A look at the headlines right now:

  1. CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana’s tenure curtailed by Centre, three other officers also removed: The other officers are Joint Director Arun Sharma, Deputy Inspector General Manish Sinha, and Superintendent of Police Jayant Naiknavare.  
  2. SC strikes down stringent rules governing dance bars in Maharashtra, says there should not be a total ban: Following the court’s judgement, the Nationalist Congress Party accused the state government of a ‘nexus’ with bar owners.
  3. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh sentenced to life for journalist’s murder: The Dera Sacha Sauda chief, who at present is serving a 20-year prison term in Rohtak for raping two followers in 2002, was sentenced along with three others.   
  4. Coalition government in Karnataka will complete full term, says Congress leader: Earlier in the day, the Congress called for a meeting of itslegislature party on January 18 amid allegations of horse-trading.
  5. 9/11 survivor among 21 killed in attack on hotel in Kenya’s Nairobi: All five gunmen were shot dead during the 20-hour standoff that began on Tuesday evening.    
  6. Centre is using Ram temple, cow protection to divert attention from pressing matters, claims Amartya Sen: The economist criticised the move to grant citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from neighbouring countries and not Muslims.   
  7. CBI files FIRs against two shelter homes in Bihar’s Munger district accused of child abuse: The agency booked the director of Novelty Welfare Society, and the office-bearers of the Panaah shelter home on Wednesday.   
  8. BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh has ‘anti-Dalit, casteist’ leaders on the edge, claims Mayawati: She accused these unidentified leaders of using sections of the media for cheap politics, and said her party would give them a ‘fitting reply’. 
  9. Supreme Court asks Lokpal search committee to recommend names by end of February: The search panel, which was set up in September, has not met even once, the government reportedly told the court.   
  10. Pakistan’s Supreme Court asks Imran Khan’s government to lift travel ban on Opposition leaders: Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah are named on the list, which bans them from travelling abroad.