PHP is one of the server-side scripting language, it is mainly designed for web development and it is also used in some general programming language. Rasmus Lerdorf is the founder of PHP in 1994. 

Now PHP is available with the version of 5.6x. PHP is an acronym stands for HyperText Preprocessor. PHP can be used on most of the operating systems and it also supports major  web servers today. One of the major advantage of using PHP is  , fast, flexible and it supports wide range of databases.PHP is a mixture of html, ajax and jquery.

Here they are  some of the websites to learn more about php programming  and its updating news.

1. PHP.NET

   http://php.net/

           This is a official website for PHP.From this you can learn more about php updates and its current releases. You can also download PHP for your windows from this .By using this you can again more about PHP news.

2.   W3SCHOOLS

      http://www.w3schools.com/

         If you are a beginner just try this website to learn about php scripting .In this website you can gain more knowledge about php coding.This site will provide you a best way to learn php in a easy understanding way.They also provide more web development coding like html,jquery,css,etc…..

3.LYNDA

http://www.lynda.com/

            By means of video u can learn php from this site.  It provide hundreds of videos tutorial for php course. Having category like beginner, intermediate, advance, choose the right one to help you. They also providing web courses and training.

4. CODE ACADEMY  

http://www.codecademy.com/

 It is one of the online communication platform,they provide different programming languages like php,python ,html ect.If you want to sound in php this will help you.They proving lot of course training just use it and gain it.

5. TUTORIAL POINT

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/

6.Books 

 PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) 

 PHP Solutions: Dynamic Web Design Made Easy

 The Joy of PHP: A Beginner's Guide to Programming Interactive Web Applications with                 

PHP and mySQL

•  PHP for the Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (4th Edition) 
•  PHP Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for PHP Programmers
•  Murach's PHP and MySQL (Murach: Training & Reference) 
•  PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice

 The above mentioned books are indeed the best amongst the lot and have been read. While there are many other PHP books available, these 7 are all a beginner would need to become proficient in PHP.