1.Byrnihat, located on the Assam-Meghalaya border, ranked as the most polluted city in the country in the first half of 2025 while Delhi stood a distant second, according to the analysis by independent research organisation Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

2.Talcher and Rourkela are among the 10 most polluted cities in India, according to a new analysis.

3. The All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association has decided to distance itself from the ongoing cease-work agitation launched by the Odisha Drivers’ Association. In a major relief to commuters, private buses will resume operations from Saturday after four days of strike.

4.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday launched a broadside against the BJP government in Odisha, accusing it of handing over the state’s land, water, forests, and other resources to a handful of billionaires.

5.A nine-year-old girl was delighted after a pleasant interaction on the dais with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who addressed a public meeting here Friday.

6.The state government has approved an annual plan of Rs10.48 crore for the ecological and socio-economic development in an around the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Mayurbhanj district to be utilised in financial year 2025-26.

7.Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has sanctioned the Cuttack–Nergundi fourth line along with a rail flyover at Nergundi at an estimated cost of Rs802.9 crore, officials said Friday.

8.A tribal couple in Rayagada district was allegedly forced to plough a field with a yoke placed on their shoulders as a form of public punishment for marrying against community traditions, offi - cials said Friday.

9.In a move reflecting heightened administrative vigilance over inter-state border disputes, Pottangi Tehsildar Debendra Bahadur Singh Dharua halted a health camp being held by a medical team from Andhra Pradesh in Paniki village under the disputed Kotia panchayat in Koraput district Friday.

10.Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh Friday said his party will contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections independently,

11.A 38-year-old Trinamool Congress leader was shot dead in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, police said Friday.

12.India smashed nine terror targets with precision, crisscrossing Pakistan, under Operation Sindoor, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said dared the foreign media to show “even one image” of damage to any Indian structure, even a “glass pane having been broken”.

13.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday pleaded not guilty in a Pune court in a defamation case pertaining to his comments on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.

14.India has presented its candidature for reelection to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Council at the organisation’s 134th session in London.

15.Switzerland has fi nally completed the ratifi cation process for a landmark trade deal between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) that would reduce trade barriers and signifi cantly open up the Indian market to Swiss exports.