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The loss Rupi Soren, the mother of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and wife of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha founder Shibu Soren, died at a private hospital in Ranchi on Wednesday evening. She was 80. Dr Nitesh Priya, director of the Hill View Hospital and Research Centre, told news agency PTI that she died around 8.30 pm after being put on ventilator support earlier in the day. She had been admitted to the hospital on September 18 with breathing difficulty and was battling multiple complications under constant monitoring by a team of doctors. A pillar of the Soren family Rupi Soren stood beside Shibu Soren through decades of his political and social struggle during the Jharkhand movement, marrying him on January 1, 1962 and shouldering...

The Trump administration has begun direct talks with Myanmar's military-installed government, a sharp reversal of Washington's policy of isolating the junta since the 2021 coup, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing US officials and others familiar with the outreach. Highest-level contact since the coup US Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Michael Vance led the outreach, a role in Myanmar policy that had not previously been reported. Vance joined talks with coup leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyitaw on September 15–16 — the highest-level US contact since the coup. The meeting aimed at securing the release of American businessman Adam Castillo, detained at Yangon airport on June 11...

France's student protest movement exploded into its biggest day of unrest yet on Tuesday, with authorities reporting nearly 500 arrests and dozens of injured security personnel as demonstrations against deteriorating conditions at high schools swept the country. The interior ministry said 488 people were arrested and 43 security personnel wounded during the day, according to AFP; Asiaone reported 48 security personnel injured. Turnout estimates diverged sharply: the ministry counted 256,000 demonstrators nationwide, while union organisers put the figure at 450,000. More than 6,500 arrests have been made since the movement began on September 28, Japan Times reported citing Bloomberg. Macron convenes emergency meeting President...

DMK president M K Stalin on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay over the state's law and order situation, listing a series of murders reported in the last 24 hours and demanding action. "Take action, CM sir," the former chief minister said in a statement, taking a dig at the TVK government's handling of violent crime. The incidents cited Stalin listed several incidents, including the murder of 19-year-old Sathiyaseelan in Chennai's Mylapore; the killing of a father in Tiruttani who had filed a police complaint against a man accused of harassing his 17-year-old daughter; and the murder of an elderly woman, Janabai, at her home in Salem, allegedly for her jewellery. He also referred to the...

India has asked Russian authorities for a fresh update on the whereabouts of 69 Indian nationals believed to be serving in the Russian military, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday. The request was conveyed during the ministry's regular media briefing in New Delhi, where spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal laid out the latest accounting of Indians recruited into the Russian armed forces. The numbers so far According to Jaiswal, a total of 259 Indian nationals are believed to have been recruited into the Russian armed forces. Through the government's sustained engagement with Moscow, 139 of them have secured early discharge and returned home. Fifty-one Indians have died while serving on the frontlines of the conflict in...

As Israel marked the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks, Israeli forces carried out new strikes across Gaza on Wednesday, with Palestinian officials reporting five people killed. What happened Al-Shifa hospital said two people were killed in an overnight strike in Gaza City. Gaza's civil defence identified one of them as Mohamed Tamous, whom it described as a volunteer for the agency. The Israeli military said it struck and killed two Hamas militants as they exited Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, claiming one had planted explosives near the "Yellow Line" and identifying Tamous as a Hamas military-wing sniper who also worked for civil defence — an account the civil defence agency disputes. In Khan Yunis, Nasser...

Delhi Police on Wednesday detained Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other INDIA bloc leaders as they marched toward the designated protest site at Jantar Mantar, escalating a two-day confrontation between the opposition and the Election Commission. Detained on back-to-back days The detention on October 7 came a day after the opposition alliance's march to the Election Commission headquarters, during which Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Akhilesh Yadav and others were stopped and later held for hours inside the Akashvani Bhavan premises before being released late at night. On Wednesday, police intercepted the leaders' buses near Jantar Mantar, saying prior permission was required for the demonstration...

Attacks on two Saudi airports have killed three people and injured 36, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said on October 7, marking a sharp escalation in the widening conflict between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition. What GACA confirmed The strikes hit Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Wednesday and Abha International Airport on Tuesday, according to the aviation authority's statement. At Abha on October 6, two people were killed — identified only by nationality as a Moroccan woman and an Algerian woman — and 28 people were wounded, with injuries ranging from minor to severe. At Riyadh on October 7, one person was killed — a Sudanese resident — and eight were wounded: five Saudi nationals...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a new slogan, "We Will Do It," on October 7, setting out an ambitious roadmap for a developed India by 2047 at the 'Viksit Bharat Sankalp Sabha' in New Delhi. The event marked 25 years since Modi took oath as Gujarat's chief minister on October 7, 2001 — a milestone he described as 12 and a half years in Gujarat followed by 12 and a half years as Prime Minister across three consecutive terms. What the slogan promises Modi tied the slogan to a set of goals for 2047, the centenary of India's independence: making India a top-three economy, achieving self-reliance, becoming a global manufacturing hub, hosting the Olympics, and stepping into space. He said India's 140 crore citizens would together...

The FBI has arrested an 18-year-old Minnesota man on terrorism charges, accusing him of plotting a mass shooting at the Mall of America in support of ISIS, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday. Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud of Richfield was taken into custody on October 6 and charged by federal complaint with knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition to commit a federal crime of terrorism. The charges are allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The alleged plan According to the complaint, Mohamud began exchanging messages with a confidential source around December 2024, writing that if he could not travel to Somalia to fight for a designated foreign terrorist organization, he...

King Charles has told his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor that he may not use money from the monarch's private funds to pay for a legal challenge against Thames Valley Police, according to palace sources cited by The Guardian. Andrew, who was stripped of his royal titles, receives an annual stipend from the King's private funds, but palace sources said the money must not be used to fund his judicial review. He lives at Marsh Farm on the King's private Sandringham estate in Norfolk. The legal challenge The judicial review challenges the search warrants Thames Valley Police obtained when officers arrested Andrew and searched his homes earlier this year. He was arrested on February 19 on suspicion of misconduct in public office, a...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Mumbai on October 9, during what will be the UK leader's first official visit to India, following an invitation from his Indian counterpart. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Modi will host Starmer in Mumbai at around 10 am on October 9. The two leaders will then attend the CEO Forum at the Jio World Centre at around 1:40 pm, followed by the sixth edition of the Global Fintech Fest at around 2:45 pm, where both are expected to deliver keynote addresses. Vision 2035 review on the table The leaders will meet to take stock of the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership under the 'Vision 2035' roadmap — a focused, time-bound ten-year programme...

India has formally proposed a three-part truce framework for the Russia-Ukraine war, stepping up its diplomatic role in a conflict that is now in its fifth year. New Delhi conveyed the plan to the Ukrainian leadership during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's visit to Kyiv last month. The proposal centres on three linked measures: an end to attacks on energy facilities and other critical infrastructure, the continued movement of grain and energy through Black Sea ports, and a halt to strikes on commercial vessels in the strategic waterway. Ukraine calls it the "most comprehensive" Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha confirmed on October 2 that Kyiv had received the Indian proposal and described it as the most...

Indian pilot Captain Smit Machchhar, who helped prevent a mid-air disaster aboard flydubai flight FZ1073, suffered a depressed skull fracture during the cockpit attack and underwent emergency surgery before being airlifted to the United Arab Emirates, where he is now recovering. The 38-year-old captain was allegedly attacked by his Omani co-pilot, Hamam al-Hammami, with an emergency crash axe inside the cockpit of the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight on September 30. According to doctors cited in reports, the blow left a "depressed fracture fragment of skull" — a break in which a piece of the skull is pressed inward toward the brain. Emergency surgery was performed in Saudi Arabia, where the flight made an emergency landing in Tabuk, before...

The Supreme Court has set aside elections in 50 municipal wards of Punjab and ordered fresh polls within six weeks under a monitoring mechanism overseen by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The detailed written order, passed on September 28 by a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, was officially made available on Wednesday. The 50 wards comprise 28 in the Aam Aadmi Party-ruled Patiala Municipal Corporation — including the wards of the city's senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor — and 22 in the Dharamkot and Baghapurana municipal councils of Moga district. The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, accepted the findings of a one-member commission headed by retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge...

US Vice President JD Vance said Iran must make a "meaningful" reduction in its nuclear enrichment capacity to satisfy US demands and end the seven-month war, in an exclusive interview with Reuters conducted after a campaign trip to Alaska. The US demand Vance, a longtime skeptic of US involvement in foreign wars who has taken a leading role in negotiating a settlement to the conflict, said any agreement would require Iran to actually reduce its enrichment capacity rather than offer assurances of future drawdowns. "If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel? And if you want to show commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, don't build highly enriched fuel. That's a very basic threshold issue," Vance...

The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission has released the Group 4 Notification 2026, opening applications for 6,574 vacancies across state government departments under the Combined Civil Services Examination-IV. What the notification covers The recruitment drive, issued under Advertisement No. 747 and Notification No. 11/2026 on October 6, 2026, spans 46 post entries across various Tamil Nadu government departments, boards and corporations. It covers Village Administrative Officer (VAO), Junior Assistant, Bill Collector, Revenue Assistant, Tax Collector, Typist, Steno-Typist, Executive Officer Grade IV, Forest Watcher, Forest Guard and several other Group IV posts. The Commission has noted the vacancy figures are tentative and may be...

Security forces have launched a massive search operation in the forests of Kokernag in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district after two soldiers went missing during a combing exercise, officials said on Wednesday. Contact lost during anti-terror sweep The soldiers lost contact with their unit during a combing operation in the Kokernag area, where security forces were conducting a sweep to track down terrorists, officials said. A large search has been launched across the forested terrain to locate the two missing personnel. No further details about the soldiers' identities or the circumstances in which contact was lost have been officially released, and authorities have not attributed the disappearance to any specific cause. Second...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated Phase 1 of the Navi Mumbai International Airport, a Rs 19,650-crore greenfield project billed as India's largest airport development, and dedicated the fully completed Mumbai Metro Line-3 to the nation during a day of high-profile infrastructure launches in Maharashtra. Navi Mumbai International Airport opens its doors The Prime Minister undertook a walkthrough of the newly built airport around 3 PM before inaugurating it at around 3:30 PM, the Prime Minister's Office said. Developed under a public-private partnership, the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) is India's largest greenfield airport project, spread over 1,160 hectares. It will serve as the second international...

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will hold critical talks with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Beijing on October 8-9, as the two sides head into the final stretch of discussions to tackle their trade tensions. What's on the table The 27-nation bloc is deeply concerned about its trade imbalance with China and the damage Brussels says it is inflicting on key European industries. The European Union's trade deficit in goods with China hit around 360 billion euros in 2025. According to EU spokesman Olof Gill, priorities for the EU include the management of Chinese exports to the bloc, Europe's access to the Chinese market, and export controls on rare earths. China, the dominant supplier, restricted exports of rare earths last year...