A look at the headlines right now:

  1. At least 18 Indians feared dead in gas tanker blast at ceramic factory in Sudan’s Capital Khartoum: The Indian embassy also released a list of Indians hospitalised or missing after the incident.
  2. P Chidambaram gets bail in ED’s INX Media case too: His son Karti Chidambaram expressed relief after the Supreme Court order.
  3. Citizenship (Amendment) Bill cleared by Union Cabinet, to be tabled in Parliament soon: It seeks to amend a 1955 law to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Muslim-majority nations.
  4. Centre will change laws to curb mob lynching cases, Amit Shah tells Rajya Sabha: The Home Ministry also told Parliament that it had not released data on lynching in its NCRB report last month as it was ‘prone to misinterpretation’.
  5. India’s civic space rating downgraded to ‘repressed’ by international organisation Civicus Monitor: It expressed concern about the crackdown on human rights activists, attacks on journalists and civil society groups, and the lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir.
  6. Personal data of 20 of 121 Indians targeted was accessed in WhatsApp spyware attack, says government: The government said this in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday in a written response to a question posed by Dayanidhi Maran.
  7. Telangana High Court sets up fast-track court in Mahabubnagar to hear Hyderabad vet murder case: The incident triggered widespread criticism of the law-and-order situation in the state.
  8. Quota for SCs and STs to be extended in Lok Sabha and state legislatures, Centre approves proposal: The government is looking to extend the reservation, which was set to expire on January 25, 2020, by 10 years.
  9. After dead rat found in mid-day meal, school principal, 3 teachers and NGO booked in Uttar Pradesh: Eight students and a teacher of the Janata Intermediate College in Pachenda village in Mustafabad area fell ill on Tuesday.
  10. Supreme Court to hear application to stay electoral bonds scheme in January: It was filed after news reports exposed claims regarding the bonds’ anonymity and revealed the RBI and Election Commission’s reservations about them.