• International

G7 finance ministers agree on a plan for taxing gigantic digital companies

• G7 Finance Ministers meeting in France today agreed a plan for taxing digital companies such as Facebook and Google that will set a minimum level of taxation for them.
• A statement from France said that Ministers fully supported a two-pillar solution to be adopted by 2020.
• France, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the group of world’s most developed countries.

Note:

About G7

Founded: 1975

Members: France, Japan, Canada, Italy, Germany, United States, United Kingdom

• Economy and Business

ABIPBL to shut down within 18 months of launch

• In less than 18 months after its commencement, Aditya Birla Payments Bank announced that it will shut down operations.
• Started as a joint venture by Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd and Idea Cellular, the firm announced that it will discontinue operation due to unanticipated developments in the business landscape that have made the economic model unviable.
• In a message sent to its customers, Aditya Birla Payments Bank said that the bank has made full and complete arrangements for return of deposits.

Note:

About ABIPBL

ABIPBL: Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited

• Sports

Shiva Thapa becomes India's first gold-medallist in Kazakhstan President's Cup

• Four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa became India’s first gold-medallist in the new 63-kg category at the President’s Cup boxing tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan.
• Sweety Boora (81kg) and Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg) ended the tournament with a bronze.
• Thapa had lost to Safiullin in the Asian Championship semifinal earlier this year.

Note:

About Kazakhstan

President: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Capital: Nur-Sultan

Currency: Kazakhstani tenge

• Sports

Nigeria to host 2020 FIFA women U-20 World cup

• Federation of International Football Federation has awarded FIFA Women under 20 World Cup hosting right to Nigeria after 10 years in 2020.
• The last FIFA event held in Nigeria was the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
• In 2009, Nigeria successfully staged the 13th edition of the Fifa U17 World Cup which was won by Switzerland, with the Golden Eaglets finishing as runners-up – a success they aim to leverage on.

Note:

About Nigeria

Capital: Abuja

Currency: Nigerian naira

Major languages: Hausa; Igbo; Yoruba

• Sports

P V Sindhu loses to Akane Yamaguchi in Indonesia Open final

• PV Sindhu’s hopes of breaking a seven-month title drought came crashing down as the Indian lost in straight games to Akane Yamaguchi in the final of Indonesia Open BWF Tour Super 1000 tournament.
• Seven months after becoming the first Indian to win the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in December, Olympic silver medallist Sindhu had an opportunity to finally lay her hands on another crown only to squander, losing 15-21, 16-21 to the Japanese in a lop-sided summit clash that lasted 51 minutes.

Note:

About Indonesia

Capital: Jakarta

President of the Republic of Indonesia: Joko Widodo

Currency: Indonesian rupiah

• Awards

Vocalist S Sowmya wins Sangita Kalanidhi award

• A noted Carnatic vocalist, S Sowmya has won the Sangita Kalanidhi award.
• She is known for her intellectual approach to music.
• Seetha Narayanan & MS Sheela will get Sangita Kala Acharya awards.

• Appointments

Amit Shah will head ministerial panel on Air India sale

• On July 18, 2019, Union Government reconstituted the Group of Ministers (GoM) called the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) on Air India disinvestment.
• The group is headed by Home minister Amit Shah and comprises of 3 other ministers namely finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce, and railway minister Piyush Goyal and civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
• When the panel, named Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM), was first constituted in June 2017, it had five members and was headed by then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• According to sources, the GoM was reconstituted after the Modi 2.0 government came to power and now this group of ministers will work the modalities of disinvestment.

Note:

About Air India

Parent organization: Air India Limited

CEO: Pradeep Singh Kharola

Headquarters: New Delhi

• Appointments

Amita Prasad takes charge as ‘Inland waterways’ authority chief and AK Jha to lead NPC

• On July 19, 2019, As per the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT),Government of India, Amita Prasad(IAS,1985 batch Karnataka) has been appointed as chairperson of Inland Waterways Authority of India(IWAI), Ministry of Shipping, in the rank and pay of secretary.
• She replaces Shri Jalaj Shrivastava.
• Other officers who have been entrusted with new responsibilities include Jyoti Arora, a 1987 batch Haryana cadre IAS appointed as Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Note:

About Karnataka

Chief minister: H. D. Kumaraswamy

Capital: Bengaluru

Governor: Vajubhai Vala

• Appointments

Benjamin Netanyahu makes history as becomes longest-serving Israeli PM

• Benjamin Netanyahu(69), who has spent 4,876 days (more than 13 years) in office has become Israel‘s longest-serving prime minister, surpassing the record of David Ben-Gurion, country’s founding father, and first leader.
• During the past two decades, the now-69-year-old former commando has repeatedly won elections on promises of making Israel secure and prosperous, while sidelining the Palestinians.
• Despite passing the historic milestone, Netanyahu still needs to win a September election and survive three impending corruption cases to continue his long tenure.

Note:

About Israel

Prime minister: Benjamin Netanyahu

Capital: Jerusalem

Currency: Israeli new shekel

• Obituaries

LJP MP Ramchandra Paswan passes away

• Lok Janshakti Party Member of Parliament Ramchandra Paswan died due to cardiac arrest.
• He was a four-time MP and was first elected in 1999.
• He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and then again for the third time in 2014.

Note:

About Lok Sabha

Speaker‎: ‎Om Birla‎

Secretary General‎: ‎Snehlata Shrivastava

Seats: 545 (543 Elected + 2 Nominated)

• Miscellaneous

National award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Indu Sarkar’ is now a part of National Film Archives

• National award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Indu Sarkar,’ that released on July 28, 2017, became a part of National Film Archives of India.
• The director of the period political thriller handed over a digital copy of the film to NFAI Director Prakash Magdum for the purpose of archiving the flick during his visit to NFAI.
• The movie, which is based on true events of the emergency period of 1975 to 1977, stars Kirti Kulhari, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Supriya Vinod, Rashmi Jha and Anupam Kher in pivotal roles.