A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Covid-19: Kolkata reports 101.85% jump in new cases, Mumbai registers rise of 46.25%: Mumbai on Thursday reported a positivity rate of 7.9% compared to 4.8% recorded on the previous day.
  2. Covid-19 vaccines primarily modify disease, do not prevent infection, says ICMR chief: Dr Balram Bhargava urged people to wear masks and avoid mass gatherings both before and after inoculation.
  3. In Mumbai, Omicron found in 37.6% of Covid-19 samples taken from the community: Of the 375 samples collected between December 21 and 22, genome sequencing by the Kasturba laboratory detected 141 had been infected with the variant.
  4. West Bengal suspends flights from United Kingdom to Kolkata from January 3: All passengers arriving in the state from countries not classified as ‘at-risk’ would have to undergo a coronavirus test on arrival.
  5. Congress state chief arrested for protesting against Dalit girl assaulted in UP without permission: Ajay Kumar Lallu was held after he and other party leaders held a demonstration demanding the arrest of the accused persons.
  6. Author Namita Gokhale wins Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel ‘Things to leave behind’: Nineteen other writers were also given the award, Anita Vachharajani won the Bal Sahitya Puraskar and Megha Majumdar won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar.
  7. Kashmir gunfight: ‘Bullying us into silence by penal action,’ says Mufti after police warning: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday said that they would take action against residents and politicians who make ‘speculative statements’.
  8. Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj arrested for comments about Mahatma Gandhi: At a two-day ‘dharam sansad’ event in Raipur, the seer had praised Nathuram Godse for assassinating Gandhi.
  9. US criticises raids, arrests at Hong Kong’s media outlet ‘Stand News’, says ‘journalism is not sedition’: The pro-democracy publication ceased operations after seven people linked to it were arrested.
  10. Mixing news with views is a ‘dangerous cocktail’, chief justice tells journalists: NV Ramana asked the media to trust the judiciary, adding that the trend to ‘sermonise about judgements and villainise judges’ needs to be checked.