A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Congress practises vote bank politics, celebrates sultans’ birthdays, says Narendra Modi in Karnataka: The prime minister was speaking at a rally in Chitradurga. He will address more events in the state through the day.
  2. Armed men abduct seven people, including six Indians, in Afghanistan’s Baghlan province: India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the government was in touch with Afghan authorities.
  3. Five militants killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian, five civilians dead in clashes with security forces: Two security personnel have reportedly been injured.
  4. ‘This has never happened before,’ says Supreme Court judge on rejection of KM Joseph’s elevation to top court: Kurian Joseph said the collegium will again meet this week to make a decision.
  5. US is ‘misleading the public’ by taking credit for our plan to denuclearise, says North Korea: The United States should not miscalculate the peace-loving intentions of Pyongyang as a ‘sign of weakness’, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
  6. NASA launches spacecraft to study the interior of Mars for the first time: The InSight mission will take six months to reach the Red Planet after a 301-million-mile journey.
  7. IMD predicts thunderstorms, some rain in north Indian states for three days: Gusty winds are likely in Delhi on Sunday, while squalls will accompany the thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.
  8. BJP MLA suggests that child marriage will help end ‘love jihad’:Madhya Pradesh legislator Gopal Parmar claimed adolescent girls will not get ‘distracted’ if their marriages have already been fixed.
  9. Arnab Goswami booked by Maharashtra police for allegedly abetting suicide of interior designer: The man allegedly claimed in a suicide note that Republic TV had not paid his dues.
  10. Lebanon holds first national elections in nine years under new electoral law: The main contest is between a Western and Saudi Arabia-backed coalition headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.