A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Centre moves Supreme Court to seek ‘victim-centric’ rules in death row cases: The government sought a time limit for convicts to use the last legal options available to them.
  2. China coronavirus epidemic toll climbs to 17, flights and trains out of Wuhan suspended: Over 9,000 passengers were screened in seven Indian airports.
  3. SC says it won’t stay Citizenship Act without hearing Centre, to refer pleas to 5-judge bench: The court has granted the Centre four weeks to file its reply to the petitions.
  4. SC says Article 370 will be referred to larger bench if there is a conflict in earlier two verdicts: The top court directed advocates Dinesh Dwivedi and Sanjay Parikh to give their submissions by Thursday to prove a direct conflict in judgements.
  5. India slips 10 spots to 51st rank in annual Democracy Index due to ‘erosion of civil liberties’: The rank was India’s worst ever since the index was first released in 2006.
  6. Women being pushed to protest, they don’t know what amended Citizenship Act is about, says Adityanath: At a rally in Kanpur, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader said shouting ‘azadi’ slogans amounted to sedition. Meanwhile, at a public meeting in Kanpur, Rajnath Singh told Muslims: ‘No one will touch you.’
  7. Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey booked for alleged inappropriate comments against VD Savarkar: He has been accused of inciting the public and provoking ‘with intent to cause riots’.
  8. UN experts call for investigation into alleged Saudi crown prince involvement in Jeff Bezos’ phone hack: There was ‘an anomalous and extreme change’ in the behaviour of Jeff Bezos’ phone after he received a video from the crown prince, the experts said. Saudi Arabia claimed reports of the crown prince hacking Jeff Bezos’ phone were ‘absurd’.
  9. Satya Nadella says countries not friendly to immigrants will lose out on tech boom: Last week, the Microsoft CEO had criticised the Citizenship Amendment Act, saying what was happening in India was ‘just bad’.
  10. Shaheen Bagh a reaction to five years of ‘cumulative fear’, says former Delhi lieutenant governor: Meanwhile, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal urged protestors to end the demonstrations, and National child rights body said children protesting at Shaheen Bagh need counselling.