A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Nearly 99% of demonetised notes back in the system, says RBI’s annual report: It said suspicious banking transactions rose by three lakh in 2016-17 and high-value notes still make up two-thirds of the currency in circulation, and also warned of the risk of farm loan waivers.
  2. Five killed in Mumbai rains, seven reported missing after being washed away in floodwaters, say police: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the BMC had used crores of rupees to ensure that ‘the situation was not beyond what we experienced’.
  3. Over 18,000 Rohingyas flee Myanmar violence in five days: Thousands more are stuck at the Bangladesh border, trying to get in.
  4. Day after North Korea fires missile over Japan, US conducts defence test off Hawaii’s coast: The defence agency claimed they had planned the operation for a while.
  5. There is no such thing as ‘saffron terror’, says outgoing Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi: He said the acts of a few from a particular religion could not be blamed on the entire community.
  6. Deadline to obtain Aadhaar for social welfare schemes extended to December 31, Centre tells SC: The apex court said it will begin hearing petitions against the programme in the first week of November.  
  7. Government approves major reforms for armed forces, 57,000 Army personnel to be redeployed: The decision was a big reform for the Indian Army since Independence, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said.
  8. Delhi High Court quotes Philippines SC ruling that held forced sex even in marriage as criminal: The petitioner’s counsel mentioned judgments by courts in Nepal, the US and European Union to present his client’s case.
  9. Nasa’s Cassini will end its 13-year mission to Saturn on September 15: The spacecraft is being crashed to avoid collisions with the planet’s moons, which could cause contamination from Earth’s microbes.
  10. Unfinished work of fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett destroyed by a steamroller: The crushed hard drive will go up on display at an exhibition on the author’s life from September.