Ayodhya (UP): Eight persons named in an FIR over the alleged embezzlement of donations received at the Ram temple in Ayodhya have been arrested, senior officials said Friday. The FIR, lodged at the instance of Krishna Mohan, a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, follows recommendations made in the preliminary report of a Special...

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy Friday, constituted the Standing Committees and Public Accounts Committee (PAC), assigning chairperson responsibilities to legislators across party lines. More than 35 Assembly committees, including PAC, and 10 Standing Committees have been formed. Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik has been appointed chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, while senior BJP MLA Jaynarayan...

Washington: President Donald Trump said Iran could become a significant new market for American agricultural exports as his administration pursues negotiations with Tehran following recent military action, while also announcing an additional $11 billion in relief for US farmers. At a White House dinner honouring American farmers, Trump said the administration was preparing to expand agricultural exports...

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Friday said state government has ordered a comprehensive probe into the errors found in school textbooks for Classes I to VIII, alleging that the scale of the mistakes points to a possible conspiracy to tarnish government's image. Majhi said all defective textbooks already distributed to students will be withdrawn and...

Kolkata: The toll in the Taratala warehouse collapse in south Kolkata rose to 15 Friday as teams of multiple agencies, including Army personnel, retrieved two more bodies, and two others succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment, an official said. The rescue teams continued intensive search operations through the rubble this morning, two days after the warehouse...

Kochi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has widened its investigation into the alleged CMRL-Exalogic ‘masappadi’ (monthly payment) case to examine whether Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd. received undue favours from the erstwhile LDF government, even as it subjected T. Veena, daughter of former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, to more than 10 hours of questioning in Kochi a day earlier....

New Delhi: Senior IPS officer Mahesh Dixit was Thursday appointed as the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau, succeeding Tapan Kumar Deka. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared Dixit's appointment. He will have a two-year tenure. Dixit, a 1993-batch Indian Police Service officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, was...

Washington: India's envoy to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, discussed the path to deepen bilateral trade partnership with the leadership and members of the Ways and Means Committee of the American House of Representatives. "Joined a special roundtable discussion on key aspects of the US-India bilateral trade relationship with the leadership and members of the House Ways...

Balangir: A fire broke out at a market complex in Odisha's Balangir district Friday, causing damage to several shops, including an electric two-wheeler showroom, police said Friday. Upon receiving information, fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and launched an operation to douse the blaze, a senior officer said. "The fire broke out at the market complex...

Dubai: A United Nations agency paused the evacuation of ships through the Strait of Hormuz Thursday after the British military said a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman following the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the UN. The head of the International Maritime Organisation said the plan...