1. Britan’s Rishi Sunak ahead in the PM race: Rishi Sunak gains the lead in the first round of voting to become the successor of Boris Johnson. The former chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, secured 88 votes, followed by Penny Mordaunt, who got 67 votes, and Liz Truss, with 50 votes.
2. Emergency declared in Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country to the Maldives, has issued an unsigned Extraordinary gazette, appointing PM Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Interim President of the country during his absence in Sri Lanka.
3. Former VP Ansari refutes knowing Pak journalist: BJP has asked the Congress party to come clean on allegations made by Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza saying that he visited India on invitation from former Vice-president Hamid Ansari and spied for ISI. Hamid Ansari has termed the charges a ‘Litany of falsehood.’
4. Free booster for all adults: As the country celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (75 years of independence), Union Minister Anurag Thakur announced free Covid 19 booster shots for all adults aged between 18-59. The scheme would run for 75 days starting from Friday.
5. Indian couple arrested with 45 handguns at IGI airport: Customs department officials arrested an Indian couple at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, and seized 45 handguns in their possession, as they arrived from Vietnam. The Gurgaon couple, Jagjeet Singh (41) and his wife Jaswinder Kaur (31), confessed to having smuggled 25 guns from Turkey in the past.
6. Anti-hijab protests in Iran: On Iran’s ‘National Day of Hijab and Chastity,’ celebrated on July 12, many women across the country have protested against strict Hijab rules, posting videos in which they remove their hijabs publicly.
7. John Bolton admits to planning coups in other countries: John Bolton, who served as national security advisor for Trump, admitted to planning coups in other countries while responding to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
8. DRI finds tax evasion by Oppo India: After ED raids on Vivo India for foreign remittances, searches at the offices of Oppo India have purportedly revealed tax evasions to the tune of Rs.4,400 crores, as per the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
9. Cigarette sales heading above pre-pandemic times: A CRISIL Rating report has indicated that the volume of cigarettes sold in the organized cigarette industry is now 3% higher than the volume of sales in FY20, and is expected to touch 93 billion sticks by FY22.
10. Hungary announces energy emergency: Amid skyrocketing energy prices and supply disruptions, Hungary has declared an ‘energy emergency.’ Gergely Gulyas, PM Viktor Orban’s chief of staff has said it is unlikely that there would be enough gas for Europe during the Autumn and Winter heating seasons.