BENGALURU l sunday l november 08, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 32 l late city EDITION Iran says 2,000-km missile range limit off after fresh U.S. attacks Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Saturday it has lifted a self-imposed limit of 2,000 kilometres on the range of its ballistic missiles U.S. Officials point to Iran’s space tech While it is not clear whether Iran currently possesses missiles capable of exceeding the 2,000 km limit, US officials say technology from its space programme can be repurposed to build such intercontinental ballistic missiles. Iran’s supreme leader had recently warned any fresh US attack would invite an Iranian response “without geographic limits” | P14 ■ 2017 Trump announces fresh attacks ■ A range of over 2,000 km would allow Iran to hit deep inside Europe. The announcement comes a day after President Donald Trump said the US military carried out new limited strikes on Iranian targets The fresh US attacks came as Trump named hardliner Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, after midterm losses when iran announced self-imposed missile range limit of 2,000 km 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 Political joust South fuels ethanol war on the Centre Cong alleges ethanol blending surpasses prescribed limits, Keralam orders tests P r e e t h a n a i r @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE The Rise, Fall, And Rise of Rahul Gandhi PLUS 12 P AGES 2 more bodies recovered in seven-member murder case Express News Service @Bengaluru The North division police with the help of neighbouring Tamil Nadu police recovered two more bodies from a dense forest in the Salem ghat section of Tamil Nadu, in the horrific murder of seven members of a family in the city . With the latest recovery, the bodies of three of the seven victims have been recovered. They have been identified as Sunitha (40), wife of prime accused Indushekhar (52) and his mother-in-law Rupavathi (65). Both bodies were found in a severely decomposed state. Meanwhile, the last rites of seven-year-old Puneeth, the youngest of all the victims, were performed at Harishchandra Ghat in Rajajinagar on Friday night. His body was recovered from Nandi foothills. The police learnt that the accused picked blood-stained jewellery from the bodies of his victims after bludgeoning them to death using a grindstone. He then washed the jewellery before selling some and pledging others. He reportedly used the money to purchase diesel for his car to transport and dispose of the bodies at different locations. P5 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 PetroUse of third leum Ministry said tests by Indian Oil, party laboratory Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroquestioned leum found all 893 samples within the permissible 19–21 per cent range under The oil companies the Bureau of Indian Standards’ IS questioned 17021 specification. These included 56 certificates issued by samples collected across Karnataka a third-party from outlets of the three companies. laboratory in Keralam said it ordered the inspecKarnataka, saying they didn’t specify the tions as a precaution following Karnataka’s allegations, though no instance standard test method of excess ethanol blending had been detected in the state so far. Samples will be collected from outlets in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Kannur districts and sent for testing. 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. 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 Entire Oz cricket team part of 2018 sandpapergate scandal, says Usman Express news service @ Bengaluru NEW light has been shed on one of the most orchestrated cricketing scandals in recent times — the ball-tampering one featuring members of the Australian team against South Africa in a Test in 2018 — by Usman Khawaja. The recently retired Australian batter has told an Australian publication that everybody was in on it. “It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,” he said ahead of the release of his autobiography next week, where a chapter is dedicated to the issue. In 2018, after TV cameras picked up Cameron Bancroft using the material on the ball in the hope of achieving reverse swing, Cricket Australia conducted an internal investigation and banned then captain Steve Smith, deputy David Warner for 12 months and Ban- Bhadravathi girl bags first rank in NDA exam | P2 ‘Ethanol blending claim a ploy’ | P4 IndiGo flight returns to KIA after hijack threat | P7 Crowded orbit awaits India’s first space station | P11 Diwali bonanza Areca leaf exporter gifts D20L EVs to five employees V i n c e n t D ’ S o u z a @ Mangaluru A decision to leave jobs in France, Dubai and Bengaluru and return to rural Belthangady paid off handsomely for five employees of an areca palm leaf tableware manufacturer as they were gifted Tata Nexon EV cars worth about Rs 20 lakh each as Deepavali present. Belthangady-based Agrileaf Exports, an exporter of ecofriendly areca palm leaf products to over 20 countries, presented the five electric cars – together worth around Rs 1 crore – during its Deepavali celebration, Agrileaf Utsava-2026, at Nidle village on Friday . The recipients are Shyamnandan Hillemane (Business Analyst), Vignesh P (HR Manager), Chethan NS (Production Man- ager), Jagannath P (Operations Manager) and Shreenath Abhyankar (Technical Head). Two other employees, Mithun and Santhosh, received Ather Rizta electric scooters valued around Rs 2 lakh each, while several others were honoured for their contribution to the company’s growth. In August, the company had presented electric scooters to some of the employees. For Vignesh, the reward came as a surprise. “I never imagined I would receive a car as a gift,” he told TNIE. P7 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. An employee of Agrileaf receives the key of an EV gifted to him The management wanted those who chose to work in a rural setting to feel equally valued and recognised for their contribution Vignesh, HR manager croft for nine months. Now, according to Khawaja all of them, including current captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, knew. “In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this,” Khawaja told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I don’t want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now. Maybe I thought Davey (Warner) would have exposed it, or someone else would have talked about it more. I just didn’t think it was going to come down to this.” Khawaja went on to add that he spoke to the team during the third Test at Cape Town and wanted to take collective responsibility The four bowlers . involved in that match — Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon — all denied publicly that they knew about it in 2021. Cricket Australia said in a statement it was “comfortable” with the findings of its original investigation, but remained open to new evidence. “There has been a great deal of speculation in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, including extensive media coverage throughout last month’s series in South Africa,” the statement read. Man shoots COO dead over parking row express news service @ 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, late on Friday night. Dhankhar was COO of FPT Asia Pacific. Police arrested the accused, Monu Sharma, a resident of Sector-21C in Faridabad. According to police, the dispute between the two neighbours was over the broken gate of their parking area, apart from a fight on a dog defecating in the parking lot. On Friday night, when Dhankhar returned from the gym and asked Sharma to move his car from the parking area, both had a verbal duel. Shortly after, Sharma shot Dhankhar dead.