1.A voter turnout of 66.18 per cent was recorded in the 43 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand where polling was held in the fi rst phase Wednesday.

2.US President-elect Donald Trump has announced that Tesla owner Elon Musk and Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed at improving governance and curbing wasteful expenditures.

3.Equating ‘bulldozer justice' ‘with a lawless state of affairs where might is right, the Supreme Court laid down pan-India guidelines Wednesday and said no property should be demolished without a prior show-cause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to respond.

 4.Dharmasala tehsildar Subhankar Mohanty in Jajpur district slapped a penalty of `1.52 crore on the Ramco Cement grinding unit at Haridashpur under the block over a report by the Principal Accountant General (AG).

5.In a major fillip to fisheries sector, the state Cabinet led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Wednesday decided to implement a new scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Maschyajibi Kalyan Yojana (MMKY)’ with a budgetary allocation of Rs2,239 crore.

6.The  Odisha government has taken a decision to spend Rs6921 crore for development of various infrastructure in fi sheries sector and Rs449.71 crore for development of infrastructure in livestock sector in three years (2024-25 to 2026-27).

7.Continuing with their environmental stewardship, employees of Tata Steel’s Ferro Alloys and Minerals Division (FAMD) donated grains, storage cans and other essentials at the Peacock Valley near Naraj on the outskirts of the Capital city Wednesday.

8.In a historic first, Maha Kumbh 2025, the grandest spiritual gathering of its kind, will see the participation of dignitaries from across the world, including Israel, the US, France, and several other nations.

9.The Delhi government has rolled out a winter action plan for the homeless as part of which 200-250 pagoda tents with a capacity to accommodate around 2,000 people will be set up and 16 rescue teams will be formed.

10. In a jolt to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the Himachal Pradesh High Court Wednesday quashed the appointment of six chief parliamentary secretaries and declared the law under which they were appointed void.

11.A Parliamentary Standing Committee will take up the issue of the age of marriage for men and women next week as a bill aimed at bringing uniformity in the matter has lapsed with the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha.

12.India's central bank Wednesday said the State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank remain the three domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) and that the fi rst two would need to maintain an additional capital buffer starting April 2025.

13.The N Chandrababu Naidu government in Andhra Pradesh has launched a massive crackdown against social media posts targeting political leaders and their family members.

14.Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani today said the Group will invest $10 billion in US energy security and infrastructure projects, aiming to create up to 15,000 jobs in America

15.Tilak Varma (107 not out) produced a batting masterclass while slamming his maiden international hundred as India posted a massive 219 for six against South Africa in the third T20I, here Wednesday.