A look at the headlines right now:

  1. BSP to contest Chhattisgarh elections in alliance with former CM Ajit Jogi’s party: The Bahujan Samaj Party will contest in 35 seats, while the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh will field candidates from 55 seats.
  2. Protests erupt as police interrogate rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal for second day: The Vatican has accepted Mulakkal’s request to temporarily step down from duties, while the women’s commission again summoned the MLA who had called the complainant a prostitute.
  3. Civil aviation ministry asks DGCA for safety audit of airlines and airports after Jet Airways mishap: Passengers on the Mumbai-Jaipur flight started bleeding after cabin pressure dropped.
  4. No blanket ban on media reporting on investigation in Muzaffarpur rape case, says Supreme Court: However, the top court said images of victims of sexual offences cannot be telecast or published even in the morphed or blurred form.
  5. ‘Pakistan remains ready to discuss terrorism,’ Imran Khan writes in letter to Narendra Modi: Sushma Swaraj will meet Pakistan’s foreign minister during the UN General Assembly in New York.
  6. Arun Jaitley calls Rahul Gandhi a ‘clown prince’, accuses him of repeating lies on Rafale deal: Meanwhile, a former HAL chairperson told a media house that the company could have built the fighter jets.
  7. UGC asks colleges to mark ‘surgical strikes day’ with programmes, talks on Army’s sacrifices: Strikes showed the world that India means business, says Union minister Piyush Goyal.
  8. In 2017, 27% of new cases of tuberculosis infection were reported from India, says WHO: Two-thirds of the 10 million infections occurred in eight countries, with India accounting for most of them.
  9. Republicans in the US apologise to Hindus for ‘offensive’, ‘problematic’ advertisement featuring Ganesha: ‘Would you worship a donkey or an elephant,’ the ad asked. The Republicans’ symbol is an elephant while the donkey is that of the Democrats.
  10. Japan’s Shinzo Abe re-elected ruling party president, set to become longest-serving prime minister: Abe beat his only contender, former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, by securing 553 of 807 votes.