Suvarna Raj won gold in the women’s discus F54 event on Day 4 of the 2026 Asian Para Games in Nagoya, delivering a strong start for India with a best throw of 15.66 metres. She defeated Iran’s Shahid Habibi by just 21 centimetres, taking India’s gold medal tally to 15. A wheelchair user, Suvarna has represented India at three Asian Para Games and competed internationally since 2017. Her recent achievements include discus gold and shot put silver at the Canberra Track Meet in January 2026, followed by bronze at the Dubai World Para Athletics Grand Prix. Beyond sport, she advocates accessibility and disability rights, having conducted over 1,000 accessibility audits nationwide. (PC: X)

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Wednesday, October 21, welcomed the release of leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka following a Special Executive Magistrate’s order in New Delhi. The two were released from Tihar Jail after their judicial custody expired in connection with a protest at Jantar Mantar on October 14. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke praised the leaders, describing them as “much, much bigger leaders” than himself. The party’s legal head, Ratna Singh, said the release decision should have come earlier. The development marked a key moment for the party after the detention of its leaders over the Jantar Mantar protest, according to PTI’s report. (PC: X)

Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail on Wednesday after spending a week in custody. A Special Executive Magistrate ordered their release after they submitted written assurances to maintain peace and furnished bonds and sureties of Rs 50,000 each. The decision came hours after they withdrew their Delhi High Court petition challenging their custody. The two were detained on October 14 for allegedly violating peace bonds during a Tiranga protest at Jantar Mantar. They had been demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation over alleged voter list irregularities. (PC: India Today)

Ukraine lost more than $1 million worth of drones after their connection to Starshield, a US-backed satellite internet service, was disrupted, The New York Times reported. A Ukrainian commander said several drones fell as their video feeds stopped working during missions against Russian targets. The disruption reportedly forced some units to suspend operations for 3 days. Ukrainian officials also said speed restrictions affected drone attacks and air defence. The US administration denied deliberately cutting support, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged a slowdown had occurred and said service had been restored. The dispute has raised tensions between Washington and Kyiv. (PC: NDTV)

Mumbai Police sources said the accused in the firing case involving actor Tiger Shroff had also surveyed Ranbir Kapoor’s residence in Bandra. Investigators are probing an alleged conspiracy linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Police told a court that the shooters initially targeted Salman Khan but allegedly shifted their focus to Shroff after finding heavy security outside Khan’s home. Eight people have been arrested so far. Three alleged shooters were remanded to police custody until October 31. Investigators are also examining an alleged weapons supply network, with two women accused of transporting firearms to Mumbai from Amritsar. (PC: India Today)

US President Donald Trump has said the United States and India are close to finalising a bilateral trade deal, describing it as “a much different kind of deal”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said negotiations were nearing completion, with 99% of the work done and finalisation expected within weeks. However, differences over specific wording and terms remain unresolved. The deal has faced delays amid tensions over US tariffs on Indian goods and India’s purchases of Russian oil. Both countries are continuing negotiations to settle outstanding issues and strengthen economic ties. (PC: The Indian Express)

Raihan Vadra, son of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has alleged that 74 photographs documenting youth protests were removed from his exhibition at Delhi’s Bikaner House, hours before its opening on Wednesday. Titled ‘No Idea Is Final’, the exhibition was asked to remove 75 of its 105 photographs, including 2 featuring the national flag, he told NDTV. Vadra said officials cited concerns over the timing and context of the images. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera accused the BJP-led governments of censorship. Bikaner House authorities and the BJP had not responded to the allegations. Vadra plans to display the photographs elsewhere. (PC: NDTV)

Government agencies across Europe temporarily shut down websites on Wednesday after 2 critical security flaws were discovered in PHP, a programming language widely used to run websites and applications. The US National Security Agency urged organisations to install security updates immediately or take vulnerable systems offline. The PHP Foundation said the flaws could allow attackers to execute malicious code on affected servers without authentication, potentially exposing files and databases. Researchers from security firm Calif and OpenAI independently identified the vulnerabilities, while Google-owned Wiz found additional ways to exploit them. Developers have released patches, and authorities are urging urgent action. (PC: HT)

Pakistan’s cybercrime agency has exposed an alleged cross-border fraud racket involving 3 Pakistani men and 4 Indian nationals living in Canada. The suspects allegedly used AI-generated passports and photographs to create fake identities and open bank accounts remotely with Canadian banks. According to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), the Canada-based suspects prepared the documents and sent them to their Pakistani accomplices, who allegedly opened the accounts. Credit cards were then used to exhaust their limits before being discarded. Pakistani authorities announced arrests in Lahore on October 19. The banks involved and total losses remain undisclosed. (PC: India Today)

Russia is ready in principle to resume talks with Ukraine and the United States to end the war, a senior aide to President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Yuri Ushakov made the statement after Putin met US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg for about 3 hours. Ushakov suggested a new round of negotiations could take place around November 10 in Abu Dhabi. A US official said Washington had proposed trilateral technical-level talks, accepted by both Moscow and Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would accept a ceasefire freezing the conflict along the current front line. (PC: BBC)