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The Strait of Hormuz may still be effectively blocked, but crude oil shipments from the West Asian Gulf region — excluding Iran — have returned to pre-war levels, as producers cut their dependence on tankers navigating the choked waterway. According to maritime intelligence and research firm Kpler, at least 16.5 million barrels per day of crude left the region between September 1 and 28, matching the pre-war average. During the peak of the West Asia war in March, the average was just 10.5 million barrels per day. Pipelines and shuttle tankers do the heavy lifting Before the war, 83 per cent of the region's crude crossed Hormuz. In September, 40 per cent of exports moved through pipelines in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates...

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday (October 3, 2026) invited to Israel the Indian captain of the Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight who saved the aircraft after a mid-air cockpit attack, describing him as a hero of India, Israel and the world. Speaking to Captain Smit Machchhar over a telephone call, excerpts of which were released by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, Mr Netanyahu invited both the pilot and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to light a torch at Israel's Independence Day ceremony next May. The honour is traditionally reserved for Israeli citizens, but Mr Netanyahu said the occasion warranted an exception. "You are a true hero of the brave peoples of India and Israel and you are a hero of the entire...

The United States is bolstering its military presence in the Middle East and adding air defence systems to oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Axios reported on Friday, as President Donald Trump weighs resuming military action against Iran. According to the report, two US officials and a regional source said the US military has sent two additional Patriot missile batteries to the region in recent weeks to protect energy facilities in the two Gulf countries. Why now Axios reported that the deployment is intended to reassure two US allies and protect their vital energy infrastructure in case Trump decides to renew the bombing campaign against Iran. On Thursday, the president said he was considering resuming strikes in the...

Nepal will begin a high-stakes programme this fiscal year to drain four glacial lakes perched high in the Himalayas, officials said, as the country scrambles to reduce the risk of catastrophic flooding after a disaster that killed more than 1,400 people. The August disaster began with a glacier collapse on the Nepal-Tibet border that triggered landslides and a flash flood, tearing through valleys and sweeping away roads, bridges, hydroelectric plants and settlements. Rescuers are still searching for more than 5,000 people reported missing in the border region. Which lakes, and how The four lakes targeted — Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho and Hongu II — sit between 4,050 and 5,483 metres above sea level in central and eastern...

Raipur has cleared the rulebook that turns its promised job quota for former Agniveer soldiers into actual recruitments. The Chhattisgarh Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, on Wednesday approved the 'Chhattisgarh Public Service Former Agniveer Soldiers Recruitment Rules, 2026' at a meeting at Mahanadi Bhawan in the state capital. What the rules do The rules provide the framework for implementing a 10 per cent reservation for former Agniveer soldiers in direct recruitment to selected Class III posts in the state civil services. The quota itself was approved by the Cabinet on July 22, 2026; the new rules lay down the appointment and service conditions, recruitment criteria, reservation provisions and the selection process...

India's food safety regulator said on Saturday that a sample of "low-fat dairy whitener" manufactured by Nestle India was found "unsafe and substandard" — and it was drawn not from a factory but from the premises of a five-star hotel in the national capital. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said in a social media post on October 3, 2026 that the sample was collected from the premises of Bharat Hotels Ltd — The Lalit — at Connaught Place in New Delhi. What the regulator said In its post, FSSAI stated that the sample of Nestle India's low-fat dairy whitener had been found "unsafe and substandard." The regulator did not publicly specify which parameters failed, and the finding relates to the specific sample...

India and Pakistan summoned each other's top diplomats in rapid succession on Saturday, trading strong protests over a border incident in Punjab's Ferozepur sector a day earlier in which Border Security Force (BSF) personnel shot dead two Pakistani nationals. The escalation began when Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned India's charge d'affaires to protest the killings. New Delhi followed hours later by summoning the charge d'affaires of the Pakistan High Commission to lodge a strong protest of its own over what it called the "continued facilitation of illegal cross-border infiltration" from Pakistan. What New Delhi says The Ministry of External Affairs said the incident took place on October 2 in the Ferozepur sector along the...

At least ten people were killed this week in drone attacks on a university dormitory and a centre sheltering displaced families in El-Obeid, the capital of Sudan's North Kordofan state, according to a Sudanese rights group and a medical source. Two strikes in two days On Wednesday, a drone struck a dormitory at the University of Kordofan that was being used to house students and civilians, the Emergency Lawyers monitoring group said. Five people were killed and 47 wounded, with the group not attributing responsibility for the attack. A day later, another drone hit a centre sheltering families displaced by fighting from across the Kordofan region. Five people were killed and 13 injured, a North Kordofan government official and a...

Two road accidents struck the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district within half an hour of each other on Saturday, October 3, 2026, killing one tourist and leaving 56 people injured, including nine security personnel, officials said. Bus collides with hillside near Maroog A tourist bus travelling from Srinagar to Jammu, bearing a West Bengal registration number, collided with a hillside near Maroog at around 8:50 am after the driver lost control of the vehicle, officials were quoted as saying. One woman passenger was killed in the crash, while 47 others were injured. The deceased was identified as Jamuna, a resident of West Bengal. The tourists were returning home after a holiday in Kashmir. Four of the injured —...

Tennessee's prisons commissioner, Frank Strada, has resigned days after the state's failed attempt to execute death-row inmate Christa Pike. Governor Bill Lee announced the resignation on Saturday, October 3, 2026, and said Strada will step down this month while an independent review investigates what went wrong. Pike survived two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday, September 30. Her lawyers said in a court filing that she was left unconscious, intubated and on a mechanical ventilator, with hospital staff working to clear the drug from her system. A second failure prompts a freeze This was Tennessee's second failed execution attempt this year, prompting Lee...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will keep attacking Russian oil refineries in retaliation for what he described as a new Russian doctrine of airstrikes targeting civilian infrastructure ahead of winter. The remarks came in an exclusive interview with Reuters in Kyiv on October 3, 2026. Zelenskiy said Ukrainian intelligence had obtained documents showing President Vladimir Putin issued a "new doctrine" of military strikes on a broader range of civilian targets — including infrastructure, logistics, roads, schools and hospitals — aimed at forcing civilians to abandon Kyiv and other cities. "We have to respond in any way (we can)," he said. "With their attacks on our energy, we have to respond on their energy...

US President Donald Trump on Friday gave Hamas until 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday to accept his 20-point Gaza peace plan, warning that "all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas" if it refuses. The deadline expires late Sunday night Washington time — around 3:30 a.m. IST on Monday. Calling the offer "one last chance," Trump urged Palestinians in Gaza to immediately leave areas of great danger and move to safer parts of the territory. What the plan contains The plan, unveiled at the White House on Monday after Trump's talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire tied to the release of hostages, a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a demilitarized Gaza, and international...

Delhi has switched on a technology-driven nerve centre to police its air pollution in real time, days before the capital's smog season begins. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Thursday inaugurated the Delhi Pollution Control Committee's Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) at the DMRC IT Park in Shastri Park, east Delhi. What the centre does The centre stitches together AI-enabled CCTV cameras, AI-based data analysis, GPS tracking of road-sweeping machines and field teams, and data from air quality monitoring stations. More than 700 construction sites, each spread over more than 500 square metres, are being watched live; if PM10 levels spike at any site, the department concerned and the site owner are alerted immediately. The...

RIYADH: Flames and thick smoke were seen rising from a facility belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco south of the Saudi capital on Saturday, October 3, 2026, according to accounts from an AFP journalist and a witness cited by Reuters. The circumstances surrounding the incident remained unclear. Saudi authorities had issued no immediate confirmation of what happened, and Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of the time of reporting, no group had claimed responsibility for the fire, and no official statement had established its cause. Context: recent Houthi-Saudi escalation In recent weeks, Aramco facilities have been targeted by Yemen's Houthi group as part of its campaign against the kingdom amid the war in...

The Trinamool Congress has lost the chairpersonship of two important Parliamentary panels after Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reconstituted the various department-related standing committees on Saturday. The reconstitution reshuffled the leadership of several committees that scrutinise the work of ministries and government departments. Among the changes, the chairpersonship of the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce has moved from the Trinamool Congress to the BJP. Commerce panel goes to BJP BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi has been appointed the new chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce. He replaces TMC leader Dola Sen, who had held the position until the reconstitution. The commerce...

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday demanded the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, saying all elections held so far were "illegal" and that fresh polls should be conducted using ballot papers. "Today, the entire country is being run on illegal elections. Modi is an illegal Prime Minister, Shah is an illegal minister, and all the chief ministers who have been elected anywhere are illegal. All of them should be dissolved, elections should be held, and elections should be conducted through ballot papers," Kharge told reporters in Kalaburagi, Karnataka. EVMs and voter rolls under attack Kharge alleged that electronic voting machines were being misused, adding that "their own people" were saying this. He...

The co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 attempted to carry out a "terrorist" attack during the flight, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday, according to the state news agency WAM. The statement marks the sharpest official characterization yet of the mid-air confrontation that ended with the aircraft making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia earlier this week. Prosecutors said the co-pilot attacked the aircraft's captain with a crash axe during the flight, setting off the crisis that forced the jet off its scheduled route. The pilot, identified as Smit Machchhar, managed to overpower the co-pilot and land the aircraft safely, an act that has drawn praise from leaders in India and the UAE for saving all 174...

The US Coast Guard said on Friday it had intercepted a large cargo ship carrying fuel bound for Cuba, as the Trump administration's oil embargo against the island nation continues to tighten. The vessel, named "Grace," was stopped on September 5 in the Caribbean Sea between Cuba and Mexico while using tactics to evade authorities, the Coast Guard said. The New York Times reported that the ship was 300 feet (91 meters) long. "Grace was transiting to Cuba, carrying fuel, and was believed to be employing tactics common amongst the dark fleet," the Coast Guard said in a statement. Boarded and escorted to Mexico A Coast Guard team boarded the ship and escorted it to Mexico, where a Mexican Navy inspection team "confirmed the presence of...

Sagardighi MLA Bayron Biswas sustained burn injuries after a fire broke out at his residence in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on Saturday morning, police said. The legislator, a member of the Democratic Trinamool Congress, was rescued from the house and taken to hospital. Police said his condition was stable. Eyewitnesses noticed smoke coming out of the second floor of the residence at around 11 am. Family members and local residents raised an alarm, after which the fire department and West Bengal Police rushed to the spot, rescued the MLA and moved him to a nearby hospital for treatment. What caused the fire The exact cause of the blaze is still under investigation. According to police sources quoted by The Indian Express, the...

A crude oil tanker was struck by an unknown projectile about four nautical miles east of Oman late on Friday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said — hours after another tanker was hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, with five Indian nationals safely rescued from the second vessel. The Oman incident UKMTO's operations centre said the master of a crude oil tanker reported being struck by an unknown projectile on the port side. All crew were reported safe and no environmental impact was reported; authorities are investigating. Vessels operating in the area were advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity. Five Indians rescued The Embassy of India in Oman said it had coordinated the...