1.Meta India Wednesday apologised for CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s remarks that the incumbent government in India lost power in the 2024 elections due to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and termed it an “inadvertent error”

2.Forest officials have arrested four people from Similipal after seizure of the skin and nails of a juvenile melanistic Royal Bengal Tiger from their possession, a senior official said Wednesday.

3.Following the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in all state-run universities and affiliated colleges, the state government Wednesday announced the policy’s rollout in schools across the state, aligning with the National Curriculum Framework while also incorporating local context.

4.Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal, mediators announced Wednesday, pausing a devastating 15-month war in the Gaza Strip and raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.

5.Tiger population at Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) here reduced to 27 as a white tiger cub died during treatment Wednesday. This apart, a doe (female deer) housed in the deer enclosure also died on the same day.

6.Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Wednesday launched an enhanced social security pension scheme for individuals aged 80 years and above, and those with disability of 80 per cent or above. More than 4 lakh elderly and differently-abled people, who were earlier receiving Rs1,200, will get Rs3,500 a month.

7.Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department, under the chairmanship of department’s commissioner-cum-secretary Aswathy S organised a review meeting on HMPV here Wednesday.

8.The 10th edition of the Dhwani Film Festival will be held October 14 and 15, informed the festival chairperson Jitendra Kumar Biswal at a press meet here Wednesday.

9.Two couples have been arrested for allegedly cheating at least 11 job seekers of over Rs11.70 lakh in Ganjam district on the pretext of getting them jobs in a company at Bhubaneswar, police said Wednesday.

10.A 20-year-old woman was allegedly shot dead in Gwalior city by her father and her cousin for refusing to marry the man chosen by them even as police officials were present right outside the house, a senior official said Wednesday.

11.The Supreme Court Wednesday deliberated over making hologrambased colour-coded stickers for vehicles mandatory across the country and stressed on the effective implementation of the pollution under control (PUC) certificate norms.

12.Bookings as well as airfares for flights to Prayagraj have jumped multifold as more people travel for the Maha Kumbh, with the air ticket prices rising up to 21 per cent for the Delhi-Prayagraj flights.

13.India’s trade deficit narrowed to $21.94 billion in December after last month’s shocking surge to a lifetime high on the back of miscalculations in gold imports, government data showed Wednesday.

14.The Ranji Trophy has benefited from an unexpected sprinkling of stardust with several big-name India batters returning to domestic cricket looking to find form after their horror run over the last three months.

15.Records tumbled like nine pins as the Indian women's cricket team, powered by skipper Smriti Mandhana’s 70-ball century, demolished Ireland by a whopping 304 runs to claim its biggest-ever ODI win and complete a 3-0 clean sweep here Wednesday.