A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Thick smog in Delhi the day after Diwali as people burst firecrackers outside of mandated time: Real-time air quality fell to the ‘hazardous’ category in multiple places such as Anand Vihar, RK Puram, Pusa, Faridabad and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.  
  2. Mining baron G Janardhan Reddy is absconding, say Karnataka police: He is wanted in connection with a Rs 18-crore bribery case.  
  3. US President Donald Trump fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions, announces his replacement: Trump had criticised Sessions for recusing himself from the ongoing investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. 
  4. Man arrested for allegedly assaulting woman pilgrim at Sabarimala temple: A group of men had surrounded Lalitha Ravi on Tuesday and stopped her from entering the temple. They later let her go when she proved she was over the age of 50  
  5. Uttar Pradesh CM Adityanath confirms plan to build statue of Ram in Ayodhya: The state government is in talks with architects over possible designs for the statue, the chief minister said.
  6. Four men allegedly drugged and raped 21-year-old woman in Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar, say police: They are now on the run and the police are conducting searches at their possible hideouts in the city and adjoining states.  
  7. Sensex and Nifty surge during special Diwali Muhurat trading session: Gains in automobile and information technology stocks helped the domestic benchmark indices rise.  
  8. Former revenue minister and IAS officers among those named in SIT report in Visakhapatnam land scam: Dharmana Prasada Rao, who is now a member of the YSR Congress, denied the allegations and accused the ruling Telugu Desam Party of targeting him.  
  9. Italy says it will try to help Pakistani woman acquitted in blasphemy case leave the country: Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said his government was working with other Western countries to ensure a secure future for Asia Bibi and her family in the West.
  10. Kamal Haasan says his party is ready to contest bye-elections in Tamil Nadu: Healthy and ‘scam-free’ politics are his party’s objectives, the actor-politician added.