The big news: Centre says triple talaq bill is about equality, not religion, and 9 other top stories
Other headlines: Sushma Swaraj said Pakistan used Kulbhushan Jadhav’s family for propaganda, and Anantkumar Hegde apologised for his remark on the Constitution.
A look at the headlines right now:
- Triple talaq bill tabled in Lok Sabha, Asaduddin Owaisi says it violates fundamental rights: Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the legislation intends to secure rights and justice for women.
- Pakistan turned Kulbhushan Jadhav’s meeting with family into a propaganda tool, says Sushma Swaraj: The external affairs minister said Islamabad’s claim that there was a something in Jadhav’s wife’s shoes was ‘absurd’.
- BJP minister Anantkumar Hegde apologises for remark on changing Constitution, says he respects it: The Union minister clarified on his controversial statements about the Constitution after the Congress protested inside Parliament premises on Thursday.
- Centre to borrow additional Rs 50,000 crore from markets in January-March: The decision is likely to take the fiscal deficit for 2017-’18 beyond the government’s target of 3.2% of the Gross Domestic Product.
- At least 40 killed, dozens injured in suicide attack at cultural centre in Kabul: The Taliban has said it was not involved.
- BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation proposes no ‘non-veg food’ on display outside eateries: A councillor from the party said meat dishes posed a hygiene problem and ‘hurt the sentiments of people who are vegetarian’.
- There’s no data on female genital cutting in India, Women and Child Development Ministry tells SC: The ministry’s affidavit to the top court contradicts WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi’s earlier stand.
- Without naming India, China says its economic corridor plan does not target any ‘third party’: The initiative would rather ‘bring benefit for the third party’, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
- Piyush Goyal orders railway officials to strengthen cyber security systems after CBI unearths alleged ticketing scam: The CBI arrested a software programmer working for the agency, an an IRCTC employee for allegedly operating an illicit software to book tickets.
- Syrian children waiting to be evacuated may be used as bargaining chips, warns UN: The evacuations of patients requiring urgent medical attention began on Tuesday.