Plain answers to the questions behind the news.
For ten days Ukraine's satellite links stopped working on anything moving faster than about 160 km/h. Speeds were restored on Saturday, but who ordered the cap is still disputed. How the system works, why speed matters, and what Kyiv is doing about it.
It began with one lycée in a Paris suburb short of teachers. Five weeks on, hundreds of thousands march every Saturday, thousands have been arrested and the 2027 presidential race has a new fault line. What the protesters want, and what comes next.
Full results presented in Madrid on Saturday show Moderna and Merck's personalised vaccine cut the risk of melanoma returning by 42%. What a 'cancer vaccine' actually does, how each dose is built, and why doctors are still waiting on the most important number.
A bandh against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project ended in a night of vandalism in Pasighat, and Pema Khandu has offered talks. What the dam is meant to do, how China's giant dam upstream comes into it, and why the people who live on the river say no.
ISRO chairman V Narayanan says the first Gaganyaan test flight is about two months away. Why a robot is going before the astronauts, what the capsule must survive, and how many steps remain before Indians fly.
The Centre says it has issued 11 crore Farmer IDs, five months ahead of its March 2027 deadline. What the ID is, how a farmer gets one, what it will be needed for, and why tenants and forest farmers worry.
A magnitude 7 quake killed at least 16 people in Tibet's Baqen county this week, 21 months after one near Everest killed 126. Why the plateau is so active, how the Himalaya differs, and what became of India's tougher quake map.
India's reserves have fallen for six weeks in a row, to $721 billion, about $65 billion below their September record. What the reserves are, why they are shrinking, and how long the Reserve Bank can keep defending the currency.
ISRO will fly the NVS-03 satellite on a GSLV from Sriharikota on 30 October. What NavIC is, why failing clocks and a lost satellite left it short of a full service, and what one launch can fix.
The Nifty Smallcap 100 lost 7.4% in a week, and market experts blamed forced selling by traders who bought with borrowed money. What a margin call is, how India's margin trading facility works, and why falls in small stocks can feed on themselves.
The Centre has notified the Telecommunications (Regulatory Sandbox) Rules, 2026. What a sandbox is, who can apply, what users are promised, and how the rules have changed since the idea was first floated.
The weather office expects a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal to become a depression by Sunday. What those words mean, how fast the winds must blow before a system is called a cyclone, and how the warnings are issued.
This week India told the UN's disarmament committee it is ready to make its promise never to strike first with nuclear weapons legally binding. What the 2003 doctrine says, its exceptions, who can order a strike, and what a global pact would change.
A senior Revolutionary Guards commander said this week that the internet cables beneath the Strait of Hormuz could be destroyed if Iran is attacked. How these cables work, how much of India's traffic uses them, and what would happen if they were cut.
The UN Environment Programme said on Wednesday that the world can no longer avoid passing 1.5C of warming. What the emissions gap is, what overshoot means, what it would take to come back down, and how India's own targets compare.
Stage I of the Graded Response Action Plan came into force across Delhi-NCR on Wednesday as the air turned poor. What the plan is, who runs it, what changes at each stage, and why this year's version kicks in harder and sooner.
Shehbaz Sharif warned on Wednesday that any violation of the 1960 treaty would be 'an act of war'. How the treaty divides six rivers, why India froze it in April 2025, what the Hague tribunal has said since, and how much India can really change on the ground.
Turkiye's parliament is about to take up the three-nation treaty signed in August, as Pakistani and Turkish forces line up to help defend Saudi Arabia from Houthi attacks. What the pact says, what it leaves out, and where it leaves New Delhi.
Amit Shah led the national tribute at the National Police Memorial on Wednesday. The date goes back to a patrol in north-eastern Ladakh 67 years ago, when ten policemen were killed by Chinese troops.
Nigeria confirmed its first case on Tuesday, a woman who flew in from Uganda, and Kenya has nine. The outbreak that began in Congo in May is caused by a rare Ebola species that today's vaccines were not made for.
Jio Platforms' share sale opens to the public today, two days after big institutions took ₹8,110 crore of its shares at the top of the price band. What an anchor investor is, what the rules allow them, and how much their enthusiasm should count for.
Amazon will fund a plant of 12 small nuclear reactors on an old Indiana coal site, and India wants at least five home-grown ones running by 2033. What makes a reactor 'small', why tech companies and governments are betting on them, and the catch.
JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration probe left Earth on Tuesday on a round trip that should end with Phobos soil landing in Australia in 2031. What the mission will do, how it collects a sample, and the question it hopes to answer.
About three in four voters chose to stay in Canada in Monday's referendum, according to early results. What the question asked, why it was held, how a province could legally break away, and what comes next.
The free trade agreement signed by Piyush Goyal and Todd McClay in April comes into force on Tuesday. What each side has opened up, why dairy stayed out, and what it means for shoppers, farmers and exporters.
Last week the Supreme Court held that access to the internet is a fundamental right of every person, children included, and ordered a national database to take down child abuse material. Where the right comes from, what it rules out, and what changes for families and tech companies.
The Peshawar High Court takes up the first challenge to the federal takeover of the province on Tuesday. How Pakistan's constitution lets Islamabad run a province, how long it can last, and how it compares with President's Rule in India.
Rebel MPs must answer disqualification petitions by Tuesday, and the Election Commission hears the fight over the Trinamool name and symbol on 30 October. Two forums, two laws and two very different questions.
The Security Council's sixth straw poll left every candidate with a 'discourage' vote from a permanent member, and Macky Sall has quit the race. How the selection works, what a straw poll is, and what happens if the deadlock holds past December.
A US law signed last month threatened 100% tariffs on the biggest buyers of Russian oil, India among them, from 18 October. On Friday night President Trump set it aside. What the law says, what the waiver does, and why the threat has not fully gone away.
East and Northeast India got a quarter less rain than normal this year, the lowest since 1901, and Meghalaya ended 60% short. How the rain-bearing systems missed the region, what El Niño has to do with it, and what a dry winter could mean.
The Home Ministry's draft would give Ladakh its own special article in the Constitution and an elected body for the whole Union Territory. Ladakh's leaders rejected it within hours. What Article 371 is, how it differs from the Sixth Schedule, and what is left to negotiate on 22 October.
India ranks 100th of 122 countries in the 2026 Global Hunger Index and stays in the 'serious' band. What the index measures, why child wasting drags India down, and what the government has said against it.
On Friday the Supreme Court issued show-cause notices to the Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and the journalist over their remarks about the Chief Justice. The case could reach the court only after Attorney General R Venkataramani gave his consent. What contempt of court is, why that consent is needed, and what can happen next.
India's current account deficit narrowed to $5.2 billion in August, the RBI said this week, even as the rupee hovers near record lows. What the number counts, how it is measured, and why it matters for the currency in your pocket.
Thousands of people, from chief ministers to students, have been picked up in Delhi this month during the protests against the Chief Election Commissioner. The police have relied on a handful of sections of the new criminal procedure code. What those sections allow, how long people can be held, and where the limits lie.
Tech Mahindra's board has recommended one free share for every share held, its first bonus issue since 2015. Here is how a bonus works, what happens to the share price, and what shareholders need to watch for.
Brussels on Thursday listed nine more companies for helping Russia get round its curbs, four of them from India, the UAE and the Seychelles. An EU listing does not bind India, but it can still shut a company out of European money, ships and markets.
India's para athletes began competing in Aichi on Friday, and almost every event name carries a code. Those letters and numbers are the heart of para sport: they group athletes by how their impairment affects play, so that skill decides the result.
From Friday, banks must keep at least 99% of their required cash reserve with the RBI every single day, up from 90%. It sounds technical. It is one of the ways the central bank is trying to make its rate rise bite.
On Thursday the Supreme Court refused to restore the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore of YES Bank's AT-1 bonds, and the bank's shares fell as much as 20%. What these bonds are, why they were wiped out, and who gains or loses now.
Punjab has just logged its worst day of farm fires this season. The timing is no accident: a groundwater law, the harvest calendar and the machines used to cut paddy all push burning into a few weeks of autumn.
Yogi Adityanath seeks a third term, Akhilesh Yadav is betting on his PDA coalition and Mayawati is going it alone. The leaders, the small caste-based parties that tip close seats, and the newcomers who want a share.
The BJP and its allies won 273 seats last time, the Samajwadi Party nearly tripled its tally and the BSP was reduced to a single MLA. How the state's four regions split, and the arithmetic that will decide 2027.
UPI payments to shops have been free for merchants since 2020. A fee on larger payments was due on 15 October and has been put off until after Diwali. How it works, what is exempt and whether customers will feel it.
Beijing has issued five batches of Chinese names for places in Arunachal Pradesh since 2017. This month India named 28 features in Ladakh, and China called that illegal. What these lists are, what they change on the ground and why both capitals bother.
This week the IMF raised its growth forecast for India to 7%. A week earlier the RBI said 7.1%. How the Fund's flagship report is put together, why two careful forecasters rarely land on exactly the same figure and what the numbers are used for.
Tankers are being hit almost daily in and around the strait, and Brent crude is back above $106 a barrel. Why a narrow channel off Iran matters so much to India, why pump prices have risen far less than crude, and what could change that.
Retail inflation is 5.54%. Wholesale inflation was 9.92% in August and is expected to cross 10% when the September figure comes out at noon today. What each index measures, why the gap is so wide and who should care.
The old Section 144 has a new number. Cases over this month's Delhi protests have been filed for breaking orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. Who can issue such an order, how long it lasts and how it can be challenged.
Rahul Gandhi and 10 other opposition leaders want the voter roll revision stopped, its records opened up and its deletions audited. Here is what they are asking, on what legal grounds, and what the Election Commission says.
Onions, garlic and silver pushed prices up at the fastest pace of the year. Economists now expect the RBI to raise rates again in December, which would reach home loans within months.
Missiles from Yemen have hit Saudi airports four times in a week, killing at least 20 people, one of them from Hyderabad. Who is firing, why now, and what it means for Indians in the Gulf.
A satirical online page started in mid-May 2026 is now one of the most visible youth protest movements in India. Where the name came from, who runs it and why it is marching against the Chief Election Commissioner.
A selection committee led by the Prime Minister picks the CEC under a 2023 law now before a Constitution Bench. Removal needs the same process as a Supreme Court judge.
What the SIR is, why names are being left off draft rolls, and the forms to use if yours is missing or wrong.
How Lok Sabha seats are shared among states, why the numbers have been frozen since 1976, and what the government's April 2026 attempt to change them would have done.
The population count asks 40 questions, from age and religion to Aadhaar, bank accounts and caste. Here is what to expect, when, and what remains unclear.
The Bill would let a government authority take over foreign-funded assets of NGOs that lose their FCRA licence, and cut the maximum jail term. A joint committee is studying it.
Since September 2025, most goods and services fall into a 5% or 18% slab, with 40% for a short list of sin and luxury goods. Here is how the system works as of October 2026.
Six stages take a Bill from a minister's desk to the statute book. Here is what happens at each, and where Money Bills, joint sittings and private members fit in.
India moved its national accounts to a 2022-23 base in February 2026. Here is how the growth number is put together, and why past figures shifted.
Since February 2026, India's retail inflation figure comes from a new Consumer Price Index with base year 2024. The basket is bigger, food counts for less and some prices are now collected online.
MLAs, not voters, choose Rajya Sabha members, using ranked ballots that they must show to their party. All 12 seats due in October were filled unopposed.
The Centre announces minimum support prices for 22 crops, but government buying is concentrated in a few crops and a few states. Here is how the system works.
Two Bills to hold Lok Sabha and assembly elections together have been with a joint committee since December 2024. Its report is now due in the Winter Session.
Much of Parliament's detailed scrutiny happens in small committees that meet behind closed doors. Here is how they differ, and which ones are at work now.
The Tenth Schedule punishes MPs and MLAs who switch sides, but a merger of two-thirds is allowed and the Speaker decides. 2026 has tested both rules.
The gap between what the Centre spends and what it earns decides how much it must borrow. For 2026-27 the target is ₹16.96 lakh crore, or 4.3% of GDP.
Four codes replaced 29 central labour laws in November 2025. Here is what they promise workers, what they ask of employers, and why so much still depends on the states.
The RBI's main policy rate moved up to 5.50% in October 2026. Here is how a decision in Mumbai finds its way into your home loan instalment.
India's data protection law lets you see, correct and erase your data and complain if it is misused. Most of it takes effect in May 2027, and the regulator is not yet staffed.
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