A look at the top headlines right now:

  1. Wrong to assume we are in ‘endgame’ of coronavirus pandemic, says WHO: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the acute stage of the pandemic could end this year if primary targets to eradicate the disease are met.
  2. Delhi court frames sedition charges against activist Sharjeel Imam in anti-CAA speech case: Imam’s bail plea in the case has been denied, said his lawyer Talib Mustafa.
  3. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wins right to appeal in UK Supreme Court against extradition to US: Assange faces 18 charges in connection with 5 lakh secret files on American military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  4. Unemployment, ‘scarring’ of the middle class’ buying power concerns for India, says Raghuram Rajan: The former RBI governor said that Covid-19 might lead to a ‘K-shaped recovery’, where there would be wide divergence in growth rates of large and smaller firms.
  5. Changes to IAS rules would hamper federal structure, three chief ministers tell PM Modi: Till now, seven chief ministers have opposed the proposed changes in deputation rules of Indian Administrative Service officers.
  6. All anti-CAA protests sites were close to mosques, argues prosecution on Umar Khalid’s bail plea: At the activist’s bail plea hearing in a Delhi riots case, the prosecutor said the locations were deliberately picked and ‘purposefully given secular names’.
  7. Sensex falls by 1,546 points, Nifty by 468 points: Sensex has lost over 2,500 points in four trading sessions last week.
  8. India registers 3,06,064 new Covid-19 cases, positivity rate rises to 20.75%: In the past 24 hours, 439 people died of Covid-19, taking the overall fatality count to 4,89,848.
  9. Hindu groups object to namaz in Karnataka government school, authorities order inquiry: Meanwhile, a statue of St Sebastian located in the Trinity Church in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore district was vandalised by two unidentified men
  10. Shiv Sena wasted 25 years due to alliance with BJP, says party chief Uddhav Thackeray: The Maharashtra chief minister said that the Shiv Sena was ‘betrayed and attempts were made to destroy’ it in Maharashtra.