Belguntha: Three persons allegedly died of heatstroke in separate incidents in Buguda and Belguntha blocks of Ganjam district Thursday. The deceased were identified as Daktar Swain, a Class-IV employee of People’s College in Buguda, Sudhir Chandra Swain, a farmer and LIC agent of Chilikhama village under Buguda police limits and a share-cropper identified as Jagannath Swain of...

New Delhi: A delegation from the Santali monthly news magazine ‘Fagun’, representing Odisha, Jharkhand, and New Delhi, met President Droupadi Murmu Thursday, urging the implementation of the ‘Ol Chiki’ script in Santali textbooks published by NCERT and other educational institutions. During the meeting, the delegates expressed concern over the continued use of Devana gari script in Santali...

ARINDAM GANGULY, OP Bhubaneswar: A worrying rise in fire incidents across the Capital city in past months has triggered fresh concerns over urban fire safety, emergency preparedness, and enforcement of safety norms. Devastating market blazes, industrial fires, and vehicle accidents in several parts of the City have been repeatedly witnessed. In February, a massive fire broke out...

Bhubaneswar: Police have busted a sex racket operating from a house under Jatni police station limits in Khurda district and arrested seven persons, including two alleged kingpins, officials said Thursday. Acting on inputs, personnel of Jatni police station conducted a raid at around 10.30 pm Tuesday at a house near Sai Temple in Behera Sahi on the...

Sonepur: The Mahanadi and Tel rivers flowing through Subarnapur district have emerged as vital centres of biodiversity, drawing attention on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity today. Widely regarded as the lifeline of Odisha, the Mahanadi River is not only a major source of water but also a thriving ecological habitat. The river system...

Cuttack: Odisha Police has begun extensive preparations for the Rath Yatra 2026, with Director General of Police (DGP) Yogesh Bahadur Khurania chairing a high-level review meeting at State Police Headquarters in Cuttack, Thursday. The annual chariot festival of Lord Jagannath is scheduled to be held July 16 and is expected to draw lakhs of devotees from across...

Ahmedabad: Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, and Rashid Khan picked three wickets each as Gujarat Titans (GT) thrashed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 89 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad Thursday, and sealed a top-two finish in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 points table. The result also meant five-time champions CSK have been eliminated from...

By Nikunja Bihari Sahu The hot summer days are back with vengeance! With daytime temperatures soaring over 400 °C in many parts of Odisha, the current season promises to be painfully hot. Interior districts are boiling with sweltering heat driven by hot and dry westerly winds and towns like Jharsuguda, Titlagarh, and Sambalpur are recording temperatures close...

By Rajdeep Sardesai The most revealing political statement post-elections this month has not come from a television studio talking head or a noisy social media troll. It has come from a newly elected BJP MLA in West Bengal, Ritesh Tiwari, who told an audience: “They didn’t vote for me, I won’t work for them,” referring to Muslim...

By Carla Norrlöf The United States has unprecedented power to conduct military strikes anywhere around the world, to impose damaging tariffs and sanctions, and to mete out punishment far beyond its borders in coordination with allies. Few states have possessed so many instruments of coercion, and fewer still have been able to achieve so much leverage through...