Cyclone Tauktae pummeled the western coast, leaving behind a trail of destruction in Goa and Maharashtra before making landfall in Gujarat, where the impact was the highest. It killed scores of people, uprooted electric poles and trees, and damaged thousands of houses and roads. Tauktae triggered heavy rains before weakening into a “depression” while moving northwards. It brought rain in northern India, including Delhi.

An Indian caregiver for a Holocaust survivor was among hundreds of civilians killed or wounded in the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas-held Gaza. Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, Israel responded with airstrikes in Palestinian territories following a barrage of Hamas rocket fire.

Days after pointing out that scientists are facing “stubborn resistance to evidence-based policy making”, virologist Shahid Jameel quit as the head of INSACOG, a central government panel which conducts genome sequencing of coronavirus. “I am worried that science was not taken into account to drive policy,” he said.