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The Indian Air Force has begun the second edition of Exercise Tarang Shakti, its flagship multinational air exercise, at Air Force Station Jodhpur and adjoining air bases in Rajasthan. The drills opened on September 26, 2026, and will run through October 12. Eight foreign air forces — from Australia, Bangladesh, France, Germany, Greece, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and the United States — are taking part with air assets alongside the IAF. Another 32 countries are attending as observers, taking total participation to around 40 nations, with about 10 air chiefs or equivalent senior officers also expected. A first for the F-35 The headline attraction this year is the participation of US F-35 fighters. Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit...

The United States and China have agreed to reduce tariffs on $30 billion of goods, the White House announced on Friday, the first concrete economic outcome of this week's high-profile summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington. What was agreed "The two countries reached consensus on recommendations for more favorable tariff treatment for $30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction," the White House said in a statement. The tariff reductions would apply to US exports such as agricultural goods, wood and cosmetics, as well as US imports including small appliances, toys and decorations. A cordial but inconclusive summit Xi's three-day visit, his first to the US since 2015, ended on...

The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to seal 16,726 unauthorised structures in Meerut and proceed with the demolition of illegal constructions, in one of the most sweeping enforcement orders of its kind in the state. The court's order A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan, hearing a contempt petition over non-compliance with earlier directives on illegal constructions, ordered authorities to take action against all 16,726 illegal structures identified in the city's Zone-A at the earliest. The number comes from a survey by 16 teams, which found that 12,907 of the structures are residential, 874 are residential-cum-non-residential, and 2,945 are non-residential. The town was divided into four zones —...

Russian and Ukrainian strikes killed at least seven people on Saturday as both sides intensified their long-range aerial campaigns, officials said — pushing a war now well into its fifth year toward another winter of attrition. Russian attacks killed four people across Ukraine on Saturday, officials said, as Moscow hammered the country with cruise and ballistic missiles, glide bombs and jet-powered drones while frontline progress has slowed, more than four and a half years after the full-scale invasion began. Deaths on both sides Two women in Zaporizhzhia died when they were trapped beneath the rubble of their destroyed home, the region's military administration said. A separate Russian attack on the city of Sumy killed two more...

A Congolese military aircraft carrying a senior defence delegation crashed in the country's southwest on Friday, killing all 14 people on board, the army said. Among the dead were two lieutenant generals — the head of the military court and the auditor general of the armed forces. The plane was returning to the capital, Kinshasa, from the southwestern city of Kikwit when it developed a technical fault, according to military officials. It attempted to land in Kenge, in Kwango province, where officials said there was no landing strip available. The aircraft came down in a residential plot, provincial deputy governor Remy Saki Bokinda said. Two senior officers identified Military spokesperson Major General Efomi Ekenge confirmed that...

Indonesia has extended its search operation after the death toll from a ferry that sank in the Java Sea almost two weeks ago jumped to 64, an official said on Saturday. Dozens of people are still missing. The Virgo Transport 8 was carrying 213 passengers and 30 crew when it lost contact with its shipping company after departing from Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya, on Java island, for Banjarmasin on Borneo. Yudhi Bramantyo, an official with Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, told a news conference that of the 243 people on board, 172 had been accounted for — 108 survived, 64 died, and 71 were still being searched for. Rescuers recovered four bodies from the submerged ship on Saturday, while seven others were...

At least 11 people were killed and 30 others were wounded on Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a police checkpoint in Pakistan's Dera Ismail Khan district. The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan's provincial emergency service, Rescue 1122, said the blast occurred near Aman Mela in the Darazinda area of the district. Rescue teams from the nearby Darazinda station reached the scene within minutes and began relief operations, providing medical assistance to the wounded and transporting them to hospital. Spokesperson Bilal Faizi confirmed the casualty figures, and police said several of the injured were in critical condition. Dera Ismail Khan, in...

A powerful offshore nor'easter is battering the US East Coast from the Carolinas to New England, bringing high winds, dangerous coastal flooding and widespread travel disruption through the weekend and into next week. More than 30 million coastal residents were under wind advisories on Saturday, September 26, and a similar number faced coastal flooding advisories or warnings, according to the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. Forecasters warned of widespread major coastal flooding around Saturday's high tides, and the governors of New York and New Jersey declared states of emergency. Compounding tides The slow-moving storm is arriving as monthly tides peak during the full moon — one that coincides with the...

Opposition parties in the INDIA bloc are likely to meet in New Delhi on September 30 to coordinate a joint response to their concerns over the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, according to sources cited by news agencies. The proposed meeting could be held at the Constitution Club of India, bringing together senior alliance leaders amid rising political heat over the poll panel. Sources said the agenda would focus on the Election Commission and related issues, with consultations still underway on the final list of participants. A joint press conference by opposition leaders is also planned after the meeting. The meeting plan follows a day of Congress-led demonstrations on Friday, when...

India has used its right of reply at the United Nations General Assembly to denounce Pakistan's "falsehoods" and "deceit", describing its leadership as a "puppet" regime of the army and warning that continued terrorism will carry consequences. Petal Gahlot, First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, delivered the rebuttal on Friday night (September 25) after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used the UNGA podium to credit US President Donald Trump with a "timely intervention" in the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict while once again raising the Kashmir issue. Sharp words at the General Assembly India said it had listened to "hypocritical homilies about democratic rights and human values" from a regime whose capital was...

Bangkok has declared all 50 of its districts flood disaster zones after nearly 300 millimetres of rain in about 48 hours overwhelmed the Thai capital's drainage systems and sent floodwater pouring into roads, homes and businesses. Governor Chadchart Sittipunt signed the citywide order on Saturday morning (September 26), extending a disaster designation that had initially covered only three heavily affected districts — Nong Chok, Suan Luang and Khan Na Yao — when the rains began on September 25. Officials said the expansion would speed up coordination of relief efforts and the distribution of resources across the entire capital. 300mm in 48 hours overwhelms drainage The rains, which began late Thursday evening, dumped the equivalent...

MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray have announced a joint march in Mumbai on October 4 to protest the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, deepening the cousins' political partnership after years of bitter rivalry. The announcement, made on September 26, said the two parties — the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) — would invite other political parties to join the march and appealed to people across Maharashtra to take part. The time and venue for the march are to be announced later. In a joint statement, the two leaders accused the Election Commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, of functioning in the interests of the ruling...

Dozens of diplomats walked out of the United Nations General Assembly hall on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium for his address, in one of the most visible protests of the 81st General Assembly session. The Palestinian Mission to the UN had called for a collective walkout when Netanyahu was introduced in New York on September 24. Reuters reported that "dozens" of delegates left, while a review of session footage by Anadolu Agency found that representatives of roughly 70 countries either walked out or simply did not attend the session. Delegations reported to have left included Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia, Spain, Brazil, Peru, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia...

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met on Saturday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, officials from both sides said, in the first direct talks between the two countries' top diplomats since before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting focused on bilateral relations and the war in Ukraine, according to the Russian foreign ministry. A source in the German delegation said Wadephul pressed Lavrov to do "everything possible" to reach an agreement on grain exports via the Black Sea. A plea on grain and food security Shipping through the Black Sea has been sharply curtailed in recent months as Ukraine and Russia have targeted each other's port...

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said early Saturday that it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and two drones launched by the Iran-backed Houthis toward the kingdom, in a fresh escalation of the group's months-long campaign of attacks against Saudi Arabia. According to a Reuters report from Cairo dated September 26, the coalition said in posts on X that the missiles were headed toward Khamis Mushait while the drones were aimed at the capital, Riyadh. The coalition said it was continuing to monitor the missile and drone threat, without providing further details. Saudi civil defence sent overnight alerts for Khamis Mushait and Abha, though none for Riyadh. A campaign running since July The Houthis, who control the most populous...

The Union Home Ministry has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act across large parts of Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh for another six months, effective October 1, 2026, following a review of the law-and-order situation in the three northeastern states. State-by-state coverage Three separate Gazette notifications issued on September 25 invoke Section 3 of AFSPA, 1958, which allows the Centre to declare an area "disturbed" when the use of armed forces is considered necessary to assist civil authorities. Unless withdrawn earlier, the extension runs for six months. In Manipur, the disturbed-area declaration continues across most of the state, with a carve-out for areas under 13 police stations in five districts —...

US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran's proposal for a seven-day roadmap to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks over Tehran's nuclear programme, turning down an offer that Iranian officials presented at the United Nations General Assembly this week. A day-by-day timetable Araghchi laid out a precise schedule. "The seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan," he said. The initial steps would take about four to five days to complete, the strait would reopen on the sixth day, and on the seventh day talks with the US would begin toward a final deal on the nuclear programme. The foreign minister framed the offer as a matter of basic fairness. "You cannot bomb a country, threaten its...

The Maharashtra government on Saturday issued a government resolution declaring drought in 265 of the state's 358 talukas, following prolonged rainfall deficits that have caused widespread crop losses. The decision is based on a report from the state's Agriculture Commissioner. The declaration covers major parts of Vidarbha, Marathwada, North Maharashtra and the Pune division, placing nearly three-quarters of the state's talukas under drought status and formalising the scale of agricultural distress this season. Worst-hit districts Yavatmal emerged as the worst-affected district with 16 taluks declared drought-hit, followed by Jalgaon with 15. Ahilyanagar, Nagpur, Amravati and Nanded each have 14 taluks on the list, reflecting the...

The White House meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week ended without any breakthrough agreement on artificial intelligence, though the two leaders agreed on a new name for the technology both say they favour. Trump told reporters outside the White House on September 26 that the United States would not slow down its AI development. "The United States of America is not going to be putting on brakes," he said, estimating that the US leads China in the technology by a year or two. What the two sides said During the visit, Xi said on September 24 that the US and China must "ensure that the development of AI is always under human control." Trump, however, played down the need for joint guardrails...

India is enjoying one of its finest Asian Games campaigns at Aichi-Nagoya 2026, with the country's athletes piling up medals across shooting, kabaddi, cricket, athletics and more. The standout moment so far has been kabaddi, where both the men's and women's teams struck gold by defeating Iran in their finals. The women's kabaddi team edged Iran 37-34 in a tense final to retain their title, extending India's unbeaten record in the event ever since women's kabaddi was introduced at the Asian Games in 2010. The men followed with an equally commanding performance, beating Iran 40-34 to claim gold. Shooting has been India's biggest medal factory. Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet — paired at the last minute — won gold in the 10m air pistol mixed...