Taiwan will confiscate vehicles and fine drivers up to NT$270,000 for refusing drug tests, after 23 people died in drug-driving incidents in early 2025. Taiwan is preparing sharply higher penalties for driving under the influence of drugs, including on-the-spot vehicle confiscation and fines reaching NT$270,000 for motorists who refuse a drug test. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced the plans after 23 people died in drug-driving incidents during the first half of this year. The move follows amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act that President William Lai (賴清德) signed into law on Aug. 17. Hu Ti-chi (胡迪琦), director of the ministry's Public Transportation and Supervision Division, said the revised law raises fines, adds license revocation, holds passengers liable, imposes mandatory addiction treatment and allows authorities to seize vehicles. To put the law into effect, the ministry has released previewed changes to four related regulations that spell out how the penalties will work in practice. Fines That Rise With Each Offense Under the previewed rules, drivers caught operating a vehicle while on drugs will be fined according to the type of vehicle. A motorcycle rider faces NT$120,000 for a first offense, while a car driver faces NT$150,000. The amounts climb steeply for repeat offenders. A second violation within 10 years would cost NT$210,000 for a motorcycle rider and NT$240,000 for a car driver. From the third offense onward, an extra NT$90,000 would be tacked onto each penalty, with no ceiling on the total. Refusing to cooperate carries the heaviest cost. A driver who declines a rapid saliva test would be fined NT$270,000 on a first refusal, whether riding a motorcycle or driving a car. A second refusal within a decade would push the fine to NT$450,000, and every further refusal would add another NT$180,000, again with no upper limit. Seized Vehicles and Published Names The new measures give officers the power to confiscate a vehicle at the roadside the moment a driver is caught under the influence of drugs or refuses to be tested. When a drug-driving case or a related offense leads to a driver losing their license, authorities could make the person's name and photograph public and suspend the vehicle's license plates for two years. Drivers who continue to get behind the wheel after their license has been revoked face additional consequences. That would bring an extra NT$80,000 fine, and the vehicle would be impounded. The ministry said it is now working to implement the revised rules. Keywords: Taiwan drug driving, Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act, drug driving fines, vehicle confiscation Taiwan, William Lai, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, saliva test refusal, Taiwan traffic law

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A UN fact-finding mission says US strikes on a school in Minab and a sports hall in Lamerd killed at least 177 civilians in February. United Nations human rights investigators have concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe the United States carried out war crimes in two February attacks in Iran that left at least 177 civilians dead. The findings, released Thursday by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, centre on missile strikes that hit a primary school in the town of Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd. The mission's three independent experts told the UN Human Rights Council that both attacks amounted to indiscriminate strikes that killed civilians and wrecked civilian buildings. Washington has previously denied hitting Lamerd and said it was still looking into what happened at Minab. A State Department official said the United States placed no credibility in the report's conclusions. Both strikes took place on 28 February, the day the mission says the United States and Israel opened their war against Iran. Tomahawk missiles slammed into Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in the southern town of Minab, killing at least 156 people, among them 120 children, according to local officials. Hours of the same day, Precision Strike Missiles scattered clouds of tungsten pellets across a sports complex and nearby homes in Lamerd, leaving at least 21 civilians dead, seven of them children. Why the experts point to the US The school sat next to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval facility that was also struck that day. But the investigators said the school building was easy to distinguish and that they found nothing to suggest it served any military function. They drew on media accounts describing a preliminary US military inquiry that reportedly attributed responsibility to American forces, and noted that the United States is the only participant in the conflict armed with Tomahawk missiles. Those two threads led the experts to their central judgement: that American forces most likely launched the missiles that destroyed the classroom block. They went further, ruling that the school itself was the deliberate aim point rather than a stray hit or accidental damage from the assault on the neighbouring IRGC compound. Survivors, they said, reported that the building was hit a second time. The US military has not yet published the outcome of its own examination of the Minab attack. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has stated that American forces would "never target civilian targets." Iran accused of crimes against humanity The report did not confine its criticism to the United States. The same experts determined that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity while suppressing mass anti-government demonstrations in January. Security forces, they said, carried out killings on "a staggering and unprecedented scale," reaching into every one of the country's 31 provinces. Tehran has not responded to the latest conclusions. In the past it has dismissed claims that it commits systematic human rights abuses. The mission framed its work around the plight of ordinary Iranians squeezed on two sides. "Civilians in Iran are caught between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government and the nation's deadly conflict with the United States and Israel," the panel said in its Thursday statement. For this submission to the Human Rights Council, the experts chose to examine two of the bloodiest episodes of the war against Iran's civilian population. The scale of the loss at Minab - more than a hundred children killed in a single school - has made it one of the defining images of the conflict. The Lamerd strike, delivered by a different class of weapon designed to spread lethal fragments over a wide area, struck a residential district alongside the sports venue. The report leaves several questions unresolved, chief among them the still-unreleased results of the American investigation into the Minab deaths. Until those findings appear, the fact-finding mission's account stands as the most detailed public reckoning of who was responsible and what was hit. Its authors have laid out a case that the school was chosen, not caught by accident - a conclusion the United States rejects but has yet to counter with evidence of its own. US Iran strikes, war crimes Iran, Minab school strike, Lamerd sports complex, UN Fact-Finding Mission Iran, Tomahawk missiles Iran, Iran civilian casualties, UN Human Rights Council

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Kia India sold 29,042 units in August 2026, up 48% YoY, moving past Toyota to fifth place as the new Seltos and Syros drove volumes. Kia India dispatched 29,042 vehicles in the domestic market in August 2026, a jump of 48.11% over the 19,608 units it sold in the same month a year earlier. The gain of 9,434 units pushed the carmaker past Toyota into fifth position among car brands in India. The month also edged ahead of July 2026, when Kia moved 28,200 units. The 2.99% sequential rise added 842 vehicles. Most of the annual improvement came from the Seltos, the brand's mid-size SUV. The Seltos led the range with 11,716 units, up 149.97% from the 4,687 sold in August 2025. The model made up 40.34% of Kia's total for the month and delivered close to three-quarters of the company's net year-on-year growth. Its redesigned version, introduced earlier in 2026, has stayed above the 10,000-unit mark every month since arriving in showrooms. Even so, August was down 6.58% against July's 12,541 units. The Sonet compact SUV took second place with 9,048 units, a rise of 16.88% over the 7,741 recorded a year ago and a 1.51% improvement on July's 8,913. A next-generation Sonet has entered road testing and is slated to reach buyers sometime next year. Between them, the Seltos and Sonet accounted for 20,764 units, or roughly 71.50% of Kia's August total. Clavis and Syros pick up pace The Carens Clavis and its electric variant together reached 6,093 units. That figure trailed the 6,822 sold a year earlier by 10.69%, but it climbed 13.85% from July's 5,352. The model family added more volume month-on-month than any other Kia nameplate. The Syros also gained ground after the launch of its electric version. The range recorded 1,742 units in August, against just 308 in the same month of 2025, a rise of 465.58%. Compared with July's 1,303 units, deliveries were up 33.69%. Two larger models rounded out the tally. The Sorento showed 365 units in the August books ahead of its September 4 launch, figures that reflect dispatch rather than customer handovers. The Carnival people-mover contributed 78 units, up 56% year-on-year but down 14.29% from July. A crowded September lineup Kia followed the month with a run of product moves. The Sorento reached the market on September 4 with diesel and hybrid powertrain options for the premium SUV segment. The company then added diesel automatic and petrol DCT versions of the Carens Clavis, widening the choice on that model. Buyers of the Clavis EV who bought their cars from August 1 became eligible for lifetime, unlimited-kilometre battery warranty cover. Kia also began taking pre-bookings for a Carnival Hybrid. The newest arrival is a factory-fitted CNG option for the Carens and Carens Clavis. Prices start at Rs 12,11,800 for the Carens CNG and Rs 12,38,800 for the Clavis CNG, both ex-showroom. Each runs a 1.5-litre engine that produces 96 PS and 123 Nm when operating on CNG, matched to a six-speed manual gearbox. The expanded lineup now spans petrol, diesel, CNG, hybrid and electric options, a spread that could help sustain volumes in the coming months. A price revision covering select models and variants is expected in October 2026, though the vehicles involved and the size of any increases have not been confirmed. Kia India sales, Kia Seltos, Kia August 2026 sales, Kia Sonet, Kia Syros, Kia Sorento launch, Carens Clavis CNG, Indian car sales

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India's direct tax collections rose 15.2% to Rs 14.3 lakh crore by Sept 17, led by an 18.1% jump in corporate advance tax payments. India's direct tax collections rose 15.2% to Rs 14.3 lakh crore in the current financial year through September 17, according to figures put out by the income tax authorities in New Delhi. The gain was led by companies, whose tax payments expanded faster than those from individuals. Advance tax, whose second instalment fell due by September 15, showed a modest improvement. Total advance tax receipts climbed 16.2% to Rs 5.2 lakh crore, up from the 15.3% pace recorded when the first instalment was paid in June. Corporate payers accounted for most of that momentum. Their advance tax outgo is estimated to have risen 18.1% to just under Rs 4.2 lakh crore, ahead of the 16% growth seen in June. Payments from individuals moved in the opposite direction, with growth easing to 9.2% from 12.8% earlier, taking personal income tax to about Rs 10.6 lakh crore after the second instalment. Because advance tax tracks how businesses expect to perform, the quicker rise in corporate figures signals confidence in stronger profits during the July-September quarter, helped by robust sales in several parts of the economy. Refunds jumped sharply over the same period, climbing 29.2% to Rs 2.2 lakh crore. Refunds to individual taxpayers more than doubled to Rs 81,439 crore. Even with that larger payout, net collections still advanced 13% to Rs 12.1 lakh crore. Hitesh Sawhney, a partner at Price Waterhouse & Co, said the numbers reflected both strength and durability, pointing to healthier gross inflows, better compliance and steady economic and market activity. He described the continued rise in net collections, despite the surge in refunds, as the most heartening takeaway from the data. direct tax collections, corporation tax, advance tax India, personal income tax, tax refunds, net direct tax, Indian economy, second quarter profits

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Ultraviolette hands over 183 X-47 Skyforce electric motorcycles to Kolkata Police, fitted with sirens, panniers and a claimed 211 km range. Ultraviolette has handed 183 X-47 Skyforce electric motorcycles to the Kolkata Police, with the formal transfer taking place at the force's Lalbazar headquarters. The company calls the rollout one of the largest electric two-wheeler deployments by any police force in India. The bikes are a dedicated police edition of the X-47 Skyforce, reworked with a modified electronic setup so patrol gear can be wired directly into the machine. Each unit was put through testing before delivery and will now be used for routine policing across the city. Officers get a bike kitted out for street duty. The police version carries sirens, hooters, a public address system, LED blinkers and force decals. It also adds mounts for microphones and walkie-talkies, plus side panniers for kit. Building these into the motorcycle's wiring is central to the police-specific build. Ultraviolette designed the model in a crossover shape, which the company says suits mixed city road conditions while leaving room for the equipment officers carry on patrol. 211 km Claimed Range The firm lists an IDC range of 211 km per charge and a top speed of 145 km/h for the X-47 Skyforce. Real-world distance on duty will vary with traffic, load, how the bike is ridden and how much electrical equipment is running. Ultraviolette pitches the bike's pickup and handling as helpful for rapid-response work. The announcement does not state charging times or explain how the Kolkata fleet will be recharged. Cost Questions Switching from petrol machines to electric ones could trim what the force spends on fuel and upkeep, though the size of any saving will hinge on daily mileage, power tariffs, charging losses and servicing needs. The order gives Ultraviolette a sizeable presence in active police service. At the handover, CEO and co-founder Narayan Subramaniam said the Skyforce was built to match police requirements and to back officers across a range of operational tasks. Ultraviolette X-47 Skyforce, Kolkata Police electric motorcycle, electric police bike India, Ultraviolette, Narayan Subramaniam, police EV fleet, X-47 Skyforce range, Lalbazar

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Hyundai Exter CNG starts around Rs 7 lakh, offers 27.1 km/kg, 185 mm ground clearance and a twin-cylinder Hy-CNG Duo setup that protects boot space. Hyundai is pitching the Exter compact SUV at buyers who would otherwise shop for an affordable CNG hatchback. The CNG variant of the Exter starts at around Rs 7 lakh (ex-showroom), while petrol versions begin at roughly Rs 5.8 lakh. That places it a step above conventional CNG hatchbacks on price, but with the added space, features and road presence of a small SUV. The Exter CNG runs Hyundai's Hy-CNG Duo system, a twin-cylinder arrangement, paired with a 1.2-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine and a five-speed manual gearbox. Hyundai claims a fuel efficiency of 27.1 km/kg on CNG. With about 9 kg of usable CNG capacity, that points to a theoretical range of close to 240 km on gas alone, though actual figures depend on how the car is driven and how much gas is filled. For a typical city commute of 40 to 50 km on a working day, that range works out to roughly one CNG refill a week. Combined with the relatively accessible purchase price, the low fuel cost is aimed squarely at buyers who drive regular urban routes and want to keep running costs down. Twin Cylinders Under the Boot Floor The Hy-CNG Duo layout is central to Hyundai's pitch. Instead of a single large cylinder taking up the luggage compartment, the Exter uses two smaller cylinders positioned beneath the boot floor. Factory-fitted CNG cars have long been criticised for surrendering most of their boot to the gas tank. By tucking the cylinders below the floor, the Exter keeps a more usable luggage area above them, which matters for families carrying everyday bags or packing for a weekend trip. Ground Clearance and an Upright Stance Where the Exter separates itself from a hatchback is in size and stance. It offers 185 mm of ground clearance, useful on broken roads, awkward speed breakers and the uneven surfaces drivers encounter daily. Its taller body and higher seating position give a different feel from a conventional small car. For someone stepping up from an entry-level hatchback, those SUV traits can weigh as heavily in the decision as fuel economy. A Four-Cylinder Engine The engine choice is another point Hyundai highlights. Three-cylinder units have become common among affordable cars, including several CNG rivals. The Exter's 1.2-litre unit is a four-cylinder, a configuration that generally delivers smoother power and better refinement, especially at idle and low engine speeds. That is most noticeable in stop-and-go traffic. The engine is bi-fuel, so owners can switch between petrol and CNG as needed. Taken together, the Exter CNG asks buyers to spend a little more upfront than a smaller CNG hatchback. In return, it bundles the running-cost advantage of CNG with higher ground clearance, SUV-inspired proportions, a four-cylinder engine and the twin-cylinder packaging that preserves boot space - attributes that cannot easily be retrofitted later. Hyundai Exter CNG, Exter CNG price, Hy-CNG Duo, CNG SUV India, Exter fuel efficiency, compact SUV CNG, affordable CNG car, Hyundai Exter mileage

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Two former pupils at a Lombok Islamic boarding school gathered testimony against their head teacher over sexual assault claims, then fell in love and wed. Two former students at an Islamic boarding school on the Indonesian island of Lombok spent more than a year quietly building a case against their head teacher over sexual assault allegations. Along the way, Ziadatur Rahmah and Yusron Azzahidi fell in love, and the pair are now married. The man at the centre of the allegations is Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, the respected leader of the Abu Barokat school, where he was known to pupils as "Abah", meaning "father". Several students say he sexually assaulted them. Rahmah, who goes by Zia, and Azzahidi were once star pupils there before moving on to university - he to the capital, Jakarta, and she to Cairo, Egypt. The investigation began during a late-night phone call between the two friends, who had drifted into reminiscing about their school years. During that conversation, Zia told Azzahidi that Sumar had assaulted her when she was 16. She described leaving class to use the toilet and being stopped by Sumar in the school gardens. He asked her to come to his house, which stood on the school grounds. Once they were inside, she said, he told her he loved her, drew her onto his lap and began kissing and touching her, and instructed her to do the same to him. The encounter ended abruptly when one of his children started pounding on the locked front door. Sumar motioned for her to go, and she slipped out through the back. "I felt very dirty, ruined, and I was lost," Zia later said of the aftermath. Azzahidi was torn about how to respond. Pupils at the school had been raised on the motto "Sami'na wa ata'na" - "We hear, and we obey" - a phrase that framed obedience to authority as a duty. But he could not put the account out of his mind. Gathering the testimony Azzahidi decided to act. Together with Zia and two of her school friends, Wanda Hamidah and Mahima Eka, he began quietly collecting accounts from other students who described being assaulted by the head teacher. The group worked to corroborate the claims, assembling statements from several people over the course of a year. Word of their effort eventually reached Sumar. He turned up at Azzahidi's family home and used the phone belonging to Azzahidi's sister to reach him. Earlier, the sister had texted asking Azzahidi to call urgently. When he dialled the number, it was not his sister who answered but his former head teacher. "I knew. I knew exactly what he wanted to talk about," Azzahidi said. A recorded plea for silence On the call, Sumar urged his former pupil to bury the allegations. "Cover the shame of your teacher. Everyone makes mistakes, my child," he said through tears. What he did not realise was that Azzahidi was capturing the entire exchange on a recording. That kind of pressure is a recurring obstacle in such cases. Indonesia's National Commission on Violence Against Women has described sexual abuse in Islamic boarding schools as a national emergency. Legal experts say many complaints never make it to court because those who come forward are talked into dropping their claims or pushed into keeping silent - precisely the outcome Sumar was seeking on the phone. For Azzahidi, the trust once placed in the school's leader made the discovery harder. He had grown up admiring Sumar, whose authority went unquestioned by the students under his care. The partnership that grew out of the investigation changed the lives of the two central figures. What started as a phone conversation about their shared past turned into a joint pursuit of accountability, and then into a relationship. Zia and Azzahidi married after working side by side to bring the allegations to light. Their account offers a rare look at how former pupils turned collaborators to challenge a figure who had held near-total authority over them, in a country where campaigners say such abuse too often stays hidden. Indonesia boarding school abuse, Lombok Islamic school, Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, pesantren sexual assault, Indonesia national emergency abuse, student justice Indonesia, Abu Barokat school, religious school abuse

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A Friday air strike in Sheikh Radwan killed one Palestinian and left a child critical, as Gaza officials warned the health system is near collapse. One Palestinian was killed and several others were wounded on Friday when an Israeli air strike hit a motorcycle in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, west of Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency. A child caught in the blast was left in critical condition. The same day, Israeli forces opened fire on the Nuseirat and al-Bureij refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa reported. Gunfire struck tents housing displaced families in both camps, leaving multiple people injured. Strikes have continued across the sealed-off territory despite a ceasefire announced in October 2025. At least 1,381 Palestinians have been killed in the period since that announcement. The wider death toll from the war that began in October 2023 stands at a minimum of 73,795 people killed and 174,869 wounded. The Friday attacks followed a series of deadly incidents earlier in the week. In one, an Israeli "double-tap" air strike - a tactic that hits the same site twice - killed a paramedic and a 15-year-old schoolboy in Gaza City. The Israeli military said it had been aiming at Hamas fighters. Collapsed building in Gaza City On Wednesday, a building in Gaza City that had already been damaged caved in, killing at least 21 people. Twelve of the dead were children. Rescue teams from the Palestinian Civil Defence agency have been unable to pull all the bodies from beneath the debris, hampered by tight Israeli limits on the heavy machinery allowed into the enclave. The difficulty of clearing collapsed structures reflects a broader breakdown in basic services. Families across Gaza are now packed into roughly a third of the territory, according to UNICEF, living among wrecked buildings, piles of rubble and waste that has not been removed. The UN children's agency reported last month that, on average, one child was being killed every day. Those still alive are sheltering in what remains of neighbourhoods reduced to ruins. Health sector near breaking point Gaza's Health Ministry issued a stark warning on Wednesday, saying the territory's medical system was close to "total collapse." Officials tied the crisis to restrictions on how much medical aid and fuel Israel permits to cross into the enclave. With supplies squeezed and infrastructure in ruins, hospitals and clinics have struggled to treat the steady flow of wounded arriving from strikes like the one in Sheikh Radwan. The shortage of fuel threatens the equipment and generators that keep emergency care running. The combination of continued strikes, blocked equipment and dwindling medical resources has left rescue workers and medics with fewer means to respond to each new attack. The child injured on Friday joins a long list of young casualties recorded across Gaza since the fighting began. Gaza City strike, Sheikh Radwan, Palestinian casualties, Gaza ceasefire, Nuseirat refugee camp, al-Bureij, Gaza health system, UNICEF Gaza children

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Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei says Tehran has passed conditions to end its war with the US through Qatari mediators and awaits a response from Trump. Iran has handed the United States a formal list of demands to end their war, passing the terms through Qatari intermediaries, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said on Saturday. Mohsen Rezaei, who assumed the post roughly a month ago, said Tehran was now waiting to hear back from President Donald Trump. Rezaei laid out three requirements in an interview with a Tehran-based bureau chief: a halt to fighting across every front, the return of Iran's frozen assets, and the lifting of a naval blockade. He said Qatar remained in touch with both governments and had relayed the conditions to Washington with the goal of stopping the conflict. "It is in Washington's interest to accept these conditions," Rezaei said. He added that pressure from Trump would produce nothing and that Iran was ready for what he called a decisive war. The fighting began in late February, when the United States and Israel struck Iran in an assault that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Two mediating governments, Qatar and Pakistan, have been trying to restart negotiations since a memorandum of understanding between the two sides lapsed last month. Other governments in the region are also pushing for a resolution. No ceasefire yet Asked whether the conflict was close to ending, Rezaei said that for all practical purposes it continued. He described Iran as operating under a fresh strategy aimed at closing out the war as quickly as it could, while making clear that combat had not stopped. He did not dismiss the prospect of another American strike. Based on his country's military evaluations, he said, such an attack was a real possibility, though he maintained that Iran was prepared for it. Rezaei said Iran's war planning had changed since two previous rounds of fighting. The country is now concentrating on American naval forces spread across the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Vessels positioned farther out, toward the Indian Ocean, sit beyond what Iranian forces can strike, he acknowledged. A new antiship missile Rezaei said Iran had recently carried out a test of a multi-warhead antiship missile close to an American ship or aircraft carrier. The warheads, he indicated, could see further development. He warned that any Iranian retaliation would be forceful. It would take in American military bases across the region, as in earlier exchanges, and would also reach US business interests and companies with operations in the area. A correspondent reporting from Tehran characterized Rezaei's comments as the kind of dual-track messaging Iran has kept up throughout the war: signaling willingness to talk while continuing to gear up for battle. On one side, he noted, sat an openness to diplomacy; on the other, talk of readiness for a decisive fight. The reporter said mediated discussions involving Qatar and Pakistan were in progress and offered a modest, if slim, reason for hope that engagement could resume. Washington, however, may not read the demands as a genuine overture. David Des Roches, who previously ran Arabian Peninsula affairs at the Pentagon, said the United States was unlikely to treat the terms as a serious opening. "At first glance, probably not," he said. Iran US war, Mohsen Rezaei, Qatar mediation, Iran frozen funds, naval blockade, Supreme National Security Council, Iran ceasefire conditions, Donald Trump Iran

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Punit Vara, a 34-year-old Bengaluru techie, used AI to create a satirical song 'Tax Me' demanding pothole-free roads on Doddamara Road. A Bengaluru commuter fed up with the state of his daily route has turned to artificial intelligence to press his case, releasing a satirical song called *Tax Me* that asks the government for one modest thing: roads that can actually be driven on. Punit Vara, a 34-year-old software professional who lives near Choodasandra, posted the track on YouTube, where it needles the city over its traffic snarls, potholes, monsoon flooding, non-stop construction and the constant tearing up of its streets. Vara says the entire song, lyrics included, was produced by AI. Speaking on September 17, 2026, he explained that the piece grew out of a personal ordeal on Doddamara Road, a stretch on Bengaluru's southeastern edge that lies in the Anekal Assembly constituency represented by A. Shivanna. "For the past nine months, I drove my pregnant wife on Doddamara Road, which is in a pathetic condition, for regular doctor visits," he said. "I had to be extra careful, and it was highly dangerous, which prompted me to come up with this song." He added that he travels the same road daily The creative process itself leaned entirely on generative tools. Vara said he turned his everyday encounters with the road into prompts, letting one AI system write the lyrics. He then ran those words through a second AI model to compose and produce the finished track. Vara describes *Tax Me* as a satire anthem for the techies, parents, auto drivers and ordinary commuters who, in his words, get by on Bengaluru's "moonscape streets" day after day. The song leans into the absurdity of the commute rather than anger, giving voice to a frustration many residents share. That frustration is a routine part of life in the city. For countless Bengalureans, the day starts with opening a map, reading the estimated travel time, then padding it with extra minutes for the congestion no app can fully predict. The lyrics zero in on specifics. One line, "Pothole number 27," mocks the battered surface of Doddamara Road, a condition the song suggests is barely distinguishable from roads across the rest of the city. Another passage lists the burden on taxpayers: "I pay my income tax. I pay my GST," it declares, before running through the many other levies that pile up in daily life. The song is careful to spell out what it is not demanding. It rejects any wish for "gold-plated roads" or a flawless city. Instead, it calls for the basics - surfaces free of potholes, footpaths people can actually use, buses that show up as promised, and streets that stay above water when the rains come. One verse sketches the disorienting experience of moving through a city under construction on every side: "Metro above me. Digging below, flyover beside me. Nobody knows where to go." The words capture a landscape crowded with overlapping projects, where commuters are left to figure out their own path. The complaint lands against a backdrop of official ambition. Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has said Bengaluru is being watched internationally, a claim the song sets against the gap between that global image and the plain reality of navigating the city's roads. For Vara, the ask is simple: a road that can simply be driven on. Having exhausted the usual avenues, Vara has effectively handed the city's everyday grievance a soundtrack - one built, fittingly for a techie's protest, entirely by machines. Bengaluru roads, Tax Me song, Punit Vara, AI-generated song, Doddamara Road, Bengaluru potholes, D.K. Shivakumar, Bengaluru infrastructure

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Saudi Aramco told European refiners they will get no crude next month after a drone attack shut its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea. Saudi Aramco has told at least two of its European refining customers that no crude oil shipments will reach them next month, following an attack that forced the shutdown of a major pipeline linking the kingdom to the Red Sea, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. European buyers usually draw Saudi crude through term contracts that lock in a fixed monthly volume. Those cargoes will not be delivered next month, and the suspension covers every European customer, people with knowledge of the plans said. The disruption stems from damage to Aramco's East-West Pipeline, a 1,200-km (745-mile) line that crosses the Arabian Peninsula. Satellite imagery and three industry sources cited on September 17 showed that three pumping stations were hit in last week's attack - one more than earlier estimates had found. Saudi authorities closed the pipeline after the strike, which the government attributed to drones fired by Iranian-backed militias operating in Iraq. With the route offline, several Aramco clients are racing to line up other sources of crude. Poland's Orlen SA has floated more than 10 tenders since Friday in its search for replacement barrels. The stakes are considerable for Europe. OECD countries on the continent bought 577,000 barrels a day of Saudi crude in June, according to the International Energy Agency's monthly Oil Market Report. The pipeline had grown into the primary substitute channel for Middle Eastern oil over the past six months, a period in which the Strait of Hormuz has stayed largely shut because of the war. It had been moving 4 million to 5 million barrels of crude daily - roughly 4% to 5% of the world's supply - allowing Saudi Arabia to sidestep much of the damage that has hit other Gulf oil and gas exporters. Saudi Aramco, East-West Pipeline, European refiners, crude oil supply, Orlen SA, Strait of Hormuz, Iranian-backed militias, oil market

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Cuba's entire electricity grid collapsed on 19 September, cutting power to millions amid fuel shortages worsened by a US oil blockade. Millions of people across Cuba lost electricity on Friday, 19 September, after the island's national grid failed completely and cut power from one end of the country to the other. The energy ministry described the event as a "total disconnection," and it ranks as at least the sixth full or partial collapse of the system this year. The failure began shortly before 14:00 local time (18:00 GMT), according to grid operator UNE, which linked it to a transmission fault that struck as bad weather moved through central Cuba. By late evening, crews had returned electricity to a handful of priority sites in the capital, Havana, among them zones close to hospitals and water pumping stations. Felix Estrada, who directs UNE's national load dispatch centre, said the operator had switched on its protocols for a "gradual restoration" of supply. That work was still running on Saturday, leaving many households facing a second day in the dark. Cuba imports most of the fuel it burns to generate electricity, and the country's plants already run on decades-old equipment. Those weaknesses have collided this year with a United States blockade on oil deliveries to the communist-run government, which has choked supplies further. The knock-on effects reach well beyond the power grid: food and medicine have grown harder to find, hospitals cannot operate at full capacity, and schools and government offices have shut their doors. Residents describe life between outages For people in Havana, the collapse fits a pattern that has hardened over recent months. "Lately, it's becoming a habit," resident Frank Lorenzo told the Reuters news agency on Friday. He said the cuts used to arrive roughly once a month, but had grown far more frequent. "Just yesterday we were 24 hours without electricity, they turned it on for just an hour and it went down again." Lidia Fernandez, a 36-year-old schoolteacher, told the AFP news agency that the shortages now overlap. "It's one thing after another: no water, no gas for cooking, no electricity," she said. "Honestly, I don't know how we haven't gone crazy." Francisco Rodriguez, 78, said his home had already spent 28 hours without power on Friday and worried the darkness could stretch on "for several days." The repeated failures have driven Cubans into the streets in protests that remain unusual on the island. Demonstrations held without official permission are against the law, and those who ignore the ban face the threat of prison. Washington and Havana trade blame The Cuban government pins the crisis on the administration of US President Donald Trump and rejects the full slate of sanctions imposed on it, including a fresh package announced in August. Havana casts the measures as one piece of a broader campaign aimed at pressuring the country's leadership. Cuba had leaned on its regional ally Venezuela for relief. Caracas was thought to be supplying around 35,000 barrels of oil a day, roughly half of what the island needs, until that flow stopped. Venezuela's own exports were cut off after the United States seized its president, Nicolás Maduro, in January. Trump has warned that countries sending oil to Havana could face tariffs, and US authorities have intercepted a number of shipments bound for the island. Washington rejects the argument that its policies are the root cause, instead blaming what it calls poor management inside Cuba and describing the country as a "national security threat." Trump has spoken openly about removing Cuba's government, floating the idea of a "friendly takeover" in March. Cuba blackout, Cuba power outage, UNE grid Cuba, US oil blockade Cuba, Havana electricity, Cuba fuel shortage, Cuba sanctions, Venezuela oil Cuba

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