BJP candidate Debangshu Panda celebrated in Falta in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district. (PTI photo)

New Delhi: The BJP won the repoll in Falta Assembly constituency in West Bengal, with its candidate Debangshu Panda securing more than a lakh votes than his nearest rival as counting took place on Sunday for the repoll held on May 21.Click here for live updates
According to the Election Commission (ECI) website, after all 22 rounds of counting, Panda got 149,666 votes, while Sambhu Nath Kurmi of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) stood second with 40,645 votes.With this victory, BJP’s tally returned to 207 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly. The party had originally won 207 seats too, but Suvendu Adhikari – now the state’s first BJP chief minister – vacated his Nandigram seat and retained Bhabanipur, where he had defeated his predecessor as chief minister, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee.Falta’s victory would be icing on the cake for the BJP, not only because it was a TMC-dominated constituency but also because of the events leading up to this victory.‘Diamond Harbor Model’ collapsedFalta constituency falls under the Diamond Harbor Lok Sabha seat in South 24 Parganas district. TMC won Falta in three consecutive assembly elections (2011, 2016 and 2021), while Diamond Harbor is represented in the Lok Sabha by the party’s number two Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of Mamata Banerjee, who has won three consecutive general elections from the constituency (2014, 2019 and 2024).Abhishek secured 40% votes in 2014, followed by 56% and 68% votes respectively in the next two elections.On 2 May, two days before the counting of votes in West Bengal, he challenged the “Union of India” to “make a dent in my Diamond Harbor model too”.Abhishek had also allegedly given provocative speeches during the campaign.After Trinamool’s defeat, the new BJP-led government has reduced their security cover. Additionally, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has issued notices to 17 properties belonging to them over alleged building violations and unauthorized construction.The mayor of KMC is Firhad Hakim, a senior TMC leader.‘Singham’ vs ‘Pushpa’There was an interesting fight between Trinamool stalwart and its Falta candidate Jahangir Khan and Uttar Pradesh-cadre police officer Ajay Pal Sharma, who was sent to West Bengal by the ECI as a police observer.Sharma was dubbed “Singham” by the media after the police officer played by Ajay Devgan in the “Singham” films.After Sharma was seen warning Khan’s family in a viral video, the TMC leader referred to himself as “Pushpa” – Allu Arjun’s strongman-turned-smuggler character in the two “Pushpa” films.‘Pushpa’ accepted defeatIn a development that confirmed the Falta repoll result even before a single vote was cast, Khan, an ally of Abhishek Banerjee, “withdrew” from the contest two days before the election. He claimed that he quit after the CM official assured him of a “special package” for the constituency.However, the announcement came amid FIRs lodged against Khan, prompting him to move the Calcutta High Court seeking and obtaining protection from arrest. The move came just two days after the officer commented that he would “personally handle” Khan’s case.Despite Khan’s “withdrawal”, his name remained on the voting machines, as the deadline for withdrawal of nominations had already passed.“Pushpa” stood fourth in the repoll, receiving only 7,783 votes in the six-person contest, excluding the NOTA (None of the Above) option.Why was re-polling conducted?In the second and final phase of the election, on 29 April, the ECI ordered re-polling at all 285 polling stations in Falta over allegations of large-scale irregularities. Tapes in the names of BJP candidates were found stuck on the voting machines at many booths.

West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination Board (WBJEEB) is expected to release the provisional answer key for West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination 2026 soon on its official website. wjeeb.nic.in. The exam has been conducted on May 24, 2026. The answer key will allow candidates to assess their probable scores before the declaration of results for admission to undergraduate engineering, technology, pharmacy and architecture courses across West Bengal.

Challenge window will be open for a limited period

The examination board has clarified that candidates will be allowed to raise objections against the provisional answer keys during a specified period. However, the objection facility will remain active only for a limited period after the release of the answer key.Students challenging any response will have to pay a non-refundable fee of Rs 500 per question along with applicable bank service charges. The board will examine all the objections before preparing the final answer key.Officials have said that the final answer key will be considered binding, and the WBJEE 2026 result will be prepared strictly on the basis of the revised and final responses. The Board has also made it clear that no further communication regarding challenges will be entertained after the review process is over.

OMR response sheets will be uploaded online

Apart from the answer keys, the board is also expected to release scanned images of OMR sheets and machine-recorded responses of the candidates for a short period. Candidates will be able to access these documents through their login credentials.Students are advised to download and preserve copies of their response sheets for future reference, as access may not be available indefinitely after the scheduled deadline is over.

Rank card to carry sectional and overall scores

WBJEE 2026 result will be declared in the form of a rank card containing detailed performance data of the candidates. The scorecard is expected to include the overall marks along with the rank obtained in the examination, component scores in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.After the declaration of the result candidates have to log in to the portal using their password to download the final rank card.

WBJEE 2026 Answer Key: Steps to download

Candidates can follow these steps to access the provisional answer key once it is released:

Last year’s timeline hints at early release pattern

Last year, the board conducted the WBJEE exam on April 27 and released the model answer key on May 9. Due to the deadline candidates can expect a similar release schedule this year also.With thousands of candidates waiting for the score estimation and entrance counseling updates, the release of the answer key is expected to mark the beginning of the next phase in the WBJEE 2026 admission process.

Tvisha Sharma’s last rites were performed at a crematorium in Bhopal on Sunday, her body was handed over to the family after major medical formalities were completed.The last rites were performed amid growing public attention on the case, while the family is demanding justice in the alleged dowry death case.welcoming the Supreme CourtOn the decision to take suo motu cognizance of the case, Twisha Sharma’s cousin Ashish Sharma said the family has struggled to ensure a second post-mortem examination and expressed hope that the apex court’s intervention will help ensure justice. “We are grateful for this decision of the Supreme Court which will restore faith in justice. We had to make a lot of efforts for the second postmortem. At least the family will now be able to perform the last rites, which will be performed immediately after the medical procedures,” said Ashish Sharma.His comments came when a four-member team of senior doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences reached Bhopal to conduct the second autopsy in compliance with the directions issued by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.Also read: ‘Tvisha Sharma will be cremated after medical procedures’ – what we know so farTvisha’s uncle Lokesh Sharma also expressed confidence in the judicial process after the intervention of the Supreme Court. “A common man can only believe because the Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance. We are hopeful that we will get justice. We will perform the last rites before the report comes,” he said.The Supreme Court on Saturday took suo motu cognizance of the Twisha Sharma dowry death case, citing alleged institutional bias and procedural irregularities. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi is scheduled to hear the case on Monday.Meanwhile, Twisha’s father Navnidhi Sharma and the state government have separately approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court, seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to Giribala Singh by the Bhopal court. Both the petitions are to be heard on Monday.The case sparked nationwide outrage after Twisha’s family protested and demanded an independent investigation, alleging attempts to subject the deceased to a “posthumous character test”.Also read: ‘They will bring justice’ – Tvisha’s father hopes, AIIMS team reaches Bhopal for second autopsySamarth SinghTvisha’s husband and the main accused in the case was arrested on Friday evening after he reached the Jabalpur district court complex to surrender. Singh was absconding after the FIR was registered and had earlier withdrawn his anticipatory bail plea filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court.A Bhopal court on Saturday sent him to seven-day police custody.Noida-based model-turned-actress Twisha Sharma was found dead at her in-laws’ house in Katara Hills area of ​​Bhopal on May 12, just a few months after marrying lawyer Samarth Singh.Her family has accused her family, including her husband and retired district judge Giribala Singh, of dowry harassment and mental torture.

Former Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner on Sunday revealed that he still feels blocked by the franchise on Instagram. Warner shared a screenshot of SRH’s profile on his Instagram story, where the account appeared as ‘private’ – which users usually see when they have been blocked.

Warner shared it on his official Instagram account and asked in a poll whether it is really the official SRH account.

The matter gained more attention when a fan commented on Warner’s recent Instagram post and tagged the SRH account, urging the franchise to unblock him. Responding to the fan, Warner wrote, “They will never unblock me.”

SRH and Warner breakup

Warner has not been seen in the Indian Premier League since the 2024 season. The Australian opening batsman was recently seen in the Pakistan Super League and has continued to feature in franchise-based T20 tournaments around the world.

Despite the current tension, Warner’s journey with SRH remains one of the most impressive player-franchise partnerships IPL History. After joining the Hyderabad-based side in 2014, he quickly became the backbone of their batting unit and was handed the captaincy a year later.

Under Warner’s leadership, SRH won their first IPL trophy in 2016. The left-handed batsman played a key role throughout that campaign, being one of the leading run-scorers of the tournament, while guiding a side that relied heavily on disciplined bowling performances and his consistency at the top of the order.

Warner enjoyed immense individual success during his time with the franchise, winning the Orange Cap in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He is one of the most successful overseas batsmen to play in the IPL and remains one of SRH’s leading run-getters. In 95 matches, Warner scored 4014 runs for SRH at an average of 49.56, scoring two centuries and 40 fifties for them in the process. He became a cult hero for his Telugu film reels as well as for Orange Army.

However, relations between Warner and the franchise took a dramatic turn during the 2021 season. Due to poor form and consecutive defeats, the management had to remove him from the captaincy midway through the campaign.

The situation worsened when Warner was dropped from the playing eleven at the end of the season. During the UAE leg of the tournament, he was often seen sitting away from the team in the stands instead of the dugout, highlighting the growing distance between the player and the franchise. This chapter finally ended ahead of the 2022 mega auction, when SRH released him from the team.

In December 2023, Warner first revealed that SRH has blocked him When he was trying to congratulate Pat Cummins and Travis Head for getting mega deals with the franchise.

ipl 2026 | ipl schedule | ipl points table | ipl player stats | purple cap | orange cap | ipl video | cricket news | live score

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Britain’s teenage rape victim criticized a judge’s decision after three boys were spared jail.

A teenage rape victim has criticized a court’s decision to release three boys from jail after they were convicted of attacking two girls in Hampshire, Britain.The victim, now 16, spoke to the BBC after the defendants were given youth rehabilitation orders instead of custodial sentences at Southampton Crown Court.“What was the point of putting me into this?” He said.The girl was 15 when she was raped in an underpass near the River Avon in Fordingbridge in November 2024 after traveling to meet a boy they had interacted with on Snapchat.In January 2025 two boys, now aged 15, were convicted of the attack and a separate rape involving another teenage girl. A third defendant, now 14, was also convicted for his role in the second attack.The court heard the attacks were filmed on mobile phones, with some of the footage later circulated online.The two older boys received three-year youth rehabilitation orders with intensive supervision and monitoring requirements, while the youngest defendant was given an 18-month order.At sentencing, Judge Nicholas Rowland said he wanted to avoid “criminalizing” the “very young” defendants, although he acknowledged the seriousness of the crimes and said that filming the attacks made them “all the more serious”.The judge also said that peer pressure had played a “big role” in the incidents.Reacting to the verdict, the victim said the verdict hit “like a rock straight in my face”.He said, “It seemed as if what the boys did was not OK, but in the eyes of the law it was OK because they were still kids.”The teen also described the emotional stress of having to relive the attacks during court proceedings.“Why did I put myself through the pain of going to court, going through the trial, reliving everything because of the evidence, and seeing it all happen again?” He said.She said she waited six months before reporting the attack because she was struggling to cope with the trauma.She said, “I said it because I was losing it. I was going fast. I needed help, but I didn’t know how to get it, so I spoke out.”His family also criticized the sentencing results and described the punishments as inadequate.The girl’s mother appealed to the authorities to reconsider the case and urged the government to intervene.“Please help,” she said.“If this was your daughter, your niece, your son, your nephew, your family member, would you be happy?”His partner said he felt “physically ill” after hearing the sentencing verdict and claimed the culprits “got away scot-free”.

Arachova: As a child, Giannis Staithas remembers it snowing for days on end in Arachova, a village famous for its ski resort and long known as a winter playground for Greeks.“We couldn’t go to school because of the snow,” said Staithas, now mayor of Arakova and the surrounding area. “We would have been stuck at home for two days not being able to go out because of the snow.““We don’t see it here anymore.”Staithas says that snowfall on Mount Parnassos at an altitude of 2,400 meters (7,874 ft) is the same as it once was at 300 meters (984 ft).New findings from the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge confirm Mayer’s observations.“We found in 10 mountains across mainland Greece that snow cover is declining rapidly,” said Constantis Alexopoulos, a snow hydrologist at the University of Cambridge and the National Observatory of Athens and co-founder of the Hellenic Mountain Observatory. “We have lost more than half the ice cover since the mid-1980s.”40 years of use NASA and European Space Agency satellite imagery, the researchers used machine learning to estimate missing snow cover data and reconstructed gaps left by cloud coverage and rare satellite passes.ice as a reservoirAlexopoulos said the decline matters because the snow acts like a natural water reservoir.“Snowpack is really like a savings account,” he said. “You can deposit an amount today and the longer you keep it in this savings account without spending it, the interest value will grow. And Snow works exactly the same way.”Unlike rain, which quickly flows into rivers and the ocean, snow remains stored in the mountains “eventually melting when we need it most,” Alexopoulos said.This helps maintain water supplies during the dry season, which is especially important in Mediterranean climates where summer rainfall is limited.Climate change in the Mediterranean SeaThey said snow loss is driven primarily by rising temperatures linked to greenhouse gas emissions, which reduce both snowfall and the duration of snow cover on the ground.“The decline in snow cover that we are seeing in the Greek mountains is not linked to the natural climate variability that exists,” he said. “The current rate of climate change globally, and particularly in hotspots such as the Mediterranean Sea, is much faster than previously seen on Earth.”Alexopoulos said the team expected the fall, but were surprised by its magnitude. “Other mountainous regions of the world, such as the Andes or the Himalayas, … “All have experienced significant declines in snow cover but not at the rate we saw in the Greek mountains.”This study was one of the first long-term analyzes of the Greek mountains.“Mountain environments are inherently difficult to study because of their remote access,” Alexopoulos said. He said it is difficult to set up weather stations to take measurements and maintain a continuous record of observations.“In Greece we haven’t focused on it that much because we never really understood the importance of snow’s contribution to our water resources,” he said. “But as it’s changing and as it’s declining, we’re seeing those droughts, and we’re trying to explain them.”While Mount Parnassos was not part of the study, Alexopoulos said it is still representative of conditions seen throughout Greece.The effect of lack of snow is already visibleIn Arakova, in the shadow of Mount Parnassos, the results are already visible.“One hundred percent of Arachova’s water is supplied by snowmelt,” said local restaurateur Aktida Kouritou.He said local people have become more aware of water scarcity and are taking extra precautions not to waste water, especially during summer when water scarcity is most severe.According to the mayor, this is a matter of great concern as springs in Arachova are drying up and reservoirs are not refilling.“The biggest problems start in late August and early September and last until late September or early October,” Staithas said.According to Staithas, the unexpected snowfall in April took locals by surprise and was welcomed as a top-up, but “will hardly help in filling the reservoirs”.acclimatize to less snowOfficials are trying to adapt. The municipality is exploring the construction of small dams so as not to waste water, while the ski center is also implementing snow retention measures to help preserve it longer.Less snow also means drier vegetation and greater fire risk. Staithas said that in the past fires were not really a problem in northern Greece, but that has changed.“You could have set fire to pine trees 30 years, 40 years ago and there would have been no chance that the mountain would burn,” he said. “But now there is a big danger due to severe drought.”Arachova’s ski-based economy is also changing.Koretou, who worked at the ski center when it opened in the early 1980s, said the ski season now starts in January instead of December.“No one will come to the mountains for Christmas. They will go to Switzerland. Wherever they can find snow, they will go there,” he said. “So they go away and (business) goes down. This Christmas, at least for me, it was down 30%.”In response, the municipality is trying to diversify beyond winter tourism, and promote the mountain town of Arachova as a summer destination.“Someone can swim and be here in 20 minutes to be where it’s cool,” Staithas said. “But to be able to continue tourism in the summer, we must have water.”I remember the past wintersLocal people still remember what winters were like. Koretou remembers farmers harvesting grapes in late October, before the first snowfall. People left shovels behind their doors and neighbors worked together to clean the streets. She also remembers parts of the mountain where the snow never completely melted before the next winter came.“There are some years when disappointments overtake you,” Koretou said. “For those of us who know winter well, it’s disappointing not to see snow. You want it in the winter. The change is huge.”

A billboard put up by a candidate in the upcoming local body elections in Taiwan showing a turbaned man holding a ‘no entry’ sign has irked the small but growing Indian community on the island – and drawn a sharp rebuke from one of the country’s most senior officials.The hoardings were put up about a fortnight ago in Kaohsiung city by Lee Hung-yi, currently head of Gangming Ward in the city’s Siaogang district, who is contesting as an independent candidate in the city council elections in November. The photos circulated widely on Taiwanese social media.

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When questioned by local media, Lee spoke candidly. He said that he is not against migrant workers in general, only Indian workers. The statement drew an immediate reaction from Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s longest-serving former foreign minister and current secretary general of the National Security Council – India’s equivalent of the National Security Advisor.I feel ashamed to see a local politician doing this to gain attention. I condemn such despicable conduct in a very welcoming society. “I will continue to work hard to strengthen Taiwan-India mutual cooperation,” Wu said. Despite the efforts, Li could not be reached for comment.Indians currently living in Taiwan – they number just over 7,000, according to the national immigration agency, making them the ninth-largest foreign resident group on the island – say the billboards are troubling but not entirely surprising. “This seems to be an extension of anti-India propaganda on popular social media platforms like TikTok and Threads in Taiwan, which is being promoted by some countries that work against India’s interests,” said Arpita Biswas, a marine science research scholar at National Taiwan University who has been living in the country for the past five years. He said Taiwanese society is largely welcoming, but hostility towards Indians exists in a small section and is being amplified online. “We see anti-India propaganda posts almost every day. They are largely driven by a lack of understanding about Indians and their culture due to limited contact between people,” he said.An engineer who has lived in Taiwan for four years, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that anti-India sentiment has so far been limited to social media rather than spreading into daily conversations. “We have not faced direct racism from anyone here. But we can definitely feel the undercurrent on social media, where Indians are targeted in racist posts by people with vested interests. “It seems like this candidate is trying to capitalize on that trend to attract younger voters.”

Media professional and documentary-maker Suvam Pal, who has been in Taiwan since 2022, traced the roots of the campaign to earlier reports that the Taiwan government was planning to recruit one lakh Indian workers to address the labor shortage. “A certain section of the country’s politicians campaigned against this move, creating a kind of fear psychosis as if Indian workers would descend the very next day and take over the country. That’s not going to happen – there are many checks and balances in the recruitment process,” Pal said.

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