The India Decade e-paper, Monday, 5 October 2026

Aleksandar Vucic has launched his campaign to become Serbia’s prime minister, addressing thousands of supporters in Belgrade after resigning from the presidency to bypass constitutional term limits.

The rally at the Belgrade Arena marked the official start of a high-stakes campaign for the snap parliamentary election scheduled for 25 October. Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics for 12 years as either prime minister or president, stepped down on 27 September, seven months before his second presidential term was due to end.

Constitutionally barred from seeking a third term as president, Vucic is instead leading the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) list. If his party secures a majority, the new parliament is expected to appoint him prime minister. The political manoeuvre mirrors Vladimir Putin’s famous swap to the Russian premiership in 2008 to maintain his grip on power.

Rising opposition from the Student List

The election comes at a time of deep political division in Serbia. Vucic’s party faces an unusually potent challenge from the Student List, a political movement born out of nearly two years of anti-government protests. The movement gained massive momentum following a tragedy on 1 November 2024, when a concrete canopy collapsed at the Novi Sad train station, killing 16 people.

The disaster sparked nationwide anger over corruption and poor government oversight, turning a youth-led protest into a broad political front that now includes university professors, teachers, and experts.

Vucic has sought to frame his opponents as tools of outside powers. Speaking to supporters, he claimed without evidence that the opposition was backed by foreign intelligence services. "Absent an intervention of some service, we will defeat them," he told the crowd. "And they know that."

International backing and EU concerns

His campaign has also received explicit backing from Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed Vucic during a forum in Russia, saying he hoped the former president would become prime minister and praising his "restrained policy" toward Moscow. Just a day before resigning, Vucic had called Putin to negotiate an extension of Serbia’s cheap natural gas arrangement.

Serbia remains a candidate for European Union membership, but its bid has effectively stalled. European institutions have repeatedly warned of democratic backsliding under Vucic's rule, citing concerns over media freedom, police violence, and arbitrary detentions.

Critics point to Vucic’s overwhelming dominance of the airwaves. Local monitoring reports indicate he received 78 percent of all political television coverage across five major Serbian stations ahead of the campaign.

With less than three weeks until the vote, the atmosphere remains highly charged, with international observers warning that previous Serbian elections have been marred by irregularities and violence.

Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon has condemned Vice President JD Vance's assertion that she "does not belong in America," calling his remarks deeply disrespectful and a calculated distraction from the economic struggles of everyday voters.

VP Vance made the hostile remarks during a campaign stop in Lakeland, Florida, aiming his fire at the Florida state representative whose Senate campaign has recently begun drawing fresh national attention and funding.

Speaking to CBS News Miami, Nixon expressed disbelief at the personal nature of the attack. "It's really disheartening, especially knowing that I come from folks who helped build this country," she said. "My grandparents were sharecroppers in southern Georgia. And all I want for people is to have access to quality healthcare, to have access to fully funded public schools, for people to have homes to live in and not have to worry about living on the streets."

Nixon, who has faced persistent attempts by political opponents to paint her as an extremist, rejected the labels outright. "There's absolutely nothing radical or extreme about that," she said. "I don't consider myself a socialist, I consider myself a lifelong Democrat who puts people over party, people over politics, and people over profit."

In a separate interview on MS NOW, Nixon described the "get out of the US" rhetoric as a classic diversion tactic. The clash comes as her campaign secures new funding from national Democrats, signalling growing confidence in her platform.

While Vance has ramped up personal attacks on the campaign trail, he has also been working behind the scenes to solidify his standing as the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. Earlier in the week, he appeared at a "Make America Healthy Again" summit in Washington alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., where he took aim at undocumented immigrants, accusing them of driving healthcare fraud.

Yet back in Florida, Nixon insisted that voters are more concerned with their own rising costs than the Vice President's talking points. She argued that the focus must remain on public services and housing security, rather than the personal feuds being stoked from national campaign stages.

Why the government is 'walking on a razor's edge'

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has warned that the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir administration is operating under severe financial and political constraints, describing its current position as "walking on a razor's edge".

Speaking at the fifth 'Halla Bolle' conclave in Srinagar, the three-time chief minister defended his party's government against public demands for immediate results, urging people to recognise the difficult economic reality inherited by the state.

"The government is doing its work to the extent it can," Abdullah said. "But if you demand that we fetch the moon and stars, that is not possible." He added that ministers are actively travelling to reach citizens despite a cash-strapped treasury that has faced significant setbacks over the past year.

Criticism of the reservation hike

The warning comes amid growing political debate over regional policies. Abdullah criticised the recent hike in the Jammu and Kashmir reservation policy, calling it an "injustice" that the current administration must address. However, he cautioned that any corrective measures must be managed carefully given the administration's limited resources.

The erosion of Article 370

Abdullah linked the state's current administrative struggles directly to the 2019 abrogation of Article 370, which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. He argued that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had long targeted the region's autonomy because of its Muslim-majority demographic.

However, the veteran leader laid much of the blame on local politicians, accusing them of collaborating with New Delhi over several decades to weaken regional self-rule in exchange for personal power. Without explicitly naming the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdullah targeted their decision to form a coalition government with the BJP following the 2014 elections, suggesting this alliance paved the way for the eventual loss of special status.

"I do not consider Delhi as the sole culprit; I consider our own people responsible," he said, accusing local figures of trading their self-respect for official perks and positions.

Accession and the United Nations

Reflecting on the historical relationship between Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian union, Abdullah described the accession as historically "temporary". He noted that the association was originally meant to be finalised through a United Nations-supervised referendum.

According to Abdullah, this vote never took place because both India and Pakistan repeatedly rejected proposed UN observers, leading to an ongoing deadlock. He argued that once New Delhi declared a referendum would not happen, Article 370 should have been made permanent to protect the region from the steady extension of central laws.

Abdullah also called on the local population to foster self-reliance, pointing out a collective failure to perform basic tasks without relying on external workers. "Today, even when it is time to harvest paddy, we look for Bihari labourers," he said, urging the public to build independent economic strength.

Former CBI director M Nageshwar Rao has entered active politics, taking charge as the national president of the newly formed Sarvajana Sanatan Party.

The retired IPS officer, who spent nearly forty years in security, law and order, and public administration, officially assumed his new political role on Saturday in Varanasi. His entry into politics marks a major transition for the former top cop, who previously served as the interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Speaking in Kashi, Rao said his long career in government had convinced him that administrative reforms alone are no longer enough to rebuild the country.

Instead, he argued, India must pursue modern economic and technological development while remaining anchored to its civilisational heritage.

The four pillars of the SSP

The Sarvajana Sanatan Party (SSP) has built its political platform around four core areas: education, healthcare, livelihoods, and what it calls civilisational reconnection.

Under its education policy, the party plans to integrate traditional Indian knowledge systems and history with modern, global-standard schooling. Its healthcare agenda proposes combining modern medicine with traditional Indian health practices. For livelihoods, the party aims to focus on creating respectable opportunities for young people, farmers, artisans, and small businesses.

The fourth pillar focuses on preserving Indian languages, arts, family structures, and temples, which the party views as essential sources of national strength.

Redefining Sanatan in public life

Rao sought to distance his new organisation from sectarian divisions, stressing that the party's platform is not directed against any particular caste, creed, or community.

"Sanatan is not against anyone," Rao said during his address, describing it as a way of life based on truth, duty, compassion, and justice, rather than just a method of worship or an electoral tool.

He also called for reform in how India's religious heritage is managed. Temples and pilgrimage sites, Rao argued, should be run with greater transparency and meaningful community participation, serving as active cultural and social institutions rather than purely places of prayer.

A roster of the party's new leadership team joined Rao in Varanasi for the announcement, including national vice presidents Mahant Tirthanand and Ritu Rathod, general secretary Raja Saksham Singh Yogi, spokesperson Babita Sharma, and the party's Uttar Pradesh in-charge Rakesh Tiwari.

The Green Party is facing a deep internal revolt over a controversial motion to declare Zionism a form of racism at its annual conference. The debate has severely divided members, with some Jewish Greens warning they will resign from the party immediately if the proposal is passed.

Zack Polanski, a leader of the Green Party who has previously described himself as an anti-Zionist, is reportedly planning to skip the vote on the motion. The proposal was brought forward by the group Greens for Palestine, exposing raw divisions over how the party should approach the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Why is the Green Party split over Zionism?

For critics within the party, Zionism is viewed as a colonial project. They point to the Nakba—the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948—and what they describe as an apartheid system of unequal rights in the occupied territories, alongside ongoing discrimination against Palestinian citizens within Israel.

For many Jews, however, Zionism is not a monolith but a diverse movement representing Jewish self-determination, collective pride, and a safe haven from centuries of persecution, particularly after the Holocaust. Opponents of the motion argue that singling out the Jewish national movement as uniquely racist is antisemitic and serves to deny Jewish people the right to self-determination.

What is the history of the 'Zionism is racism' claim?

The argument is not new and has its roots in Cold War diplomacy. In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, which declared Zionism to be a form of racism and racial discrimination. Sponsored by the Arab League and promoted by the Soviet Union, the resolution passed with support from developing nations.

However, the resolution was highly controversial and was formally revoked in 1991 following intense diplomatic pressure from the US administration of President George HW Bush. Opponents of the resolution argued then, as they do now, that equating Zionism with racism delegitimises the very existence of Israel as a Jewish homeland.

What does UK law say about anti-Zionism?

The debate has also been tested in British courts. Two years ago, an employment tribunal ruled that anti-Zionist beliefs can be classified as a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.

The landmark case involved David Miller, a former professor of political sociology who was dismissed by the University of Bristol in 2021. The tribunal, and a subsequent appeal, upheld that Miller’s view—that Zionism is an inherently racist, violent, and imperialist ideology—was protected under law. Miller, a prominent anti-Zionist activist, has close links to Greens for Palestine, the group behind the current party motion.

With the conflict in Gaza ongoing, arguments over the nature of Zionism have grown increasingly polarised. But for the Green Party, the immediate challenge is managing an internal debate that threatens to permanently fracture its membership.

The United States has deliberately chosen to become a "lonelier power" while China’s rapid rise continues to reshape the global order, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has said.

Speaking at the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Delhi on Sunday, Jaishankar also revealed that India has quietly stepped up its diplomatic efforts in the Russia-Ukraine war, moving "beyond advocacy" to try and help broker practical agreements between the two warring nations.

India's quiet diplomacy in the Ukraine war

New Delhi has long called for dialogue and diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine, but Jaishankar said India’s involvement has recently become much more hands-on.

"We have been advocating it for many years, and in recent months we have got a little bit more involved beyond advocacy," Jaishankar said.

He confirmed that Indian officials are now holding active, ongoing discussions with both Moscow and Kyiv to address specific, immediate flashpoints. These include negotiations over safe shipping in the Black Sea, grain exports, energy trade, and securing commitments against attacking key infrastructure.

Jaishankar also defended India's enduring relationship with Russia, which has drawn criticism from Western capitals since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He pointed out that Moscow had historically stood by India during critical national security threats at a time when "much of the world preferred backing a military regime next to us" — a reference to Western support for Pakistan during past conflicts.

Why the US is becoming a 'lonelier power'

In a wide-ranging assessment of global politics, Jaishankar argued that the current international order is being defined by a "radical repositioning of the United States."

He described this shift as a deliberate "posture of choice" by Washington, which has left the country increasingly isolated. This retreat is occurring alongside the rise of China, whose massive economic engine now accounts for roughly one-third of all global manufacturing.

Jaishankar warned that the fierce rivalry between the US and China has led to the "weaponisation of every leverage" that countries possess. Yet because the two superpowers remain deeply interdependent, their competition has created a highly volatile and complex global environment.

The rise of flexible coalitions

To survive this volatile environment, Jaishankar said emerging and middle powers are taking matters into their own hands. Rather than picking sides, countries are focusing on self-reliance, diversifying their partnerships, and "de-risking" their economies.

Crucially, Jaishankar argued that countries no longer need to agree on everything to work together.

"The days when you have to have an identity of views or a very strong congruence of interest, I think that's too high a bar today," Jaishankar said. "If you have enough touch points, that is good enough for countries to work together."

He pointed to the Quad alliance and the BRICS group as prime examples of this modern, flexible approach. In this new global setup, countries are comfortable working with both Washington and Beijing, using ad-hoc arrangements to amplify their collective voices and protect their own interests.

A tight race under a familiar shadow

Brazilians are voting in a deeply polarised presidential election that pits the country's veteran leftist incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, against the right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

The race is exceptionally close. While 12 candidates are on the ballot, only Lula and Bolsonaro have reached double figures. BBC Brasil’s poll tracker shows both candidates hovering around the 40% mark, with Lula holding a slim lead. If neither secures an outright majority on 4 October, the election will head to a run-off on 25 October. Almost 160 million Brazilians are eligible to vote.

Though he is not on the ballot, the shadow of Flávio’s father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, hangs heavy over the vote. The elder Bolsonaro is currently under house arrest, serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 election. Banished from social media and forbidden from making public statements, he still managed to make an appearance at his son’s campaign launch via an AI-generated deepfake avatar endorsing his candidacy.

The challenger's promise

The 45-year-old Flávio Bolsonaro has campaigned as the heir to his father’s right-wing movement, but with a less confrontational style. He has courted evangelical voters and the agricultural lobby, promising to slash regulations and "get the state off farmers' backs".

But his primary appeal is a fierce, authoritarian stance on law and order. He has promised to lower the age of criminal responsibility and introduce chemical castration for rapists. Bolsonaro has also positioned himself as a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump. His campaign was boosted in May when the US administration designated two of Brazil's largest drug gangs, the Comando Vermelho (CV) and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), as foreign terrorist organisations—a move Lula’s government had opposed. If elected, Bolsonaro has promised to enlist Brazil in the "Shield of the Americas", a US-backed, right-wing regional security alliance.

Lula fights back against Trump's influence

Lula, who turns 81 this month and is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term, has framed the election as a defence of Brazilian democracy against foreign meddling. Relations between Lula and the Trump administration have been openly hostile. Trump has repeatedly tried to exert pressure on Brazil, threatening a 50% tariff in 2025 during Jair Bolsonaro’s trial, and slapping a 25% tariff on certain Brazilian goods this July. Brazil also denied visas to two US State Department officials who attempted to travel to the country to investigate "electoral integrity".

In his final campaign adverts, Lula accused his rival of being a US puppet, warning that Trump wants to "colonise Brazil" and steal its riches. Lula has campaigned on his environmental record—pointing to a decade-low rate of deforestation in the Amazon in early 2026—and his plans to improve healthcare and education.

Corruption scandal hits both sides

Yet the closing weeks of the campaign have been upended by a massive corruption scandal surrounding a jailed banker, Daniel Vorcaro. The scandal has damaged both campaigns.

Police launched an investigation into Flávio Bolsonaro for suspected corruption and money laundering after voice recordings emerged of him asking Vorcaro for 134 million reais (£19.5 million) to finance a film about his father.

But the fallout has also hit Lula. Police reports revealed that Vorcaro had extensive contacts with a phone number linked to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes—the judge who oversaw Jair Bolsonaro’s trial—asking for help to avoid arrest. Moraes has denied wrongdoing, and Lula has tried to distance himself from the judge, but Flávio Bolsonaro has seized on the links, telling rallies that "voting for Lula means voting for Moraes."

The GST Council is preparing to strip tax officials of their power to arrest taxpayers, shifting that authority strictly to the courts as part of a sweeping "GST 2.0" reform package.

The proposed changes, which will be considered by the council headed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, represent the most significant overhaul of the indirect tax regime's enforcement rules since its launch in 2017.

Under the plan, Section 69 of the Central GST Act would be amended to remove the power of GST commissioners to authorise arrests. Instead, tax officials would have to secure a court order before putting anyone in custody. At the same time, the threshold for launching criminal prosecution is set to rise from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore, effectively shielding smaller businesses from criminal proceedings.

What the decriminalisation rules look like

The changes are designed to draw a clear line between genuine business disputes and deliberate fraud. Under the proposals, routine disagreements over tax classification, valuation, and input tax credit (ITC) eligibility will be kept entirely outside the criminal process.

Of the 24 offences currently covered by the law, nine are slated to be decriminalised entirely. Courts will also gain greater flexibility; the proposals suggest removing mandatory minimum sentences, allowing judges to impose fines instead, and cutting the maximum sentence in the middle category of offences from three years to two.

Tax experts say the shift is a natural evolution of the system, which now relies heavily on technology.

"With arrest removed and prosecution reserved for more serious cases, the focus is increasingly on using GSTN's data capabilities to detect fraud rather than relying on coercive powers," Rajat Mohan, managing partner at AMRG Global, said.

Speeding up registrations and refunds

The reform package, put together after multiple rounds of discussions between central and state officials, also targets bureaucratic red tape.

Under the new rules, registration applications will be simplified, with the aim of clearing 60 per cent of them within three days. The system will also introduce a "deemed acknowledgement" rule for refunds: if the tax department does not respond to an exporter’s claim within 10 days, it will be automatically approved, allowing businesses to access up to 90 per cent of their money quickly.

In another major win for manufacturers, the council is considering allowing GST refunds on plant and machinery. Currently, this credit can remain blocked for years, hurting cash-intensive projects like refineries and semiconductor plants.

Stopping the harassment of truckers

The council is also planning to clean up how logistics are policed. While e-way bills have successfully tracked goods, truck drivers are frequently stopped and harassed by local officials. The new rules will specify that a vehicle can only be stopped for inspection in either its state of origin or its destination, preventing arbitrary checks in transit.

Additionally, to cut down on minor litigation, officials propose that no tax notices will be issued for disputes involving less than Rs 10,000—a bracket that currently accounts for nearly a fifth of all active cases.

Avenue Supermarts, the operator of the D-Mart retail chain, has reported an 18.4 per cent year-on-year increase in standalone revenue, reaching Rs 19,206.18 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2026.

According to a regulatory filing released on Saturday, the retail giant had posted standalone revenue of Rs 16,218.79 crore in the same period last fiscal year. The latest figures show a steady upward trajectory, with revenue also climbing 4.7 per cent sequentially from the Rs 18,343.49 crore recorded in the June quarter of this year.

Alongside the sales growth, the company expanded its brick-and-mortar footprint. D-Mart's total store count reached 518 by the end of September. This network includes its outlet in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, which is temporarily closed to shoppers while it undergoes reconstruction.

Founded and promoted by veteran investor Radhakishan Damani and his family, the supermarket chain sells household essentials, groceries, and personal care products. Its network spans several key markets across India, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Rajasthan, and the National Capital Region.

Financial performance and market position

The latest revenue update comes on the heels of a solid first-quarter performance. For the three months ended June 30, Avenue Supermarts reported an 11.3 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 860.6 crore, up from Rs 773 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

During that same period, its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 15.4 per cent to Rs 1,499 crore, maintaining an EBITDA margin of 8 per cent.

Despite the steady operational growth, the company’s stock has faced some medium-term pressure. Shares of Avenue Supermarts have fallen by roughly 12 per cent over the past three months and are down about 14 per cent over the last year. However, for long-term investors, the picture remains highly positive; the stock has delivered returns of over 518 per cent since its stock market listing.

Metal, a stablecoin infrastructure startup co-founded by Melbourne entrepreneur Loong Wang, has raised nearly $50 million in an extraordinarily large seed funding round.

The massive funding injection was led jointly by digital payments heavyweight Airwallex and its venture capital arm, Capital 49. The deal, which was completed in late June, represents a significant bet on blockchain-based financial systems by one of Australia's most successful technology companies.

Who is behind Metal?

The startup was established by Loong Wang, an entrepreneur active in the Melbourne technology and digital asset ecosystem, alongside Catherine Porter, a former executive at Facebook's parent company Meta.

The co-founders are building Metal to provide the backend technology for tokenised financial products and stablecoin payments. While typical early-stage software startups raise small seed rounds of a few million dollars to build an initial prototype, Metal’s nearly $50 million capital raise gives it a substantial war chest right out of the gate.

The size of the round reflects a sharp turn in how major fintech players view stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of traditional currencies like the US dollar. Once seen as speculative tools for crypto traders, stablecoins are now being adopted for real-world business transactions because they can bypass slow and expensive traditional banking networks.

What is stablecoin infrastructure?

For stablecoins and tokenised assets to be used widely by businesses, they require robust underlying technology. Metal is building the plumbing that allows companies to issue, manage, and transact with these digital assets.

This includes the software interfaces, compliance frameworks, and ledger systems needed to bridge the gap between legacy banking and public blockchains. By focusing on infrastructure, Metal is positioning itself as a utility provider for other financial institutions and businesses that want to use digital currencies without having to build their own systems from scratch.

Expanding into the United States

Metal is targeting the United States market, where institutional interest in digital assets is high but the technical barriers to entry remain steep. The Australian Financial Review first reported the funding round, highlighting it as a prominent example of Australian tech founders securing large-scale backing to compete internationally.

Airwallex’s involvement is particularly notable. As a global payments platform valued at billions of dollars, its decision to lead the round suggests it sees blockchain infrastructure as a complementary technology to its own cross-border payment network.

Neither Metal nor Airwallex have disclosed the startup's post-money valuation. It is also not yet clear which specific financial products or partnerships Metal plans to announce first as it begins deploying its new capital.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has argued that the public must tolerate "some bad things happening" if society wants to enjoy the massive benefits of artificial intelligence.

Speaking in an interview with the Decoded by POLITICO podcast, Altman sought to distinguish his company’s vision from that of its chief rival, Anthropic, framing the debate as a fundamental disagreement over how tightly the technology should be controlled.

While Anthropic has historically pushed for stricter safeguards, Altman advocated for keeping AI broadly accessible to the public. He admitted that this open-door approach would inevitably lead to real-world harms, but argued that the alternative is worse.

"I wouldn't take a trade of saying like, 'We'll make sure there's no major hacks, there's no kind of like misuse of this technology, there's zero scams, there's zero all the other bad things that will happen,'" Altman said. "Because I think people will do tremendously — orders of magnitude more — good stuff than bad stuff."

The philosophical rift with Anthropic

The comments highlight a growing ideological divide between the two San Francisco AI pioneers. Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI researchers under chief executive Dario Amodei, has long championed a highly cautious approach to development.

Altman took aim at this protective philosophy, describing it as an attempt to centralise power in too few hands.

"I disagree, but I understand the perspective of people who are like, 'This technology is going to get so powerful, and it's so dangerous, that a single lab in San Francisco should have it and make sure nothing bad happens, and kind of figure out how to dole out the benefits,'" Altman said.

He called that sort of concentration of control a "completely unacceptable trade-off" that runs directly counter to the lighter regulatory touch favored by OpenAI.

Where Altman draws the line

Despite his willingness to tolerate everyday digital crime and misuse, Altman made it clear his patience has limits. He drew a firm distinction between routine security issues and existential threats.

The OpenAI chief said he does not accept "the really catastrophic risks," specifically pointing to the potential for a "serious loss of control to AI" as a line that must never be crossed.

Interestingly, the practical regulatory gap between the two rivals has actually narrowed recently. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have backed a bipartisan US House proposal to mandate outside safety evaluators for top-tier models. OpenAI has also recently aligned with Anthropic in supporting tougher state safety laws and endorsed Amodei’s calls to slow down the development of the most advanced frontier models.

But as the race to build human-level artificial intelligence accelerates, Altman's remarks make it clear that OpenAI's core strategy remains unchanged: get the tools into the hands of ordinary users, and manage the fallout as it comes.

Clayton named 'AI czar' to lead new task force

US President Donald Trump has set up a new White House task force to assess the national security and societal risks of artificial intelligence, appointing his director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, to run it.

The group, which Trump has named the "Super Intelligence Force", has been given exactly 120 days to deliver a report to the president. Its mandate is clear: identify risks from advanced AI models, but do so without introducing heavy-handed rules that could slow down American technology companies or let international rivals, particularly China, take the lead.

Clayton, who is effectively acting as the administration’s new "AI czar", told the Wall Street Journal that Trump wants to ensure America stays "the leaders in superintelligence" and that the public interest comes first. "The risk of not being first is high," Clayton said, arguing that falling behind would only heighten the dangers posed by foreign adversaries. "Being first will better enable us to address those risks on behalf of the American people."

Minimising regulation to protect innovation

This light-touch approach is written directly into the task force’s charter. According to the Wall Street Journal, the document explicitly instructs the group to draw up plans for handling advanced AI-enabled threats while actively preventing "overregulation and regulatory capture" that might stifle competition and domestic innovation.

Clayton’s task force includes some of the administration’s most senior figures, including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Clayton is the second person to take on the informal AI czar title under Trump, following venture capitalist David Sacks, who held a similar role earlier in the administration's term before stepping down.

The launch follows a meeting at the White House on September 29, where Trump sat down with the chief executives of the country's top AI firms, including OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, alongside tech leaders Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. After the meeting, Trump said the executives had signed a "morally binding" agreement to monitor their own systems for safety and submit to voluntary outside audits.

Focus on self-policing

Clayton himself comes from a Wall Street background, having previously served as a corporate lawyer representing financial giants like Goldman Sachs, though he has no direct experience in the technology industry.

Other task force members have already voiced strong opposition to government intervention. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently criticised warnings of existential AI doom as alarmist and unhelpful. In an interview with Axios, Bessent said the responsibility for managing technology risks lies with the developers themselves, calling on the industry to police its own laboratories and produce its own safety solutions.

The International Space Station has welcomed its newest crew after a record-setting flight, setting off a sequence of handovers that will see the previous team return to Earth next week.

The SpaceX Dragon carrying the Crew-13 mission docked with the orbital laboratory on 1 October, completing the journey in just 7 hours and 55 minutes. NASA and SpaceX confirmed the flight was the fastest launch-to-docking by an American spacecraft in the station's history.

A change of command in orbit

With the new crew safely aboard, the station held a formal change-of-command ceremony to mark the transition. NASA astronaut Jessica Meir handed over leadership of the ISS to Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov, signalling the official start of the new expedition's duties.

Meir and her fellow Crew-12 members are now preparing for their return flight. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting their departure for Wednesday, 7 October at 1:05 a.m. EDT.

Mission managers are monitoring weather and splashdown conditions off the coast of California before giving the final go-ahead for the return journey.

Eight months of orbital science

Crew-12, which also includes NASA's Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, has been aboard the station since February. Their eight-month stay was heavily focused on scientific research designed to aid future long-duration space flight and improve medical treatments on Earth.

"The research this crew will conduct aboard the space station advances critical technologies for deep space exploration while delivering real benefits here on Earth," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

Among their key projects was an investigation into osteoporosis, a disease that affects more than 200 million people worldwide. Adenot worked with a wooden bone scaffold designed to mimic real bone structure, giving bone cells a medium to grow on in microgravity. Meanwhile, Hathaway used bone marrow cells to study how muscles and bones degrade during space travel.

Hathaway also tested for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a key safety concern for crews living in the sealed environment of a spacecraft.

Printing metal in microgravity

The departing crew also helped test manufacturing techniques for future space voyages. Adenot installed a metal 3D printer on the station, producing several small metal parts that have already been sent back to Earth for analysis. The crew also studied how to produce intravenous fluids on demand, which would reduce the weight of medical supplies on long journeys.

The research gathered by Crew-12 will support NASA's plans to return humans to the Moon. The space agency is preparing for its Artemis III test mission in 2027, followed by the crewed Artemis IV Moon landing in 2028.

Delhi's air quality deteriorated to its worst level in nearly three months on Sunday, driven by a combination of calm winds, rising seasonal emissions, and a prolonged dry spell.

Depending on the monitoring agency and the time of day, the city's overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded between 187 and 196. This marks the highest pollution level the capital has seen since 13 July, when the AQI reached 246.

While the citywide average remained within the "moderate" band—which covers readings between 101 and 200—individual neighbourhoods are already breathing much dirtier air. Data from local monitoring stations showed a sharp rise in particulate matter, with several areas crossing into the "poor" category.

Localised pollution spikes

The severity of the pollution varied across the city. According to the Sameer app, at least 16 monitoring stations registered "poor" air quality, while Central Pollution Control Board data from other active stations pushed that figure to 22.

Mundka recorded the cleanest air's polar opposite, registering the city's highest AQI at 282. Other heavily polluted areas included Narela at 262, Jahangirpuri at 248, and Okhla at 232. In contrast, Burari was the only monitoring station to record "satisfactory" air quality, while the Delhi Cantonment area recorded the city's lowest overall AQI at 115.

Unseasonable October heat

Atmospheric conditions are actively compounding the pollution. Delhi is currently experiencing above-normal temperatures as a wave of "October heat" settles over northern India.

On Sunday, the Safdarjung weather station recorded a maximum temperature of 36.4 degrees Celsius, which is more than two degrees above the seasonal average. The minimum temperature hovered around 24.1 degrees Celsius, nearly two degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.

Amateur meteorologist Navdeep Dahiya warned that maximum temperatures could spike further, potentially reaching between 37 and 40 degrees Celsius across parts of Delhi, the National Capital Region, and western Uttar Pradesh over the coming days.

No rain in sight

Relief from the smog is unlikely to arrive quickly. The India Meteorological Department has forecast clear skies on Monday and partly cloudy conditions from Tuesday, but expects absolutely "no rain" across the city for the next week.

Without rain to wash pollutants from the air, emissions are expected to accumulate. Beyond local vehicular and industrial pollution, regional factors are also beginning to play a role. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute reported 203 stubble-burning incidents across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh between 15 September and 3 October, marking the early stages of the annual post-harvest fires.

Dahiya noted that a series of mild western disturbances are expected to begin around 7 October, but a stronger system after 10 October offers the first real chance of rain in the plains and temperature drops across northern India.

Ireland's football team faces Israel in Serbia on Sunday evening, playing under the shadow of a bitter diplomatic row sparked by Irish protests during their last meeting.

When the two sides met in Debrecen, Hungary, the Irish players chose to turn the pre-match protocols into a public demonstration. They stood with bowed heads during the Israeli national anthem, refused to shake hands with their opponents, declined to exchange team pennants, and wore black armbands. Ireland won the match 3-0, but the fallout from what happened before kickoff has dominated the build-up to the return fixture in Nations League Group B3.

What triggered the row?

The Football Association of Ireland and the players have indicated that their gestures were a protest against the war in Gaza, with the black armbands intended as a tribute to all lives lost in the conflict.

But the display has drawn fierce condemnation. Critics argue that by refusing basic pre-match courtesies to individual athletes, the Irish team crossed the line from political protest into personal ostracisation. Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Jonathan Lieberman described the actions as a "calculated, collective humiliation" that treated Israeli footballers as if they were contaminated.

He also pointed out the internal contradictions of the protest, noting that Israel's squad is multi-ethnic and included Arab-Israeli forward Anan Khalaili in the starting lineup. "Were the Irish players nobly refusing to shake the hands of 'oppressors', even when one of the men in the Israeli shirt was himself an Arab?" Lieberman wrote, arguing that the protest reduced a complex national identity to a single, shameful caricature.

Historical parallels and accusations

The row has also forced a uncomfortable look at history. Detractors of the Irish protest have argued that a country with Ireland's history of political violence should understand the danger of collective guilt. During the Troubles, Irish citizens routinely objected when IRA atrocities, such as the 1996 Manchester bombing or the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing, were used to smear all Irish people.

Critics also point to historical diplomatic missteps, such as Taoiseach Éamon de Valera offering condolences to Germany's representative in Dublin after Adolf Hitler's death in 1945, as evidence of a flawed moral compass in Irish foreign relations. The Irish team, critics say, have shown a selective morality by failing to acknowledge the Israeli victims of the October 7 attacks while making highly visible public protests when Israel fights back.

What happens next on the pitch?

Amid the political noise, there is still a football match to be played at the TSC Arena in Backa Topola, Serbia, where Israel is hosting its home games due to security concerns.

Heimir Hallgrimsson’s Ireland side are looking to steady their Nations League campaign. They sit third in the group on four points, level with Kosovo and three points behind leaders Austria, after letting a 2-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 against the Austrians in Dublin.

Both squads are dealing with significant selection issues. Ireland will be without defender Dara O'Shea, who has remained at home as his wife is due to give birth, and goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, who chose not to travel. Josh Keeley has stepped into the squad as cover. Israel are missing goalkeeper Daniel Peretz through a groin injury, though winger Manor Solomon is expected to feature despite a persistent back problem.

The 18-year-old P-plate driver accused of ploughing a BMW convertible into a crowd of Newcastle Knights supporters has been refused bail.

Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe did not apply for release during a brief court appearance on Sunday, where he faced nine charges, including three counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. The court heard that the most serious charges carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

The crash on Saturday morning in Wallsend, Newcastle, left 10 people injured. Thousands of fans had lined the streets to cheer on the rugby league team as their bus prepared to leave for the NRL grand final in Sydney.

Instead of a celebration, the morning ended in disaster. A five-year-old girl was placed in an induced coma after suffering critical injuries. Hunter New England Local Health District chief executive Tracey McCosker said on Sunday that the girl's condition has since stabilised, though she remains in John Hunter Hospital along with five other victims.

Who was injured in the Wallsend incident?

Among those still hospitalised is Dave Martin, a well-known local barber. Mr Martin was struck after throwing himself in front of his two young granddaughters to protect them. He suffered multiple fractures in both legs and underwent eight hours of surgery, according to Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery.

Another injured fan, Chris Clancy, described the moment the car lost control on the wet road after stopping at a roundabout.

"The next thing, this car stops at the roundabout and then he just floored it on the wet ground, lost it," Mr Clancy said. "I honestly thought I was going to die. It just felt like slow motion." Mr Clancy suffered fractures to his spine, ribs, collarbone, and foot.

Who is driver Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe?

Court records show that Mr Samarasinghe was suspended from driving in February and unsuccessfully appealed against the suspension in April. His licence has been suspended again.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner David Waddell said officers are investigating reports that the 20-year-old BMW was being driven erratically before the crash. Videos posted to social media showed the vehicle, which had personalised plates, careering around the roundabout just before hitting the crowd.

What charges does the driver face?

The crash sparked immediate anger. Witnesses described a crowd turning on the driver and his two teenage passengers, aged 18 and 19, who were uninjured.

"The crowd grabbed the driver from the wreck and a scuffle began," witness Dean Liddell said, adding that a police officer intervened. "If the copper wasn't there, the driver would have had massive injuries as well."

The Knights' team bus was rerouted following the crash, and the players were informed before travelling. Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the community was devastated. "Yesterday we had our hearts ripped out," he said, noting that off-duty hospital staff had rushed in to help with the influx of casualties.

Mr Samarasinghe appeared in court via video link, wearing a t-shirt and handcuffs. The judge endorsed a warrant for him to receive a medical and mental health assessment while in custody. He is due back in court on 15 October.

Amritsar Rural Police have dismantled an illegal arms and explosives supply network, arresting one suspect and seizing an AK-47 assault rifle, live ammunition, and two hand grenades.

The operation, which targetted a suspected cross-border smuggling link, was confirmed by Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav.

In a statement shared on the social media platform X, the state's top police officer said the recovery also included a magazine for the assault rifle and several rounds of live cartridges.

Foreign smuggling links suspected

According to initial police inquiries, the arrested suspect is believed to be in active contact with smugglers based outside India. Investigators are treating the network as a key conduit for bringing illegal weapons and explosives into Punjab.

While the police have not yet identified the foreign handlers or named the suspect publicly, they say the network was designed to facilitate illicit arms transfers.

The suspect is currently being questioned to trace the origin of the military-grade weapons and locate others involved in the supply chain. Police are working to find out exactly where the shipment was headed and what it was intended to be used for.

Charges registered in Amritsar

A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered at the Gharinda police station in the Amritsar rural district. The case has been filed under relevant provisions of both the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act.

Local officers say the immediate focus of the investigation is to establish the 'backward and forward linkages' of the seizure. This process involves tracing where the weapons were manufactured and procured, how they bypassed border security, and who was scheduled to receive the consignment.

Punjab Police said they are maintaining a strict vigil along the border areas to disrupt organised criminal networks and halt the flow of illegal arms into the state.

Officers have not ruled out further arrests as the investigation into the smuggling network continues.

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for a mother to take her two children to the United Kingdom, reversing a lower court's decision that had branded her career-driven moves across India as a "nomadic life".

In a separate intervention, the court has also taken emergency notice of the planned relocation of Delhi’s historic Central Secretariat Library, demanding answers over reports that its 8.5 lakh books have no adequate home in the revamped Central Vista.

Mother wins custody battle to relocate to UK

The custody dispute, which had dragged on for over seven years, pitted an academic mother with a doctorate in engineering against her estranged husband. The mother had recently secured a lecturer post at the University of Hull in the UK, earning around ‹3 lakh a month.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta strongly praised the mother's efforts to secure financial stability despite "multi-pronged litigation" from her husband. The father, a part-time lecturer earning ‹17,000 a month, had challenged her moves and filed numerous complaints with her employers. Previous family court orders had penalised the mother for moving cities for work, granting custody to the father.

The Supreme Court rejected that logic. It noted that the father had channelled his energy into litigation rather than improving his financial prospects. It also dismissed the idea that the grandparents' ‹1 lakh monthly pension could offset the father's low income, ruling that child support is the primary duty of parents themselves.

Crucially, the judges pointed to a pending criminal case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the father. This followed allegations of sexual abuse made by the couple's 13-year-old son to a psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). The court ruled that with a chargesheet already filed in the POCSO case, giving custody to the father would be "totally unwarranted and unjustified."

The mother is now permitted to take her son and seven-year-old daughter to the UK, though she must file details of their schooling within six weeks.

Court steps in to protect historic library

Away from domestic disputes, a separate bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva took suo motu cognisance of the fate of the Central Secretariat Library.

The 135-year-old institution, which holds over 8.5 lakh books, is currently housed in Shastri Bhawan. The building is slated for demolition under the central government's Central Vista redevelopment project.

The court registered a case titled "In Re: 135-Yr-Old Library 8.5 Lakh Books– And No Room In The New Central Vista Plan" following warnings of inadequate space.

While the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs insisted on social media that space is earmarked for the library within the Kartavya Path redevelopment, internal government correspondence suggests a deep disagreement. In January, the housing ministry offered just two rooms in the Kartavya Bhawan-2 complex. The Culture Ministry, which runs the library, shot back in February, stating the space was "inadequate to accommodate the full collection" and making a complete relocation impossible.

The library was established in 1891 as the Imperial Secretariat Library in Kolkata, moving to Delhi's North Block in the 1930s before settling in Shastri Bhawan in 1969. The court will examine how this vast archive will be preserved.

Supporters of Al-Qaeda have called for copycat attacks against US and Israeli passenger planes, praising the recent attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight by its co-pilot.

The threat appeared in the latest edition of al-Bayan, an Arabic-language weekly online publication launched in July by supporters of the terrorist group. The article compared the cockpit assault on 30 September to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States.

"The war isn't over yet," the publication warned, alongside images of a plane hitting the Twin Towers and graphics referencing the Flydubai flight. It added that passenger jets carrying "Zionists, Americans and all the other infidels... are still hovering in the skies and can be targeted."

The call to action comes as investigators in the United Arab Emirates try to determine whether the Omani co-pilot, 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami, was directly linked to Al-Qaeda or acting alone.

What happened on Flight FZ1073?

The incident occurred on Wednesday, 30 September, aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, which was carrying 182 passengers and crew.

While in the air, al-Hammami allegedly attacked Captain Smit Machchhar with the cockpit's emergency crash axe and attempted to seize control to crash the aircraft. The plane entered a steep plunge, falling thousands of feet before passengers and off-duty crew members managed to breach the cockpit and restrain the co-pilot.

Two other Flydubai pilots who were travelling on the plane took control of the flight, landing it safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

The UAE's Attorney-General, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, said investigators have established that the co-pilot "attempted to carry out a terrorist act." Israeli officials have separately claimed that al-Hammami had undergone Islamist radicalisation and was indoctrinated with Al-Qaeda's ideology.

The digital trail

The case took a stranger turn about nine hours after the plot was foiled. While al-Hammami was already in custody, several posts appeared on his LinkedIn and Instagram accounts before they were deleted. It is not clear whether these posts were scheduled in advance or uploaded by an accomplice.

One post featured video clips taken inside a cockpit zooming in on a nearby Israeli plane, before showing images of the late Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2022.

The posts also referenced Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, an Al-Qaeda supporter and doctor who killed seven CIA officers and contractors in a 2009 suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

Terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann told the New York Post that the reference to al-Balawi was highly striking because of the parallel career backgrounds. "It was a shock to everyone that someone from that kind of professional, successful background would blow himself up," Kohlmann said, comparing the Jordanian doctor to the professionally trained Omani pilot.

Before joining Flydubai eight months ago, al-Hammami had worked for Oman Air and Royal Air Maroc. Sources close to the investigation allege he was previously grounded by Oman Air after extremist material was found on his phone, though Omani authorities have not publicly confirmed this.

The US Transportation Security Administration said it was closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with international partners to assess the threat.

Up to 500 French high schools will be fully or partially closed on Monday, after weeks of student protests over classroom conditions escalated into violent clashes with riot police.

The country’s education minister, Édouard Geffray, announced on Sunday that lessons would be suspended at between 400 and 500 schools because safety conditions could not be guaranteed. He revealed that 24 schools had been burned or vandalised since the demonstrations began in mid-September, and 78 school staff members had been injured.

The closures will fall heavily on the Île-de-France region surrounding Paris. Valérie Pécresse, the regional president, told broadcaster Franceinfo that more than a third of its 468 high schools would be affected on Monday. The unrest, which started at a single Paris school on 17 September, has rapidly spread to major cities including Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, and Montpellier.

Why are French students protesting?

Teenage protesters at France's lycées are demanding urgent action over what they describe as a neglected public education system. Their grievances include chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms of up to 40 pupils, overlong school days, leaking ceilings, and cockroach infestations.

Many are also angry about the country's opaque university admissions platform and structural inequalities in disadvantaged areas, where pupils say they are forced to sit exams despite missing weeks of classes due to unfilled staff vacancies.

"I don't understand why the government deploys so much force against a case that is valid: our education, our future," a 16-year-old protester named Campion told AFP during an open-air meeting in Saint-Denis, north of Paris.

How violent have the clashes been?

While ministers have acknowledged that many of these complaints are legitimate, they have heavily condemned the accompanying "urban violence," blaming far-left agitators for infiltrating and hijacking the student movement.

The scale of the unrest has caught President Emmanuel Macron's administration by surprise. More than 5,000 people have been arrested since the protests began, with minors accounting for 85 percent of those detained. More than 600 police officers have also been injured in clashes. In one of the most serious incidents, police in the southern town of La Ciotat on Sunday detained a 16-year-old accused of dousing a 59-year-old teacher in petrol and striking him during a protest on Friday.

The government's response has also drawn fierce criticism. Amnesty International France accused security forces of using "disproportionate police violence," citing the heavy use of tear gas, batons, and rubber bullets against teenagers. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez defended the police, arguing they were protecting students who wanted to protest peacefully.

How is the French government responding?

To defuse the crisis, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised on Sunday to fast-track plans to fill teacher vacancies and announced a meeting with regional leaders on Tuesday to discuss rebuilding dilapidated campuses. He also warned that the government is speeding up a bill to force those responsible for property damage to foot the bill.

But these promises have done little to pacify the organisers, who have called for renewed nationwide demonstrations on Tuesday, accusing the state of failing to offer concrete measures.