sambalpur l thursday l march 12, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION IPL 2026: Bengaluru to face Hyderabad in season opener The BCCI announced the first set of schedule for the upcoming season, which will begin on March 28, on Wednesday. A look... First set of ties announced amid state polls Chinnaswamy awaits committee nod With dates for Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam state elections yet to be confirmed, the BCCI has announced the fixtures of the tournament till April 12. In this announced set of fixtures, Guwahati and Kolkata will host three matches while Chennai will host two. The schedule for the rest of the season is expected once the election dates are made public ■ ■ While defending champs Royal Challengers Bengaluru are set to face Sunrisers Hyderabad at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the opener, the venue is yet to get final approval to host matches As things stand, all matches in Bengaluru are subject to clearance by expert committee which will be decided on Friday 20 tHe BCCI has announced fixtures for first 20 matches 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 India-bound ship bombed in Hormuz Israel, US keep up Iran offensive; global energy crisis balloons Khasab Gul reliance to invest in first u.s. oil refinery f of UAE Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries will partner in building the first new oil refinery in the US in 50 years, US President Donald Trump said, calling it the “biggest in US history”. The new refinery will be located in Brownsville, Texas, and will run entirely on shale oil | P12 saudi arabia Oman iran will not be part of fifa world cup Pakistan Om an From DUBAI to Kandla PORT India Gujarat IRAN Strait of Hormuz Three Ships targeted Thai-flagged Earlier, the A third vessel, bulk carrier Japan-flagged a bulk carrier, Mayuree Naree container ship was also hit by bound for India One Majesty an unknown was targeted sustained projectile and damaged minor damage approximately approximately from an 50 nautical 11 nautical miles unknown miles northnorth of Oman projectile west of Dubai Mayuree Naree D ay ’ s d e v e l o p m e n t s In the backdrop of rising crude prices, the 32 members of the International Energy Agency agreed to their largest-ever release of oil reserves, in an effort to calm markets The Paris-based organisation said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves. India is not a member of IEA, so it can’t tap into the new source of energy. However, if oil prices cool, it would benefit all. Besides, India already has a deal with Russia 400 million barrels of oil translates to what the world consumes in just four days. That is also the volume of oil that normally flows through the Strait of Hormuz in 20 days U.S. behemoth Citi and UK’s Deloitte evacuated offices in Dubai, while PwC, another British consultancy, closed offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait after IraN said American financial institutions and banks in the gulf are targets President Donald Trump signalled there could be a swift ending to the war, saying there is little left in Iran for US forces to attack P r eetha N a i r @ New Delhi After nearly 10 hours of acrimonious exchanges between the Treasury and Opposition benches, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday rejected a no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla through a voice vote. The motion, moved by several Opposition parties accusing the Speaker of conducting House proceedings in a partisan manner, was declared defeated by the Chair amid loud protests and sloganeering by the Opposition over remarks made by Union home minister Amit Shah about Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Responding to the two-day debate on the motion, Shah launched a sharp attack on Rahul, making critical remarks about his conduct in Parliament. His comments triggered strong protests from Opposi- tion members, who trooped into the Well of the House demanding an apology from the home minister. Amid the uproar, BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, who was presiding over the proceedings, announced that the no-confidence motion was defeated by a voice vote. The government was expected to defeat the motion comfortably, with the NDA’s 293 MPs in the House against the opposition’s 238. Defending Birla, Shah said the Lok Sabha Speaker serves as a neutral custodian, representing both the ruling party and the opposition, and asserted that the House will be run by its own rules and not by the rules of a party . Shah accused Rahul of frequently skipping key parliamentary sessions including debates on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, the Union Budget, and Cong given 157 hours to speak in LS: Shah In the 17th Lok Sabha, the Congress with just 52 MPs was allotted 157 hours and 55 minutes. In comparison, the BJP with 303 MPs was given 349 hours and 8 minutes. “Thus, the Speaker has ensured that the Congress received six times more time than the BJP,” Amit Shah said important Bills, alleging that the Congress leader often travels abroad during such pro- ceedings. “You can’t complain about the Speaker not allowing time as you are always on foreign trips during the session,” Shah said. Responding to the the criticism about not filling the post of Deputy Speaker for the past seven years, he said: “The previous Congress governments always appointed their own persons for the post. And you are accusing us? We have at least kept it vacant for you.” Earlier in the day Rahul in, terjected during the debate saying that he was stopped from speaking in the House on multiple occasions. Responding to BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, who cited Parliamentary procedures to say that LoP should measure his words while speaking on national security, Rahul said the House does not belong to any party but the entire country . a g en c i e s @ Tehran, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Washington IRAN attacked its neighbours and commercial ships on a whim and fancy on Wednesday across the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz and targeted Gulf-allies of the US, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mounted while American and Israeli airstrikes continued to pummel the Islamic Republic. The Iranian military said it regarded any ships in the Strait of Hormuz belonging to the United States, Israel or their allies as “legitimate targets”. To this, US President Donald Trump warned that doing so will only escalate the US-Israel war effort. Earlier in the day an Iranian projectile hit a Thai cargo ship , off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, setting it ablaze. It was on its way to Kandla in India. Authorities are searching for three missing crew members from the Mayuree Naree after 20 were rescued by the Omani navy The ship, which was hit after . departing Khalifa port in the UAE. Iran’s joint military command also announced it would start targeting banks and financial institutions in West Asia. That would particularly put Dubai at risk as it is home to many international financial institutions, as well as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Several fintech behemoths like PwC, Deloitte and Citi began to shutter operations in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, beginning Wednesday for at least a week, AFP reported. The UN Security Council was to vote later Wednesday on a resolution sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council demanding Iran stop attacking its Arab neighbours. Israel and the US said they had launched a new “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran and was hitting Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. Kuwait said its defences downed eight Iranian drones and Saudi Arabia said it intercepted five heading toward the kingdom’s Shaybah oil field. World oil prices rose, with international benchmark Brent North Sea crude jumping more than five per cent in early trade before gains eased, while world markets traded mixed. The US also warned Iranians it considers civilian ports in the Strait of Hormuz to be legitimate targets, alleging Tehran was using them for military operations. “Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become targets under international law,” the US military said. CM Majhi worried over Odias stranded in Gulf countries SC allows passive euthanasia for 32-yr-old man in coma for 13 yrs E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Iran’s sports minister said their men’s football team is not likely to participate in the 2026 World Cup. “Given that this corrupt government has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances do we have appropriate conditions to participate in the World Cup.” Ahmad Donyamali said. Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not spoken or been seen in public since his appointment during the weekend, had a fractured foot and facial lacerations from the first day of war LS rejects no-trust motion against Speaker the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the withdrawal of artificial life support to Harish Rana, 32, who has remained a vegetative state for the past 13 years. The ruling by a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan marks the first ever passive euthanasia in the country . Passive euthanasia is the intentional act of letting a patient, who has remained in a vegetative state for a long period of time and has no chance of recovery to die by withdrawing or , withholding the life support. Rana, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad who was pursing his B Tech degree in Chandigarh, suffered a brain injury in August 2013 after falling from the fourth floor of his paying guest accommodation. He has since remained in a permanent vegetative state. The bench directed AIIMS-Delhi to carry out the exercise of withdrawing life With tension raging in the Middle East, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday said he was deeply concerned about reports of Odias stranded in the Gulf countries and directed chief secretary Anu Garg to take necessary steps to facilitate their return from the war-torn countries. Majhi, who reviewed the situation at Lok Seva Bhawan here, stressed on the need to bring back the Odia travelers and workers safely and asked Garg to closely monitor the situation arising out of the ongoing Iran-US war in the region. On March 2, the chief secretary had convened a high-level meeting on the Middle East situation, while Odisha Paribar OSD Pritish Panda was designated as the nodal officer for coordination with the Odia diaspora. We have also The CMO said that the been urging Odisha Paribar directo- them to rate has received about 200 sensitise phone calls from stranded migrant workers Odias in the Middle East to register seeking assistance and is themselves with the MEA through coordinating with the Min- the toll-free istry of External Affairs number to get (MEA) to help facilitate necessary their return. The ministry updates has also set up a special control room and issued a Pritish Panda, OSD, toll-free helpline number Odisha Paribar 1800-118-797 in view of the current situation in the West Asia and the Gulf region, it added. Talking to TNIE, Panda said that the Odisha Parivar directorate has held discussions with office-bearers of Odia Associations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and other countries to gather information about the ground situation there. “We have also been urging them to sensitise migrant workers to register themselves with the MEA through the toll-free number to get necessary updates,” Continued on P5 he said.  SC orders expert legal panel to vet NCERT books Su c h i t r a K alyan M ohanty @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to constitute a committee of domain experts within a week to finalise the curriculum related to legal studies in NCERT textbooks amid row over a chapter on judiciary in the Class VIII social sciences textbook. The Centre informed the court it had directed the NCERT to review textbooks for all classes. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi told the government that instead of asking the NCERT to do this, it would have been appreciated if the Centre constitutes an expert panel to review the curriculum. The bench suggested that the panel should preferably include a former senior judge, an eminent academic and a renowned legal practitioner. The court also recommended that the National Judicial Academy be associated with the review process for sections dealing with the judiciary . The court observed that the issue of judicial graft in a Class 8 textbook had triggered irresponsible commentary online. It took note of the hostile and abusive reactions on social media following the controversy. “We have noticed the manner in which some elements on social media have reacted irresponsibly. The law must take its own course against such rumour mongers,” it added. The court had on February 26, imposed a “complete blanket ban” on any further publication, reprinting or digital dissemination of NCERT’s Class 8 social science book as it contains “offending” contents on corruption in the judiciary . The court was on Wednesday informed that NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani had filed an affidavit tendering an unconditional and unqualified apology in person and on behalf of the institution for the inclusion of the contentious material in the textbook. The affidavit said that the chapter in question was drafted by a textbook development team chaired by historian Michel Danino and comprising Suparna Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar. It directed that the three individuals be disassociated forthwith from universities, public institutions or any academic bodies receiving government funds and not be assigned any kind of responsibilities funded wholly or partly from the public exchequer. The court said the order was not intended to prevent any healthy and objective criticism of the institutional function of the judiciary . S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi BMC temporarily lifts ban on charcoal, firewood use support system while ensuring his dignity is maintained. The court passed the order after considering various factors including doctors’ opinion and medical board reports that ruled out chances of a revival. The order allowing passive euthanasia is in line with the SC’s 2018 Common Cause judgment, modified in 2023, recognising the fundamental right to die with dignity . The court also noted that Rana’s family cared for him all these years and never left his side. “To love someone is to care for them not just in times of joy , but in their saddest and darkest hours,” the bench said while hailing Harish Rana’s parents for their selfless love towards their son. Before reserving the order on January 15, the bench had heard the detailed submissions of ASG Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Union government, and advocate Rashmi Nandakumar, representing the patient’s father Ashok Rana. In a relief for hundreds of small restaurants and eateries facing shortage of LPG cylinders in the state capital, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation announced to temporarily lift the ban on use of charcoal and firewood | P2