1. Liberal states are right to take actions against the perpetrators of violence and should worry about the atmosphere that nourishes a fear of freedom. But if they are doing it in the name of liberal principles, they will need to, as much as possible, adhere to those principles, argues Pratap Bhanu Mehta in Indian Express in the context of the violence in France. 
  2. Following the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States in the last few months, the Donald Trump administration has gone after protesters with inflated federal charges. Natasha Lenard in Intercept reports on the repression unleashed in the country. 
  3. In comparing a wave of communal bigotry sweeping countries, Mukul Kesavan in The Telegraph writes that though Modi’s India is a low bar, it is important to acknowledge democratic qualities where they still exist, if only to construct a coherent view of the world and our place in it.
  4. In the run up to the US elections, the Supreme Court of the United States had to decide on several election-related petitions. In many of these, the court gave contrasting verdicts. However, there was one underlying constant in these varying judgements: a theory on when to interfere that Chief Justice Roberts followed. Robert Barnes reports for the Washington Post. 
  5. Arbitrarily locked out of their lanes, rudely referred to as ‘coronavirus’, threatened and humiliated daily, about 50 Muslim families in Shiv Vihar are desperate to move elsewhere, an effect of the communal violence that ripped through North East Delhi earlier this year, reports Tarushi Aswani in The Wire. 
  6. In Russia, most elections are staged. But on rare occasions, the system throws up surprises that go against the plan of the ruling elite. Andrew E Kramer in New York Times reports on how a woman who used to clean the city hall in a small village in Russia became mayor.
  7. This past summer, the Artic region was at its warmest since at least 1979, when satellite measurements started providing data. This unseasonably late freeze will have profound consequences, writes Mark Serreze in The Conversation. 
  8.   Humans have mapped Mars, the Moon, the solar system, even our own galaxy. Which means there is only one thing left to understand in this symbolic way and that is the entirety of the cosmos, says Shannon Stirone on the making of an atlas of the cosmos in Longreads. 
  9. The wolf that came to be known as Takaya lived alone on a small island off the coast of British Columbia for eight years. The question of who killed Takaya goes far beyond who pulled the trigger, reports Larry Pynn in Hakai Magazine. 
  10.   A false report on Twitter exploded into a call to arms. Then a bus, carrying a family and two dogs, rolled into a remote Northwestern town in the United States. Lauren Smiley in Wired writes on the true story of the alleged Antifa invasion of Forks.