Rahul hits back at Modi, Israel strikes in Syria, and other top stories of the day

On the last day of campaign for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi strongly hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raising his ancestral history during a poll rally. He said his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi "is more Indian than many other people in the country."

Israel struck back heavily after Iranian forces in Syria launched a rocket attack on its army bases in the Golan Heights early on Thursday. The attack, just past midnight, marked the first time Iranian forces have hit Israel from Syria, where they have been deployed along with Shia militias and Russian troops to support President Bashar al-Assad in the seven-year-old civil war.

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra directed all the parties concerned to file their written submissions to put forth their case. The judgment was reserved after a marathon hearing, which went on for 38 days spanning four months.

Mahathir Mohamad, who pulled off a stunning general election win, is poised to take over as the new Prime Minister of Malaysia on Thursday. Mr. Mohamad brushed aside doubts that he would become the country's next Prime Minister following his shock election victory over the coalition that has ruled the Southeast Asian nation for six decades since independence from Britain.

The Government of India on May 10 said it was in touch with relevant people and authorities in Afghanistan to secure the release of Indians who were abducted in the northern Baghlan Province of the war-torn country on May 6.

In 2013 Assembly elections, there were four polling booths. For the 2018 polls, there is one. By the next election, the crumbling town of Kudremukh, set amidst the hills of the Western Ghats, may be entirely erased from the map.

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Calcutta High Court order asking the West Bengal State Election Commission to accept nomination papers filed through e-mail for contesting the panchayat elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday described his two-day visit to Nepal from Friday as a reflection of his government’s commitment to “neighbourhood first” policy, and said as the Himalayan state entered a new era, India would continue to remain its steadfast partner.

Sixteen people were killed as a thunderstorm hit several parts of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, officials said in Lucknow on Thursday. Twenty-seven people were reported injured, while 37 animals, 16 in Aligarh and 13 in Mathura, perished in the storm.

Eleven serving defence officers and eight others on Wednesday sent a legal notice to actors Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna, accusing the Bollywood couple of “playing with the sentiments” of the armed forces by putting up for auction a naval costume from the Hindi film Rustom.