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Netflix is cutting about 6% of its workforce, or roughly 1,000 jobs, in its largest round of layoffs since 2022, as the streaming giant grapples with intensifying competition for viewers and advertising dollars. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the cuts were communicated through an internal email sent to employees. The move marks the company's most significant workforce reduction since 2022, when it cut hundreds of jobs amid slowing growth and subscriber losses. A tougher streaming battlefield Netflix employed about 16,000 full-time workers at the end of last year. The layoffs reflect the pressure building across the media industry, where legacy entertainment companies are consolidating and YouTube is steadily...

The Supreme Court has directed Indian Railways to extend travel insurance coverage to every ticket sold at station counters across the country, with the order taking effect from October 27, 2026. The directive brings offline ticket buyers on a par with passengers who book online and already receive insurance on payment of a nominal additional amount. What the court ordered A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan passed the order on October 6 while hearing a case concerning passenger safety. The bench said that within two weeks — by October 27 — all tickets sold over the counter at all railway stations must be covered by insurance in the same manner as tickets purchased online. The court made it explicit that the...

The Enforcement Directorate has seized India-based assets worth Rs 2,032.81 crore belonging to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power Limited, escalating a long-running foreign-exchange investigation into one of the country's most closely watched corporate probes. The central agency said on Wednesday that the seized assets include the company's bank balances and its shareholding in Sasan Power Limited. The value of the assets, it said, is equivalent to foreign exchange allegedly held outside India in contravention of Section 4 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The seizure order, issued on October 12, was passed under Section 37A of FEMA. How the probe began The investigation started on information received from the Securities and...

A Sri Lankan worker who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over a Facebook comment has had the sentence overturned by the kingdom's highest court, bringing a major reprieve in a case that drew international concern and weeks of diplomatic effort. Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra announced on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court had set aside the death penalty imposed on 27-year-old Anojan Sivarasa, crediting sustained diplomatic and legal work by the Sri Lankan government and thanking Saudi authorities for their cooperation. From jail term to death row Sivarasa's ordeal began late in June, when footage circulated online of a young Muslim man kicking a dog near Hindu pilgrims in Sri Lanka. The video set...

An Air India flight from Frankfurt to Delhi was diverted to Jaipur on Wednesday morning after the pilot transmitted the internationally recognised hijack-alert transponder code, triggering an emergency response and a probe by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Flight AI-2030, operated by a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, landed safely at Jaipur International Airport at around 9:35 am and was moved to a designated isolation bay for security checks. According to DGCA sources cited by local media, the aircraft was squawking code 7500 — the transponder signal used to indicate hijacking or unlawful interference — which was picked up by Ahmedabad air traffic control while the plane was in the Mumbai flight information region. Delhi...

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a productivity-linked bonus equivalent to 78 days' wages for 11,40,770 non-gazetted railway employees, involving a total payout of Rs 2,009.61 crore. The decision, taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, means eligible staff will receive the bonus ahead of the Durga Puja and Dussehra holidays, continuing the annual festive-season practice. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the bonus recognises the contribution of railway staff to the national transporter's operational performance and is intended to motivate employees to keep improving efficiency. The maximum amount payable to each eligible employee will be Rs 17,951 for the 78-day period. Who is eligible...

Kyiv: Russian ballistic missiles struck energy facilities in Kyiv overnight and into Wednesday morning, killing at least one person and injuring another, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said — a fresh wave of attacks on Ukraine's power grid that came days after US President Donald Trump announced what he described as an "energy ceasefire". The attack was still ongoing during the morning hours, Klitschko said. Reuters witnesses heard multiple explosions across the Ukrainian capital as air defences repelled the overnight attacks. The fresh strikes follow a sustained Russian campaign against Ukraine's energy infrastructure as temperatures begin to cool ahead of the heating season. A weekend truce claim, then strikes The attacks follow a...

Imphal: Manipur Police have arrested 13 people, including a minor, for allegedly circulating and monetising non-consensual explicit photographs and videos of women — including child sexual abuse material — through multiple Telegram channels, in an investigation codenamed Operation Dignity. Police said an FIR was registered at the Moirang police station in Bishnupur district after they received credible information that administrators and users of several Telegram channels were circulating, trading and monetising sexually explicit material featuring local women without their consent. How the network allegedly worked Investigators say the network was organised and profit-driven: channel administrators sold access to subscribers, and...

Ethiopian government troops have advanced into Zalambessa, a town of about 15,000 on the Ethiopian side of the border with Eritrea, as diplomats scrambled to head off a new war between the Horn of Africa neighbours, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing six sources. A flashpoint on the border The town had been under the control of Tigrayan rebels, and the army's arrival marks a significant escalation in a conflict that reignited on September 23, when a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front went on the offensive. Reuters cited four people in touch with residents of the town, a diplomat and a conflict expert in touch with the warring parties. Witnesses and a conflict monitor said Eritrean troops had crossed into...

A Meerut court on Wednesday sentenced Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla to death for the murder of Muskan's husband Saurabh Rajput, the former Merchant Navy officer whose dismembered remains were found sealed in a blue plastic drum at his house in Meerut's Brahmpuri locality. Conviction, then capital punishment District Judge Arvind Kumar Mishra had convicted the pair on September 30 of murder and destruction of evidence after a trial that ran around 13 months across 126 hearings, with 22 prosecution witnesses examined. The prosecution's chargesheet, filed on May 12, 2025, ran to nearly 1,000 pages with statements from around 34 witnesses. The prosecution had sought the death penalty, arguing the crime fell in the "rarest of rare"...

Pakistan police on Tuesday fired tear gas and live rounds at protesters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as clashes erupted over the suspension of the provincial government led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Five people were injured in the clashes, with the worst violence reported in Bara, about 15 km from the provincial capital Peshawar. What happened in Bara Police said 50 people had been detained and would face terrorism and sabotage charges for allegedly damaging government property and disrupting law and order. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said protesters set fire to a National Database and Registration Authority centre in Bara. PTI information secretary Ikram Khatana...

Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, the two most prominent faces of the ongoing agitation against the Election Commission's voter-roll revision, were sent to five-day judicial custody by a Delhi court on Wednesday and lodged in Tihar Jail, marking a sharp escalation in the confrontation between the protesting coalition and the authorities. The development came hours after the CJP's legal affairs head said the leaders would be produced before a special executive magistrate. A third detained leader, national organisation in-charge Ajinkya Shinde, was released on a personal bond, while Das and Ranka were remanded to custody. What the police told the court According to the CJP's counsel, advocate Abhisht Hela, Delhi Police argued before the...

A ballistic missile struck the headquarters complex of Saudi Aramco in Dhahran on Tuesday, damaging an office tower in the first attack on the oil giant's corporate nerve centre since the escalation of the Saudi–Houthi conflict, Reuters reported citing a company source. What happened The company source told Reuters the missile hit an office tower at the complex, damaging its top three floors, and that the building was on fire. Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that authorities had responded late Tuesday, that the fire was limited, and that there were no injuries or deaths. The Dhahran complex hosts a major operations centre overseeing Aramco's onshore and offshore rigs, pipelines, refineries and export...

The Maharashtra Cabinet on Wednesday approved adding 40 more talukas to the state's drought-hit list, taking the total to 305 of the state's 358 talukas, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced in Mumbai after the Cabinet meeting. Advance relief before Diwali Fadnavis said every affected farmer would receive an advance of ₹5,000 credited directly to bank accounts before Diwali, in a move to get relief out months earlier than usual. "Earlier, drought was declared in 265 talukas. Today, we have declared drought in a total of 305 talukas. We have checked old records; normally help is given in December. But this time we have declared drought in advance," Fadnavis said at the press conference. The state government also said it was...

Mauritius imposed a curfew across parts of the country on Tuesday night after unrest broke out over the shooting of a woman by a police officer, with the government saying on Wednesday that the situation was under control. Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam announced the curfew in a televised address, saying it would run from 8:30pm local time (16:30 GMT) on Tuesday until 6am on Wednesday, covering the capital Port Louis and other major population centres on the Indian Ocean island. How the unrest unfolded Protesters burned tyres and blocked roads on Monday night after the shooting of a woman by a police officer. The shooting followed protests over water shortages and the rising cost of living that began earlier in the week. Local media...

Iran has executed Ali-Sina Mostafavi after convicting him of carrying out armed attacks in the southeastern city of Kerman during the war with the United States and Israel, the judiciary's news outlet Mizan reported on Wednesday. Why it matters Executions tied to political opposition and espionage charges remain among the most politically sensitive issues in Iran's handling of dissent. Rights organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about due process in cases linked to national security. What comes next Iran's judiciary has not said whether further cases connected to the war are pending. International reaction to the execution had not been reported at the time of publication. Sources: Reuters — Iran executes monarchist convicted of...

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has moved the Supreme Court challenging the manner in which the Election Commission of India is conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, joining a growing list of opposition leaders who have taken the poll body's exercise to court. Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha mentioned the plea on Wednesday before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. Referring to the petition, Pasha told the bench that the matter concerned the manner in which the SIR exercise was being conducted, and sought that it be heard along with similar petitions listed for Thursday, October 15. The CJI said he would examine the request and list the matter with the connected cases. A crowded legal battlefield...

US President Donald Trump has forced Kimberly Guilfoyle out as the United States ambassador to Greece, asking her to resign after a string of misconduct allegations first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The decision, announced on Tuesday, marks a sudden fall for a prominent figure in the MAGA movement and the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia told reporters at her first briefing that the White House had "asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign," adding: "She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her luck." A White House official later confirmed to CNN that Guilfoyle's formal resignation had been received. "I didn't like what I read" Trump said he had decided to act after...

Nearly three decades after the drive-by shooting that killed hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, the only person ever charged in the case has been sentenced. Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, was ordered to serve 40 years to life in prison by a Las Vegas court on Tuesday, October 13, for orchestrating the 1996 murder. Eighth Judicial District Court Judge Carli Kierny imposed the sentence after a jury had found Davis guilty on August 31 of one count of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, following a little more than three hours of deliberation. A cold case cracked by the defendant's own words Shakur, 25, was shot on September 7, 1996, while riding in the passenger seat of a BMW on the Las Vegas Strip, and died in hospital six days...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Uzbekistan and India from October 17 to 22, with enhanced energy cooperation high on the agenda, the US State Department announced on Tuesday. Rubio will first visit Samarkand in Uzbekistan before travelling to Mumbai and Jamnagar in India, the department said. This will be his second official visit to India since May, when he attended the Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting hosted by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi. The visit and its Jamnagar angle In India, Rubio is expected to meet senior government officials to strengthen the US-India strategic partnership, exchange views on regional and global dynamics, and discuss prospects for enhanced energy cooperation. He...