A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Shiv Sena chief meets Sharad Pawar, formal announcement on Maharashtra alliance likely today: No Congress leader attended the midnight meeting at the NCP president’s house in Mumbai.
  2. Police say religious leader Nithyananda fled abroad, MEA claims it has no ‘formal information’: Ahmedabad (rural) superintendent of police said they will seek Nithyananda’s custody through ‘proper channels’ if needed.
  3. In Parliament, Congress says ‘corruption has been made official’ through electoral bonds: Congress MPs also entered the Well of the House to protest against the privatisation of public sector units like Bharat Petroleum. Later in the day, Union minister Piyush Goyal called Congress leaders ‘defeated and dejected’.
  4. J&K government tells SC ‘everything is normal’; petitioners are presenting ‘grim picture’: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that restrictions were progressively being relaxed in the region and claimed that people there were happy.
  5. Priya Ramani tells court she had no malafide motive for accusing MJ Akbar of sexual harassment: The journalist also denied that she had harmed Akbar’s reputation by making the allegations of harassment against him.
  6. On passport row, social worker Medha Patkar says there is a ‘deliberate attempt to target activists’: Patkar said cases mentioned in the notice seemed to be filed during the ‘non-violent peaceful agitations’ in which she had taken part.
  7. Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu indicted for bribery and fraud, calls it a ‘coup attempt’ against him: The indictment could impact negotiations to form a new government, which are being held to avoid a third general election in the country this year.
  8. Congress opposes Malegaon blasts accused Pragya Singh Thakur’s nomination to parliamentary panel on defence: The MP faces multiple charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for the terror attack in 2008 in which six people were killed.
  9. Kicking off Jharkhand campaign, Amit Shah accuses Congress of delaying Ayodhya case, Kashmir problem: The home minister claimed that under the Congress government, the ‘Kashmir problem’ was not dealt with for 70 years.
  10. Sri Lanka PM Mahinda Rajapaksa sworn in, says will work with India for ‘peace and prosperity’: The swearing-in ceremony was conducted hours after former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resigned from the post.
  11. Stalin asks Tamil Nadu government to rescind sedition charges against Kudankulam protestors: Around 9,000 protestors were charged between 2011 and 2013 under several sections of the law, including sedition for the peaceful anti-nuclear agitation.
  12. Indian couple put on trial in Germany for allegedly spying on Sikh, Kashmiri separatist groups: The couple allegedly passed the information on to the Research & Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency, for a sum of Rs 5.72 lakh.