1.The Railways has planned to run 315 special trains to and from Puri during Rath Yatra for hasslefree travel and convenience of pilgrims, from July 6 to 19. The Rath Yatra, also known as Gundicha Yatra, is being celebrated for two days this year.

2.Manoj Ahuja, a 1990-batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary (CS) of Odisha. He succeeds Pradeep Kumar Jena, whose term ends June 30.

3.Deputy National Security Adviser Vikram Misri, widely regarded as an expert on China, was Friday appointed as India’s next Foreign secretary.

4.The High Court of Jharkhand Friday granted bail to former Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case linked to a land scam.

 5.A day after the Home department sought information from the director general of police (DGP) regarding the leave availed by IPS officer Ashish Kumar Singh, DGP Arun Kumar Sarangi Friday said that the 2004-batch officer had resumed duty June 3.

6.Ousted from power in Odisha by the BJP, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) joined the Opposition ranks Friday and protested, demanding a discussion on NEET in Rajya Sabha.

7.Nearly 80 per cent of inservice math teachers across India and the Middle East falter on basic concepts such as ratio, proportional reasoning, algebraic reasoning, estimation and logical reasoning, according to a new study.

8.Delhi recorded a sizable jump in temperature-related electricity demand in the last 12 months, with peak demand rising by an average of 711 megawatts (MW) on the hottest and most humid days, according to a new analysis published Friday.

9.All 17,500 police stations in the country will hold a special event July 1 involving women, youth, students, senior citizens and eminent personalities to apprise them the key features of the new criminal laws, which will come into force on that day, official sources said.

10.The first batch of pilgrims for the annual Amarnath Yatra reached the Kashmir valley Friday amid stringent security arrangements, officials said.

11.The Tamil Nadu Assembly Friday once again passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to exempt the state from National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and allow it to admit students to medical courses based on Plus Two exam marks.

12.Nearly five billion people globally, including 619 million from India, experienced climate-changedriven extreme heat over nine days in June, according to a new analysis by an independent group of scientists based in the US.

13.The government Friday left the interest rates on various small savings schemes unchanged for the quarter beginning July 1, 2024.

14.The central government’s fiscal deficit was only at 3 per cent of the annual estimates at May-end 2024- 25, the first two months of the financial year during which model code of conduct was in place due to Lok Sabha elections.

15.European Union leaders agreed Friday to nominate Ursula von der Leyen of Germany for a second five-year term as President of the European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive body.