Jajpur: At least five people have been arrested by police for allegedly poisoning a man to death in Odisha's Jajpur district, an officer said Saturday. Police arrested them after an autopsy report revealed that the 39-year-old deceased Santosh Malik was poisoned to death. "Police arrested five people, including the younger brother of the deceased. All eight accused...

Brussels: World leaders reacted warily to US and Israeli strikes on Iran Saturday that triggered concerns of a broader conflict. European leaders held emergency meetings and took measures to protect their citizens in the Middle East, with key leaders calling for a negotiated settlement between Iran and the US. Australia and Canada were more open in their...

United Nations: Condemning the "military escalation" in the Middle East, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Saturday warned that failure to immediately cease hostilities and de-escalate risks a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability. Guterres' comments came as the UN Security Council convenes later in the day to discuss the situation in West...

Pallekele: Sahibzada Farhan struck a stunning century while his opening partner Fakhar Zaman made 84 to take Pakistan to a formidable 212 for 8 against Sri Lanka in their final Super Eights match of the T20 World Cup Saturday. Invited to bat, Farhan and Zaman took the hapless Sri Lankan bowlers to the cleaners, hitting boundaries and...

New Delhi: Aviation watchdog DGCA Saturday advised airlines to avoid airspaces of 11 countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, till March 2. The countries are Iran, Israel, Lebanon, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. Many airspaces are already shut in the wake of the attacks on Iran by Israel and the US Saturday....

Bhubaneswar: Two more Odia workers, stranded in Thailand, returned to Odisha Saturday after the state government took steps to rescue them from the Southeast Asian country, an official said. Four others had come back to the state February 21, he said. The youths, who safely returned to the state during the day, have been identified as Prashant...

Moscow: Russia Saturday condemned the US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran, qualifying it as an "unprovoked" aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law and called for immediate return to diplomacy. The Russian Foreign Ministry also described the US and Israeli forces' strikes against the Iranian territory as "a pre-planned" act of aggression against an independent...

Bhubaneswar: The opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha Saturday expelled senior leader Pravat Ranjan Biswal on the charge of indiscipline and anti-party activities. The action came hours after Biswal, a former MLA, raised his voice against party president Naveen Patnaik's decision to nominate Santrupt Misra as the BJD candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. In...

Kolkata: Around 63.66 lakh names, nearly 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted in West Bengal since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began in November last year, bringing down the total number of voters in the state to over 7.04 crore ahead of the Assembly elections due in April, EC officials said. The post-SIR rolls,...

New Delhi: As a joint military strike by the US and Israel on Iran triggered fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East, India Saturday urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid escalation, emphasising that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected. In its first reaction to the fast-evolving situation...