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India has said it will reopen its embassy in Kabul, Eternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced during his meeting with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi. This marked the highest level of bilateral contact between India and the Taliban since 2021.

New Delhi had closed its embassy in Kabul after the insurgent group retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021. However, in June 2022, a technical team was deployed at the diplomatic mission to oversee humanitarian assistance programmes.

Despite not formally recognising the Taliban regime, India had permitted a Taliban consul general to be appointed in Mumbai. Read on.

A ceasefire in Gaza came into effect at noon local time on Friday, following a peace proposal by United States President Donald Trump. The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed it had repositioned troops along “updated deployment lines” adding that it would continue to counter “any immediate threat”.

Earlier in the day, Israel’s Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement. The decision came about 24 hours after Trump announced that Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas had “both signed off” on the first phase of the peace plan for Gaza.

Hamas, which has also signed off on the deal, declared that the agreement marked a complete end to the war. In the hours leading up to the Israeli cabinet’s vote, Tel Aviv’s airstrikes on Gaza had continued. Read on.

A court in Bangladesh has declared two families from West Bengal’s Birbhum district who had been forced into the country earlier this year were Indian citizens. The court has also directed the Indian High Commission in Dhaka to take appropriate action to take them back.

The group included a pregnant woman, Sonali Khatun, her husband and children. The other family that was deported was Sweety Bibi, 32, and her two sons, aged six and 16.

On September 26, the Calcutta High Court set aside the Indian government’s deportation order against the two families and directed that they be brought back within four weeks. Read on.

Pregnant woman from Bengal forced into Bangladesh. Family has land records from five generations ago

Venezuelan Opposition leader María Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. She was honoured for promoting democratic rights and her struggle for peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in the South American country.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that Machado is “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times”. Machado has been forced into hiding since last year. Read on.

The state governments within the National Capital Region have urged the Supreme Court to allow the use of green firecrackers for a restricted period on Diwali, as well as Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Although the bench reserved its order on the matter, the chief justice remarked: “For the time being, we will permit on the ban lifting during Diwali.”

Appearing for states within the NCR, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that they were seeking permission to allow the use of green firecrackers on Diwali from 8 pm to 10 pm. On Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the use of green firecrackers should be allowed from 11.55 pm to 12.30 am, and on Guruparab, from 4 am to 5 am, and 9 pm to 10 pm, he urged. Read on.

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