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India's government on Tuesday appointed Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, as the next Chief of the Indian Air Force. He will take over as the 29th Chief of the Air Staff in the rank of Air Chief Marshal on the afternoon of October 31, succeeding Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, who retires the same day. The Ministry of Defence announced the appointment in a statement, noting that Dixit will remain in the post until December 31, 2028. A decorated career of nearly four decades Dixit was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on December 6, 1986. An experimental test pilot and qualified flying instructor, he has logged more than 3,500 hours of flying on aircraft including the...

Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued after a fire engulfed a grain ship in the Black Sea off the Romanian coast, in an incident that Ukraine says was caused by a Russian drone strike. Romania's interior ministry said rescuers recovered two bodies after the fire aboard the ship Royad Mammadov, which later sank. Eleven crew members were pulled to safety, one of them injured. The vessel was in waters outside Romania's territorial limits but within the country's exclusive economic zone when the blaze broke out. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the civilian ship had been hit by two Russian drones. "A horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters carrying corn and owned by Türkiye...

Israel has ordered its military to pursue and kill the remaining participants in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, with Defence Minister Israel Katz saying about 2,000 of the attackers are still alive. Katz said on Monday that about 6,000 attackers crossed into Israel during the assault and that 4,000 had since been killed. "We ordered the military to pursue and kill them all, from the most senior to the most junior," he said, adding that the order was issued jointly with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu reinforced the message at a state memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Monday, saying Israel would continue pursuing those who carried out the attack as well as those who held Israeli hostages. He...

The World Health Organization has granted prequalification to Cervavac, India's first indigenously developed gender-neutral quadrivalent vaccine against human papillomavirus, clearing the way for it to be purchased by United Nations agencies for immunisation programmes. Serum Institute of India, which developed and manufactures the vaccine, announced the milestone this week. The recognition marks the 32nd WHO prequalification secured by the Pune-based manufacturer for its products and biologicals. Inclusion on the WHO list of prequalified vaccines makes Cervavac eligible for procurement by UN bodies, a step that can open supply to countries working to expand protection against HPV, the virus responsible for nearly all cervical...

A former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion that he passed state secrets to a foreign intelligence service, the federal prosecutor's office said, in what would be an unprecedented case in modern German history. The arrests August Hanning, who led the Federal Intelligence Service, known by its German acronym BND, from 1998 to 2005, is "strongly suspected of treasonous espionage, spying out state secrets, attempted treason, and espionage," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. Hanning, 80, was arrested in Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen in southern Germany. A former aide, identified as Manfred D. in line with German privacy rules, was also arrested on Tuesday in Steinfurt in...

Spain's two highest courts cleared the way on Tuesday for self-exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to return to the country without being arrested, ending nearly a decade on the run and injecting fresh drama into a volatile political landscape weeks before an early national election. The Constitutional Court ruled that an amnesty law for Catalan separatists applies to the embezzlement charges against Puigdemont. Shortly afterwards, the Supreme Court responded by lifting the arrest warrant that had kept the former Catalan head of government from setting foot in Spain since he fled to Belgium in 2017. How the courts got here The amnesty was the defining legislation of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's current term, enacted...

At least 22 people have died after two boats collided on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the provincial interior minister told Reuters, while local reports citing the minister put the death toll at 30 with dozens missing and search efforts continuing. What Happened The collision occurred near the town of Ngombe in Lukolela territory in western Equateur province at around 2 a.m. local time on Saturday, provincial interior minister Crispin Mputu told Reuters. The collision involved two vessels travelling on the river. One was a commercial boat operating between Kinshasa and Mbandaka, while the other was a passenger riverboat travelling from Mongala province to Kinshasa. The impact caused the passenger boat to sink...

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that parents cannot invoke a writ of habeas corpus to compel an adult daughter to live with them against her wishes, holding that an adult has the right to decide where and with whom she wants to live. The Court's Finding Justice Sandeep Jain dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by Kalawati Devi, who had sought the production of her 25-year-old daughter Pooja before the court. The court directed that the woman, being a major and competent person, shall remain at liberty to reside at a place of her choice and with a person of her choice. In its order dated September 28, the court observed that a major person cannot be compelled, against her expressed will, to reside with a particular person...

Two commercial vessels were struck by drones early on Tuesday inside Bulgaria's Exclusive Economic Zone in the Black Sea, in what Sofia called the first attack on shipping in the exclusive waters of a NATO country. One ship sank and its crew remains missing; the other's crew was rescued. What happened Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the ships were hit by several drones about 128 kilometres off Bulgaria's coast. He spoke after convening an emergency meeting of state institutions, with a statement to the media at 11:15 a.m. Radio Bulgaria reported that both vessels sent distress signals at 4 a.m., and that one disappeared from the Border Police's radar at around 9 a.m. A large-scale search-and-rescue operation is underway east of Cape...

The United States has launched the largest denaturalisation effort in its modern history, moving to strip 40 individuals — including a man of Indian origin — of their American citizenship over alleged fraud and serious criminal offences, the Department of Justice said. The 40 cases The 40 people face denaturalisation proceedings in multiple courts across the country. According to the department, they stand accused of grave offences including acting as an agent of a foreign government, voluntary manslaughter and aggravated sodomy against a special-needs man. "Today's announcement marks the largest denaturalisation effort in modern history," Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Monday. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a...

The FBI has arrested a California real estate agent on accusations that she secretly worked for Beijing to surveil the family of Taiwan's president in the United States, in a case federal officials announced amid already strained US-China ties. The arrest Wanying Zhang, 34, also known as Heather, of Irvine, California, was arrested on Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport as she prepared to board a flight to China, according to the FBI and federal prosecutors. She has been charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. She appeared in a downtown Los Angeles federal court on Monday for an initial hearing, and a detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. She has not yet been formally indicted. The allegations The FBI...

US Central Command said on Monday that its warships have now redirected 130 commercial vessels attempting to enter or leave Iranian ports since Washington resumed its naval blockade of Iran in mid-July, describing the operation as an intensifying effort to cut off Tehran's maritime trade. The latest figures In a statement issued on October 5, CENTCOM said the most recent ship was turned away that same day, bringing the cumulative total to 130 since the blockade restarted on July 14 at the direction of President Donald Trump. The command also said it had disabled three vessels that refused to comply with orders and destroyed 13 ships over the past 12 weeks. According to CENTCOM, those vessels had either violated the blockade regime or...

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Belgian astrophysicist Francis Halzen for pioneering the detection of high-energy neutrinos from deep space, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced in Stockholm on Tuesday. Halzen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, was honoured for his decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. Announcing the prize, Nobel committee chair Mark Pearce said Halzen had led an international team of researchers and engineers, and that his tenacity and scientific vision had "paved the way for a new kind of astronomy." From a 1988 idea to a kilometre-scale detector Halzen first proposed using the...

South Korea's military said on Monday that a joint investigation with the United Nations Command has concluded that North Korea planted the landmines that exploded inside the Demilitarized Zone last month, injuring three South Korean soldiers. The North immediately rejected the accusation, setting up a fresh confrontation along the world's most heavily fortified border. The final findings were presented at a briefing in Seoul by Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Two landmines detonated in the western sector of the DMZ on September 21, seriously wounding two of the soldiers, according to the military's account. A third unexploded mine was later found near the blast site. Forensic evidence points to...

Indirect negotiations between Israeli and Hamas delegations began on Monday afternoon in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, aimed at implementing US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza. Both delegations arrived in the Red Sea city earlier in the day, according to Reuters, which cited informed sources. Egyptian and Qatari mediators are facilitating the discussions through intermediaries. What is on the table The negotiations are focused on the first phase of the peace plan: the release of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, alongside the groundwork for a ceasefire. Under the US proposal, Hamas would release all Israeli hostages within 72 hours of...

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday announced that the state cabinet has approved recruitment to 14,454 government posts within six to eight months, alongside a new scheme offering Rs 50,000 in assistance to unmarried women pursuing higher education. Briefing reporters at the state secretariat after the cabinet meeting, Adhikari said the Public Service Commission and the State Police Recruitment Board would complete the examination and recruitment process for the newly approved vacancies, which will be spread across departments including forests, fire services, prisons, home and hill affairs. The Bhagini Nivedita Scheme The cabinet approved the Bhagini Nivedita Scheme, under which unmarried women pursuing higher...

Delhi Police on Tuesday detained opposition lawmakers, including Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi, as they attempted to breach barricades during a protest march to the Election Commission headquarters demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The detentions, reported by television channels and carried by Reuters, came as the INDIA bloc's march — centered on the opposition's allegations of "vote theft" and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — was stopped by security personnel in front of the NITI Aayog office. A morning of escalation Around 150 MPs were expected for the march. Leaders assembled at Makar Dwar of Parliament around 10:30 AM...

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday brought an end to a reference that had lingered for more than two decades on the boundary between legislative privileges and free speech, declaring the matter infructuous while keeping the underlying legal questions open for another day. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, was examining how Article 194(3), which shields the privileges of legislatures, interacts with the fundamental rights of free speech and life under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21. Roots in the 2003 Tamil Nadu assembly case The reference traced back to N. Ravi v. Speaker, Legislative Assembly, Chennai, a 2003 dispute in which the Tamil Nadu assembly sentenced five journalists of The Hindu for articles critical...

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held separate meetings with senior executives of IBM, AIA Group and General Atlantic in the United States this week, pitching India as a destination for deeper investment and collaboration across insurance, financial services and frontier technologies. Goyal met IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna in New York, where the two discussed pathways to build on the technology major's longstanding presence in India and deepen cooperation across artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, quantum computing and other frontier technologies. In a post on X, Goyal said the talks focused on leveraging India's vast talent pool and rapid digital adoption to innovate and scale solutions for the world...

Authorities in Russia's Irkutsk region have quarantined dozens of people after a laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia died in undisclosed circumstances, in a case that has prompted the head of Russia's health watchdog to fly to the region and drawn the attention of the White House. The worker, employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, fell ill and died after being hospitalised with severe pneumonia. Russian authorities have said only that she died of pneumonia of as-yet unestablished origin, and the cause of the illness remains officially undisclosed. Russia's health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, told state media its checks had found no evidence of any accident involving the...