At least 35 children have been killed and six others sustained critical injuries in a stampede at a school fair in Nigeria's Ibadan, police said. Eight people, including the event's main sponsor, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident, police added. The organisers reportedly expected to host 5,000 children below the age of 13 at the event.

The government has declared three-day nationwide state mourning as a mark of respect for Pope Francis, who passed away aged 88. Two days of state mourning will be observed on Tuesday, April 22 and Wednesday, April 23 while another day's mourning will be observed on the day of the pope's funeral. There'll be no official entertainment during the mourning period.

Baba Siddique's son and NCP-SP leader Zeeshan Siddique received death threat through email on Monday. The sender said Zeeshan would be killed the same way as his father. The sender also demanded ₹10 crore from Zeeshan, adding they'd send such emails every six hours. Baba Siddique was shot dead last year, with Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang claiming responsibility for the killing.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja have been retained in the A+ category (₹7 crore) in BCCI’s annual contracts. Typically, this grade is reserved for players active across all three formats. However, the assessment period for the contracts was from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. They retired from T20Is cricket after T20 World Cup in June 2024.

Pallavi, the wife of former Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) Om Prakash, has been arrested in connection with his murder. Pallavi was allegedly upset over her husband's decision to gift property to one of his siblings. Om Prakash's murder case has been transferred to the Central Crime Branch, a key wing of the Bengaluru City Police, for further investigation.

US Vice President JD Vance, who is on a four-day visit to India, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in Delhi on Monday. Senior government officials including NSA Ajit Doval, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri are reportedly present at the meeting. The two leaders are likely to focus on the US-India trade deal.

Gold prices have jumped ₹1,650 to reach a fresh all-time high of ₹99,800 per 10 grams in Delhi on Monday, according to the All India Sarafa Association. The yellow metal of 99.9% purity had declined ₹20 to close at ₹98,150 per 10 grams on Friday. Silver prices also jumped ₹500 to reach ₹98,500 per kg on Monday.

The BCCI on Monday announced annual contracts for the 2024-25 season. As many as four cricketers have been dropped from the list. They are all-rounder Shardul Thakur, wicketkeeper-batters KS Bharat and Jitesh Sharma, and fast bowler Avesh Khan. They were in the Grade C (₹1 crore) in the 2023-24 list.

PM Narendra Modi expressed his "heartfelt" condolences over the demise of Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 on Monday. Calling Pope Francis a "beacon of compassion, humility and spiritual courage", he said, "May his soul find eternal peace in God's embrace." PM Modi added that he was "greatly" inspired by the Pope's inclusive and all-round development.

The BCCI has announced player contracts for Team India for the 2024-25 season. Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been promoted to Grade A and will now get ₹5 crore. He was earlier in Grade B, through which he used to get ₹3 crore retainership amount. Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya and Mohammad Shami are also in Grade A.

Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday, April 21 at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta, according to a post by Vatican News. His death follows his recent recovery from pneumonia. Pope Francis was battling a polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract, which doctors described as a "complex" respiratory infection.