A look at the headlines right now:

  1. GST Council lowers tax rates on 178 items, only 50 goods now under 28% slab: However, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi called for a “Genuine Simple Tax” and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said Arun Jaitley had not “applied his mind” to the tax.
  2. NGT bars return of odd-even scheme in Delhi till government proves it curbs pollution: Pawan Hans agreed to help the AAP government sprinkle water aerially over the city to settle pollutants.
  3. Only vegetarians, non-drinkers will be eligible for gold medal, says Pune University rule book: The university registrar said they were only following terms set by the donors who fund the award.   
  4. Industrial output growth declined to 3.8% in September: While the mining sector grew at 7.9% year on year, the corresponding figure for the manufacturing and electricity sectors was 3.4% each.   
  5. Mamata Banerjee met Saradha boss several times, claims Mukul Roy at his first rally for BJP: The former Trinamool Congress leader also accused the West Bengal chief minister of ignoring dengue deaths in the state.   
  6. ‘India has achieved astounding growth,’ says Donald Trump: The US president also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with bringing the country and all of its people together.
  7. New Home Ministry wing will focus on tackling terror and online radicalisation: In a rejig, it merged a few departments and also created a new division to handle cyber security threats.   
  8. Anti-Aadhaar activists urge citizens to switch off mobile phones for half-an-hour on Saturday: They plan to submit a petition to the PMO, demanding that the the Centre stop asking people to link the identity card to various services.   
  9. Kashmiri Pandits meet Centre’s interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma, seek fresh inquiry into killings: Sharma arrived in Jammu on Thursday for the second leg of his five-day visit to the state.   
  10. Former French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay elected Unesco chief: Fifty-eight members of the Unesco’s executive board had nominated her to the post of director general in October.