A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Rahul Gandhi to take over as Congress president soon, Sonia Gandhi tells NDTV: Earlier, the Congress vice president had indicated that he was ready to take on the responsibility.   
  2. After Doklam standoff, Defence Ministry decides to speed up road construction along India-China border: During a conference of Indian Army commanders, it was decided that four mountain passes along the border will be connected on a priority basis by 2020. 
  3. Trial court judge acted like a ‘film director’, says Allahabad HC in Aarushi-Hemraj murder case: Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar, who were acquitted of murder charges, will not be released from Ghaziabad’s Dasna Jail on Friday, their lawyer Tanvir Mir said.   
  4. Reliance Industries reports 12.79% rise in year-on-year net profit for second-quarter of 2017: But the company’s telecom unit, Reliance Jio, posted a loss of Rs 271 crore for the July-September period. 
  5. In Dera Sacha Sauda case, Honeypreet Insan, accomplice sent to judicial custody till October 23: The Haryana Police told the Panchkula court that a mobile phone had been recovered from Ram Rahim Singh’s adopted daughter, but no laptop had been found. 
  6. Government saved $9 billion through Aadhaar, kept fraud under check, says Nandan Nilekani: The architect of the UIDAI programme said cashless transactions had brought down the costs for the government.   
  7. Do not deport any Rohingya refugee till the next hearing on November 21, Supreme Court tells Centre: The bench said the government needs to strike a balance between national security and protecting the human rights of the refugees.    
  8. Amit Shah defends son Jay Shah, says bring evidence to court: The BJP chief said Jay Shah’s companies had not engaged in any business with the government. 
  9. ‘Not even close to being out of this emergency,’ says official as California fires toll rises to 31: About 1,90,000 acres were damaged by Thursday afternoon.   
  10. Idea shareholders approve merger plan with Vodafone India: Over 99.9% of the shareholders voted in favour of the deal in a meeting on Thursday.