Bhubaneswar: Election Commission Wednesday announced that the bypoll to a Rajya Sabha seat from Odisha that has been vacated by Debashish Samantaray will be held June 18. Samantaray, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha on a BJD ticket in 2024 and was to continue till 2030, resigned both from the membership of the Upper House of...

New Delhi: Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the power of the Election Commission to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the exercise "advances the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections". "The process that may initially appear exclusionary can, through appropriate safeguards, be rendered constitutionally compliant. We are satisfied that impugned SIR exercise meets...

Pune: Two more accused in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), officials said Wednesday. This brings the total number of people arrested to 13. The two accused have been identified as Dr Manoj Shirure, a Latur-based doctor, and Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, who is a physics faculty at...

Dharamsala: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru marched into a second successive IPL final with a 92-run demolition of Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 in Dharamsala Tuesday, powered by skipper Rajat Patidar's blistering unbeaten 93 off 33 balls and a ruthless pace assault that ripped apart their opponents' top-order inside the powerplay. Put into bat, RCB piled up...

New Delhi: Edtech firm Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran has been sentenced to six months in jail by a Singapore court for contempt after allegedly failing to comply with multiple court orders related to his assets, a report has said. Bloomberg reported that the Singapore court directed Raveendran to surrender to authorities, pay legal costs of S$90,000 ($70,500)...

United Nations: Pakistan will have to accept that there are "consequences" to its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism, India told a UN meeting, underscoring that it has "every right" to defend itself from such terror attacks perpetrated by its neighbour. "I am compelled to respond to baseless and unwarranted remarks made by Pakistan today. India would like to...

Thiruvananthapuram: The Enforcement Directorate Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and some others as part of its investigation against his daughter in the CMRL money laundering case, officials said. They said a total of 10 premises in the state, including the rental house of the 81-year-old former chief minister in...

New Delhi: A Uganda national with recent travel history from the East African nation has tested negative for Ebola after she was placed under isolation in Bengaluru as a precautionary measure when she reported mild symptoms of body ache, official sources said on Wednesday. The 28-year-old woman was placed under isolation at the state-run Epidemic Diseases Hospital...

Bhubaneswar: In a move aimed at improving efficiency, transparency and accountability in urban governance, the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department has transferred 360 officials across various cadres serving in urban local bodies (ULBs) across the state. The transfers cover officials posted in municipal corporations, municipalities and notified area councils (NACs), with the objective of ensuring better...

Dubai: Iran Tuesday denounced the most recent US strikes as a sign of "bad faith and unreliability" as negotiations pressed on toward a possible deal to end the war, and the Islamic Republic began restoring internet access after one of the longest nationwide shutdowns ever. The US military characterised Monday's strikes in southern Iran as defensive, with...