A look at the headlines right now:
- Bye-elections begin in 15 Karnataka Assembly constituencies, BJP needs to win at least six: Twelve of the 15 constituencies were earlier held by the Congress and three by JD(S).
- P Chidambaram gets bail in ED’s INX Media case too: He walked out of the Tihar jail late on Wednesday. His son Karti Chidambaram expressed relief after the Supreme Court order.
- 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.
- 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.
- Centre refuses to say when Abdullahs, Mehbooba Mufti will be released: Starting August 4, the authorities took 5,161 people into preventive custody, the Ministry of Home Affairs told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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