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Journalism of Courage
Good morning,
US President Donald Trump Thursday announced that Israel and Hamas have signed off on the first phase of the US-proposed Gaza peace deal. The agreement was put forward by the Trump administration, and discussions were ongoing with delegations and intermediaries from the US, Egypt and Qatar in Sharm El-Sheikh to broker an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and release all the hostages still held by Hamas. In a telephonic interview with Reuters, the US president said, “The whole world has come together on this one, Israel, every country has come together. This has been a fantastic day.”
With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:
🚨 Big Story
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with British counterpart Keir Starmer, who is currently in Mumbai for a two-day visit, on Thursday. This is Starmer’s first visit to India after he assumed office in 2024, and he is accompanied by a 125-member delegation – UK’s largest ever trade delegation to India. A day earlier, Starmer termed the India-UK deal signed in July this year as a “launchpad for growth,” and said trade with India would become “quicker and cheaper” and the opportunities waiting to be seized are “unparalleled”.
Following a visit to Yash Raj Films (YRF) in Mumbai, Starmer Wednesday announced that the leading Indian film production and distribution company will bring three of its major productions to locations across the United Kingdom from early 2026, creating over 3,000 jobs and boosting the economy by millions of pounds. The decision comes in line with the deepening collaboration between the United Kingdom (UK) and India’s globally renowned creative industries.
India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the UK’s Trade Minister Peter Kyle Wednesday held bilateral meetings to oversee the implementation of the free trade agreement (FTA), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated. The discussions at the India-UK CEO Forum reaffirmed the shared commitment of India and the UK to advancing a modern, mutually beneficial, and sustainable economic partnership, strengthened by the India–UK CETA, the ministry shared in a statement.
⚡ Only in Express
As Bihar heads for Assembly elections, the outgoing 17th Assembly has set a low benchmark as far as legislative performance goes – its 146 sittings between 2020 and 2025 being the lowest for incumbent Nitish Kumar’s four terms as the Chief Minister. In all, the Assembly functioned for a total 467.4 hours, an average of 93.5 hours for each year of its term. The Assembly met for an average of 29 days each year, and functioned for an average of three hours on the days it met. This was lower than the national average, with PRS Legislative Research data showing that in 2024, Assemblies across all states met for about five hours on sitting days.
📰 From the Front Page
‘Cautious optimism’: One of the “fresh indications” received by New Delhi from Washington DC is an “engagement at the highest level” between PM Modi and US President Donald Trump that could break the current deadlock and inject the momentum needed to push the long-drawn India-US trade talks over the finish line. While this engagement would not come easy, officials hope US Ambassador-designate Sergio Gor may play a role in “facilitating” this outreach. There is now cautious optimism that the remaining differences could be bridged in the run-up to the ASEAN and East Asia leaders’ summit in Kuala Lumpur from October 26 to 28.
Caste bias: Haryana-cadre IPS officer Y Puran Kumar, who was found dead with a gunshot wound at his residence in Chandigarh on Tuesday, has named nine serving IPS officers of the Haryana Police, a retired IPS officer, and three retired IAS officers in a purported “suicide note”, alleging “caste-based discrimination, public humiliation, targeted mental harassment and atrocities.” The Chandigarh Police has confirmed the recovery of a “will and final note” and said “further investigation” was being carried out.
‘Killed over rumours’: For over a month now, districts in Uttar Pradesh have been in the grip of rumours of “drone chori” — that drones were allegedly being used to carry out robberies. It was the whorl of one such panic-fuelled night that Hariom Valmiki walked into late on October 1, when he was allegedly mistaken for a drone thief, and was attacked by a mob, before being left to die near the railway tracks across the road from Dandepur Jamunapur village in Rae Bareli.
📌 Must Read
Dilemma: Ahead of the first visit to India by a Taliban Foreign Minister, South Block is facing a diplomatic dilemma: whether to let the Taliban flag be placed next to the Indian flag when Amir Khan Muttaqi meets External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi this Friday. With India yet to grant official recognition to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, officials are debating how to navigate this unusual situation, especially in a setting like Delhi, which poses a diplomatic challenge.
In our Opinion section today, Manoj K Channan highlights the consequences of the television theatrics of the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who is focused on acting out “warrior fantasies,” rather than leading the military with professionalism. Channan writes: “The Trump-Hegseth duo has turned warfare into an extension of political branding. “Winning” no longer signifies strategic advantage; it signifies applause. “Strength” no longer signifies capability; it signifies conformity. The greatest danger is not Hegseth’s ignorance of military standards but his ability to enforce that ignorance through executive authority.”
US President Trump, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly last month, claimed that climate change was the greatest “con job” ever, while calling climate predictions “wrong.” These predictions are usually made using climate models. These computer programs are at the heart of climate research: they help scientists understand how the climate changed in the past, how it is changing now, and how it might change in the future. How do such models work? We explain.
⏳ And Finally…
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this year is out. The winners — Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa, and Omar Yaghi — have been honoured for creating molecular constructions with ‘rooms’ in between in which desired gases or chemicals can be stored. These porous ‘rooms,’ called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), can be used for trapping moisture from desert air to get water, or trapping ethylene gas from fruits so that they ripen, and thus spoil, slowly. Know more here.
🎧 Lastly, tune in to our latest episode of 3 Things podcast, where we discuss the attack on CJI B R Gavai over his remarks on Khajuraho temple complex; Maharashtra’s Marathwada region transforming into a flood zone; and ED raids into alleged luxury car smuggling violations.
That’s all for today.
Until next time,
Ariba
