1.Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase anti-ship cruise missiles.

2.The Union Cabinet Tuesday approved a proposal of Kerala government to change the name of the state to Keralam.

3.The state government Tuesday said that the next three-tier panchayat elections in the state will be held at its scheduled time in February 2027.

4.Over 800 animals were poached in the last five years in Odisha.

5.Corruption, massive backlog of cases, and lack of an adequate number of judges are among the ‘challenges’ faced by the judicial system, according to the new social science NCERT textbook for Class VIII.

6.Odisha has earned global recognition by securing two new entries in the World Book of Records for terracotta craft at the ‘Grand Terracotta Craft Creation’ event organised by the Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Department.

7.The Supreme Court allowed the deployment of West Bengal civil judges, in addition to 250 district judges, and the requisitioning of judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha to handle 80 lakh claims and objections of those facing deletion from the electoral roll in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in the state.

8.Renowned pathologist and academician Maya Nanda died February 20 in Bhubaneswar at the age of 85.

9.As many as 27 leopards and three cubs have been spotted in the Atei and Karlapat reserve forests under the Keonjhar forest.

10. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Tuesday informed the legislative Assembly that 86,228 women and girls who had been reported missing in 2024 and 2025 were traced by the police.

11.V K Sasikala, confi dante of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa Tuesday announced the launch of a new political party asserting that, “we are going to witness a new political chapter”.

12.The Union government will soon launch a nationwide human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme targeting girls aged 14 years. The programme will use a single-shot Gardasil, a quadrivalent HPV vaccine, that provides protection against HPV types 16 and 18, which cause cervical cancer, as well as types 6 and 11 .

13.Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur have developed the world’s first three dimensional data-driven model to predict solar activity, contributing towards monitoring space weather.

14.The deaths of 72 tigers in two animal parks for tourists in northern Thailand shouldn’t be a major concern for the public, because they were caused by a virus not known to affect humans, rather than bird flu.

15.Employees across sectors are expected to get a salary hike of 9.1 per cent on average in 2026, slightly higher than the increment of 8.9 per cent received last year, a survey said Tuesday.