Israel & Hamas agree to Phase 1 of Trump's Gaza peace plan: Ceasefire; freeing hostages, prisoners 

Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday agreed to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of US President Donald Trump's initiative to end the two-year war in Gaza that has up-ended the Middle East.

Amid global instability, India-UK ties key pillar of stability, says PM 

Underlining that India and the UK are "natural partners", Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who met his British counterpart Keir Starmer in Mumbai on Thursday, said the "growing partnership" between the two countries "stands as an important pillar of global stability and economic progress in today's time of global instability" - an oblique reference to the US administration's unpredictability after President Donald Trump assumed office earlier this year.

Plan prepared to clean Yamuna up to Prayagraj in 7 months: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that a plan has been prepared to clean the Yamuna river up to Prayagraj within the next seven months.

He was speaking after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for development projects worth around Rs 1,816 crore of the Delhi government in the Capital. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta also attended the event.

Curated safari or ecological disaster? SC pauses eco-tourism park in Aravallis

The Supreme Court has directed the Haryana government not to undertake any work on the pro-posed Aravalli jungle safari, billed as the biggest zoo-safari project of its kind in the world, until the next hearing on October 15.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran issued notice to Haryana on a petition filed by five retired senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers and the environmental rights collective People for Aravallis.

The petition was filed on September 24 as an application as part of the ongoing forest conservation case, TN Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India & Others.

The petitioners have challenged Haryana's plan to develop a jungle safari park over 10,000 acres of land in the ecologically sensitive Aravalli hills, arguing that the project prioritises commercial interests over restoration of the region that is critical to the environmental health of Delhi-NCR.

India to assess extinction risk of 11,000 species, prepare 'red list'

The Centre will for the first time assess the extinction risk of approximately 11,000 species, including 7,000 kinds of flora and 4,000 types of fauna across the country to prepare a 'national red list', as part of its global commitment towards biodiversity protection.

Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh unveiled the roadmap for the national-level five-year (2025-2030) assessment on Thursday, the first day of the World Congress of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at Abu Dhabi.

According to the assessment plan, the aim is to establish a nationally coordinated, participatory and upgradable 'Red Listing' system that accurately reflects the conservation status of India's biodiversity.

Karnataka Cabinet clears 1-day menstrual leave policy 

The Karnataka Cabinet Thursday approved the Menstrual Leave Policy, 2025, under which women can avail a one-day paid leave, and an "active step towards creating a conducive atmosphere for women to prioritise their health"

SC: Surrogacy age limit won't apply if process began before Act came into force

Stating that the object of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, was not to "frustrate the rights of intending couples", the Supreme Court on Thursday said the age bar under it will not apply to those who had begun the process before the law came into force on January 25, 2022.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and KV Viswanathan said: "The rule against retrospective operation of statutes applies... in order to preserve the rights of intending couples... If we do not apply the aforesaid principle of interpretation of statutes, we would (be) failing in our duty to uphold the constitutional right of such intending couples under Article 21 of the Constitution."

Political row after HC stays 42% quota for Backward Classes

Telangana's Ruling Congress party engaged in a war of words with the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and BJP on Thursday after the High Court issued an interim order staying both the 42% reservation for Backward Classes and the upcoming local body polls until further orders.

China says artificial diamond export curbs to kick in before US tariff truce deadline

China on Thursday announced export curbs on some types of artificial diamonds set to take effect just before the US-China tariff truce is scheduled to end, further tightening Beijing's grip over high-tech manufacturing supply chains.

Certain artificial diamond micropowders, single crystals, wire saws and grinding wheels will require an export licence from November 8, China's commerce ministry and customs authority said in a statement.

Hungarian master of apocalypse

For a writer who has spent decades cultivating his own difficult, unyielding form of literary soil - slow-growing, deeply rooted, indifferent to the pressures of the season -the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature to Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, 71, awarded for his "singular prose that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art", seems only befitting.

For years, Krasznahorkai's fiction has walked the knife-edge between despair and grace, winning him the Man Booker Prize in 2015, and the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's highest cultural honour, in 2004, among others.