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Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, according to the United Nations. A commission of inquiry set up by the global intergovernmental organisation stated that Israel’s intent was “to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention”.

The acts were killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births. The commission recommended that member nations of the UN must stop the export of weapons and other equipment to Israel.

Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report, describing it as “distored and false”. This came on the same day that the Israeli military launched a new ground offensive in Gaza City. In August, the UN formally declared a famine in northern Gaza, warning that it could spread. Read more.

The chilling parallels between famine in Palestine and colonial Bengal

The Supreme Court has directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to hold local body elections in the state by January 31, 2026. The bench also criticised the state poll panel for its failure to adhere to an earlier timeline set by the court, stating that it was extending the deadline as a “one-time concession”.

On May 6, the court ordered local body elections in the state to be notified within one month and completed in four months.

The elections in 27 municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, 243 nagar parishads and 289 panchayats, have been stalled since 2022 amid a case in the Supreme Court pertaining to reservations for the Other Backward Classes. The terms for most urban and rural bodies in the state ended between 2020 and 2022. Read on.

Why three years without municipal elections has been punishment for Mumbai

Five persons were swept away in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun district on Tuesday after heavy overnight rainfall triggered widespread flooding and landslides. Schools in the district were closed for the day and red alert has been issued in parts of the state.

In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, three persons of a family were killed in Mandi district after a landslide. Heavy rainfall also led to flooding in the Son and Bharand drains in the district’s Dharampur area. In Shimla, a landslide near Himland buried several vehicles and blocked the main circular road. Read more.

The rain catastrophes in western Himalayas this year are not isolated events. Here’s why

The Karnataka High Court has set aside the election of Congress MLA KY Nanjegowda and ordered a recount of votes cast in his Malur constituency in the 2023 Assembly polls. However, the bench stayed its own order for a month to allow Nanjegowda to appeal in the Supreme Court.

The judgement came on an election petition filed by KS Manjunath Gowda, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate who had lost to Nanjegowda. The Congress leader had won the election by a margin of 248 votes. Read on.

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