18 October 2026

For thousands of years, the night sky has inspired humanity, guided explorers and helped scientists unlock the mysteries of the Universe.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the International Astronomical Union’s Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky (IAU CPS) have signed an agreement at the International Astronautical Congress to strengthen cooperation and develop technical solutions to keep the sky dark and quiet.

The corrections do not affect the outcome or significance of any reported statistical comparison, the direction of any experimental result, or the scientific conclusions or interpretations presented in the article.

If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Specific intelligence developed by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), indicated that illicit cultivation of cannabis (ganja) was being carried out over a large area within a wildlife sanctuary near village Jamniapani, Shirpur, District Dhule, Maharashtra.

Acting on the intelligence, a joint team officers of DRI, and Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), reached the wildlife sanctuary near village Jamniapani, Shirpur, District Dhule, Maharashtra on 14.10.2026.

Home services marketplace Urban Company is considering raising fresh capital a year after its initial public offering, as its new business line InstaHelp, which connects users with house helpers within 10 minutes, continues to be a drag on the company’s overall profitability.

While Urban Company has not disclosed the size or type of fundraising it will do, the Economic Times reported the platform is planning to raise Rs 2,000-2,500 crore via the QIB route.

Administrative Law — Extraordinary Jurisdiction — Article 142 Powers - The invocation of extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice is contextual and cannot be exercised mechanically - The Supreme Court will not invoke Article 142 to protect the services of irregularly or illegally appointed teachers at the cost of the students' future and the integrity of public employment streams.

Schelcher said teams had been mobilized to fix the issue and promised an investigation into the incident, which he described as "extremely serious."

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said there would be “no leniency” in the investigation and the government “will not tolerate anyone who dares to toy with the country's security, safety and stability”.

ProPublica’s reporting has found it can delay or outright deny patients’ critical medical care.

Ron Wyden is seeking a privacy review report about the HIDTA license plate program.

CISA added CVE-2026-85102, affecting Check Point Multiple Products, to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Check Point Security Gateway and Check Point Spark Firewall using Site to Site VPN or Remote Access VPN contain an improper certificate validation vulnerability which could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the Gateway.

The catalog lists 2026-09-25 as the due date; that date had passed by this edition.

In an extremely disappointing ruling, a California trial court dismissed SIREN v.

EFF and the ACLU of Northern California represent SIREN and CAIR California, two non-profits that serve San Jose residents, in this case.

The ruling ignores the importance of landmark rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the invasiveness of aggregating collected data on an individual over time, including one issued just months ago.

The investigation found an annual total of up to 608bn litres of industrial wastewater entering sewage works from sites such as power stations, pharmaceutical plants, food factories, hospitals, abattoirs and waste facilities.

Most sewage works only have biological treatment facilities, which are not designed to remove industrial chemicals, including flame retardants, Pfas, solvents and pharmaceuticals.

Citizens’ trust in the technologies suffers because of privacy breaches, personal data leaks, and other issues.

Since then, IEEE Smart Cities has launched services including its flagship International Smart Cities Conference, a media center with educational and technical resources, and a contest to recognize the best smart project completed by city officials.