New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) Following are the news highlights

: Inching towards realising India's ambition to send humans to space, ISRO successfully tests an unmanned crew module on board an experimental mission of its heaviest rocket GSLV Mark-III that blasted off from here. (MDS12)
New Delhi: India is working with its mission in Pakistan to prepare a strong response against granting of bail to LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the masterminds of the 2008 terror attack. (DEL28)
New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister charges that CBI was being used as a "political tool" by the NDA government and was functioning as "a department of the PMO". (DEL26)

New Delhi: The government holds a meeting with more than 30 African mission heads here and assures them that India is committed to ensuring safety and security of all foreign nationals living in the country, including those from the African countries. (DEL30)
New Delhi: Deadlock in Rajya Sabha continues for the fourth day as opposition keeps demanding reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a debate on religious conversions which the government steadfastly rejects. (PAR11)
New Delhi: Lok Sabha passes a bill to regularise e- rickshaws and provide for driving licences for these battery-operated vehicles, mostly plying in Delhi, with government promising to incorporate members' suggestions in rules to be framed once it becomes a law. (PAR24)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court dismisses petitions filed by two firms including the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) Ltd against the Ordinance that has paved way for auctioning of coal mines across the country. (LGD22)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court decides to examine the issue of suicide deaths by debt-ridden farmers from drought-hit state of Maharashtra which witnessed a horrific incident of a 75-year-old tiller lighting his own funeral pyre in Vidharbha region last month.