1. Five terrorists and three Indian soldiers were killed after a terror attack on an air force base in Pathankot, Punjab, which Indian officials say has been planned by the Jaish-e-Mohammad.
2. Saudi Arabia executes 47 for terrorism, including prominent Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
3. Veteran Left leader AB Bardhan passes away at the age of 92.
4. US man shoots three dead in fight over washing machine before son guns him down.
Weekend reads
1. Pathankot must not stop Modi from dialogue with Pakistan, argues Sushil Aron in the Hindustan Times.
2. Shankar Aiyar writing in the New Indian Express has a few disruptive ideas for Modi in 2016.
3. Sensitive to the criticism that he is travelling too much, Modi has yet to schedule any foreign trip for January or February, writes Coomi Kapoor in the Indian Express.
4. To target the LPG subsidy better, the number of subsidised cylinders must be reduced from 12 to nine per family, says Jyoti Parekh in the Business Standard.
5. Executions are a barbaric practice but India is not even close to giving it up, writes Gopalkroshna Gandhi in the Telegraph.
6. In the Indian Express, Praveen Swami narrates the history of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, said to be responsible for Saturday’s strike on the Pathankot Indian Air Force base.
7. America is in a panic over terror – but the statistics say it shouldn’t be. Lawrence M. Krauss tries to inject some rationality into the debate in the New Yorker.
8. As the Lodha Committee readies its diagnosis of what ails the BCCI, in the Hindu, Vijay Lokapally looks at the evolution of Indian cricket’s governing body into a cash-rich behemoth is instructive
9. In the Mint, Shobha Narayan writes about the most beautiful sound in the world: the sizzle of frying jalebis early in the morning.
10. Works by poets established and new are flooding the Indian publishing market writes Aditya Mani Jha in the Business Line.
11. Can profanity be your life’s philosophy, asks Mark Admundson in the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Don't miss
Mirdula Chari travels to Koregaon near Pune to chronicle why lakhs of Dalits are celebrate the British victory over the Maratha Peshwas every New Year:
Although the first Maratha ruler, Shivaji, freely recruited Mahars in his army, two centuries later, by the time of the Peshwas, the status of Mahars was lower than ever. The Peshwas were Brahmins of a particularly orthodox bent. Stories told even today recall how when Mahars entered towns, they were made to tie brooms behind their backs to sweep up the dust of their footprints and to tie pots in front on their necks to collect their spittle. It was also a criminal offence to hide one’s caste.
Dalit recountings of the battle emphasise that when the English were approaching, Mahars offered their services to Peshwa Bajirao II. It was only when he rejected them yet again that they switched their loyalty to the British instead.
In 1851, the British erected a memorial pillar at Bhima Koregaon, with the names of those who had died in the battle. Most of the names are of Mahar soldiers.