1.The Olympic Games began here, Friday with a colourful opening ceremony, despite saboteurs targeting France’s high-speed rail network with widespread and ‘criminal’ acts of vandalism including arson attacks, only hours before the event.

2.Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Friday announced a 10 per cent reservation for Agniveers of Odisha who are not absorbed in the defence service.

3.Odisha recorded 624 human deaths in human-elephant conflicts in the last five years, the highest in the country, according to government data. Nationwide, human-elephant conflicts resulted in 2,853 human deaths during the past five years.

4.A total of 628 tigers died in India during the past five years due to natural causes and other reasons, including poaching, according to government data. Meanwhile, 349 people were killed in tiger attacks during this period, with Maharashtra alone recording 200 deaths.

5.A total of 4.71 crore women have been screened for cervical cancer in the country, according to the National Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) portal.

6. The Supreme Court Friday extended till further orders its interim direction staying the directives of BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh which effectively ensured that ‘Kanwar Yatra’ goes on without displaying the names of owners, staff and other details of eateries along the route.

7.In a significant development, the Supreme Court Friday agreed to consider the separate pleas of Opposition-ruled Kerala and West Bengal, alleging the denial of assent to Bills passed by the respective Legislative Assemblies.

8.The Karnataka Cabinet Friday decided to rename neighbouring Ramanagara district as ‘Bengaluru South’.

9.With potato prices touching Rs50 a kg due to ‘inadequate’ supply from neighbouring West Bengal, the Odisha government Friday said it was contemplating to procure the tuber from Uttar Pradesh.

10. Facades of two mosques and a mazar along the kanwar yatra route in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar city were Friday covered with large sheets of white cloth to ‘prevent trouble’ but were removed by the evening after objections from several quarters.

11.Amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the ancient heritage site of Saint Hilarion Monastery/Tell Umm Amer in Palestine Friday received the UNESCO tag and was simultaneously put on the List of World Heritage in Danger after an “emergency nomination”.

12.Apple Inc Friday cut prices of the iPhone by up to rs5,900 across the board, passing on the benefit of announcements in India’s annual Budget which included a 5 per cent reduction in the basic customs duty (BCD) on imported mobile phones. The duty was earlier pegged at 22 per cent.

13.Vigilance sleuths Friday arrested the chief construction engineer of Bolangir’s Lower Suktel project after finding him in possession of assets 257 per cent more than his declared income.

14.Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Friday approved a proposal to set up two new employees’ state insurance (ESI) hospitals in the state. The hospitals will come up in Keonjhar and Sonepur towns, and largely benefit workers and their family members.

15.The country will have 12 new industrial cities in different states like the ones developed in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and Dholera in Gujarat to further boost domestic manufacturing, a top government official said. Out of this, two are coming up in Andhra Pradesh and one in Bihar.