A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Mamata Banerjee refuses to attend PM’s meeting on simultaneous national and state polls: She called her party defectors ‘greedy and corrupt’, and said the BJP is ‘collecting TMC’s garbage’.
  2. President Donald Trump launches 2020 re-election campaign, says US economy is ‘envy of the world’: Trump promised an ‘earthquake at the ballot box’ and accused Democrats of trying to rip the country apart. The United States and China will, meanwhile, hold extended talks on the sidelines of G20 summit in Japan.
  3. Centre forces 15 tax officials facing corruption charges to retire:They will be paid three months’ salary and allowances, said the Union Ministry of Finance.
  4. Groundwater depleted but media shouldn’t create an ‘illusion’ of water scarcity, says Tamil Nadu CM: Meanwhile, the Madras High Court said that the water scarcity in the state did not happen in a day and the government made zero water management efforts.
  5. Private universities in UP must promise to avoid ‘anti-national activity’, says new ordinance: Under the ordinance, national integration, secularism, moral building and ‘desh bhakti’ or patriotism are among the objectives of universities.
  6. Viral video shows terrified schoolchildren in Jammu and Kashmir crying after soldiers allegedly assault bus driver: The driver sustained head injuries and was taken to a hospital.
  7. Over 300 artistes start online petition in support of Pa Ranjith: The Coalition for Artist’s Right to Speech said the filmmaker was being vehemently attacked and abused for his views on emperor Raja Raja Chola.
  8. CBI files case against Indira Jaising’s NGO Lawyers Collective for alleged FCRA violations: The senior Supreme Court advocate’s husband Anand Grover, who is a director and trustee of the NGO, has been named as an accused.
  9. Facebook planning to launch its own cryptocurrency Libra next year: The company has set up a digital wallet service called Calibra, which will allow users to save, send and spend Libras.
  10. NIFT staffers in Hyderabad protest over inaction against professor accused of sexual harassment: The institute has reportedly sacked 56 female housekeeping staff, including those who have been working for a decade, after they complained against the accused.