1.The Centre scrapped an order to smartphone makers Wednesday to preload a state-run cybersecurity app on all new devices after an outcry from politicians, privacy advocates and global tech companies over surveillance fears.

2.The Plus 2 annual theory examination conducted by the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), Odisha will be held from February 18 to March 21.

3.Twelve Naxalites, including a dreaded Maoist commander, and three personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), a specialised unit of the state police, were killed in a fierce encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district bordering Malkangiri district Wednesday, officials said.

4.The Odisha government has paid Rs1.6 crore to actress Madhuri Dixit Nene after making her the ambassador of state handlooms, a minister informed the state Assembly Wednesday.

5.The Odisha government has so far completed e-KYC verification of 96 per cent PDS beneficiaries.

6.Outstanding electricity dues totalling Rs6,957.57 crore remain unpaid by industrial, commercial and domestic consumers across Odisha, Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo told the assembly Wednesday.

7.Pratidin Editor Sudhir Kumar Panda and Puri Lok Sabha MP Sambit Patra were among the nine persons nominated by the Centre as members to the Press Council of India (PCI).

8.Odisha received the national award for Best State/UT in Effective Implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, at the National Awards Ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

9.Mating season of Olive Ridley turtles has begun near Rushikulya estuary in Ganjam. The season that started from mid-November, will extend till the end of February said environmentalist Rabindranath Sahu.

10.The Himachal Pradesh government will fight in the Supreme Court for 1,24,870 illegal occupant families to save them from eviction, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu told the House Wednesday.

11.A division bench of the Calcutta High Court Wednesday set aside a single bench order that annulled appointments of 32,000 primary school teachers in West Bengal. Calcutta HC quashes order terminating 32,000 primary teachers.

12.Despite limited resources, challenging geographical location and difficult terrain, the Pahargaon police station in Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been adjudged the second best in the country by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

13.The Trump administration Tuesday said it paused all immigration applications, including green card and US citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries, citing concerns over national security and public  safety.

14.Markets regulator Sebi has made it easier for low risk foreign investors to participate in the Indian securities market with the introduction of a single window access, a move aimed at simplifying compliance and enhancing the country's attractiveness as an investment destination.

15.The rupee breached the 90-a-dollar level for the first time to settle at a fresh all-time low of 90.15 Wednesday, down 19 paise from its previous close, amid sustained foreign fund outfl ows and higher crude oil prices.