In a major development amid the Houthis vs Saudi Arabia conflict, the holy city of Mecca was put on air raid alert. The country’s Civil Defence issued alerts across several major cities, including Mecca and Jeddah.
However, the Houthi rebels have rejected Saudi Arabia’s claims that they had shot down a drone heading towards Mecca.
The fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed forces has put the region on the edge. This potential threat to Mecca may draw sharp criticism from leaders worldwide.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs also reacted to the recent developments and consistent Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia. The MEA expressed serious concerns over the attacks, cautioning that such strikes undermine regional stability. MEA’s spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar discussed the latest developments during a meeting with the Saudi Foreign Minister on the sidelines of BRICS.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is reportedly planning to sell 2,000 pounds of bombs to Israel. Reports suggest that the 2.8 dollar billion package includes 40,000 of the bombs that weigh 2,000 pounds each.
The debate over the new UPI norms has also intensified. The National Payments Corporation of India said that a revised UPI Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework will take effect on select merchant (P2M) transactions starting October 15, 2026, while keeping UPI completely free of cost for consumers and all transactions up to 2,000 Rupees.
Under the new rules, small merchants earning up to ₹1 lakh per month via QR codes will pay zero MDR, a flat 5 Rupee fee will apply to transactions above rupees 2,000 in specific categories like railways and fuel.
Other high-value P2M transactions will attract a 0.4% charge capped at ₹300. The initiative also introduces a dedicated fund to upgrade digital payment infrastructure for small vendors and Tier 3 markets. It also clarified that there won’t be any impact on small-value UPI transactions up to Rs. 2,000 for all merchants, which account for more than 95% of all UPI P2M transactions.