Meghalaya's capital Shillong pips Azerbaijan's historic capital city Baku as the most popular destination for Indian travellers in 2025, reveals the new 'Travel Trends Report' by global travel app Skyscanner.

Shillong is the only city to feature in the list as part of the annual report, released on Wednesday.

The report, which offers insights into the pulse of Indian travellers in the coming year, claimed that 66 per cent of Indians plan to "travel more" in the coming year.

"Known as the Scotland of the East, Shillong in India sits on top among the most buzzing destinations followed by Baku, Azerbaijan and Langkawi, Malaysia known for their diverse experiences and the perfect blend of relaxation and adventure.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the second edition of its flagship international seminar, the Chanakya Defence Dialogue, in New Delhi today. The Minister will launch the Indian Army’s Green Initiative 1.0 and Digitisation of IA 1.0. The Minister will deliver a keynote address on ‘India’s Vision for Development and Security,’ underscoring the importance of comprehensive security in achieving Viksit Bharat in 2047. Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi will also address the audience, highlighting the Indian Army’s significant contributions to nation-building, including initiatives aligned with Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The two-day event will bring together policymakers, strategic thinkers, academics, defence personnel, veterans, and scientists. Prominent speakers from the United States, Russia, Israel, and Sri Lanka will also participate in the dialogue. The dialogue will explore India’s strategic pathways towards Viksit Bharat in 2047, focusing on the role of comprehensive security in national development. The Chanakya Defence Dialogue will consist of six expert-led sessions, each focusing on critical aspects of comprehensive security.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Wednesday announced that Australia has been nominated as the "Country of Focus" at the 55th edition of the International Film Festival of India .

The “Country of Focus” segment at IFFI will feature a curated selection of seven Australian films, showcasing the country's rich storytelling traditions as well as indigenous and contemporary narratives.

The announcement follows the recent signing of an Audio Visual Co-production Treaty between the two nations, which aims to boost co-productions by offering incentives to filmmakers from both countries.

"This collaboration will not only promote cultural exchange but also open new avenues for filmmakers in India and Australia to work together on innovative cinematic projects," the ministry said in a statement.

Actor Darasing Khurana has received the Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Award for his work towards raising awareness around mental health issues as the ‘Commonwealth Year of Youth Champion’.

Khurana, 32, the Indian actor and philanthropist, also served as the keynote speaker at the Global Mental Health Summit 2024 at the Oxford University’s historic Oxford Union before heading over to Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

“My work in the field of mental health awareness goes back many years. Getting the opportunity to put that on the world map and have meaningful discussions with people in power and influence has been quite special,” said Khurana, who received the award at the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.

The Odisha government on Tuesday announced that women employees will now get an additional 12 days of casual leave (CL) annually apart from the 15 days they get currently, an official note issued by the CMO said.

The current government followed Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida's announcement on Independence Day that women employees will be entitled to a day's paid menstrual leave per month.

The number of additional CLs for women was 10 since March this year as announced by the previous BJD government "keeping in mind the family responsibilities and various problems of women".

President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Justice Yahya Afridi as the 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), according to a report by ARY News.

Notably, Justice Afridi, who has been serving as a Supreme Court Justice since 2018, is set to take oath on October 26, 2024. This appointment comes after a 12-member special parliamentary committee nominated him for the position on Tuesday.

The parliamentary committee on Tuesday under the 26th Constitutional Amendment nominated Justice Yahya Afridi as the 30th Chief Justice of Pakistan. The appointment was made under the provisions of Articles 175A(3), 177, and 179 of the Constitution

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has granted approval to Paytm to onboard new UPI users, subject to the adherence to all procedural guidelines and circulars, according to the company.

The move is expected to come as a relief to Paytm, which had suffered a blow following the Reserve Bank of India's restrictions earlier this year on associate company Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) in onboarding new UPI users on the Paytm app.

In March, the NPCI gave approval to Paytm to participate in UPI as a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP). The NPCI allowed the company to continue UPI transactions through four banks - SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and YES Bank.

The two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) started today in Colombia to assess historic commitments to halt and reverse the loss of nature. Environmental leaders from nearly 200 countries are expected to participate, where 196 countries signed an ambitious global treaty, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to protect biodiversity. At COP 16, governments will be tasked with reviewing the state of implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Parties to the Convention are expected to show the alignment of their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with the Framework. COP 16 will further develop the monitoring framework and advance resource mobilization for the Global Biodiversity Framework. Among other tasks, COP 16 is also due to finalize and operationalize the multilateral mechanism on the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources. Speaking at the opening remarks, Minister of Environment of Colombia Susana Muhamad, said This is going to be a great opportunity for one of the most biodiverse nations in the world. Echoing the same sentiments, Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity said the outcomes of COP 16 accelerate action at all levels to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Egypt has been certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) - an achievement hailed by the UN public health agency as "truly historic".

“Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Egyptian authorities launched their first efforts to stamp out the deadly mosquito-borne infectious disease nearly 100 years.

Certification is granted when a country proves that the transmission chain is interrupted for at least the previous three consecutive years. Malaria kills at least 600,000 people every year, nearly all of them in Africa.

India’s fourth nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), referred to as S4*, was launched into water at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam last week, official sources confirmed. This submarine is bigger and more capable than the first, INS Arihant (S2), which is essentially a technology demonstrator developed under the Advanced Technology Vessel programme.

The S4* was launched into water on October 16 at SBC, multiple sources confirmed. It has significant indigenous content, with Indian industry being extensively involved, according to a source.