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- Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti has expressed her support for the BJP government, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stance on Kashmir. She has also called for talks with Pakistani officials and called for Pakistan to withdraw support to insurgents.
- A Delhi court has issued notices to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and others on a fresh application by senior BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy. The application seeks the summoning of certain documents in the National Herald case, pertaining cheating and misappropriation of funds of the now defunct newspaper.
- The Maharashtra government will consolidate the milk brands in the State to ward off competition from neighbouring Gujarat. The government has decided to bring various brands like Chitale, Gokul, Mahananda, Mother Dairy, and Warna under a single brand: Aarey.
- The Union Cabinet has cleared the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2016. The Bill seeks to ban commercial surrogacy in the country, and ensure effective regulation of surrogacy, and allow ethical surrogacy to needy infertile couples.
- The death toll in the Bihar floods rose to 153. The situation in West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh too has worsened. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 75 rescue and relief teams, with about 40 rescuers in each, to help the people hit by heavy rains in these states and has also tasked two Deputy Inspector General-rank officers in Bihar and U.P. for monitoring the situation round-the-clock.
- GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) has won an international competitive bid for the development and operation of Mopa greenfield airport in North Goa.
- An Indian cargo ship carrying vehicles and foodstuff sank off the coast of Oman, due to overloading. The ship was heading for Yemen, and all 11 crew members were rescued.
- The Durand Cup kicked off at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi, and is the 128th edition of the tournament. The tournament will see 12 teams in action with the highest prize money ever on offer.
- Leander Paes and Andre Begemann made it to the final of the ATP Winston-Salem Open beating Swede Robert Lindstedt and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
- US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that Washington and Moscow have made key steps towards agreeing a new ceasefire in Syria, but a final deal has not been reached.
- India’s recent track record in protecting freedom of expression is expected to come under close scrutiny in the UN’s next Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2017. Holland will raise the issue, in light of a recent Human Rights Watch Report (HRW) report titled ‘Stifling Dissent: The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression in India’, as well as concerns regarding India’s law governing foreign donations to NGOs.
- Turkey has for the first time allowed policewomen to wear the Islamic headscarf as part of their uniform.
- Meanwhile, one of Britain’s leading TV broadcasters blacked out its programmes for an hour in hopes of spurring viewers to get some exercise. ITV shut down broadcasts on several of its channels yesterday, as part of its effort to entice U.K. citizens to sports clubs, which are being opened for free this weekend as part of a national event!
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