic missiles | P11 kozhikode l sunday l november 08, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l city EDITION 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 IAF touches new heights with heavy lifter J a v a r i a R a n a @ New Delhi In the highest-ever landing by an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft anywhere in the world, an Indian Air Force (IAF) IL-76MD, nicknamed ‘Gajraj’, has touched down at the 13,629 feet Mudh-Nyoma airbase in eastern Ladakh. Nyoma lies around 25 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. With the landing, the IAF has shown it can now take the Russian-origin heavylift transport aircraft almost to the frontline, in a boost for India’s strategic airlift capability . Announcing the landing on Saturday, the IAF hailed it as “a new height in aviation history” and “a milestone that reinforces I n d i a ’s s t r at e g i c a i rl i f t capability”. Strategic airlift is the ability to move troops, tanks, artillery and supplies in bulk over long distances. It was put to the test after the 2020 standoff in eastern Ladakh, when the IAF flew in over 68,000 soldiers, around 90 tanks and 330 BMP infantry combat vehicles. “An Indian Air Force IL-76MD has scripted history with a successful landing at Nyoma, marking the highest-altitude landing ever achieved by the aircraft anywhere in the world,” the IAF said on social media. The landing also comes amid An Indian Air Force IL-76MD transport aircraft lands at Ladakh’s Nyoma airfield | PTI continuing friction along the 3,488-km LAC. Patrolling has resumed in Ladakh, but the temporary buffer zones at Galwan, Gogra-Hot Springs and Pangong Tso still cover areas Indian troops historically patrolled. The four-engine Gajraj can carry about 45 tonnes and has been airlifting T-72 tanks and BMP-2 vehicles to Ladakh since the early 1990s. But Nyoma’s earlier mud strip could handle only smaller aircraft like the C-130J and AN-32, as well as helicopters. At over 4,000 metres, the thin air saps engine power and wing lift, so aircraft land faster and need longer runways. The decision to upgrade it into a fullfledged airbase came after the 2020 military confrontation with China. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) built a 2.7-km runway under the `218-crore project, and the base was operationalised last November. Nyoma is now the IAF’s fourth airbase in Ladakh, after Leh, Thoise and Kargil. South fuels ethanol war on Centre Cong alleges ethanol blending surpasses prescribed limits, Keralam orders tests P r e e t h a n a i r @ New Delhi Jantar mantar @ Kochi Cockroach Janta Party leader Abhijeet Dipke addressing the ‘Jantar Mantar @ Kochi’ rally at Rajendra Maidan, Kochi, on Saturday. The key demands raised at the rally included the resignation and prosecution of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and withdrawal of SIR. Dipke said the fight would continue until an independent electoral system was established in the country | T P sooraj | P6 Neighbour shoots tech firm COO dead over Faridabad parking row WITH THIS ISSUE The Rise, Fall, And Rise of Rahul Gandhi PLUS 12 P AGES e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Faridabad A senior executive of a private firm in Singapore was shot dead by his neighbour over a parking dispute in Faridabad. The accused fired around 12 to 15 rounds at Paramjith Dhankhar, who had returned to India to celebrate Diwali, with his licensed pistol late on Friday night. Dhankhar was chief operating officer of FPT Asia Pacific in Singapore. Police arrested the ac- cused, identified as Monu Sharma, a resident of Sector-21C in Faridabad. Police said Dhankhar’s family lived on the first floor of a building in Sector 21C, while the accused lived on the third floor of the same building. Police said the dispute between the two neighbours was old, and most recently they had a dispute over the , broken gate of their parking area, apart from a tiff on a dog defecating in the parking lot and over parking of vehicles. Use of 3rd party lab questioned THE Centre on Saturday rubbished allegations of excess ethanol blending in petrol, stating that all 893 samples tested across 27 states and Union Territories met prescribed standards. This comes even as Keralam ordered inspections of fuel outlets and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded disclosure of actual ethanol content in petrol sold across the country . Keralam’s decision followed Karnataka government’s allegation that petrol supplied by major oil marketing companies contained ethanol above the prescribed limit, with tests recording levels as high as 31.2 per cent. Countering the allegation, the Petroleum Ministry said tests by Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan The oil companies questioned certificates issued by a third-party laboratory in Karnataka, saying they didn’t specify the standard test method Petroleum found all 893 samples within the permissible 19–21 per cent range under the Bureau of Indian Standards’ IS 17021 specification. These included 56 samples collected across Karnataka from outlets of the three companies. Keralam said it ordered the inspections as a precaution following Karnataka’s allegations, though no instance of excess ethanol blending had been detected in the state so far. Rahul, meanwhile, cited Karnataka’s findings to question the Centre’s assurances. “Look at the results,” he said, citing readings of 31.2 per cent at an IOC outlet and 30.5 per cent at an HPCL outlet. He alleged that samples from outlets of IOC, HPCL, BPCL, Nayara and Shell had exceeded the limit. The three public sector oil companies, however, challenged the sampling and testing procedures adopted during Karnataka’s October exercise. They said the findings could not be independently validated without technical details and compliance with prescribed procedures. The October exercise was conducted without their representatives, they said. Despite requests through the coordinator, they said they had not received retention samples, outlet details or laboratory reports.