HT Morning News Brief October 18: 19 dead in Kolkata Durga Puja pandal stampede; CJI says youth questioning is healthy

Here are the top headlines from the day that you need to know - from politics and world news to sports and entertainment.

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Good morning, readers! Here are the top headlines from the day that you need to know - from politics and world news to sports and entertainment.

19 killed after stampede at Kolkata Durga Puja pandal, TMC targets BJP

At least 19 people were killed and 25 injured in a stampede triggered by a surge in crowds and heavy rain at a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata on Saturday evening. The stampede occurred around 7.30pm at Chor Bagan, one of the city’s most popular Durga Puja venues, in cramped north Kolkata, as crowds jostled through a narrow bylane on Saptami, the seventh day of the festival, even as rain lashed the city and left the streets slippery. Click here to read more.

Deferred 100% US tariffs offer only temporary relief to India as Russian oil imports fall

Washington’s decision to hold off tariffs of up to 100% that a new US sanctions law would have triggered against India for buying Russian oil offers only temporary relief, people familiar with the matter said, as Indian refiners have already cut their Russian purchases and are paying more for the oil that replaced them. Imports of discounted Russian crude have fallen by a third since July, industry executives said, and India’s crude import bill rose 31.6% in September from August even though volumes grew only 14.2%, according to the petroleum ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. Read more here.

Youth posing questions to institutions sign of a vibrant democracy: CJI Surya Kant

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday said young people questioning institutions was a “healthy sign of a vibrant democracy”, emphasising that the judiciary must be willing to listen to the concerns and aspirations of the younger generation, who are not merely the country’s future but active stakeholders in their present. “I believe that young people questioning institutions is a healthy sign of a vibrant democracy. The judiciary is no exception. We must be willing to listen to the concerns and aspirations of the younger generation...Disagreement should never be seen as a threat in itself," he said. Read more here.

'True innovation is never democratic': Ferrari CEO at India debut of its first EV, the Luce | Exclusive

On Thursday, at a SpaceX rocket test site in Texas, Tesla’s new Roadster rose on jets of compressed air, flipped over a row of parked cars and came back down on its wheels. It was a showman’s reveal, built for the livestream. Nearly eight years earlier, an engineer in Maranello had drawn up a Ferrari that used the same sort of jets for a different purpose, to sharpen its driving dynamics by pressing the car into the road so it could corner, brake and accelerate harder. Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna confirmed the design in an interview with Hindustan Times in New Delhi, where the Italian supercar maker on Saturday unveiled the Luce, its first all-electric car, and brought its Universo Ferrari exhibition to India for the first time. Click here to read more.

Saif Ali Khan jokes about not receiving 2 years' worth of ghee he won on KBC yet

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan stepped onto the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, to promote his film Haiwaan and stepped out a ‘ghee legend’ as fans put it. In the latest episode of Kapil Sharma’s The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix, the actor jokingly complained that he had not yet received the two-year supply of ghee he won on the show. He added that he didn’t receive his cheque either. Read more here.

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