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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...

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday announced more than $1.2 billion in penalties against Bank of America, accusing the country's second-largest bank of violating anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws — the third-largest enforcement action in the department's history. The Treasury said the penalty stemmed from the bank's failure to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions, including more than $1 billion involving national security and other priority illicit-finance risks. The department alleged some of the transactions were indicative of Chinese money laundering networks, fraud and potential trade-based money laundering. "When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held a phone call on Tuesday night, October 13, and agreed to work toward concluding a long-pending trade agreement between the two countries at the earliest opportunity, giving fresh momentum to a bilateral relationship that has been steadily improving over the past year. The two leaders reaffirmed their "commitment to conclude CEPA negotiations at the earliest opportunity, supporting efforts to double two-way trade by 2030", according to a press release from the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada. The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement has been under discussion for years and is seen as the anchor of a wider economic reset between New Delhi and Ottawa...

The investigation into the alleged terror plot targeting flydubai Flight FZ1073 has widened, with two more Maldivian pilots employed by the airline reportedly detained in the United Arab Emirates. Detained on October 3 According to Maldivian news outlets Adhadhu and Mihaaru, cited by Times Now on October 14, the two pilots were taken into custody on October 3. Their families have reportedly been formally informed of the detention by the Maldivian Embassy in the UAE. The pilots were not aboard Flight FZ1073, the aircraft at the centre of the September 30 incident. Reported links to the accused co-pilot The two men are reportedly linked to Hammam al-Hammami, the Omani co-pilot accused of attacking pilot Smit Machchhar with an axe in...

The United Nations General Assembly has elected 15 new members to the UN Human Rights Council, but the vote on Tuesday drew sharp criticism from rights groups because not a single seat was actually contested. A vote with no contest All of the council's regional groups put forward exactly as many candidates as there were seats available for the three-year term. As a result, every race was uncontested — the second year in a row that has happened, a situation human rights advocates say makes a mockery of the process. Human Rights Watch's UN director Louis Charbonneau said the uncompetitive vote "makes a mockery of the word 'election'" and argued that no country should be handed a seat on the body "on a silver platter." He urged member...

Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with lung cancer after surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung on Tuesday, the Vatican announced, in a medical bulletin that brought the most serious health news of his 17-month papacy. The 71-year-old pontiff underwent thoracic surgery at Rome's Agostino Gemelli University Hospital on October 13. Doctors confirmed lung adenocarcinoma — a common form of lung cancer — through an intraoperative histological examination of tissue taken during the operation, verifying what preoperative tests had suspected. Surgery "without complications" The procedure was led by chief thoracic surgeon Professor Stefano Margaritora alongside the pope's personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone. The Vatican said the...

India hosted the first-ever meeting of BIMSTEC Home Ministers in New Delhi on Tuesday, bringing together the seven-nation grouping for a day of talks that ended with the adoption of the Delhi Declaration and approval of five regional security initiatives. The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by delegations from all seven member states — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. A senior officials' meeting led by the Union Home Secretary preceded the ministerial session. Delhi Declaration sets the agenda The Declaration commits the grouping to stronger regional cooperation against terrorism, terror financing, drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime and organised crime —...

The Pakistan Army on Tuesday successfully test-launched the extended-range version of the Fatah-2 hypersonic ballistic missile, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced. According to the ISPR, the weapon system is equipped with advanced navigation and state-of-the-art avionics. The military said it is capable of engaging targets with high precision and defeating enemy missile defence systems "due to its unique trajectory and manoeuvrability features." Deep-target capability The ISPR said the extended range would further enhance the Pakistan Army's "reach and capability of engaging deep targets." The military disclosed no exact range or further technical specifications. The test was witnessed by the Commander of the Army...

The Odisha government on Tuesday approved a package of school-education and urban-development measures, headlined by free textbooks for an estimated 28.7 lakh students and a ₹500-crore programme to fix storm-water drainage in cities. The decisions were among 16 proposals cleared at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, covering 11 departments. Chief Secretary Anu Garg briefed reporters in Bhubaneswar after the meeting. Free textbooks for Classes 9 and 10 The free-textbook scheme will cover students of Classes 9 and 10 in government and government-aided secondary schools, excluding those already covered under SC/ST provisions, who already receive textbooks. It will run for five years, from 2025-26 to 2029-30...

The Indian Navy will commission Samarthak, its first indigenously built multi-purpose vessel, at the Naval Base in Karwar on October 16, the Press Information Bureau announced on Tuesday. Built by Larsen and Toubro under the Make in India initiative, Samarthak is the first of four multi-purpose vessels being inducted into the Navy and marks another milestone in India's drive for self-reliance in defence manufacturing. A 'utility' ship for multiple roles Designed primarily for maritime surveillance and patrol, Samarthak is built to switch between a wide range of missions. According to the Defence Ministry, the vessel can undertake low-intensity maritime operations, serve as a platform for target deployment and trials, and function as a...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to October 15 the hearing on a batch of petitions concerning protests in Delhi and the closure of metro stations and disruption of train services around the October 10 demonstrations against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant adjourned the matter because Justice V Mohana was unwell. The bench also granted the Centre and the Delhi Police more time to file responses in contempt proceedings that allege officials disobeyed the court's earlier directions against completely halting public transport ahead of the protests. Judge's illness prompts adjournment The three-judge bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was...

Nandan Nilekani, who heads the government's high-powered task force on exam reforms, has proposed doing away with fixed question papers altogether — suggesting instead that papers be generated by AI at the last minute on exam day from a massive digital question bank. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on Tuesday, the Infosys co-founder argued that the very existence of a ready-made question paper is the root of the leak problem. "Why do we need to have something called 'a' question paper? Because the moment you have a question paper, then that creates an economic incentive for that to be sold," he said, according to ANI. Remove the paper, remove the market Under his proposal, a large repository of questions...

The Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board has rolled back its move toward uniform Friday sermons in mosques across the Union Territory, saying on Tuesday that no such order had been issued and that sermon themes would remain the preachers' call, not the politicians'. Board chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi told reporters the Board had issued "no order" making common sermon themes compulsory and that such decisions "will be taken by preachers and not politicians", according to The Hindu. The clarification came two days after an Executive Magistrate of the Board informed preachers that "only one topic will be highlighted" in Friday sermons. Backlash from across the political and religious spectrum The magistrate's directive had drawn sharp...