Wednesday, 21 October 2026 #1  ·  Times City (Page 6)  ·  Data story / In-depth feature Winds May Push Farm Fire Share In Delhi's PM2.5 To 13% By Thurs By Priyangi Agarwal   ·   The Times of India, New Delhi  ·  Page 6 Stubble burning's contribution to Delhi's PM2.5 hit a season-high of 4.1% on Tuesday, with forecasts from Decision Support System projecting a sharp rise to 8% Wednesday and 13.3% Thursday as north-westerly winds shift to carry smoke from Punjab and Haryana into the city. The story contextualises this year's unusual harvest cycle — delayed due to a weak monsoon — and the coincidence of peak farm fires with Diwali on November 8, drawing on multi-year DSS and SAFAR data to show the trend is worse than 2025 but not yet at 2024 peaks. Expert Gufran Beig explains how satellite overpass timing and El Niño-driven slower winds compound the risk. Unusually data-rich for a

Approach Entertainment & Communications has been named the PR and communications partner for Inkspell Insight Ignition 4.0, which will bring together three industry award programmes in Gurugram on October 28, 2026. Organised by Inkspell Media, the event will be held from 3 pm to 6 pm at The Auditorium, DLF Cyber Park. It will bring together brands, agencies, marketing leaders, content creators and professionals from the advertising, digital and media industries. The event will host the ninth edition of the India Content Leadership Awards (ICL), the sixth edition of the Unlocked Awards and the second edition of the MADEX Awards on a common platform. The awards will recognise brands, agencies, campaigns and professionals across content, digital, marketing and advertising. The programme will feature the felicitation of winners across the three award platforms, followed by an industry panel discussion on how creativity, technology, consumer behaviour and storytelling are shaping b

TK Mohandoss, assistant editor at DT Next and former sports editor of Times of Oman, passed away while on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala, his family confirmed. A journalist with more than three decades of experience, Mohandoss had been associated with the Chennai-based DT Next since November 2019. Before joining the publication, he worked as a freelance sports writer between 2017 and 2019. Prior to that, he spent two decades at Times of Oman in Muscat, serving as head of the sports desk from March 1997 to March 2017. During his tenure, he handled reporting, production, web publishing, editorial coordination and special sports supplements. Mohandoss began his journalism career with The Pioneer as a sports sub-editor in 1988 and worked there until 1991. He later joined The Indian Express in Chennai as chief sub-editor and sports reporter, a role he held until 1997 before moving to Oman. The team at The Arabian Stories, to which Mohandoss was a frequent contributor, mourned his passing

Independent news publishers increasingly depend on digital platforms to reach audiences, but the same platforms also influence how widely their stories circulate and how much advertising revenue they can generate. Changes to algorithms and distribution policies can affect visibility overnight, leaving smaller newsrooms with limited control over their reach and income. For independent publishers, the challenge is to build a sustainable business without allowing platform priorities to determine editorial decisions, according to a Reuters report. Pragatti Oberoi, Communications Associate, BFSI and Media & Entertainment, described the imbalance between publishers and digital platforms as a structural problem. “It's a strange business model when the newsroom pays to produce journalism, the platform controls its discovery, and someone else captures a significant share of the advertising value,” she said. Oberoi argued that publishers need fair and transparent barga

Attack on MP Helen Haines sparks national reckoning on political violence The alleged targeted car attack on independent Indi MP Helen Haines—leaving her critically injured and resulting in the amputation of her leg—has jolted Canberra and her regional community, with urgent questions about motive, security and the rising normalisation of threats against public figures. Coverage spans live developments, community shock, and broader commentary urging a reset in civic discourse and protections for politicians and frontline workers. Covered by: Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, Australian Financial Review, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The West Australian, Courier Mail, The Mercury, The Advertiser. Chalmers stares down an $11b budget hole as savings unravel Treasurer Jim Chalmers is confronting an $11 billion fiscal gap driven by rising borrowing costs and spending pressures, with policy backflips and delayed savings measures compounding the problem. The story

Reputation is too valuable to be treated as a communications function that springs into action only when something goes wrong. For Corey duBrowa, CEO of Burson, it is a measurable business asset that organisations must continually strengthen through leadership, governance, workplace culture and credible action, long before a crisis tests their standing. Speaking at PRAXIS India on *Earning Reputation in the Intelligence Era*, duBrowa outlined a new approach to public relations that combines artificial intelligence, audience understanding and reputation measurement with the human judgement and relationships that have traditionally defined the profession. Drawing on more than three decades of experience, including senior communications roles at Google, Starbucks, Salesforce and Nike, he argued that the industry must evolve both the art and science of communications to remain relevant in an increasingly unpredictable environment. His argument comes against what he described as an acc