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Police have detained the suspect Pravakar Sahoo alias Bapi, one of the distant relatives of the minor victim, in the case.

Tension prevailed at Ratanpur village in Delanga block of Puri district in Odisha on Monday following the recovery of the decomposed body of a minor boy from the septic tank, who had been missing since April 15.

Police have detained the suspect Pravakar Sahoo alias Bapi, one of the distant relatives of the minor victim, in the case.

Meanwhile, the enraged villagers on Monday ransacked the house of the accused person, demanding capital punishment for him. The villagers have been accusing the police of negligence in the incident and have demanded a speedy trial in the case.

As per local sources, the boy who died, Ashirbad Sahoo, the 11-year-old minor son of Manas Kumar Sahoo, had gone missing while playing near his residence at Ratanpur village under Delanga police limits in the evening on April 15.

The family members later lodged a missing report at the Delanga police station, suspecting the accused’s role in Ashirbad’s missing.

The police’s failure to trace the whereabouts of the missing child enraged the locals as thousands of villagers led by BJD leader and former MLA Rudra Pratap Maharathy staged a road blockade at Delanga market on Sunday.

The protesters, alleging the local police’s callous attitude and incompetence, demanded a Crime Branch probe into the missing case.

The local police had earlier detained the accused on the allegations of the boy’s family members, but later released him without taking any action against the accused, which further enraged the villagers.

Following the protest and road blockade, Puri police intensified their probe into the case and apprehended the suspect Bapi from the Tangi area of Khurdha district on Sunday.

The accused reportedly confessed to the police about committing the crime and dumping the minor’s body into a septic tank during interrogation.

The police later recovered the purported decomposed naked body of Ashirbad from the septic tank of a local villager late Sunday night. Locals alleged that the accused committed unnatural sex with the minor and later killed him to destroy all evidence regarding the incident.

Talking to IANS, a senior police official on Monday said that the accused had a business rivalry with Ashirbad’s father for a long time and might have killed the minor for it.

Reacting to the allegations of unnatural sex as the reason behind the ghastly murder, the senior police official said the postmortem report of Ashirbad can only confirm these allegations.

The woman had lodged a written complaint with Badagada police station on Saturday and the accused identified as Saroj Kumar Behera of Jaipur district was arrested on Sunday.

Police arrested a domestic help here for allegedly sexually assaulting the house owner’s wife and minor daughter, an officer said.

The woman had lodged a written complaint with Badagada police station on Saturday and the accused identified as Saroj Kumar Behera of Jaipur district was arrested on Sunday, the officer said.

The police said the accused works as a domestic help in the house of the complaint. While working, the accused took photos and videos of the complainant and her minor daughter and started blackmailing them, the police said quoting the FIR.

Later, the accused allegedly blackmailed them. He allegedly raped them on multiple occasions in the last few weeks by threatening to make their obscene photos and videos viral.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to his crime, the officer said. The police found during investigation that there was already a case in the name of the accused in Jajpur police station.

Though the BJD initially had the PAC, the highest decision-making body of the party, it later became defunct.After assuming the charge of the party president ninth time in a row, BJD president and five-time Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik Monday revamped the regional party and brought back political affairs committee (PAC).

Though the BJD initially had the PAC, the highest decision-making body of the party, it later became defunct.

The PAC was brought back after the party lost power after ruling the state for 24 years in a row from 2000, a senior BJD leader said.

While Mr Patnaik himself will lead the PAC, senior leaders like Bikram Keshari Arukh, Pramila Mallick, Niranjan Pujari, Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, Pranab Prakash Das, Sudam Marndi, Tikuni Sahu, Sasmit Patra and Santrupt Mishra are made the members of the panel.

This apart, Mr Patnaik also appointed new state-level office-bearers for the regional party and the number of the new team was 71, the BJD said.

“I was in Canada for the G7 Summit when US President [Donald] Trump called and invited me to Washington for a discussion and lunch,” PM Narendra Modi said at a public event in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he declined US President Donald Trump’s invitation to visit Washington DC as he had to return to the “holy land of Lord Jagannath”.

The Prime Minister mentioned this at a public address in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar.

PM Modi had been to Canada to attend the G7 Summit recently. He met with several heads of state including French President Emmanuel Macron.

It was during the G7 Summit that Mr Trump asked on a phone call to PM Modi whether he would visit Washington DC on an official invitation.

“I was in Canada for the G7 Summit when US President [Donald] Trump called and invited me to Washington for a discussion and lunch. I thanked him for the invitation, saying I have to visit Odisha, the land of Lord Jagannath. I humbly rejected his invitation,” PM Modi said at the public event.

It was the first time PM Modi participated in the first anniversary celebrations of the BJP government in Odisha.

He also launched development projects worth over Rs 18,600 crore.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a statement said PM Modi invited Mr Trump to visit India for the Quad Summit, likely to be held later this year.

Kajol Can’t Save Maa From a Weak NarrativeFronted solidly by Kajol in the guise of a woman who fights fiercely to prevent her daughter from falling prey to an old curse that hangs over the family and their village, Maa is a confused concoction. Faith, fear and feudalism flow into a feminine fable both fantastical and feeble.  

The mythological drama pans out in a remote Bengal village – its name is a Punjabified ‘Chandarpur’ and not ‘Chandrapur’ as it would be pronounced and spelled by a Bengali – off a forest that nobody dares to enter. Here, newly-pubescent girls disappear only to return within days without any recollection of what happened to them and where they went. 

That is pretty much the fate of Maa, helmed by Vishal Furia, whose fame rests on the 2016 Marathi horror flick Lapachhapi (remade in Hindi as Chhori by the director himself). It is way too erratic to be aware where it is going. 

Forty years ago, twins, a male and a female, are born in an aristocratic home on the night of Kali Puja. The birth of the boy is greeted with joy all around. The girl is taken away and done to death under a massive banyan tree that is destined to become a key ‘character’ in the story and spread its tentacles way beyond the jungle.  

The killing of the girl unleashes a curse that casts a shadow on all young village girls on the cusp of adulthood. They are hounded by a daitya (demon), a personification of a fearsome giant tree that spreads terror around the zamindar’s mansion that is now up for sale.  

Javed Akhtar extended his support and said the Censor Board and government should be a little more sympathetic towards the film’s release in India

Indian screenwriter, lyricist, and poet Javed Akhtar recently in conversation with NDTV Creators Manch, addressed the ongoing Diljit Dosanjh controversy over his Punjabi film Sardaar Ji 3, featuring Pakistani actor Hania Aamir. He shared his thoughts on the ongoing situation and whether it is fair for the singer-actor.

On being told that the makers say it was shot before the Pahalgam attack earlier this year, he said, “Ab kya karein bechara. The movie was shot earlier. Usko pata toh nahi tha ki aisa hoga. Iss mein Pakistani aadmi ka paisa toh nahi doobega, Hindustani ka paisa doobega. Toh phir kya faayda?”

He adds, “Usko pehle pata hota yeh hone wala hain, toh woh thodi na leta Pakistani actress. I think the government and the censor board should look at the situation with a little sympathy. And say that don’t do this again, but since you made this film before, then release it. But it should not happen again.”

Kaalidhar Laapata gives us a glimpse of Abhishek Bachchan as a middle-aged man suffering from memory loss and family betrayal decides to disappear in the crowd of Maha Kumbh Mela. he meets Ballu on his escape, who is a confident and aspiring boy of eight years. Their bond strengthens through laughter, warmth, and opportunities for the second time. The trailer promises a heartfelt story of rediscovery and happiness. Both of them start to fulfil their bucket list and leave the tension behind. The film beautifully explores the theme of transformation, dignity and abandonment.

The story features Abhishek Bachchan as the protagonist, with Daivik Baghela, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Shruti Vyas, Prakash Belawadi, and Varun Buddhadev. It has been directed by Madhumita and produced under the banner of Zee Studios. The writers are Madhumita and Sreekar Prasad. Music has been given by Karthikeya Murthy, and cinematography done by Balasubramaniem.

Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling long-delayed reforms.

The United Nations, a collaborative global dream built into reality out of the ashes of World War II, marks its 80th anniversary this month. There’s little to celebrate.

Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling long-delayed reforms. Its longtime credo of “multilateralism” is under siege. Its most powerful body, the Security Council, has been blocked from taking action to end the two major wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

And as conflict between Israel, Iran and now the United States flares, it watched from the sidelines.

Four generations after its founding, as it tries to chart a new path for its future, a question hangs over the institution and the nearly 150,000 people it employs and oversees: Can the United Nations remain relevant in an increasingly contentious and fragmented world? With its dream of collaboration drifting, can it even survive?

When the United Nations was born in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, the overriding goal of the 50 participants who signed the UN Charter was stated in its first words: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

The White House signaled trade progress with China on Thursday, with an official saying both sides have reached an understanding on issues including expediting rare earth shipments to the United States.

After talks in Geneva in May, Washington and Beijing had agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s products.

China also committed to easing some non-tariff countermeasures, but US officials later accused Beijing of violating the pact and slow-walking export license approvals for rare earths.

Both sides eventually agreed on a framework to move forward with their Geneva consensus following talks in London this month.

On Thursday, a White House official told AFP that President Donald Trump’s administration and China have “agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement.”

This clarification came after Trump told an event that Washington had “just signed” a deal relating to trade with China, without providing further details.

Asked about Trump’s remarks on Bloomberg TV, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick referred to the London negotiations, saying the framework deal — which needed top-level approval — has now been “signed and sealed.”

Separately on Thursday, the White House also indicated that Washington could extend a July deadline when steeper tariffs impacting dozens of economies are due to kick in.

While Trump imposed a sweeping 10 percent levy on most trading partners this year, he unveiled — then halted — higher rates on dozens of economies while negotiations took place.

That pause is set to expire July 9.

Asked if there were plans to further the pause, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “Perhaps it could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make.”

“The deadline is not critical,” she said. “The president can simply provide these countries with a deal if they refuse to make us one by the deadline.”

This means Trump can “pick a reciprocal tariff rate that he believes is advantageous for the United States,” she said.

Lutnick told Bloomberg TV that Washington will announce some deals in the next week or so.

The demolition of a Durga Temple in Dhaka had led to a sharp response from India over the treatment of minorities in Bangladesh. Authorities in Bangladesh have justified the move, calling it a ‘makeshift structure’, built illegally. 

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We understand that extremists were clamouring for the demolition of the Durga temple in Khilkhet, Dhaka. The interim government, instead of providing security to the temple, projected the episode as a case of illegal land use and allowed the destruction of the temple today.”

“This has resulted in damage to the deity before it was relocated. We are dismayed that such incidents continue to recur in Bangladesh. Let me underline that it is the responsibility of the interim government of Bangladesh to protect Hindus, their properties, and their religious institutions,” Mr Jaiswal said. 

India has repeatedly voiced concern about the targeting of minorities in Bangladesh under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue with Mr Yunus during the meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok. 

Prime Minister Modi had also underlined India’s concerns related to the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, and expressed his expectation that the Government of Bangladesh would ensure their security, including by thoroughly investigating the cases of atrocities committed against them, during the meeting with Muhammad Yunus.