A look at the headlines right now:

  1. If Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the first PM, all of Kashmir would have been ours, Modi tells Lok Sabha: Addressing the Rajya Sabha later in the day, the prime minister accused the Congress of ‘wanting the India of the Emergency, Bofors and chopper scams’.
  2. Reserve Bank of India keeps interest rates unchanged: Sensex and Nifty reversed the gains they made in the morning after the central bank kept the repo rate unaltered at 6% and the reverse repo rate at 5.75%.  
  3. Opposition’s demand to know the details of Rafale aircraft deal is ‘unrealistic’, says Centre: The Defence Ministry said it was just following the confidentiality provisions of an agreement that the previous government signed.
  4. India must stop intervening in the affairs of the Maldives, says Chinese state-run media: The editorial was published even as former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed urged India to send its envoy to Male and involve its troops.
  5. ‘Don’t promote Valentine’s Day celebrations’, Pakistan media regulator tells channels: The electronic media authority stressed the Islamabad High Court’s order from February 2017, which barred the press from promoting celebrations on February 14.
  6. Two days before Winter Olympics begin, norovirus outbreak hits Pyeongchang: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister will attend the opening ceremony of the Games in the South.
  7. Supreme Court cancels Goa mining leases, asks government to restart the auction process: Companies can carry out mining only till March 16, and have to obtain environmental clearance to get fresh leases after that, the top court said.  
  8. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s estranged wife Jashodaben injured in accident: She has some minor injuries and is not in danger, reports said.  
  9. ‘Muslims should not live in this country,’ says BJP MP Vinay Katiyar: He was responding to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s demand for a law that punishes anyone calling Indian Muslims ‘Pakistanis’.  
  10. Stop ‘tiranga yatras’ if they cause violence, says sister of youth murdered during Kasganj violence: The family was in Lucknow to meet Chief Minister Adityanath.