IndianRepublic.in

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said India and the United States were “perfectly aligned” on the questions that would shape the century, as both governments welcomed progress towards a bilateral trade agreement and pledged to conclude it early Image Via: @SecRubio on X Rubio held talks in Mumbai with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on 20 October at the start of a two-day visit, his second to India after one in May. India’s foreign ministry said the two reviewed the full range of relations and exchanged views on trade, defence, technology and energy security, as well as on regional and global developments. Addressing Indian business leaders at a reception marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, Rubio said the relationship was defining, in a positive way, what the twenty-first century could look like. He named emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and the security of trade routes as the areas where the two countries...

Indian  Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a Vijayadashami address in the capital on Tuesday to call on Indians to identify and defeat what he described as the enemies of the nation, and to urge every political party and institution to stand together in the national interest Image Source: @narendramodi on X Those who attacked the honour and dignity of the country, who divided society and who harboured hatred towards Indian culture were enemies of the nation, Modi said, according to an English rendering of his remarks issued by his office. He asked his audience to renew a pledge of Nation First and said India should unite against such forces. He cited a Vedic invocation calling for shared thoughts and shared councils, and said all institutions of the nation and all political parties should stand together where the national interest was concerned. The address made no reference to the protests that have run since early October over the Election Commission’s nationwide revision o...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Washington and New Delhi were near agreement on a trade deal, with only a handful of outstanding items, as he began a visit to India Image Source: @USAmbIndia on X “We’re about as close as you can be without having executed the agreement,” Rubio told reporters in Mumbai. He said a small number of items remained to be settled, that he expected that to happen shortly, and that he hoped to announce and then sign the agreement soon. He noted that trade agreements are not negotiated by the State Department, but said he and the national security adviser were closely involved. Welcome back to India! https://t.co/B9xH1XB93E — Ambassador Sergio Gor (@USAmbIndia) October 20, 2026 On energy, Rubio said the American delegation would raise with Reliance Industries the prospect of producing oil in Venezuela. He described India as “ a refining superpower ” with the capacity to process heavy crude, and said Indian companies held existing co...

Across the northern plains the monsoon has mostly withdrawn, the sun has lost its edge and there is a thinness to the air at dawn and again after dusk that was not there just a fortnight ago. Into that changed light falls Vijayadashami, the day that marks the defeat of evil and the day India’s long season of festivals begins in earnest Image Source: @narendramodi on X In northern, central and western India it marks the day Rama killed Ravana, the demon king who had abducted his wife Sita. In the east, the south and the northeast it marks Durga’s victory over Mahishasura, a demon with a buffalo’s head. Effigies of Ravana are burnt in the evening. Large crowds gather at maidans across the country to watch the biggest fireworks. In hundreds of smaller towns the burning closes the Ramlila, a cycle of plays about Rama performed over the preceding nights. Villagers build the stages, paint the actors and make the effigies themselves. UNESCO added the Ramlila to its list of the intangible...

India called on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on Tuesday to dismantle what it described as the entire ecosystem of terrorism, and said connectivity projects across the region would not last unless they respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries they passed through Image Via: @rajnathsingh on X India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who led India’s delegation to the 25th meeting of the grouping’s Council of Heads of Government in the Tajik capital, said terrorism cost innocent lives, deterred investment and commerce, radicalised societies and denied young people opportunities. “There can be no justification for terrorism, no double standards in addressing it, and no place for those who finance, support, or provide safe havens to terrorists,” he said, according to a press statement from India’s defence ministry. On connectivity, he said India backed initiatives that linked markets and opened new routes for trade, naming the International North-So...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The campaign that produced more than seven thousand detentions in Delhi in a single day and a finding of prima facie contempt against the authorities, was announced to the press on 30 September with the dates attached Representational image Source: @INCIndia on X The opposition alliance published its calendar stating dates for district marches from 2 to 8 October, a march to the Election Commission on the 6th, a rally in Delhi on 1 November. The Congress Working Committee had resolved a day earlier to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner and the suspension of the nationwide revision of electoral rolls. Behind both lay a newspaper investigation reporting that two of the Commission’s three members had objected on record at least fourteen times in ten months. What followed is mostly on the court record now.  On 9 October the Supreme Court called the Delhi Police orders restricting public trans...

Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying the Indian film actor Tiger Shroff in a western suburb of Mumbai on Sunday evening, wounding his driver and a second man. The actor was unhurt. File Photo Source: @MrDemocratic_ on X The shooting took place at about 7pm in Juhu, close to Pushpa Park, as Shroff was leaving a birthday gathering, according to multiple reports. Officers quoted in reports said three men, all in white shirts, fled on the motorcycle towards a nearby railway station. The car was struck a few hundred metres from the local police station. #WATCH : Krishna Shroff arrives at brother Tiger Shroff’s residence in Mumbai following the firing incident in Juhu. #TigerShroff #KrishnaShroff #MumbaiFiring #BollywoodNews https://t.co/v8v3hy5hPU — upuknews (@upuknews1) October 18, 2026 Shroff’s driver was shot in the left hand and taken to Nanavati Hospital. A second man was admitted to Cooper Hospital with a gunshot wound; one account describes him as an onlooker,...

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday suspending a sanctions law aimed at Russia’s economy two days before it was due to take effect, lifting the threat of punitive tariffs on the largest buyers of Russian oil and gas, a group that includes India Image Source: AFPost on X Trump told Congress the suspension was in the national interest. The waivers remain in force until he or the secretary of state determines that further action is warranted. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 was signed into law in early October after passing both chambers of Congress by large bipartisan margins. It is named after the South Carolina senator who died in July at the age of 71 and who had pressed for tougher measures against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. The law targeted Russia’s energy and defence industries and the fleet of tankers used to move its oil outside Western price controls. It provided for tariffs of up to 500 per cent on Russian good...

At least 17 people were killed and about 25 injured in a stampede outside a Durga Puja marquee in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Saturday evening Image Source: All India Radio The stampede took place at about 7.30pm at a pandal, one of the temporary structures erected across the city for the festival and visited by crowds late into the night. Initial reports suggested people queuing outside surged when it began to rain, and that some fell in the road, setting off the stampede. Officials at the scene initially attributed the surge to an announcement made over the organisers’ loudspeakers. The chief minister said rain had been a factor, along with what he described as shortcomings in the arrangements, and said anyone found negligent would face legal action. One of the injured was described as critical and the rest out of danger. Those hurt were taken to a state medical college, with the more seriously injured later moved to a second hospital. Police, fire crews, disaster respo...