A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Bye-elections begin in 15 Karnataka Assembly constituencies, BJP needs to win at least six: Twelve of the 15 constituencies were earlier held by the Congress and three by JD(S).
  2. P Chidambaram gets bail in ED’s INX Media case too: He walked out of the Tihar jail late on Wednesday. His son Karti Chidambaram expressed relief after the Supreme Court order.
  3. Citizenship (Amendment) Bill cleared by Union Cabinet, to be tabled in Parliament soon: It seeks to amend a 1955 law to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Muslim-majority nations.
  4. At least 18 Indians feared dead in gas tanker blast at ceramic factory in Sudan’s Capital Khartoum: The Indian embassy also released a list of Indians hospitalised or missing after the incident.
  5. Centre refuses to say when Abdullahs, Mehbooba Mufti will be released: Starting August 4, the authorities took 5,161 people into preventive custody, the Ministry of Home Affairs told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
  6. India’s civic space rating downgraded to ‘repressed’ by international organisation Civicus Monitor: It expressed concern about the crackdown on human rights activists, attacks on journalists and civil society groups, and the lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir.
  7. Personal data of 20 of 121 Indians targeted was accessed in WhatsApp spyware attack, says government: The government said this in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday in a written response to a question posed by Dayanidhi Maran.
  8. Telangana High Court sets up fast-track court in Mahabubnagar to hear Hyderabad vet murder case: The incident triggered widespread criticism of the law-and-order situation in the state.
  9. Quota for SCs and STs to be extended in Lok Sabha and state legislatures, Centre approves proposal: The government is looking to extend the reservation, which was set to expire on January 25, 2020, by 10 years.
  10. After dead rat found in mid-day meal, school principal, 3 teachers and NGO booked in Uttar Pradesh: Eight students and a teacher of the Janata Intermediate College in Pachenda village in Mustafabad area fell ill on Tuesday.