Breaking News, October 25 | Highlights

At least 35 people were killed and several homes destroyed as cyclone Sitrang ravaged Bangladesh’s southern coastlines and central parts after it made landfall overnight, according to officials and media reports. Sitrang completed its landfall and weakened to a tropical depression over Bangladesh in the early hours of Tuesday, Prothom Alo, a Bengali daily newspaper, reported.

A man was arrested for allegedly vandalising a police post and setting ablaze his motorcycle in an inebriated condition in central Delhi's Khan Market area, officials said on Tuesday. Officers at the Tughlaq Road police station received information around 7.30 am on Sunday about the vandalism at the police post and the burning of a motorcycle, a senior officer said.

Air pollution level across Kolkata on Kali Puja-Diwali evening this year was "far less" than it was on the same festival night in the last three years, a West Bengal Pollution Control Board official said Tuesday. The dip in air pollution was attributed to intermittent showers since Monday morning under the impact of cyclone 'Sitrang' as the light rain cleansed the air and prevented a section of revellers to burst fireworks, he said.

At least 20 incidents of fire were reported in Thane and Palghar districts of Maharashtra on Diwali, most of them due to bursting of crackers, but no one was injured, officials said on Tuesday.

The Tamil Nadu idol wing CID on Tuesday said it has written to a US-based Museum and an auction company claiming state government's ownership over the two antique idols stolen 50 years ago from a temple in the state.

As terrorists carried out a number of targeted killings recently, 10 Kashmiri Pandit families have left their village in Shopian district in south Kashmir out of fear and reached Jammu. The residents of Choudharygund said the recent terrorist attacks have triggered a fear psychosis among the Pandits who lived in Kashmir through the most difficult period of terrorism in 1990s and did not leave their homes.

Gujarat on Tuesday reported 27 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising its overall tally to 12,76,600, while no new death linked to the infection was registered in the state, the health department said. The number of COVID-19 deaths remained unchanged at 11,038, said the department in a release.

A seven-year-old girl was found murdered in Panipat on Tuesday and it is suspected that she was raped before being killed, police said. The girl, who had gone missing on Diwali night, was found dead near her home this morning, said Narender Kumar, SHO of Old Industrial Area here.

Two senior BJP leaders here resigned from the party and filed nomination papers as independent candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls. Vipin Naihariya, the party’s ST Morcha vice president, and BJP district chief Anil Choudhry were ticket aspirants but the party chose OBC leader Rakesh Chaudhary over them and sitting MLA Vishal Naihariya.

 A Russian court on Tuesday upheld the nine-year prison sentence handed to American basketball star Brittney Griner for drug possession, rejecting her appeal. Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.

A retired brigadier's ordeal ended after seven years as the CBI finally closed an offshoot of AgustaWestland VVIP chopper corruption case against him following no incriminating evidence supporting bribery allegations was found. For Brigadier V S Saini (retired) of Army Aviation, the moment brought some smiles on his face after facing rigourous questioning from the agency for allegedly favouring the UK-based company during field trials of Light Utility Helicopters in 2010.

Police said they arrested four persons on Tuesday and seized 590 grams of mephedrone, a party drug, worth Rs 59 lakh from them in Gujarat's Surat city. Primary investigations have revealed the four alleged drug peddlers had acquired the contraband from a dealer in Mumbai and were supposed to sell it to a Surat-based person, said a release issued by the Surat city police's Special Operations Group (SOG).

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said India is set to become a "Vishwa Guru" again as he stressed on the need for right education and thinking.

Three men were killed in two separate road accidents in ​​Rajasthan's Sikar district, police said on Tuesday. Sagarmal Meena (35), a resident of Ratanpura, died after an unidentified vehicle collided with his motorcycle in RIICO area of ​​Mau, SHO (Shrimadhopur) Prakash Kumar said.

Tamil Nadu | Rapid Action Force deployed across the city of Coimbatore after a man was charred to death in a car explosion due to an LPG cylinder blast in Ukkadam.

India reported 862 fresh Covid cases and 1,503 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Active cases at 22,549.

Tamil Nadu | 5 people have been arrested in connection with the death of a man in a car cylinder blast. Investigation in the case is underway, said Coimbatore City Police

NR Narayana Murthy, Infosys founder and father-in-law of Britain's next PM Rishi Sunak: "Congratulations to Rishi. We are proud of him and we wish him success. We are confident he will do his best for the people of the United Kingdom."

Karnataka | A two-page death note was found in the room of the mutt in Ramnagara district where pontiff's body was found, on Monday, after an unnatural death, said police official. 

Rishi Sunak on Monday made history after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the governing Conservative Party and subsequently the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, following Penny Mordaunt's withdrawal from the race.