The Editorial Page: A journey to the Moon, a mission to understand the dawn of the universe 8 FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAgE MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 OIL PRICES SURGE, STOCKS SLIDE Hopes of early end to war dim, Trump says will strike Iran hard Will push it back to Stone Ages: US President; wait for ‘broader’ attacks, warns Tehran Steve Holland & Enas Alashray Moon-bound, Orion looks back A view of the Earth from NASA’s Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II mission test flight. Carrying three Americans and one Canadian, the rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon and back to the Earth. NASA fOUR ASTRONAUTS — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — set off on humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century 97 125 CAPSULE SET to zoom past the Moon and travel 4,000 miles (6,400 km) beyond, before making a U-turn and heading home to a splashdown in the Pacific DURING MONDAY’s lunar flyby, astronauts should see features never before viewed through human eyes. They’ll also catch snippets of a total solar eclipse AAP appoints a new deputy leader in RS, Raghav Chadha out Jatin Anand New Delhi, April 2 154 62 business as Usual By EP UNNY Happening today l MYANMAR’S PARLIAMENT will hold a bicameral vote to elect a President, House Speaker Aung Lin Dwe said Thursday, with the country’s former military chief and junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup to oust Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in the running for the position. l AfTER Adefeat in their opening match that sent them down to the bottom of the table, former IPL champions CSK will be looking for a quick recovery at their fortress at Chepauk as they take on last year’s finalists Punjab Kings. Match starts at 7.30 pm. MOVING TO replace Raghav Chadha as its deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wrote to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on Thursday proposing Ashok Mittal as his replacement. By evening, the party positions published on the Rajya SabhawebsiteshowedMittalas the AAP’s deputy leader in the House. Both Chadha and Mittal are Rajya Sabha members from Punjab. When contacted, Washington, Cairo, April 2 DOZENS OF nations sought waystorestartvitalenergyshipmentsthroughtheStraitofHormuzonThursdayafterUSPresident Donald Trump vowed moreaggressivestrikesonIran, pushing oil prices back up with further pain to consumers. Trump said operations would be intensified and gave no timeline for ending hostilities, drawing threats of “more crushing,broaderandmoredestructive”attacksfromTehran, andsendingsharepriceslower. “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong,” Trump said in a Wednesday evening speech. Trump persisted with his threats Thursday, saying on Truth Social, “It is time for Iran »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 US President Donald Trump posted footage of a bridge in Iran being blown up. The bridge, linking Tehran to Karaj, was hit in an airstrike. Between Trump’s lines: will dial up pressure – and wants a way out C Raja Mohan New Delhi, April 2 AS THE war with Iran enters its second month and a decisive military victory for the United States and Israel appears elusive, the focus has inevitably shiftedtodiplomacy.Itis no surprise that the emerging diplomatic effort is centredontwoissues—acease- fire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Itisevenlesssurprisingthat the main combatants remain far apart on both. For India, which sits nextdoortotheGulf,the stakes are immediate and enormous. A large share of India’s hydrocarbon imports passes through the Strait of Hormuz. E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India joins 60 nations at UK meeting calling for opening Strait of Hormuz Shubhajit Roy New Delhi, April 2 WITH THE shipping disruption in the Strait of Hormuz impacting energy supplies to India, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri joined a meeting of more than 60 countries, convened Thursday by the UK, on reopeningthecrucialwaterway where he underlined the principles of “freedom of navigation”and“unimpededtransit”. Misri’s remarks found an »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Met Chinese counterpart, held talks on trade: Goyal Ravi Dutta Mishra New Delhi, April 2 FOR THE first time since India pulled out of the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations in 2019, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao on the sidelines of the 14th World Trade Organisation (WTO) interministerial conference in Cameroon last week. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INsIDE AAP MP Raghav Chadha outside Parliament, Thursday. PTI Chadha’s office said he would not be issuing a statement for now. In a post on X, he put up a video compilation of his speeches in Rajya Sabha, raising »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 boMbAy HC SEEkS StAtE rEpLy oN SCrAppINg 5% MUSLIM qUotA p 4 MAN ArrEStEd for opENINg fIrE At 3 IN MUMbrA, kILLINg oNE p 3 No sign of tribunal on Day 1, CEO: ‘Can’t say when it will start hearings’ DECISION 2026 WE ST B ENGAL Sweety Kumari Kolkata, April 2 THE COUNTDOWN having begun for the West Bengal electoral rolls to be frozen, all roads for those “rejected” lead to the gatesofastarkgreysteel-and-cement building in Joka, located 16kmfromtheheartofKolkata. On Thursday, the day 19 tribunalswereexpectedtobegin hearings for the lakhs whose names remain deleted from the electoral rolls, the gates of the building — the Syama Prasad Syama Prasad Mookerjee National Institute of Water & Sanitation in Joka, 16 km from Kolkata, where the tribunals were to hold hearings Mookerjee National Institute of Water and Sanitation — remained firmly closed. A steady trickle of anxious people,confusedaboutwhatto do next, kept approaching — and kept being turned away, without answers. Asked about it, Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Manoj Agarwal said: “I cannot say when the tribunal will start functioning.” Yasir Molla said he had come to the Joka institute from Sonarpur, 18 km away. “My mother-in-law’snamehasbeen deleted,” he explained, clutching a folder of documents. The 48-year-old was aware that petitioners could apply to the tribunals online. However, Molla said: “I am unable to navigate the online process, so I came here to find out when the tribunals will start.” After the adjudication process that is currently racing against deadline, applicants have 15 days to apply for reconsideration by tribunals. The »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l 32-YR-OLD DIXIT SOLANKI WAS KILLED IN A MISSILE STRIKE ON A MERCHANT VESSEL OFF OMAN ON MARCH 1 33 days, no answers: Kin of India’s first West Asia war casualty move HC Purnima Sah will be able to lay Dixit Solanki torest.Thematterislikelytobe heard next week. MORE THAN a month after 32The petition by his father year-oldseafarerDixitAmratlal Amratlal Gokal Solanki (64) Solanki was killed in a sus- and sister, Mitali Solanki (33), pected missile strike on a mer- sought directions to expedite chant vessel off the coast of the repatriation of Solanki’s reOman, becoming mainsandthatallinPAGE 1 the first Indian casuvestigation and alty of the West Asia forensic records be war, his family is still shared with them. waiting to bring him home. The respondents include Frustratedbythedelay,they theMinistryofExternalAffairs, movedtheBombayHighCourt the Ministry of Ports, Shipping Thursday,seekingurgentinter- andWaterways,theDirectorate vention, alleging lack of clarity General of Shipping, and V from authorities on when they ShipsIndiaPvtLtd,whichmanMumbai, April 2 anchor Dixit Solanki’s father Amratlal at his home. SANKHADEEP BANERJEE ages the vessel. “It has been 33 days. I want answers. What exactly hap- penedtomyson?Ican’timagine how he suffered, whether he was still alive, whether he was left there to die. All we want is his remains with valid certificatesandanentireinvestigation reportoftheincidentalongwith photoandvideoevidence,”Amratlal told The IndianExpress. Solanki, who worked as an oiler aboard MT MKD Vyom, was on duty on March 1 when the vessel was hit by what the company described as a missile strike that led to an explosion and a breach in the engine room. According to a detailed »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mumbai