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Delhi has just recorded its cleanest September in five years. The city's monthly average Air Quality Index for September 2026 stood at 102, the lowest for the month since 2022, according to data released by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM). The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said the September average was lower than every comparable reading of the last five years: 105 in 2025, 105 in 2024, 108 in 2023 and 104 in 2022. Wednesday's daily reading had entered the "moderate" band at 129, following five consecutive days of "satisfactory" air, according to Central Pollution Control Board data cited by Times Now. Fewer bad-air days across 2026 The improvement is not limited to September. The...

The United States has removed Syria from its list of countries barred from buying or importing American weapons, a significant step in Washington's steady warming of relations with the government in Damascus. In a notice published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, the US Department of State said it was amending the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to take Syria off the list of nations subject to a policy of denial for licenses covering defense articles and defense services. Under the new framework, arms sales requests involving Syria will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The change takes effect on Thursday. Decision was approved in August The notice states that on August 19, 2026, the Secretary of State...

The United States has removed Syria from its list of countries barred from buying or importing American weapons, a significant step in Washington's steady warming of relations with the government in Damascus. In a notice published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, the US Department of State said it was amending the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to take Syria off the list of nations subject to a policy of denial for licenses covering defense articles and defense services. Under the new framework, arms sales requests involving Syria will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The change takes effect on Thursday. Decision was approved in August The notice states that on August 19, 2026, the Secretary of State...

The Railway Recruitment Boards have announced a major recruitment drive for graduates, with 3,477 vacancies on offer under the Non-Technical Popular Categories (NTPC) Graduate recruitment for 2026. The indicative notice has been issued under Centralised Employment Notice No. 06/2026. According to the notice, the online application window will open on October 8, 2026, and candidates can submit their forms until November 6, 2026, up to 11:59 pm. The detailed notification is expected to spell out the post-wise vacancy breakup, eligibility criteria, examination pattern and application fees. Posts and pay on offer The recruitment covers graduate-level NTPC posts including Station Master, Goods Train Manager and Senior Clerk cum Typist...

A federal appeals court on Wednesday halted the execution of Christa Gail Pike — which would have been Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in at least 200 years — about an hour before she was due to die by lethal injection. The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in on a 2-1 vote after execution witnesses and others had already gathered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, CNN reported. Why the court intervened The judges said they needed more time to consider whether Pike’s allegations of childhood sexual abuse and rape were fully taken into account when she was sentenced to death. Her lawyers argue the jury never weighed what they describe as years of severe abuse — including sexual assaults beginning...

From October 1, motorists in Delhi-NCR must carry a valid Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) to buy fuel — vehicles without one will be turned away at petrol and CNG stations, as a strengthened “No PUC, No Fuel” rule takes effect across the region. The measure is a central plank of the winter anti-pollution plan being driven by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM). What changes from October 1 Under CAQM Direction No. 101, issued on May 15, 2026, petrol and CNG stations are to prevent vehicles without a valid PUCC from being refuelled from October 1, Business Today reported. In Delhi, the drive will be enforced in “mission mode” at all 500 fuel stations equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)...

Tehran | Iran's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday strongly condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unannounced visit to the United Arab Emirates and warned of "highly dangerous consequences" from what it described as Israel's expanding presence in the region. In a statement carried by Iranian state media, the ministry called the trip "provocative" and accused Israel of carrying out military attacks against Iran while escalating violence in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. The statement The foreign ministry said it "strongly condemns" the visit and warned regional countries of the "very dangerous consequences" of Israel's presence in the region. The statement urged governments in the region to be "vigilant about the...

Ranchi | A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi on Wednesday framed charges against Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the money laundering case linked to an alleged 8.86-acre land transaction in the city's Bargain area, clearing the way for the trial to begin. Soren appeared before the court through video conferencing. According to the reports, he denied the allegations, which he has described as baseless, and said he was prepared to face the trial. The framing of charges came after the Jharkhand High Court earlier on Wednesday declined to stay the proceedings in the trial court, dealing a setback to the chief minister's legal team. Soren's counsel, Sanjeev Sahay, confirmed that the court had read...

Russia has warned NATO it is prepared to use its entire arsenal, including nuclear weapons, if the Western alliance attempts to cut off the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, according to a diplomatic document sent to member states and seen by Reuters. The warning, issued on Wednesday, sharply escalates tensions between Moscow and the Western alliance more than four and a half years into Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. "Entire arsenal at its disposal" In the document, Moscow accused the alliance of a "dangerous and reckless course" carrying "high risks of the outbreak of a direct armed conflict". The text said this included the possibility of "Russian strikes against decision-making centres in the alliance's member states right from...

Russia launched a large overnight missile and drone attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region into Wednesday, September 30, killing at least three people and knocking out electricity for parts of the Ukrainian capital, officials said. Kyiv city officials reported three deaths inside the capital, while emergency services said a child was killed in the wider region, according to Al Jazeera. United24 Media separately reported at least three killed, including a child, and eight injured in the combined assault on the city and the Kyiv region. The main target was energy infrastructure in and around Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, with strikes damaging the power grid and disrupting electricity supplies as temperatures begin to fall...

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday turned down the bail appeals of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the alleged "larger conspiracy" case tied to the February 2020 riots in North-East Delhi, saying it could not go beyond the conditions laid down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. A division bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Dinesh Bhatt dismissed the two appeals, holding that the High Court was "bound by judicial discipline" and could not modify directions issued by the apex court in the Gulfisha Fatima matter. Tied to Supreme Court's January order The January 5 Supreme Court order had granted bail to five co-accused in the case — Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed — but denied...

Modi, Trump Hold 'Productive' Phone Call on Trade, Defence and Energy Amid Deal Talks Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with US President Donald Trump by telephone on Wednesday, describing the conversation as "productive" in a post on X, as the two countries continue negotiating a trade agreement and managing friction over Washington's new Russia-Iran sanctions law. A Prime Minister's Office statement said the two leaders reviewed bilateral cooperation across trade, defence, energy and critical technologies, and agreed to "maintain close engagement" to advance the Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. They also exchanged views on regional and international issues, including ongoing efforts to advance global peace and security...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down sharply on steep mark-ups in essential medicines, calling a tenfold gap between a cancer drug's price to retailers and its maximum retail price "carnage" and "broad daylight dacoity" — remarks that sent hospital stocks tumbling up to 6 per cent. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, hearing petitions on medicine pricing, generic prescriptions and medical-device controls under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, cited a cancer drug supplied to retailers at Rs 2,700 but carrying an MRP of Rs 27,000. "This is carnage. Plain and simple," the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, questioning where the money goes and who benefits. "Ultimately, the loser is the honest taxpayer. We...

Saudi Arabia has firmly rejected reports that its officials took part in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his unannounced visit to the United Arab Emirates, insisting its position on Israel has not changed. A Saudi official told AFP on Tuesday: "No official meetings. No talks. Nothing whatsoever. Our stance on Israel remains unchanged." The denial followed reports in Israeli media that Saudi representatives had joined a wider meeting after Netanyahu's talks with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Those reports said the discussions centred on security cooperation, Iran, Yemen's Houthis and regional defence systems. Netanyahu's unannounced Abu Dhabi visit Netanyahu travelled to...

Hamas and its allied Islamic Jihad group have agreed to form an unlikely electoral coalition with a bloc led by former top Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, Palestinian officials told The Associated Press. Islamic Jihad deputy secretary general Mohammed al-Hindi confirmed the formation of the alliance in a rare interview with the AP in Istanbul on Monday. He said it would support a "unified national list" that could be made up of independent figures rather than members of the groups themselves. An unlikely partner Dahlan is a former Fatah security chief who went into exile in 2010 after a bitter falling-out with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and who had previously been driven out of Gaza by Hamas. He has since...

A Russian strategic bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons crashed during a training flight in the country's far eastern Amur region on Tuesday, killing at least six of its seven crew members, Russia's Defence Ministry said. The ministry, cited by Russian state media, said the Tu-95 aircraft went down in an uninhabited area of the Amur region, which borders China. One crew member survived the crash and was taken to hospital with injuries, the ministry added. No weapons aboard, investigation under way The bomber was not carrying ammunition or weapons during the training mission, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the ministry. An Aerospace Forces commission has been dispatched to the crash site to establish the...

A FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia early on September 30 after what the airline described as an onboard security incident that left both pilots injured, in one of the most alarming aviation incidents of the year. What happened FlyDubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound from Dubai (DXB) to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport (TLV), departed in the early hours of Wednesday. About two hours into the flight it signalled an emergency, with its transponder squawk changing from 7700 — a general emergency code — to 7500, the code for unlawful interference, according to Flightradar24 data cited by the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The aircraft's altitude data showed extreme fluctuations...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled out a complete ban on firecrackers for this year's Diwali, signalling instead that it is inclined to permit time-bound use of next-generation green firecrackers that meet stricter emission and noise standards. The indication came during a hearing on September 30 in the long-running air-quality case. The bench observed that a blanket prohibition was not on the table, but made clear that incessant, unrestricted bursting of crackers would not be allowed either. The court has been moving toward a calibrated middle path — allowing regulated celebration while keeping pollution in check. Conditions under discussion The court's tentative framework centres on next-generation green crackers with reduced...

The US economy grew at a stronger-than-expected 2.2% annualised pace in the second quarter of 2026, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Wednesday, sharply upgrading its previous estimate of 1.5%. **Stronger consumers, stronger investment** The third estimate of April-June GDP came in well above the 1.5% pace economists polled by Reuters had expected. Consumer spending — which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity — grew at a 3.8% rate, revised up from 3.4%, after growing just 0.7% in the first quarter. Business investment also stayed robust, reflecting the AI infrastructure buildout. Imports rose 12.6% on surging shipments of computer chips and other AI-related products, dragging growth...

The Election Commission of India has withdrawn the additional SIR-related declaration from Form 6 in states where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been completed, days after the full Commission decided the extra declaration would apply only while the exercise was underway. **What changed** The additional declaration has been removed from the ECINET app and the Commission's portal, as well as the websites of the respective Chief Electoral Officers. Applicants seeking new enrolment in such states will now fill only the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, without the extra SIR-linked declaration. The decision followed a September 26 meeting of the full Commission...