International

1. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges the West to supply heavy tanks to boost its firepower against Russia.
2. US President Joe Biden said Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin's order for a two-day Orthodox Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine was simply an effort to find breathing room for his war effort.
3. U.N. Security Council members voiced concern on Thursday and stressed the need to maintain a status quo at the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, days after Israel's new far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir briefly visited the site.

National

1. Even as the Centre stayed the Jharkhand government's move to promote tourism at the holy Parasnath hill after protests by Jains, tribals jumped into the fray staking a claim to the land and asking for it to be freed.
2. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Thursday claimed that the Centre will spend `8,400 crore for distribution of the food grain among the poor in Odisha while the state government’s expenditure in this regard is only `185 crore per annum.
3. The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Uttarakhand High Court direction for eviction of over 4,000 families from the railway land in Haldwani in the state’s Nainital district.
4. Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday announced the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya will be ready by January 1, 2024, the year the Lok Sabha elections will be held.
5. India’s economy is expected to grow 5.5% in the next financial year, a notch below the expected potential rate of 6%, as growth momentum in the country was slowing gradually, an economist at HSBC said Thursday.
6. The Allahabad High Court has held that a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to maintenance from her former husband for her entire life unless she gets married for a second time.
7. Union home minister Amit Shahhas reached Manipur while on his visit to the northeast where he will today lay foundation stones andinaugurate several projects including northeast's first Olympic Park.

Odisha

1. The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) in Odisha, which conducts the Class-X exams for Odia medium students, has decided to hold this year’s matriculation examinations from March 10 to March 17.
2. There has been a slight increase in the number of dolphins in Odisha as per the census report released Thursday. The number of dolphins has increased to 733 from the 726 spotted in 2021.
3. The Supreme Court expressed Thursday dissatisfaction with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its inordinate delay in investigation of financial scams. It made the observations while hearing a PIL seeking probe in the multi-crore chit fund scam in Odisha.
4. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw along with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched Thursday the high-speed fifth generation (5G) telecom service in Odisha. The Odisha capital and Cuttack became the first cities in Odisha to get 5G services.
5. The Chief Minister inaugurated the hockey stadium amidst much fanfare in the presence of the national men’s hockey team.
6. The four students including three minors, who were held by police today for their alleged involvement in a ragging case in BJB Autonomous College in the State Capital, have been debarred from entering the campus.
7. The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha has published the final electoral rolls of 146 Assembly constituencies of the state.
8. Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon Chilika lake has welcomed 10.93 lakh migratory birds this winter, 5.4 per cent more than last year, according to a survey.

Sports

1. Young Australian all-rounder Cameron Green is puzzled by rumours that he will not be able to bowl in the early part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year, saying he will be “100 percent available” to bat and bowl for Mumbai Indians
2. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced cash reward of Rs 1 crore for each member of Indian Men’s Hockey Team of they win the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup-2023, being held in the state from January 13 to 29.