1) Salzburg Festival begins in Austria.

• The Salzburg Festival began in the Austrian town of Salzburg, which was the birthplace of late composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• Established in 1920, the festival will run through August and feature numerous concerts as well as opera and theatre performances. Over 2.5 lakh people attend the festival annually.
• Music, drama, readings, exhibitions and dance on every corner, all over the city – for two days, the beginning of the Festival summer is celebrated all over Salzburg with the Festival Opening Party.

• Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo unveiled the Pestana CR7, his first hotel, developed in association with the Pestana Hotel Group in Funchal onhis home island, Madeira.
• The hotel will have branches in New York, Lisbon and Madrid, with the estimated cost of building the four hotels being around $82 million. The Madrid and New York projects are slated for 2017.
• The hotel, which is already up and running, has 49 rooms – 25 of which are referred to as `CR7 type rooms`, in reference to the former Manchester United man. There are also 23 ‘Superior CR7’ rooms and one suite for those visiting to take advantage of.

• India and Mexico are charting out a new path in bilateral trade and investment ties with a focus on sectors including renewable energy, telecom and medical devices.
• This was agreed upon during the recent meeting in Mexico of the bilateral High Level Group (HLG) on Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation. The HLG, which was established in 2007.
• With Mexico considering increasing its installed wind power capacity to 9.5 GW by 2018 from currently around 2.5GW
• Indian companies are interested in Mexico’s telecom sector as the Mexican government is looking to provide high-speed broadband Internet access even in remote areas.
• Besides, the HLG discussed ways to boost cooperation in tourism, food processing and protection of `traditional knowledge`.

4) Iraq overtakes Saudi Arabia as India`s top oil seller.

• Iraq has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become India`s top crude oil supplier while Iran has grabbed the fourth biggest exporter slot post lifting of sanctions.
• Iraq sold 11 million tonnes (MT) of crude oil to India during April-June, higher than 10 MT sourced from Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia has been India`s top supplier of crude oil, selling 35 MT of oil in 2014-15 and 40.04 MT in 2015-16.
• Iran, which was India`s second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia in 2010-11, had been relegated to seventh place in 2013-14 and 2014-15 out of the 50-odd nations India sources its crude oil from.

• Hillary Clinton has been crowned as the Democratic presidential nominee, making history as the first woman to be picked by a major political party to run for the White House, and firing the gun on a fierce battle with Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
• The former first lady, New York senator and secretary of state, cleared the penultimate hurdle in her second run for president after Vermont, the home state of her opponent Bernie Sanders, carried her delegate count over the 2,383 threshold needed to secure the nomination at the Democratic convention.
• There were huge cheers on the floor of the arena as Mrs. Clinton officially became the nominee, ending what had been a bitter and unexpectedly close primary season running against Mr. Sanders.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Brazil free of measles. The step was taken after no case of the disease was registered in 2015.
• From 1985 to 2000, Brazil saw no domestic cases of measles, although it broke out in 2013 in the northeastern states of Pernambuco and Ceara.
• The WHO it had worked alongside the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to eradicated the disease, with a joint investment of 335000 US dollar going towards measles control. The health agency also hired 165 dedicated nursing staff in Brazil.

7) `OPEN SKY POLICY` Agreement with SAARC Countries.

• As per National Civil Aviation Policy 2016, Government has planned to enter into an `Open Sky` Air Service Agreement on a reciprocal basis with SAARC countries and countries with territory located entirely beyond a 5000 km radius from New Delhi.
• Unlimited flights above the existing bilateral rights will be allowed directly to and from major airports within the country as notified by the Government time to time.

• United States postal service made history after a stamp was send to Pluto which they placed on New Horizons spacecraft of the American space agency.
• The stamp travelled a mind-blowing 5,250,843,896 km becoming the stamp to travel longest distance ever in history.
• After the arrival of spacecraft at Pluto, the stamp earned a Guinness World records title for the farthest distance travelled by a postage stamp.
• New Horizons spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, 2006. The record-breaking stamp that travelled on the rocket was from a special series created in 1991.

• The Union Cabinet has approved Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India and Cambodia to boost trade and business.
• Decision in this regard was taken during the Union Cabinet Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
• The Treaty seeks to promote and protect investments in either country with the objective of increasing bilateral investment flows.
• It also seeks to encourage each country to create favourable conditions (climate) for investors of the other country to make investments in its territory and also to admit investments in accordance with its laws.

• The United Nation (UN) General Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution approving an agreement to make the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) part of the UN as a related organisation.
• IOM, which assisted an estimated 20 million migrants in 2015, is an intergovernmental organisation with more than 9,500 staff and 450 offices worldwide.
• Founded in the wake of the World War II to resettle refugees from Europe, the organisation celebrates its 65th anniversary in this year.

• The World Health Organisation is considering removing transgender identity from its list of mental illnesses.
• It came following calls from researchers and advocates to remove it from the WHO`s list of mental disorders.
• The study was led by the National Institute of Psychiatry in Mexico.

• The government announced that the unemployed Indian workers in Saudi Arabia would be given free rations. 
• Minister of state (MoS) for external affairs Gen. (retd.) V.K. Singh has rushed to Saudi Arabia to take stock of the situation and discuss the issue with the Saudi government. 
• The number of Indian workers facing food crisis in Saudi Arabia is over 10,000. 
• Indian Consulate in association with Indian Community Jeddah distributed 15,475 kg of food stuff besides eggs, spices, salt etc.

1) UNESCO announces 9 new World Heritage Sites.

• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN cultural agency added nine new sites on its World Heritage List.
• Decision in this regard was taken at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. With these inclusions, the recorded sites on the World Heritage now stand at 981 which include both cultural and natural wonders.

• It is Turkish province of Kars. Once it had served as the capital of the Armenian kingdom in the 10th century.

• Dates back to the 5th century BC. The landscape straddles steep cliffs in southwest China and represent the only trace left of the Luoyue people. 

• They are ancient aqueducts trapped into alluvial aquifer and transported water underground across vast valleys. It helps in sustaining agricultural life and settlements in the arid areas. 

• It is an archaeological site having remains of a monastic and scholastic institution dating from the 3rd century BC to the 13th century AD. 

• They are 99 artificial islets made of basalt and coral boulders. They are home to ruins ranging from temple to tombs dating between 1200 and 1500 AD. 

• Located in Bosnia, central and western Montenegro, southern Croatia and western Serbia. They are medieval tombstones and graveyards carved from limestone; they feature decorative motives and inscriptions.

• It is Greek archaeological site founded in 356 BC by the Macedonian King Philip II. It is located in the present-day region of eastern Macedonia and Thrace.

• It is comprises of three megalithic monuments as well as two natural mountainous formations. 

• They are natural sea caves in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The site provides evidence of Neanderthal occupation over a span of more than 125,000 years.

• UK PM Theresa May has made key changes in the cabinet, putting Brexit supporters in charge of negotiating the country`s exit from the European Union. 
• This includes the appointment of former PM candidate Andrea Leadsom as Environment Secretary and former London Mayor Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary.
• May also sought time from the European Commission to finalise UK`s negotiation strategy.

• According to reports, the South Korean government has set up a task force to remove `incorrect` translations of Korean dishes from menus.
• The task force will work on standardised descriptions of Korean cuisine in English, Japanese and Chinese.
• Korean dishes are sometimes misrepresented - `steak tartare` was reportedly referred to as `six times` in a Korean menu.

4) China to conduct 3-day military drill in South China Sea.

• China will conduct a 3-day military drill in South China Sea, state-run media quoting the Maritime Safety Agency.
• An area off the east coast of China`s island province of Hainan will host military exercises.
• The Agency warned that entry to the exercise area will be prohibited during the exercise.
• Tensions remain high in the region after the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to islands in the South China Sea.

• Morocco has formally announced its wish to rejoin the African Union, 32 years after leaving the organisation. The request was made at the recent African Union summit, hosted in Rwanda.
• Morocco had left the African Union (AU) protesting its recognition of the independence of Western Sahara, an area which Moroccans describe as their country`s "southern provinces".
• Morocco is the only African country which is not an AU member.
• To rejoin the AU, Morocco will have sign and ratify the body’s Constitutive Act, after which a majority vote by member states will determine its admission.

• Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suspended Deputy Sports Minister Yury Nagornykh from his office. He was suspended after his name occurred in a report on the doping of Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
• As per reports, the suspension will last until the investigation into the World Anti-Doping Agency`s (WADA) report on the involvement of Russian state officials in the doping scandal is over.

• North Korea has fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast.
• According to US and South Korean military officials the missiles were launched from the western city of Hwangju.
• The first two were believed to be short-range Scuds while the third was a mid-range Rodong or Nodong.
• US and South Korea would deploy an anti-missile system to counter the North`s threats.

• India and Malaysia have agreed to "proactively" engage in combating the "menace" of ISIS activities.
• In a delegation-level meeting with the visiting Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Dato Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi New Delhi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh
• The two sides also discussed issues like Extradition Treaty and the circulation of fake Indian currency notes.

9) China to expand its railway network to 150,000 kms by 2020.

• China will expand its railway network to 150,000 kms (93,200 miles) by 2020, including 30,000 km of high-speed rail 
• The plan will mean a 24 percent increase in the length of China`s railway network from 2015 and a 58 percent expansion in high-speed rail. 
• The high-speed rail system will reach 38,000 km by 2025.

• The Republican National Convention formally declared that Donald Trump is the party`s nominee for the US Presidential elections.
• Trump secured the nomination after beating 16 other candidates, and winning the Republican vote in 38 of the 50 states.
• He is expected to face the presumptive Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton in the elections scheduled for November this year.

• India and the United States have agreed to deepen the scope of cooperation in the maritime sector with the American ports evincing keen interest in comprehensive port-led development, especially the ambitious Sagarmala programme.
• 150 projects under this programme have the potential of mobilizing USD 50-60 Billion of infrastructure investment and another USD 100 Billion of investment for promoting industrial growth.
• The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari during his recent visit to the USA; held wide-ranging discussions with the representatives of Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach.

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its ex-post-facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation of the Swiss Confederation for cooperation in skill development.
• The MoU was signed during the visit of a delegation led by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to Switzerland.
• The MoU broadly focuses on capacity building and exchange of best practices in the area of skill development.
• The MoU will establish a framework for bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the area of skill development and will formalise and deepen this partnership.

• Turkey has declared three-month state of emergency after a failed military coup to overthrow the democratically elected government.
• Announcement in this regard was taken by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a meeting with Cabinet ministers and top security advisers in Ankara.
• Three-month state of emergency was declared as measure to counter threats to Turkish democracy. The emergency allows officials to set curfews, issue search and arrests warrant and restrict gatherings.
• The 2016 military coup in Turkey was attempted against the ruling Justice and Development Party Government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However it failed to overthrow ruling democratically elected government and ended one day later.
• The coup was carried out by a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces under a council calling itself the Peace at Home Council. It had attempted to seize control of several key places in Istanbul, Ankara and elsewhere across the Turkey.

• The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated the Petrapole Integrated Check Post (ICP) through video-conferencing. Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee also participated from Kolkata in the video-conference.
• The Petrapole ICP will enable greater economic integration and significantly improve the connectivity between India and Bangladesh.
• Petrapole-Benapole is an important land border crossing for India-Bangladesh trade. More than 50 per cent of the India-Bangladesh trade passes through Petrapole.
• The Petrapole ICP will provide better facilities for effective and efficient discharge of functions such as security, immigration, customs, quarantine, etc. while also providing support facilities for smooth cross-border movement of persons, goods and transport.
• Petrapole ICP will be the second ICP on the India-Bangladesh border after the Agartala ICP at the Agartala (India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) land border.

• The international airport in Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo`s hometown, Madeira, is set to be renamed after the footballer.
• The announcement, made in recognition of Ronaldo’s achievements and contributions to football, was made by Miguel Albuquerque, President of the regional government.
• The 31-year-old already has a bronze statue, a museum and a hotel named after him in Funchal - his birthplace and the capital of Madeira.
• Ronaldo led the national team to its maiden European Championship title in July.

• Russian adventurer, FedorKonyukhov, has broken the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the Earth in a hot air balloon in just over 11 days.
• Konyukhov, 64, who set off from Western Australia`s Avon Valley, has gone past the point he needed to fly over to break the record.
• Konyukhov has broken the 14-year-old record set by American adventurer Steve Fossett.
• Fossett is the only other person to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, which he completed in 13-and-a-half days.

1) Germany passes `no means no` rape law.

• Germany passed a "no means no" rape law, making any form of non-consensual sex punishable and helping authorities deport migrants and refugees who commit sex crimes.
• Under the new law, any case where sexual contact is forced on a victim who withholds consent will now be punishable as a crime. Previously, only cases where a victim physically resisted were punishable under German law.
• According to Justice Ministry figures, only one in 10 rapes in Germany is reported and just 8 per cent of rape trials result in a conviction.
• The new law includes a controversial measure making it easier to deport foreign nationals convicted of rape or sexual assault.

2) EU declares Spain, Portugal in violation of deficit rules.

• The European Commission officially declared Spain and Portugal in violation of the EU rules on government overspending, the first step towards unprecedented penalties against members of the 28-country bloc.
• Spain and Portugal didn’t take sufficient measures to bring their 2015 budget deficits within European Union limits, triggering a process which could eventually lead to financial sanctions.
• Portugal has sharply cut its budget deficit from close to 10% of GDP in 2010 to 4.4% last year, but that still exceeded the bloc’s limit.
• Spain has struggled to meet its budget deficit targets over the past few years despite robust economic growth. With the economy expanding 3.2%, Spain reported a budget gap of 5.1% of GDPIN 2015. The commission had set a target of 4.2%.

3) Heavy Flooding in China.

• Water levels are starting to recede in central and eastern China following a week of heavy downpours that broke levees, flooded cities and villages, halted public transportation, and left at least 181 people dead or missing.
• The National Ministry of Civil Affairs announced 181 people were reported missing or dead.
• Torrential rain has left the football stadium in Ezhou, China, looking more like a giant swimming pool.

4) Super typhoon Nepartak causes devastation across Taiwan`s coastline.

• Super typhoon Nepartak slammed into the east coast of Taiwan overturning cars, forcing thousands from their homes and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake with winds of up to 234km/h.
• Thousands of tourists have been evacuated from offshore islands ahead of category five Typhoon Nepartak.

5) India sets up apparel training centre in Kaduna, Nigeria.

• Apparel Training Centre has been established in Kaduna, Nigeria under the Cotton Technical Assistance Programme (Cotton TAP) for Africa which is being implemented by Department of Commerce, Government of India under 2nd India Africa Forum Summit.
• First of its kind centre in Nigeria set up in partnership with Government of Nigeria.
• It aims to support and catalyze the initiative of Nigeria in realising the objectives to rebuild the cotton and textile value chain.

6) Gambia and Tanzania outlaw child marriage.

• The Gambia and Tanzania have banned child marriage, with tough penalties for those who breach the rulings.
• Gambia`s President Yayha Jammeh announced that anyone marrying a girl below 18 would be jailed for up to 20 years.
• In Tanzania, the high court imposed a landmark ruling outlawing marriage under the age of 18 for boys and girls.
• Some 30% of underage girls are married in The Gambia, while in Tanzania the rate is 37%.

7) Paris to get first floating hotel on the River Seine.

• France’s first floating hotel has opened in Paris, giving visitors a chance to enjoy a riviera lifestyle in the heart of the capital.
• OFF Paris Seine, which is docked on the River Seine in Paris.
• The 58 room hotel is now the largest boat moored in the city, between the Austerlitz viaduct and Charles de Gaulle Bridge.

8) Asia`s longest single cave, double track tunnel completed.

• China has completed Asia’s longest 16 km single tunnel with double tracks for high-speed trains in the country’s northwest Shaanxi province.
• The tunnel, the longest of its kind in Asia, cuts through the Qinling Mountains.
• It is part of a high-speed rail line that links Xi’an, the provincial capital and Chengdu in China’s southwest Sichuan province.
• The 643 km line, with a designed speed of 250 km per hour, will slash the travel time between the two cities from 16 hours to just three hours.

9) US introduces Bill to bar Indian companies from hiring on H-1B visas.

• Two US lawmakers has introduced in the House of Representatives a legislation, which if passed by the Congress would prevent Indian companies from hiring IT professionals on H-1B and L1 work visas.
• New bill proposes to bar companies that have over 50 employees and fifty percent of them on H1-B, L1 visas, from hiring more and encourage recruitment of American workers.
• The bill will encourage companies to recruit American workers.
• The bill, if passed into law, will also provide more authority to the Departments of Homeland Security and Labour to investigate fraud and abuse in the H-1B and L-1 programs.

10) China launches drive to eradicate violence against hospital staff.

• China is started a year-long campaign to stamp out persistent violence in its overcrowded hospitals by angry patients targeting medical staff.
• Many people in China have long faced issues from ticket touts illegally trading appointment tickets and rampant corruption that can push up the cost of receiving care.
• Since 2013, campaigns to discourage abuse of hospital personnel have reined in much of the violence, but as many as 71,000 instances of conflict have still required mediation by authorities.
• Low salaries for doctors feed corruption and people`s suspicions that staff are keener to earn money by prescribing unnecessary drugs and treatment than tending the sick.

11) England to host Farnborough Airshow.

• Farnborough International Airshow 2016 will be held from July 11 - 17 in the small town of Farnborough, southwest of London.
• The biennial aviation event will showcase 99 types of aircrafts and witness acrobatic performances by fighter jets.
• It`s an event that regularly sees a torrent of corporate deals, and has played a key role as a marketplace for Britain`s aerospace and defence firms.

1. Farnborough a small town in southern England; the birthplace of aviation in the UK and home for almost 70 years of arguably the world`s most important air show.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the controversial ``anti-terrorist`` legislation adopted by the lower and upper houses of parliament.
• The law boosts the government’s surveillance powers for the security services by requiring communication providers to store users` calls, messages, photographs and videos for six months, as well as metadata for up to three years.

• A new museum is documenting the experiences of children during the 1990s Bosnian war by asking people to contribute personal belongings from their childhood.
• Bosnians whose childhood was affected by the 1992-1995 ethnic war have donated cherished personal items from the era to the War Childhood Museum, a touring exhibition aimed at warning others about the dangers of conflict.
• The travelling museum features over 2,800 exhibits, including toys, letters, photographs, diaries and humanitarian food packaging.

• Bangladesh’s Ministry of Information issued a circular cancelling the downlink permission to the controversial Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik’s Peace TV.
• The decision to ban the Mumbai-based preacher’s `Peace TV Bangla` was taken during a special meeting of Cabinet Committee on Law and Order
• The government decision follows wide allegations that the speeches, sermons and explanation of Islam by Dr. Naik were “inspiring acts of terrorism” and radicalising youths.
• Naik’s speeches are believed to have inspired some of the Bangladeshi militants, who killed 22 people, mostly foreigners, at an upscale restaurant in Dhaka.

• The Chinese navy conducted combat drills near its southern island province of Hainan and the Paracel islands in the South China Sea.
• The drills come ahead of a ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration on a case brought by the Philippines disputing several of China‘s territory claims in the South China Sea.
• China claims nearly all the South China Sea, but its claims overlap in part with those of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

17) Israel passes law to force NGOs to reveal foreign funding.

• The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) has rejected China’s claims to economic rights across South China Sea.
• Court attributed that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights over the waters of the South China Sea and that it had breached the Philippines` sovereign rights with its actions.
• The ruling came from an arbitration tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which both China and Philippines have signed. The ruling is binding but the tribunal has no powers for enforcement.

• Zika health emergency declared across the northern half of Peru after confirming that 102 people have been infected with the virus.
• 90-day emergency was announced and local authorities were working to prevent the spread of the disease, which is principally transmitted by mosquitos.
• Zika is seen as a cause of microcephaly abnormally small heads and brains in babies.
• Capital Lima has been included in the emergency area – even though most outbreaks were detected in the northern Jaen province, near the Ecuador border. The city has been included because of its large population.

• Gen Dalbir Singh, the Chief of Army Staff of India is on a five day visit to Australia.
• During the Goodwill visit, the Australian Army showcased some of its best facilities and institutions.
• The Army Chief has also extended invitation to the Australian Army to participate in the inaugural Joint Special Forces Training Exercise being planned in India in Oct 2016.

• Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari leave for Mongolia to lead the Indian delegation at the 11th Asia -Europe Meeting (ASEM) which is being held at Ulaan Baatar.
• The theme for the Summit is ``20 Years of ASEM: Partnership for the Future through Connectivity``.
• At the Summit, India’s efforts would be inclined towards more successful outcomes and the building of a resilient and multidimensional web of interconnectivity between the two continents – Asia and Europe.

• The Union Government has started the operation `Sankat Mochan` to evacuate Indian citizens stranded in South Sudan’s capital Juba. Sankat Mochan in Hindi means reliever from troubles.
• The operation is being undertaken by Indian Air Force (IAF) and will be headed by Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs General (Retd.) V.K. Singh.
• The Indian Ambassador in South Sudan Srikumar Menon and his team is organising this operation on the ground.
• Two heavy-lift C-17 military transport aircrafts have been deployed by UIAF in service to make the evacuation.

• World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially declared India as Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus free country, i.e. mothers and newborns are free from tetanus at the time of birth.
• It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after inaugurating the Call to Action Summit 2015 on reducing child and maternal deaths across the world in New Delhi.
• WHO also certified India yaws-free after a team of experts verified interruption of disease transmission in the country.
• Tetanus is an infection caused by the bacterium Clostridium tetani. It can occur whenever there is an open wound in the body.
• In case of MNF, a new-born or the child delivering mother can be infected with MNT due to unhygienic birthing practices such as the use of unsterilized instruments or contaminated dressings and non-institutional deliveries.

1) International Solar Alliance Cell and World Bank Signs Declaration for Promoting Solar Energy.

• International Solar Alliance signed agreement with World Bank for promoting solar energy globally to mobilizing more than US $1000 billion in investments that will be needed by 2030.
• Two Programmes of the ISA ``Affordable finance at scale`` and ``Scaling solar applications for agricultural use``, have been launched.

• Turkey has observed a national day of mourning after a gun and suicide bomb attack on Istanbul`s Ataturk airport killed 42 people, including 13 foreign nationals.
• Three attackers began firing at the terminal entrance and blew themselves up after police fired back.

• President Barack Obama signed into law measures to give the public greater access to government documents and records under the nearly half-century-old Freedom of Information Act.
• The new law will require federal agencies to consider releasing records under a ``presumption of openness`` standard, instead of presuming that the information is secret.
• The law also cuts the number of exemptions agencies may use to block the release of requested information.
• A website will be created to streamline and centralize information requests to any agency. Agencies currently handle information requests in different ways.

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has created ``significant uncertainty`` that will have repercussions not only for the UK and Europe, but also for the global economy.
• The IMF has encouraged both the UK and the EU to work collaboratively toward a smooth and predictable transition.
• The uncertainty is likely to dampen growth in the near term, particularly in the UK, but with repercussions for Europe and the global economy.
• IMF sees the near-term risk for the UK, the EU and the global economy arising mainly from macroeconomic and financial market impact, and a sizable increase in uncertainty, including on the political front.
• Prolonged periods of uncertainty and associated declines in business and consumer confidence due to Brexit would lead to lower growth.

• India announced an in-principle agreement with the Cyprus government to resolve all pending issues to negotiate a new Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
• An official level meeting between India and Cyprus took place in New Delhi to finalise the new India Cyprus Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, wherein all pending issues, including taxation of capital gains, were discussed, and in-principle agreement was reached on all pending issues.

• To strengthen India-Africa ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will undertake his first visit to the ``African mainland`` between July 7 - 11, covering four countries.
• Mr. Modi will visit Mozambique, where he will hold bilateral talks with President Felipe Nyusi.
• will visit South Africa where Mr. Modi will meet President Jacob Zuma and other senior African leaders
• Will visit Tanzania where he will hold bilateral meeting with President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
• Will visit Nairobi, Kenya, where he will address the University of Nairobi.

• The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan launched a program to help advance educational opportunities for Afghan women.
• Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Promote Scholarship Program will provide aid to 720 Afghan women over the next five years.
• Recipients will use the scholarships to complete their bachelor`s degrees at private universities in Afghanistan.
• The scholarship program targets students who have demonstrated strong academic performance and those who are unable to pursue university education because of inadequate funds.

• Saudi Arabia is keen on expanding its investments in China’s energy industry.
• The kingdom and China share interest in crude oil storage, mining, renewable energy and industrial development and there is room to grow bilateral trade in both energy and other hydrocarbons products such as petrochemicals.
• Both oil giant Saudi Aramco and petrochemicals conglomerate Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) have joint venture businesses in China and new projects under development.

• Paris has banned cars that were registered before October 1997 from its streets during weekdays (Mondays to Friday), starting July 1.
• Paris also provides an "ecological bonus" to buyers of low-pollution vehicles.
• Drivers who ignore the ban will face fines of €35 (£32), with the fine set to rise significantly from the end of 2016.
• Air pollution, largely caused by fuel emissions, kills 48,000 people each year in France and around 3.7 million worldwide, according to France’s public health agency.
• Norway is planning to ban petrol- and diesel-fuelled cars from 2025 and several European cities are testing anti-pollution or anti-congestion measures.

• The UN Human Rights Council passed a non-binding resolution which condemns violations, including arbitrary detention and torture, against anyone expressing themselves on the internet.
• The UNHRC also called on all nations to halt attempts to restrict access to information online.
• It noted that online privacy is essential to realise the right to freedom of expression. 

• China`s Yuan touched a new 5-1/2 year low against the dollar for the second consecutive session.
• The Yuan hit 6.6642 soon after the open due to a heavy bout of dollar buying in the market. That level was the weakest since December 2010.
• The latest China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) data showed that the index for the Yuan’s value based on the market`s trade-weighted basket stood at 94.88 last week, the lowest on record.

• Residents of a Norwegian coastal town stacked wood into a 156-foot-tall tower to break the record for the world`s tallest bonfire.
• The fire was fueled by more than 30,000 pallets.
• The tallest bonfire recorded in the Guinness World Records was lit on April 30, 2007, in Boštanj, Slovenia and stood 142 feet tall.

• India and Cyprus are poised to sign a new tax treaty which, like in the case of a similar pact with Mauritius, will shut the doors on investors using loopholes in the bilateral agreement to avoid paying taxes in India.
• The new agreement will enable Indian authorities to tax capital gains on investments routed through Cyprus; it will also lead to the removal of the Mediterranean island nation from an Indian government blacklist on which it was placed for not providing financial information sought by India.
• India will get the right to tax capital gains from sale of shares on investments made by Cyprus-based companies after 1 April 2017.

• Danish offshore wind farm operator Dong Energy is to build two offshore wind farms off the Dutch coast where it has pledged to produce the world`s cheapest offshore wind energy.
• The projects would be built for €72.70 ($80) per megawatt-hour, significantly below the group`s 2020 target of bringing costs below €100 per megawatt-hour over the life of a project.
• The Borssele 1 and 2 wind farms would be built 22 kilometres off the Dutch province of Zeeland and would be completed by mid-2020.
• Experts estimated the price for the projects would be €87 per megawatt-hour.
• The previous record was held by Sweden`s Vattenfall, which last year won a tender for a wind park off Denmark for €103 per megawatt-hour excluding grid connections.

• Germany needs to spend 14 billion euros ($15.48 billion) on replenishing its badly depleted stockpile of munitions as part of a broader plan up to 2030 to upgrade military equipment after years of decline.
• Germany sought to invest about 130 billion euros ($143.74 billion) over the next 15 years on modernising equipment to enable the army to better fulfill its missions abroad.
• The report prepared by the ministry in March concluded that additional spending was needed to beef up supplies of equipment and munitions.

• Sri Lanka’s government plans to set up a special court by next year to hear allegations of abuses during the country’s decades-long civil war.
• The government has finalized a bill to establish a permanent and independent Office on Missing Persons, which is seen as an essential component of the truth-seeking process.
• The war ended in 2009 after government troops defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who fought to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils.
• According to UN estimates, up to 100,000 people were killed in the 26-year war, but many more are feared dead, including up to 40,000 civilians in the final months of the fighting.