A look at the top headlines of the day:

  1. Nitish Kumar rejoins Grand Alliance in Bihar after quitting NDA for the second time: He will take oath as the Bihar chief minister on Wednesday at 2 pm. Meanwhile, the Opposition said Nitish Kumar quitting NDA is a strong indictment of BJP’s politics of intimidation.
  2. 18 MLAs take oath as ministers 40 days after Eknath Shinde became Maharashtra CM: Nine leaders of the Shiv Sena and nine of the BJP were added to the Cabinet which so far only consisted of Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.
  3. Serena Williams announces retirement plans, says ‘countdown has begun’: Williams won the last of her 23 Slams at the 2017 Australian Open when she was already pregnant with daughter, Olympia.
  4. Granting permanent bail to Varavara Rao may impact country’s security, NIA tells Supreme Court: The probe in the Bhima Koregaon case has revealed that the activist was pursuing the agenda of the CPI(M) to topple the democratic government, the NIA alleged.
  5. Mumbai court grants bail to realty group promoters citing Supreme Court guidelines on PMLA: The judge said that proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act cannot continue against them in the absence of a scheduled offence.
  6. Shrikant Tyagi arrested for assaulting woman in Noida residential complex: Tyagi, who claims to be a BJP leader, had been on the run since the police booked him on Friday after videos of him abusing and pushing the woman went viral.
  7. Taiwan launches live-fire drills, claims China is readying to invade island nation: On August 3, China started military exercises around Taiwan in retaliation for the United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.
  8. Manish Sisodia is a ‘desperate man to save his own skin’, says former Delhi LG on excise policy row: On August 6, the Delhi deputy chief minister had accused Anil Baijal of corruption after his decision to stall the revamped excise policy.
  9. BJP did not discuss matters of national importance, says Congress on early end of Monsoon Session: The party’s Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi says the BJP has no answer to give on the rising inflation in the country.
  10. Heavy rainfall predicted in central and west India for next 3-4 days, says IMD: A red alert, warning of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, has been issued in some districts of Maharashtra.