1.Elon Musk said Starlink satellite internet is inactive in India, in his first comments since authorities seized two of the company’s devices in recent weeks, one in an armed conflict zone in ethnic violence-hit Manipur and another in a drug smuggling bust.

2.Thirteen persons died and 99 others were rescued after a Navy craft crashed into a ferry off the Mumbai coast Wednesday, the Navy said.

3.Odia litterateur Baishnab Charan Samal is among the 21 recipients of the annual Sahitya Akademi Awards, the organisation announced Wednesday. Samal will receive the prestigious award for his book ‘Bhuti Bhakti Bibhuti’. The awardees will receive a plaque, a shawl and an amount of Rs1 lakh in an award ceremony March 8, 2025.

4.NASA’s two stuck astronauts just got their space mission extended again. That means they won’t be back on Earth until spring, 10 months after rocketing into orbit on Boeing’s Starliner capsule.

5.A businessman in the Silver City was duped of Rs40 lakh by cyber fraudsters posing as senior officials of a private car manufacturing company, a police officer said Wednesday.

6.A 108-foot monumental National Flag, installed by the Flag Foundation of India, was inaugurated at Rama Devi Women’s University (RDWU) in Bhubaneswar Wednesday, marking a moment of national pride and patriotism.

7.Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has called upon the people to launch a mass campaign to rid the state of the menace of drugs.

8.Former Union ministers Anurag Thakur and P P Chaudhary from the BJP, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the Congress are set to be among the 21 Lok Sabha members, who will be part of the joint committee of Parliament that will scrutinise two Bills on simultaneous elections.

9.AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced that 'Sanjivni Yojna' would be launched for free treatment of people aged above 60 years if his party returns to power in Delhi.

10. Pollution levels in Delhi remained hazardous Wednesday as the air quality index rose to 448 at 6 pm, nearing the 'severe plus' category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

11.The outgoing Biden administration has relaxed rules for H-1B visas that will make it easier for American companies to hire foreign workers with special skills and facilitate a smoother transition from F-1 student visas to H-1B visas, a move that is likely to benefi t thousands of Indian tech professionals.

12.India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) Wednesday projected the Indian economy to grow at 6.6 per cent in 2025-26, up from 6.4 per cent in the current fi scal year.

13.Net direct tax collection grew 16.45 per cent year-on-year to over `15.82 lakh crore till December 17 this fi scal, buoyed by higher advance tax mop-up, government data showed.

14.Russia’s security service said Wednesday that it has detained a suspect in the killing of a senior general in Moscow.

15.The owner of Britain’s Guardian newspaper confi rmed Wednesday that it has sold the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise Media for an undisclosed fee.