1.The pulling of chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra was halted midway at Odisha’s Puri city on Thursday. The deities will resume their journey for Srigundicha temple on Friday (July 17).

2.The grand Rath Yatra of Kendujhar witnessed a spectacular display of devotion and tradition as the world’s tallest wooden chariot rolled along the town’s Badadanda (Grand Road)।

3.The video, depicting the 'Pahandi' procession of Lord Jagannath inside the shrine on the occasion of Rath Yatra, was uploaded to two social media accounts.The viral video was reportedly recorded at Baishi Pahacha (22 steps) inside the shrine.

4.The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Thursday carried out search operations at 16 premises across West Bengal, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and other locations in a crackdown on an alleged terror-funding and illegal-infiltration racket.

5.The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over the introduction of a third language at the Class 9 level under the CBSE curriculum, observing that requiring students to begin learning a new language at that stage could place unnecessary stress on those preparing for Board examinations.

6.The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has clarified that the third language (R3) will not be included as a Board examination subject in the Class 10 examination for the current batch of Class 9 students.

7.The State Executive Committee (SEC) on Disaster Management, chaired by Chief Secretary Anu Garg, Thursday approved a series of disaster preparedness and climate resilience measures for 2026-27, including a Rs 1.77-crore project to mitigate the impact of extreme heat in Bhubaneswar and Kataka.

8.The export duty on diesel has been increased to Rs 15.5 per litre from Rs 5 per litre, while the levy on aviation turbine fuel has been raised to Rs 14.5 per litre from Rs 7.5 per litre.

9.India is set to enter the hydrogen-powered rail era as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the country's first hydrogen fuel cell-powered trainset on Friday. The 10-coach train will initially operate on 89-km Jind-Sonipat section of Northern Railway, according to the Ministry of Railways.

10.The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has enabled the display of information relating to foreign assets and income received under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) of eligible taxpayers on the Income Tax e-Filing portal.

11.Activist Sonam Wangchuk’s health condition has entered a critical stage due to his prolonged fast and the next phase could be alarming and his organs could get affected, doctors warned Thursday as appeals came in from several quarters to call off his hunger strike.

12.Four TTP militants were killed Thursday after law enforcement officials thwarted a vehicle-borne suicide attack on a security post in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

13.Two persons reportedly died of suffocation in an alleged stampede-like situation during the Rath Yatra festival in Puri, Odisha, Thursday.

14.The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has identified the Nepal-India digital payment corridor as a major untapped opportunity that could significantly improve trade, tourism, and remittance flows between the two neighbouring countries.

15.Virat Kohli’s confident 65 reminded all and sundry of his salad days, but Rohit Sharma’s continuous struggles did contribute to India’s below-par 233 in 44 overs in the second ODI against England Thursday.