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UP Seat-Sharing Tussle: SP May Offer Congress Just 53-55 Seats as Congress Holds Firm on 150 Seat-sharing negotiations between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are heading for a sharp tussle, with the two allies far apart on numbers. The Congress is insisting it will not contest fewer than 150 seats, while the SP is weighing a performance-based formula that would leave its partner with only around 53 to 55 constituencies. The two formulas According to reports citing SP sources, the party is working on a winnability-based formula under which the Congress could get 53 to 55 Assembly seats, while the SP itself is preparing to contest around 350 of the state's 403 seats. The...

US President Donald Trump said late on Friday that his administration will send a one-time $90 payment to more than 20 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, to help offset the cost of their monthly medical insurance premiums. The announcement, made on his Truth Social platform, said the payments would come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which Trump said Congress had given $2 billion to improve the Medicare fee-for-service programme. **How it will be paid** The White House released some details of the plan on its website, saying most eligible seniors would receive the payment as a direct deposit of $90 in early October. Those without direct deposit on file will receive a check to the mailing address registered with Medicare...

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the government has secured the deportation of Navpreet Singh, described as a "hardened" narco-trafficking kingpin, from Turkiye, and that he has been brought back to India and put behind bars in connection with alleged drug trafficking and other criminal cases. In a post on X, Shah said Singh had obtained Turkish citizenship under the fake identity of Navab Virk and had continued to smuggle heroin and methamphetamine from Afghanistan into India. Indian agencies, he said, had "tracked him down, ripping apart veil after veil to unmask his true identity, and secured his deportation." **"Historic milestone", says Shah** The Home Minister termed the development a "historic milestone of the...

Breaking: Flydubai Co-Pilot Identified as Hamam al-Hammami, Was Barred From Flying in Oman Over Extremist Views The Omani co-pilot accused of stabbing his captain in an attempt to crash flydubai flight FZ1073 has been identified as Hamam al-Hammami, and investigators say he was previously removed from flying duties in Oman over concerns about his ideological views. The revelation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and other US and regional outlets on Friday, has turned the September 30 incident into an international terrorism investigation. The flight, carrying 174 passengers and crew, departed Dubai for Tel Aviv at 7:05 a.m. local time on Wednesday. While cruising at 34,000 feet over Saudi Arabia, the co-pilot allegedly...

New Delhi: The protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was set to continue at Jantar Mantar in the national capital on Saturday, a day after hundreds of demonstrators were detained across Delhi during the Gandhi Jayanti agitation. The announcement of the renewed demonstration came from All India Students' Association national president Neha Bora, according to a live report. Student groups, opposition parties and the self-styled Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) have been jointly spearheading the agitation. Why protesters are demanding his exit The protesters allege irregularities in the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and claim the exercise could lead to the...

Brazil goes to the polls on Sunday for a presidential election pitting leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against far-right rival Flávio Bolsonaro, in one of the most consequential votes in the region this year. The race has remained exceptionally tight, with recent polls showing Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro essentially tied. If neither candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the vote on Sunday, a runoff will be held on October 25. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has said he will pardon his father if elected. The elder Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup after Lula defeated him in the 2022 election. Diplomatic closures add tension The final days of the campaign have been...

Punjab Police have arrested 11 people and identified 28 more in connection with the recent mob violence and unrest at Lovely Professional University (LPU) and Chitkara University, with officers tracing the spread of misleading social media content that allegedly triggered the incidents. Nine arrests were made in connection with the unrest at LPU, including a minor, police said on Friday. Seven of those arrested are students and two are outsiders, Jalandhar Range DIG Naveen Singla said, adding that 20 more people involved in the LPU case have been identified. Arrests were made from locations including Phagwara, Jammu and Mumbai, and some of the accused had allegedly posed as protesters before engaging in arson. Rumours traced to social...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet all BJP MLAs from Haryana, along with Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and state BJP president Archana Gupta, in New Delhi on Saturday evening, in what is being seen as a key political and organisational review ahead of a string of electoral challenges in northern India. According to sources cited by news agency IANS, the interaction is expected to focus on political and organisational issues concerning Haryana and neighbouring states. Discussions are likely to cover preparations and the political situation ahead of the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections, as well as the Opposition's narrative around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The meeting assumes significance as the...

A car drove into a crowd of Newcastle Knights supporters in the Australian state of New South Wales on Saturday morning, injuring nine people — including children — as fans gathered to farewell the team bus ahead of Sunday's NRL grand final. Police arrested the driver at the scene. The vehicle struck fans on Newcastle Link Road at the Transfield Drive roundabout near Wallsend at about 9:30am, according to the Australian Associated Press. The crowd had turned out to send off the Knights before their NRL grand final against the Sydney Roosters in Sydney on Sunday — the club's first grand final appearance since 2001. Nine injured NSW Ambulance reported one person in critical condition, one in critical but stable condition, and seven in...

North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile on Saturday morning, sharply raising tensions with the South amid an escalating row over a landmine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone last month. Japan's Defense Ministry said it had detected the launch of at least one missile from North Korea's eastern coast, which flew an estimated 680 kilometres and reached a maximum altitude of 90 kilometres. The missile landed in waters of the Sea of Japan, outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from its shores, the ministry said. South Korea's military also confirmed the launch, estimating that the weapon had travelled about 700 kilometres. The U.S...

The Congress on Friday carried out a major reshuffle of its Uttar Pradesh organisation, appointing three-time MLA Aradhana Misra 'Mona' as president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) and Saharanpur MP Imran Masood as the unit's working president. Misra, the MLA from Rampur Khas in Pratapgarh district, replaces Ajay Rai, who had headed the state unit since August 2023. The appointments, announced with immediate effect, come as the party prepares for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Who is Aradhana Misra Misra is a prominent woman leader in the state Congress and until now served as leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. She is the daughter of senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari...

Saudi Arabia has rejected viral social-media claims of a suicide bombing attempt at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, saying the incident involved a man who was arrested for harassing passersby and spreading fear among pilgrims — not for carrying an explosive device. The kingdom's General Directorate of Public Security said there is "no truth" to the claims circulating online. What the viral video showed A video that spread rapidly on X, TikTok and Telegram showed security personnel tackling and subduing a man who appeared to carry a black bag inside the Grand Mosque complex. Sensation-seeking posts reframed the arrest as a narrow escape from a terror attack, with some outlets — including RT — reporting that the suspect was a suicide bomber...

The Border Security Force shot dead two suspected Pakistani intruders along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab's Tarn Taran district on Friday (October 2, 2026), after troops challenged three men who kept moving toward Indian territory in daylight, officials said. Pakistan Rangers has sought the return of the bodies, which will be handed over once legal formalities are complete. Daylight bid foiled near the border fence The incident was reported around 11.30 am near the Tarn Taran border. A senior BSF official told The Hindu that three men were seen proceeding toward the border in daylight, trying to take cover behind the standing paddy crop to enter India. BSF personnel challenged them and warned them to stop, but the men continued...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has renewed his call for the United States to join the International Criminal Court and enforce its arrest warrants — including the 2024 warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mamdani made the remarks in an interview on comedian Theo Von's "This Past Weekend" podcast, aired Thursday. "I believe that the US government should join the ICC. It should enforce its warrants for everyone," he said. "If I had my say, the US government would have joined the ICC, honored every single warrant that they've issued." Asked about Netanyahu, Mamdani called the Israeli prime minister "the architect of a horrific genocide," referring to allegations arising from Israel's military campaign in Gaza...

Japan is moving toward creating its own CIA-style external intelligence agency, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announcing that her government will introduce the country's first national intelligence strategy. Takaichi made the announcement at the inaugural meeting of an expert panel on intelligence capabilities earlier this week. "We must strengthen our intelligence capabilities to ensure public safety and protect the national interest," she said, adding that before the strategy is announced, the government will issue directions for reforms across the intelligence sector. The decision follows a proposal from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party calling for the creation of an external intelligence agency modelled on the Central...

Pakistan's federal government and leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, held talks on Friday in a bid to defuse political tensions ahead of the opposition party's planned long march to Islamabad on October 4. The first round of negotiations took place in the chamber of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who is facilitating the dialogue. The six-member government delegation was led by the prime minister's adviser on political affairs, Rana Sanaullah, and included Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam, along with Pakistan Peoples Party representatives Syed Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman and Aijaz Jakhrani. The PTI side was represented...

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring formally submitted his resignation on Friday, ending a four-and-a-half-year tenure that has been dogged by factional infighting in recent months. Warring, the Ludhiana MP, handed his resignation to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, saying he had been appointed by Gandhi himself and therefore owed the resignation to him. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Warring made no secret of what he believes forced him out. He said he got the impression that Sachin Pilot, recently made the AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab, wanted him removed as state president. "I think that the new general secretary thought it best to remove me," Warring said, adding that he had met...

Title: Time Report: Trump Quizzed Grok for Hours About Maduro Before Ordering Venezuela Raid US President Donald Trump spent hours questioning Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok about Venezuela — including how Venezuelans would react if the United States captured Nicolas Maduro — weeks before ordering the military operation that seized the Venezuelan leader, according to a new investigative report by Time magazine. The account, attributed by Time to a Trump insider who witnessed the exchange, describes a clandestine December 2025 Oval Office meeting between Trump and Musk. During the visit, Trump reportedly fired question after question at Grok about his presidency, the legacy he would leave behind, and then a specific scenario: what would...

Title: Paris Probe Clears BAPS of Asking Eiffel Tower to Remove Women Staff During Visit An official Paris investigation has cleared the Hindu socio-spiritual organisation BAPS of allegations that it asked the Eiffel Tower to remove female employees during a private visit by its delegation, finding that a limited request was distorted as it passed through the landmark's management. The probe by the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris, whose findings were reported by Le Parisien and AFP, found no written instruction, email or explicit request from BAPS seeking the exclusion of women. "There is not a single written document, not a single email expressing this opinion," the report stated, according to Firstpost. How the...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his administration was considering establishing a military base in Poland, predicted the Ukraine conflict would be resolved, and described Brazil's election as "very important," as he addressed a wide range of foreign and domestic issues before leaving for Texas. Asked whether the United States could establish a base in Poland, Trump expressed strong support for the country. "Well, we're looking at that and we have great respect for the president of Poland. So we're looking at that and it could happen," he told reporters. Pressed later on why he had not made a final decision on a US Army base in Poland, he suggested a decision may already have been taken: "Well, you don't know if I made...