5 stories you must read today, November 29: From West Bengal accepting Centre’s Waqf Law to Rajasthan HC’s order on women cab drivers and more

Read about how a drunk man got trapped in a cage meant for a leopard in UP’s Bahraich, Trump's plan to revoke orders signed by Biden’s autopen and more.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee (left); Rajasthan HC has ordered the state to ensure 15% cab drivers are women (File Photos)

Good evening. The latest in the power tussle between Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and the solar explosion that grounded around 6,000 flights dominated news headlines on Saturday, November 29. But much more has happened in the worlds of politics, business, technology, sport, and entertainment. Don’t worry, Express Catch-up is here to bring you up to speed.

After having refused to implement the Centre’s new Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, for months, the West Bengal government has finally accepted the law. The government has now issued directions to upload information of 82,000 waqf properties across the state. Following this, district-wise information of the state’s waqf properties will be listed on the central portal umeedminority.gov.in by the December 5 deadline. The Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, was passed by both Houses of Parliament in April this year. Read more

The Rajasthan High Court has directed the state government to ensure at least 15 per cent women drivers on ride-booking apps, set up a Rajasthan Cyber Crime Control Centre, and register all gig workers. The order was passed by Justice Ravi Chirania while hearing bail applications of two people from Gujarat who are lodged in Jodhpur Central Jail for allegedly impersonating law enforcement officers and extorting Rs 2.02 crore from an octogenarian couple earlier this year. The High Court rejected their bail. Read more

A 28-year-old man on Thursday was trapped in a metal cage installed by the Forest Department to capture a leopard suspected of killing a woman in the Kaiserganj area of Bahraich district. The incident came to light when the man, identified as Pradeep Sharma, shouted for help and called his friends and relatives from his cellphone from the cage. Alerted by the villagers, forest officials rushed to the spot and unlocked the trap to release the man suspected to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. Officials said no FIR was filed in the matter. Read more

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, aged 62, has married his long-time partner and finance professional Jodie Haydon at a private ceremony in Canberra. He has become the first Australian Prime Minister to get married while in office. Albanese split from his former wife, the former New South Wales deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt, in 2019. The couple were married for nearly two decades. Read more

US President Donald Trump announced that all executive orders passed under his predecessor, Joe Biden, using an “autopen” will be declared null and void. In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that approximately 92 per cent of the orders passed by Biden were done using the autopen and hence “are hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect”. An automatic pen, also known as an autopen, is a machine that uses a real pen to copy a person’s actual signature. Read more

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