In a shocking incident, a girl was set on fire by her former boyfriend in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district on Saturday after a suspected spat, police said.

The victim, a Class 11 student, was battling for life while the police launched a hunt for the accused.

The incident occurred near Badvel town of Kadapa district. Accused Vignesh and the victim had been friends since childhood.

Sarfaraz Khan delivered a stellar performance on Saturday, scoring his first Test century (150) and leading India’s remarkable recovery in the first Test against New Zealand. With the hosts setting a modest 107-run target, Sarfaraz expressed confidence that early wickets on a deteriorating pitch could turn the match in India’s favour.

“It felt really good to score a century for my country, fulfilling a childhood dream,” Sarfaraz told reporters at the end of the day’s play on Saturday. “It won’t be easy for New Zealand. The pitch has its challenges; the ball is moving and cutting unpredictably, and there will be turn. If we can get breakthroughs early tomorrow, they might find themselves in a similar spot as we did,” he added.

Afghan police have arrested 20 drug smugglers and 26 criminal suspects across the country, the Ministry of Interior Affairs said on Saturday.

Police conducted operations on the outskirts of Kabul city and in Paghman district, west of Kabul, arresting 20 drug smugglers and discovering methamphetamine, opium and hashish, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also said that police have apprehended 26 people on the charge of involvement in criminal activities, including murder and theft, in the provinces of Samangan, Nimroz, Bamiyan, Ghazni, Jawzjan, Herat and Balkh, news agency reported.

In a significant development, the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Saturday agreed upon some Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate revisions that are likely to bring in an additional Rs 22,000 crore revenue.

The GoM, headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, suggested raising GST rates on several luxury items, including high-end wristwatches and shoes.

The GoM proposed to increase the GST rate on wristwatches priced above Rs 25,000 from 18 per cent to 28 per cent. Also, shoes costing over Rs 15,000 will also see a tax hike from 18 per cent to 28 per cent, as per the GoM proposal.

The GoM members also decided to lower tax rates on 20-litre packaged drinking water bottles and bicycles to 5 per cent from 18 per cent. GST on exercise notebooks can be reduced to 5 per cent from 12 per cent, the members proposed.

At least half a dozen people are feared to be trapped under the debris after an explosion in a building in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district on Saturday.

The impact of the explosion was such that the building collapsed completely within a few seconds, turning into debris.

Eyewitnesses told the press that at least four residential buildings located adjacent to the blast site were also damaged badly.

Local area police and district administration were alerted and the rescue operation was underway. According to information, two women were rescued alive and they have been rushed to a nearby hospital.

Driven by rural demand ahead of the festive season, the Indian smartphone market grew 9 per cent in the July-September period, shipping 47.1 million units, according to a new report.

Vendors cleared inventory through early monsoon sales across online and offline channels to gear up for the festive season, according to market research firm Canalys.

According to senior analyst Sanyam Chaurasia, top brands in the market are expanding their portfolio in the mid-high range, in anticipation of clearing inventory during festive sales.

An Israeli man was killed on Saturday near the Israeli city of Akko after a projectile launched from Lebanon struck his vehicle, Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service said.

The man, 50, was hit by shrapnel while another man with him was moderately injured, the MDA noted.

The hit was part of a barrage of 60 projectiles launched by Hezbollah into several areas in northern Israel within seven minutes, with some of them intercepted, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Earlier on Saturday, two men were injured after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a building in the Israeli city of Kiryat Ata near Haifa, the MDA said, adding that one is in light-moderate condition, and the other is lightly injured, news agency reported.

Leading the standards development process at global level, India saw its candidates being elected in leadership positions in all 10 study groups of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Standardisation sector (ITU-T), it was announced on Saturday.

While India retained Chair position in one group, it secured Vice-Chair positions in all other nine study groups and the SCV Committee, thereby increasing its leadership positions in ITU-T from seven in WTSA-2022 to 11 positions in WTSA-2024, said the Ministry of Communications.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has described Manusmriti as fundamentally anti-constitutional. Speaking at the 'Samvidhan Samman Sammelan' here on Saturday, he remarked that the ideological conflict between the Constitution and Manusmriti has persisted for generations.

Rahul Gandhi emphasised that although India's Constitution was formally written in 1949-1950, its underlying philosophy is thousands of years old, shaped by visionaries like Lord Buddha, Guru Nanak, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Birsa Munda, Narayana Guru, and Basavanna (philosopher and poet). “Without the influence of these great leaders, the Constitution might not have come into existence. Today, however, that progressive thinking is under siege,” he said, adding that safeguarding the Constitution is the nation's most urgent task.

Criticising the Central government, Rahul Gandhi accused not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, but also others of systematically weakening the Constitution. "Their goal," he warned, "is to undermine and destroy it, but we will not let that happen."

The bodies of all six people who went missing in an avalanche in Kyrgyzstan have been found, the country's Emergency Situations Ministry said on Saturday.

The bodies of three people were found on Friday, and three more were found on Saturday morning, said the ministry.

Earlier, rescuers said that a group of 14 people went to the mountains in the Chatkal district of the Jalal-Abad region to collect medicinal plants on October 9. Eight were found alive on Wednesday after being reported missing after an avalanche on Sunday, news agency reported.