Ali Khan

A 25-year-old computer engineer from Mumbai was today arrested for allegedly designing and hosting a fake website of the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE), police said today.

Ranchi-based Sana-ul-haq was arrested by the Odisha cyber police and produced in court here today from where he was remanded to jail custody, they said.

Cyber police station officials said the youth, a graduate in computer engineering from a private institution in Bhubaneswar, was working in a Mumbai firm.

Cracking the whip, Sebi today barred four companies and 235 other entities from the securities market for making Rs 614 crore illegal gains through suspected money laundering and tax evasion activities.

The capital market watchdog’s order comes after it found manipulations in the scrips of four companies — Eco Friendly Food Processing Park, Esteem Bio Organic Food Processing, Channel Nine Entertainment and HPC Biosciences.

A US woman pleaded guilty today to killing two of her children and storing their bodies in a home freezer, telling a judge that she had no remorse for beating and suffocating them.

Mitchelle Blair, 36, of Detroit, Michigan, has never challenged allegations that she killed her 13-year-old daughter and 9 year-old son. She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder without any deal with prosecutors an extraordinary move and said she would have accepted the death penalty if the state of Michigan had it.

The theme of “social development” chosen for Statistics Day is quite relevant and related to various schemes of development initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Statistics & Programme Implementation Minister Vijay Kumar Singh said today.

Singh, who also looks after the Ministry of External Affairs & Overseas Indian Affairs as a Minister of State, called upon statisticians to use technology to analyse the data to make it relevant for interventions to be made in specific areas for the development of the society.

France’s foreign minister is warning that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can explode “at any moment” and the Islamic State extremist group can interfere at any time.

Laurent Fabius told a group of reporters today that “if and when it explodes, it’s very, very, very problematic for the whole region and for the world.”

He said that “every radical group,” especially in Gaza, can take advantage of the deadlocked peace process, and it would be lamentable if the Islamic State group “the most radical of the radicals” used this as a pretext for violence.

The Rajya Sabha will begin on July 21 for the Monsoon Session.

The President has summoned the Upper House to meet on July 21 for the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Subject to exigencies of business, the Session is scheduled to conclude on August 13, according to a Rajya Sabha Secretariat statement.

Veteran Marxist leader V S Achuthanandan, an atheist, today quoted the Holy Bible in the state Assembly while launching a scathing attack on Finance Minister K M Mani, a die-hard Catholic, for his alleged involvement in bar bribery scam.

Quoting from the Gospel of Mathew, the nonagenarian leader, who stole the limelight on the opening day of the Assembly, asked Mani whether he wanted to remove all his taints after chopping off the organs that had committed sin or rot in hell.

Passengers of the the Aisbagh-Gonda passenger train faced anxious moments when six of its coaches today got detached at the outer signal of Bankeyganj railway station here and the engine chugged forward, railway officials said.

No one was hurt in the incident.

The coupling connecting the bogies with the engine broke down, leading to the incident. The train was later brought to the Mailani junction for repair and safety check up, they said.

A middle-aged woman died this morning when a private bus lost control and rammed her on the footpath, the police said.

“The accident happened at around 8.50 AM when a private bus hit a 50-year-old lady on the footpath of the Ultadanga Main Road under Manicktala Police Station,” a senior police officer said.

The lady was rushed to the Medical College and Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival, he said adding the driver was taken into custody.

Geologists reignited the debate about whether to blame nature or humans for the devastating eruption nine years ago of an Indonesian mud volcano still oozing its all-consuming sludge today.

New analysis of underground gas levels measured at the time of the outburst point the finger to gas exploration — not an earthquake — as the trigger, a research team from the United States, Britain and Australia wrote in the journal Nature Geosciences.

Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly today hailed Harbhajan Singh’s comeback to the ODI team and said it’s a good opportunity for the veteran off-spinner to make a mark following his return to the 50-over format side after a gap of four years.

“It’s a good comeback for Harbhajan. Hope he uses the opportunity to cement his place in the team,” Ganguly said about Harbhajan, who has represented the country in 102 Tests and 228 ODIs.

Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today ordered a magisterial inquiry by District Magistrate (South West) into the daring jail break incident at Tihar Jail even as the Delhi government said the probe be entrusted to Divisional Commissioner (west district) as the prison falls under his jurisdiction.

Jung has directed District Magistrate (South West) Ankur Garg to probe the matter and sought an inquiry report within a week.

The US Supreme Court today rejected an environmental regulation limiting the amount of mercury emissions and other pollutants that power plants can pump into the atmosphere.

In a 5-4 decision split along conservative and liberal lines, America’s top court sided with 21 states and industry groups protesting standards imposed in 2012 that require power plants to cut toxic emissions.

The standards had been imposed by the national Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The Central Water Commission (CWC) has been directed not to give permission for dam projects that hinder environmental flow of rivers, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti today said.

Bharti, who reviewed a joint presentation on ‘Namami Gange – National Mission for Clean Ganga’ in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, said that the river would be cleaned in 11 important cities situated across its basin in the next three years, a statement here said.

The 11 cities includes Rishikesh, Haridwar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Garhmukteshwar, Kanpur, Patna, Sahibganj, Kolkata and Nabadweep.

Police have detained a new suspect in connection with torching of about 85 vehicles after his profile matched considerably with the image of the person seen in the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera footage obtained from parking lots’ of residential societies.

Joint Commissioner of Police S Ramanand told reporters here today that the suspect who was originally picked up by the police late last night in connection with a murder in the Sinhagad Road area, was subsequently found to resemble the individual seen in the CCTV footage.

Syrian regime forces took back several parts of a neighbourhood in the northeastern city of Hasakeh from the Islamic State group today, but heavy clashes continued, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said regime forces had seized parts of Al-Nashwa district in southern Hasakeh, which IS fighters entered last Thursday.

But it said clashes were continuing around the neighbourhood with “shelling by both sides and air raids on the area where fighting is taking place”.

A 33-year old man was today sentenced to life imprisonment by the women’s court here for sexually assaulting a minor girl in August last.

Judge M Pitchammal held that the prosecution has proved the case beyond doubt and sentenced Vellaichamy of Neerpazhani village in the district to life imprisonment.

According to prosecution, the 11-year old girl was sexually assaulted by the man when she was alone in her house on August 30, 2014.

Expressing deep concern over the acquittal of eight of the 10 men jailed for attack on Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, two top US lawmakers have asked Pakistan to bring the attackers to justice.

“We urge the government of Pakistan to re-double its efforts in a transparent and public manner to bring those responsible for this brutal attack to justice,” Senators Marco Rubio and Barbara Boxer said in a letter to Pakistan Ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani.

Pop Idol runner up Gareth Gates has slammed Glastonbury acts in a foul mouthed Twitter rant.

The singer criticised hip-hop stars Young Fathers and other bands like them performing at Glastonbury Festival this year, reported Digital Spy.

Writing on Twitter, Gates said: “Watching Glastonbury… Bands like ‘Young Fathers’ offend me. Is this talent? Is this musicianship?”

Young Fathers won the Mercury Prize last year for their debut album Dead.

They performed at Glastonbury Festival on June 27. The Who will bring the festival to a close this evening with a headline slot.

The shooting of the sequel to 2002 film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” has commenced.

Actor John Corbett is seen topless filming the movie in a photo posted by writer and co-star Nia Vardalos on Instagram, reported The Wrap.

In the caption with the photo Vardalos referenced the scene in the first film, saying: “Is someone trying to get baptised again in #MyBigFatGreekWedding2 ?”

The US supports the “pro-business reforms” of the Modi Government but at the same time remains concerned about difficulties caused to non-governmental organisations, a top State Department official has said.

Rapper Big Sean says he learnt lessons from his relationships with ex-girlfriends, singer Ariana Grande and actress Naya Rivera.

The 27-year-old rapper dated the “Problem” hitmaker for six months until April this year and was previously engaged to the “Glee” actress before going their separate ways in April 2014, reported Female First.

“It’s no mistakes in life – only lessons,” he said. The “Dark Sky Paradise” rapper insisted his personal life is never “planned” and he is just living his life.

Actor Alex Kingston’s character River Song will cross paths with the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) in a new series of “Doctor Who” audio plays.

Kingston will reprise her role as the time-travelling archaeologist in “Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 2” from Big Finish Productions, reported Digital Spy.

Best known for their audio plays based on the classic Doctor Who series, Big Finish have recently begun branching out into new series material with the upcoming box-set UNIT: Extinction starring Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart) and Ingrid Oliver (Osgood).

A car bomb has exploded behind a military hospital in the Yemeni capital, causing dozens of casualties including civilians, security officials said.

Yemen’s rebels, known as Houthis, later said in an official statement yesterday that they had fired a Scud missile at Saudi Arabia, in what would be the second such attack since fighting between a Saudi-led coalition and the rebels began in the spring.

Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia have begun a three-day trip to Mexico, making their first state visit to the Americas since their coronation.

President Enrique Pena Nieto yesterday welcomed the royal couple at the Campo Marte military field in Mexico City, where they were treated to a cannon salute and a military parade.

“This visit will serve to compare again the many things that 170 million Mexicans and Spaniards have in common, and the enormous potential in front of us,” Felipe said.