Delhi’s air quality worsens as people defy ban on Diwali fireworks

Delhi has once again become the world’s most polluted city following Diwali celebrations as people in the Indian capital continued to burst firecrackers despite a government ban.

After a night of relentless fireworks, the Swiss firm IQAir reported an Air Quality Index, or AQI, of 348 for the city, categorising air quality as “hazardous” for its 33 million residents.

The fireworks happened despite the Delhi government banning the production, sale, and use of firecrackers until New Year’s Day.

This is not the first time Delhi’s residents have defied the ban on burning firecrackers during Diwali. Since its introduction in 2017, the seasonal ban has been widely violated, with many residents citing tradition and cultural significance as reasons for continuing the practice of burning firecrackers.

The challenge of enforcing the ban is compounded by the easy availability of firecrackers in the city.

As dusk fell on Thursday, the noise of firecrackers bursting increased as AQI worsened. The fireworks continued until late into the night.

Yet, Delhi’s environment minister thanked the residents for “largely refraining from bursting firecrackers” on Diwali. “Thanks to the responsible actions of many residents who avoided using firecrackers, we managed to avoid a severe AQI reading,” Gopal Rai said.

Air pollution monitoring stations in RK Puram and Jahangirpuri areas reported dangerous PM2.5 concentrations, reaching 900 micrograms per cubic metre, far above the safe limit of 60 micrograms.

Similarly, Patparganj, Okhla, and Nehru Nagar saw PM2.5 levels in the range of 850–900 micrograms by 10 pm, pushing the AQI into the “hazardous”category.

As the night progressed, the air quality across the city and the broader National Capital Region worsened.

By Friday morning Delhi’s overall AQI had hit 359, making it the most polluted city in the world for the day.

The city woke up to thick smog, reducing visibility and making air heavier to breathe. Poorer areas in the north and east reported AQI levels near or in the “severe” category, making the air extremely unhealthy.

Delhi’s air quality is already poor from October to December and the bursting of firecrackers during Diwali only makes it worse.

Although the city faces moderately poor air quality due to emissions from a large number of old and poorly maintained vehicles, along with releases from industries, throughout the year, cooler temperatures and stagnant air conditions in the winter months trap pollutants closer to the ground, leading to severe smog episodes.

To make matters worse, farmers burn stocks of stubble in nearby agricultural regions during this period. In spite of government policies to incentivise farmers against burning stubble, there has been only a small decrease in farm fires over the last few years.

In response to the escalating pollution crisis, the Delhi government activated stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan which includes measures such as halting construction activities and restricting the use of diesel generators.

Mr Rai said mobile smog guns were deployed across the city, actively spraying water on roads to minimise dust and mitigate pollution levels.

Authorities have also intensified monitoring and enforcement efforts to ensure compliance with pollution control measures.

Delhi’s toxic air is especially damaging to children, the elderly, and those with respiratory conditions. They face increased risks of ailments like asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory infections from breathing the polluted air.

A study published in June found that air pollution has killed 135 million people in the last four decades around the world, with India and China accounting for the bulk of the fatalities.

Almost entire herd of elephants killed in India – and nobody knows why

Ten elephants of a herd of 13 died over three days in a tiger reserve in central India, leaving authorities puzzled as to the reason.

The tuskers in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh state began dying on Tuesday.

A park guard spotted several elephants in visible distress about 2km from their regular camp and alerted his superiors, who sent out veterinary teams immediately.

The vets found four elephants had died. They provided medical attention to the rest of the herd, but four more died Wednesday night, and another pair on Thursday.

Authorities said they were awaiting postmortem reports to understand the cause of the mass death.

The three surviving members of the herd were under observation, NDTV reported.

Teams from the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests had landed in Bandhavgarh to conduct an independent inquiry. They were expected to file a preliminary report in the next 10 days.

The investigation would seek to find out if the mass death was accidental or intentional.

“There is an investigation into whether this was a case of poisoning,” an unnamed official told the Indian Express. “There are some signs but we can only say for sure when the postmortem report comes in.”

PK Verma, deputy director of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, pointed at a local crop, a grain called Kodo, which might pose a risk to elephants under certain conditions.

“While we are examining various leads, there’s a possibility that Kodo, which can be toxic to elephants, may have contributed,” he explained.

In the wake of the deaths, park authorities destroyed Kodo crops in the area as a precaution, ploughing and burning the standing grain.

A team of veterinarians was conducting a separate investigation.

“There is now a large team of doctors who are looking into the case. We are mainly treating them for toxic infection. The medicines are registered intravenously. Several villagers have been questioned on the use of pesticides in the kodo millet plants. The villagers have claimed that the act was not intentional. The investigation is underway,” a wildlife official was quoted as saying by the Express.

“The experts have informed us that there have been past instances of elephants dying due to ingesting kodo millets and there have also been cases of successful treatment.”

The investigating teams, involving over 100 forest officials accompanied by a dog squad, were conducting checks of nearby water sources, examining the herd’s movement patterns, and assessing crops within a 5km radius of where the tuskers were found. They were collecting soil samples and plant exhibits from the vicinity as well.

The investigation though was getting hampered by the presence of a larger and more aggressive herd of elephants as well as three tigers in the area.

Bandhavgarh’s elephant population flourished in recent years, even attracting migrating tuskers from neighbouring Chhattisgarh state. Known for its ideal habitat, the reserve’s reputation as a sanctuary for elephants now stands overshadowed by the tragedy, raising concerns about wildlife management and protection protocols in the area.

Thom Yorke walks offstage after being confronted by Gaza protester

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke walked offstage after being heckled by a pro-Palestine protester during a solo show in Melbourne.

Footage filmed by a member of the audience shows a man in the crowd yelling at Yorke about the “Israeli genocide of Gaza” and the death toll, half of whom he said “were children”.

Yorke could be seen standing and listening before he told the heckler to “hop up on stage” to make his remarks.

“Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it,” he said. “You want to piss on everybody’s night? OK, you do it, see you later.”

He then removed his guitar and briefly walked off stage.

Members of the audience could be heard booing, with another fan shouting: “Shut the f*** up, man.”

Yorke returned shortly after the incident to play Radiohead’s 1997 song “Karma Police.”

The Independent has contacted Yorke’s representative for comment.

One concert-goer, Elly Brus, told the BBC that the heckler was escorted away by security but continued to engage with people outside the venue.

The incident took place near the end of the show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, one of two concerts being held in Melbourne as part of Yorke’s Everything tour.

The shows feature a career-spanning setlist of solo material and songs by his bands Radiohead and The Smile.

Yorke is next scheduled to perform at the Sydney Opera House forecourt on Friday 1 November and Saturday 2 November.

Yorke and his Radiohead bandmates have come under scrutiny in the past over their decision to continue performing in Israel.

The band’s history with the country goes back to their debut single, “Creep”, which received widespread airplay on Israeli radio stations after initially failing to make an impact elsewhere.

They played Tel Aviv in 2017, in defiance of the pro-Palestine campaign by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Responding to criticism from British director and BDS supporter Ken Loach, who wrote an op-ed for The Independent urging Radiohead to join the boycott, Yorke said: “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing the government.

“We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than [Donald] Trump, but we still play in America.”

More than 43,160 people have been killed in Gaza – including thousands of women, children and infants – since Israel launched its campaign to destroy Hamas, in response to the group’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.

Earlier this year, pro-Palestinian activists accused Yorke’s bandmate, Jonny Greenwood, of “artwashing” when he performed alongside Israeli-Arabic musician Dudu Tassa in Tel Aviv.

Greenwood, 52, who is married to the Israeli visual artist Sharona Katan, condemned what he deemed to be “the silencing of this, or any, artistic effort made by Israel Jews” by “those who are trying to shut us down, or who are now attempting to ascribe a sinister ulterior motive to the band’s existence”.

In his statement shared on 4 June, he continued by saying that “no art is as ‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. How can it be? But doing nothing seems a worse option. And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.”

US presses China to rein in North Korea and Russia as tensions rise

The US and South Korea have called on China to use its influence over Russia and North Korea to prevent escalation after Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to Russia to aid Moscow‘s war against Ukraine. Beijing has so far stayed quiet.

In a rare meeting earlier this week, three top US diplomats met with China’s ambassador to the United States to emphasise US concerns and urge China to use its sway with North Korea to try to curtail the cooperation, according to a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the sides had “a robust conversation just this week” and that China knows US expectations that “they’ll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities”.

“But I think this is a demand signal that’s coming not just from us, but from countries around the world,” he said at a news conference in Washington with defence secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts.

The US says 8,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia near Ukraine’s border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.

Beijing has forged a “no limits” partnership with Moscow, and while it has been a major ally for Pyongyang, experts say Beijing might not approve of the closer military partnership between Russia and North Korea because it sees it as destabilising in the region.

When asked about a meeting between US and Chinese diplomats, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a briefing on Wednesday in Beijing that he had “no information to provide”.

He added that China’s stances on Ukraine and on the Korean Peninsula have been consistent. China has called for a ceasefire and urged peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. And it has long advocated for a peaceful and stable Korean Peninsula.

The Russia-North Korea partnership runs contrary to Beijing’s goal for a peaceful Korean Peninsula, said Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at China’s Renmin University.

Beijing is “aware of the complexity and danger of the situation,” Mr Shi said, noting that the “fact that China hasn’t said anything yet on the military alliance agreement between North Korea and Russia indicates that China strongly disagrees with it”.

Dennis Wilder, senior fellow for the Initiative for US-China Dialogue on global issues at Georgetown University, called Beijing’s “radio silence” on North Korea’s move “staggering”. He said Beijing must find a balance between supporting Moscow and not angering the West, and that Chinese president Xi Jinping might “for his own sake ignore the whole thing”.

Mr Xi has built a personal relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and “he cannot see Putin fail,” Mr Wilder said this week at a panel discussion hosted by the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

At the same time, Mr Xi cannot anger the Europeans and Americans when his country’s economy is struggling, Mr Wilder added. “So he’s not going to say anything publicly about this.”

Mr Austin said on Thursday that China “should be asking Russia some hard questions at this point and whether it intends to broaden this conflict by this kind of behavior”.

Deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Dan Kritenbrink and assistant secretary of state for European Affairs James O’Brien met with Chinese envoy Xie Feng in Washington on Tuesday, according to the State Department official, who would not detail the Chinese response.

Lu Chao, director of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University in China’s northeastern province of Liaoning, said the US should not expect China to manage North Korea.

“As for the issue of the Korean Peninsula, China is a friend of both North Korea and South Korea. It is not the case that China is responsible to manage North Korea and the US is responsible for managing South Korea,” Mr Lu said. “I hope the US government could understand China’s stance.”

Mr Lu also said the troop deployment is “a matter between Russia and North Korea,” while China’s attitude remains unchanged that the conflict should not be escalated but be resolved with a political solution.

North Korea conducts longest test of intercontinental missile yet

North Korea tested an advanced intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday amid Western concerns about Pyongyang receiving weapons technology from Russia in return for allegedly sending soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

Pyongyang confirmed the launch, the first in nearly a year, a few hours after neighbours South Korea and Japan detected the firing of what they suspected was a new, more agile weapon capable of targeting mainland US, in a bid to grab American attention ahead of next week’s presidential election.

The test was ordered by leader Kim Jong-un and the missile flew longer than ever before, the country’s official news agency KCNA reported.

South Korea said it was the longest ballistic missile test by the North with a flight time of 87 minutes. The missile took off on a sharply lofted trajectory from near Pyongyang and splashed down about 200km west of Japan’s Okushiri island, off Hokkaido.

Japan said the missile climbed high into the atmosphere and flew a distance of 1,000km, reportedly setting new records of the country’s missile capabilities.

Mr Kim was present for the test and called it a warning to enemies “threatening the country’s security”.

“The test fire is an appropriate military action that fully meets the purpose of informing the rivals,” the North Korean leader was quoted as saying by KCNA.

The test was conducted after the US claimed that North Korea had sent over 10,000 soldiers to Russia and about 3,000 of them were close to the frontline in Ukraine.

It came just hours after US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun met in Washington and condemned the North’s alleged troop deployment in Russia.

The lofted trajectory of the missile flying at a sharply raised angle was intended to test its thrust and stability over much shorter distances relative to the designed range, partly for safety and partly to avoid the political fallout of sending a weapon far into the Pacific.

“I affirm that the DPRK will never change its line of bolstering up its nuclear forces,” Mr Kim said in comments reported by KCNA, referring to the country by its formal name of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The US criticised the test as “a flagrant violation” of multiple UN Security Council resolutions that “needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilising the security situation in the region”.

US national security council spokesman Sean Savett said Washington would take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and its South Korean and Japanese allies.

North Korea was sanctioned by the security council in 2006 and the measures were steadily strengthened over the years with the aim of halting its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

South Korea and Japan denounced the launch as a threat to international peace and said they were coordinating with the US. The South’s joint chiefs of staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon said the test was possibly timed to the American election in an attempt to strengthen Pyongyang’s future bargaining power.

Mr Lee said South Korea and the US planned to conduct “sufficient bilateral military exercises, and trilateral ones involving Japan, in response to North Korean threats”.

North Korea’s last intercontinental ballistic missile, Hwasong-18, was tested in December 2023. Fuelled by solid propellant and fired from a road launcher, it shot up at a sharply raised angle and flew for 73 minutes, translating to a potential range of almost 15,000km on a normal trajectory.

Mother sits for hours with head of son decapitated over land dispute

A woman in northern India sat with her teenage son’s severed head in her lap for hours after the boy was decapitated over a land dispute.

Anurag Yadav, 17, was allegedly struck with a sword by a relative during a fight over a four-decade-old land dispute at a village in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh state, police said.

The fight erupted when a man identified as Ramesh Yadav began clearing grass from the disputed land ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali, superintendent of police Ajaypal Sharma told news agency PTI.

When confronted by the boy, Mr Yadav attacked him with a “sword and decapitated him”.

“This incident stems from a land dispute that has been ongoing between two parties for 40-45 years,” Mr Sharma said.

Mr Yadav went absconding but police arrested his father.

They also filed a case against six people, including the father and son, in connection with the beheading.

A video published on social media purportedly showed the bereaved mother wailing while holding her son’s decapitated head in her lap. She sat surrounded by other women of the village who tried to console her.

Jaunpur’s district magistrate condemned the act as “heinous” and assured strict action against the accused. He said RA Chauhan, the additional district magistrate, had been asked to submit a report of the magisterial inquiry in the next three days.

The slain teenager was a college student and a skilled Taekwondo player. He had secured bronze and silver medals in recent local competitions, according to media reports.

Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the opposition Samajwadi Party, condemned the violence and alleged that there was no law and order in Uttar Pradesh anymore.

Couple arrested after woman found dead near waterfall in Hong Kong

A married couple have been arrested in Hong Kong for the suspected murder of a domestic worker whose body was discovered near a waterfall on Monday.

Police detained the 34-year-old foreigner with a Hong Kong identity card and his 36-year-old Hong Kong-born wife on Tuesday afternoon. They are suspected in the murder of the 25-year-old Southeast Asian domestic worker whose body was found at the Waterfall Bay Park near Aberdeen early on Monday, reported the Hong Kong Free Press.

The man is accused of murder while the wife faces charges of allegedly aiding in his attempt to evade the law.

The victim had visible wounds on her forehead, back of the head and limbs, but her clothes and belongings remained untouched, police superintendent Sin Kwok-ming was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

An initial autopsy concluded that she likely sustained trauma from a hard object and subsequently drowned, reported the outlet.

Investigators said the victim arrived at the park with the male suspect at around 11pm on Sunday in a taxi.

They went to the top of the waterfall where, roughly half an hour later, the man left abruptly, again by taxi.

Police identified the man and dispatched a squad to his home in Ap Lei Chau. By the time they arrived, however, the man and his wife had crossed into mainland China.

They were arrested upon their return to Hong Kong, at the West Kowloon railway station around 5pm on Tuesday.

Police confirmed the male suspect was known to the victim, although details about the nature of their relationship, the sequence of events and potential motives were still under investigation.

Police are awaiting a toxicology report to determine drug usage, reported the South China Morning Post.

Mr Sin said police suspected the man due to his conduct. “A lot of things about him were unreasonable,” he was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong Free Press. He elaborated that the man neither reported the incident nor stayed in Hong Kong and “some evidence had also disappeared for no reason”.

“All these circumstances suggest that this is not a case of natural death,” the superintendent said. The couple remain in custody as police carry out the investigation.

South Korea may send team to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops

South Korea has said it is considering sending a military team to Ukraine to monitor the expected deployment of North Korean troops on the frontlines by Russia.

North Korea has sent some 11,000 soldiers to Russia and over 3,000 of them have been moved close to the frontlines, Reuters quoted an unnamed South Korean official as saying.

The official said North Korea will gain military knowledge from its troops helping the Russian war effort which poses a military threat to South Korea. “So it is incumbent upon us to analyse and monitor the activities of North Korean troops against our ally, Ukraine,” the official added.

South Korea’s spy agency said last week the North has deployed 3,000 soldiers to Russia’s far east for training, with plans to send 12,000 troops in total.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon said the North has sent 10,000 troops to its ally and some of them are reportedly heading to Kursk to join Russian forces in fighting the Ukraine invasion of the border region.

This came barely hours after Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said that North Korean military units were already in Kursk.

“Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region,” Mr Rutte said.

The deployment of North Korean troops to Kursk is “also a sign of Putin’s growing desperation”, he added, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol said the deployment of the North Korean troop has been quicker than expected and caused a dangerous situation, his office reported, relaying remarks made during a phone call with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Mr Trudeau said the deployment of North Korean troops is likely to escalate the conflict and greatly impact the security situation in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, according to Mr Yoon’s office.

North Korean soldiers are being incorporated into Russian military units and given Russian uniforms to try to hide their identities, South Korea’s presidential official said, adding that issues like language barriers may be slowing their entry into battle.

South Korea and the US have raised alarm over North Korea sending troops to join the Russian war in Ukraine, likely in return for technology that could advance Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

Russia and North Korea initially denied these allegations but later adopted a vaguer stance, stating that their military cooperation conforms with international law.

Mr Putin sidestepped questions about the North deploying troops, saying: “This is our sovereign decision.”

“Whether we use it or not, where, how, or whether we engage in exercises, training, or transfer some experience. It’s our business,” he told reporters.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that North Korean officers and technical personnel have been spotted in Russian-occupied territories but did not specify when.

“I believe they sent officers first to assess the situation before deploying troops,” Mr Zelensky said, warning that the participation of a third country could escalate the conflict into a world war.

Mr Zelensky also claimed, without providing details, that his government has intelligence that around 10,000 soldiers from North Korea are being prepared to join the Russian forces fighting in his country.