Author: India BBC News Correspondent

No. Donald Trump is not dead. The viral rumour that circulated on April 5th was false. The rumour spread through a combination of deliberately misleading social media posts, accounts created specifically to spread false information, and the dynamics of engagement on platforms where shocking content gets amplified faster than corrections. Where It Started Investigations by social media monitoring services traced the rumour’s origin to a network of accounts on X (Twitter) that appear to be coordinated to spread political misinformation. The specific accounts involved were in some cases created recently and had posting patterns consistent with bot or inauthentic behavior.…

Trump issued a stark warning about Iran on Tuesday — “hell to pay” was the phrase — while simultaneously disclosing that a US aircraft had gone missing over the Persian Gulf and that search and recovery operations were underway. The two parts of the statement — the threat and the disclosure of a missing aircraft — were delivered in the same press conference, which created an information environment that was simultaneously alarming and confusing about what exactly had happened. The Missing Aircraft CENTCOM subsequently confirmed that a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet had been lost in the Persian Gulf. The…

The live blog format — constant updates on a rapidly developing story — captures something real about how modern news consumption works, and the Iran-Israel war has been one of the most intensively covered ongoing stories in years. Trump’s signal, embedded in the live coverage, that a possible Iran deal by April was being pursued: this is the paragraph that got the attention. “We may have something before the end of the month,” Trump said in remarks at the White House. “I think Iran wants to deal. Smart countries deal.” What “Signals a Deal” Actually Means at This Stage Presidential…

The niece of Qasem Soleimani — the Iranian commander killed by a US drone strike in January 2020 — has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria, along with her partner. The news has been confirmed by Iranian state media and by Syrian opposition monitoring groups that track strikes in the country. Her name has been reported as Zeynab Soleimani. She was, according to Iranian media, involved in activities associated with the resistance network that her uncle commanded. The Significance The targeting of family members of major figures in the Iranian security establishment is not unprecedented in this conflict’s…

US federal authorities announced the arrest of two relatives of the late Iranian general Qasem Soleimani — individuals the Justice Department described as having attempted to arrange the assassination of senior US officials in retaliation for the 2020 drone strike that killed Soleimani. The arrests followed an investigation by the FBI’s counterterrorism division that lasted several months and involved surveillance of the individuals’ communications and contacts. Both are in US custody. What They’re Alleged to Have Planned The DOJ complaint describes an assassination plot targeting current or recently serving US officials — the specific targets are named in the complaint…

The Trump administration’s budget request asks Congress for $1.5 trillion in additional defence spending while simultaneously pressing for cuts to domestic spending programmes — a combination that reflects the administration’s stated priorities and that has produced the predictable fierce response from Democrats and some Republicans representing constituencies that depend on domestic programme funding. The $1.5 trillion figure is spread over multiple years and represents an increase from the already elevated post-Ukraine baseline that Biden-era supplemental spending established. The breakdown covers: nuclear modernisation, Pacific theatre naval expansion, missile defence, and a significant share designated for munitions restocking following the drawdown of…

The International Atomic Energy Agency has released a statement expressing “deep concern” over reports that Iran has further advanced its uranium enrichment programme despite the ongoing ceasefire and negotiations with the United States. The statement, from Director General Rafael Grossi, says the IAEA has been denied access to certain monitoring equipment at Iranian facilities that was installed under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The timing — during active negotiations — is diplomatically significant. The IAEA is not a party to the talks, but its reports are the primary independent source of technical information about Iran’s nuclear status, and…

Rajasthan Royals beat Gujarat Titans by 7 wickets on Monday in a match that was more one-sided than the format usually allows, with the Royals chasing down Gujarat’s 158 with four overs to spare. RR: 159/3 in 16.2 overs. GT: 158/7 in 20 overs. Gujarat’s Innings The 158 total was underwhelming by IPL standards and reflected a Gujarat batting performance that never found the momentum that the format demands. Shubman Gill’s 42 was competent rather than commanding; the middle order’s contribution was modest; and the death-overs hitting that can add 20-25 runs to any total was absent on this occasion.…

Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran on Tuesday morning: stand down military operations, return to negotiations with “meaningful concessions” on the nuclear programme, or face consequences he described as “beyond anything they’ve seen before.” The ultimatum was delivered via social media first and then confirmed in a White House press conference, making it one of the more public diplomatic communications in recent American history. Its relationship to the simultaneous back-channel negotiations in Oman is one of the central questions of the day’s diplomacy. What the Ultimatum Demanded The specific demands were unusually precise for a social media ultimatum: halt…

Chennai Super Kings’ biggest concern as IPL 2026 enters its final phase is, bluntly, the middle-order batting — and specifically the question of whether the Ruturaj Gaikwad-Devon Conway opening partnership can be trusted to set platforms on which the rest of the team can build. Both players are talented. Both have been inconsistent in ways that have hurt CSK. The problem isn’t individual games where they fail — that happens to every opener in T20 cricket. The problem is the pattern: they are failing simultaneously with enough regularity to suggest a structural issue rather than a run of bad luck.…