1.The state government will upgrade Puri Municipality to a municipal corporation, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced here Friday. Briefing media, Majhi said the process for the upgradation will start July 5.

2.Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Friday launched ‘digital hundi’ for making online donation to Srimandir in Puri.

3.The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has recently recommended Environmental Clearance (EC) for the proposed Puri International Airport, a flagship infrastructure project of Odisha government, an official statement said Friday.

4.Archaeologists have unveiled a 3,500-year-old city in Peru that likely served as a trading hub linking Pacific coast cultures with those in the Andes and Amazon, flourishing around the same time as early civilizations in the Middle East and Asia

5.Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) Deputy Director Chintan Raghuvanshi, who was arrested by the CBI while allegedly accepting a bribe from a businessman in Bhubaneswar, was released on interim bail from the Jharpada jail Friday evening

6.The 6th-century Swapneswar Mahadev temple at Punjiama village under Niladriprasad panchayat of Banapur block has been officially declared a protected monument by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

7.Five lakh people who were duped by various chit fund companies will get back their money in four months, state BJP president Manmohan Samal said Friday.

8.Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Friday announced an ex gratia of Rs10 lakh each for the families of eight Odia workers who lost their lives in a factory explosion in Telangana earlier this week.

9.Four people have been arrested in connection with the armed robbery at Indian Bank at Mandhatapur in this district, police said Friday. They were produced in court and sent to judicial custody after their bail pleas were denied.

10.The government has reduced the toll rates up to 50 per cent for the sections of National Highways that have structures like tunnels, bridges, flyovers or elevated stretches, a move which will lower travelling cost for motorists.

11.India Friday said it does not take any position on matters concerning faith and religion, two days after the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, unveiled a plan for choosing his successor that has been rejected by China.

12.Heavy rains have played havoc in some parts of the country with 43 people getting killed and 37 missing in Himachal Pradesh in the last two weeks besides two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel drowning in a swollen lake in Uttarakhand’s Bhimtal Thursday.

13. Russia pummelled Kyiv with the largest drone attack of the war, killing one person, injuring at least 23 and damaging buildings across the capital hours after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, officials said Friday.

14.At least 20 Palestinians were killed Friday in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, according to local health officials, as US President Donald Trump said he expected Hamas to respond to his “final proposal” for a ceasefire in Gaza in the next 24 hours.

15.Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred US-based Jane Street Group from the securities markets and directed the group to disgorge unlawful gains of Rs 4,843 crore for allegedly manipulating stock indices through positions taken in derivatives segment.

16. Sub Lt Aastha Poonia has become the first woman to be inducted into the fighter stream of naval aviation, paving the way for a new era of women fighter pilots in the force, officials said Friday. She will now undergo training for qualifying as a fighter pilot.

17.In a bid to promote Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), the government has made necessary changes to provide tax benefits to employees opting for UPS at par with those under National Pension System (NPS).

18.A total of 24 teams will vie for the top honours in the 134th edition of the Durand Cup, Asia's oldest football tournament, to be played across five states from July 23 till August 23.

19.India’s upcoming white-ball tour of Bangladesh is likely to be postponed as the BCCI is "wary" of the security situation in the country which is in turmoil since last year's civil unrest that resulted in the overthrowing of the Sheikh Hasina-led government.

20.Sachin Yadav looked understandably awed sitting next to three Olympic medal winning javelin throwers in Neeraj Chopra, Thomas Rohler and Julius Yego but his mere presence on that glittering dais holds a deeper significance to it.