Current affairs

1.The Appropriation (No.2) Bill­ 2019 was passed by the Lok Sabha which allows the Union government to withdraw ₹98.18 lakh crore from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenditure during 2019­-20. 

• The Bill, issued by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, was passed by a voice vote when the house demands for grants for several Ministries which were collectively put to vote and passed by applying guillotine.

2.Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar promised to create a new breed of “smart farmers by introducing smart farming”.

• The government has started the scheme to improve its welfare schemes, including the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for crop insurance. 

3.The F­35 fighter jets would not be sold to Turkey as announced by president Donald Trump after Ankara purchased the S­400 missile defence system from Russia.  

• Mr. Trump informed it was unfair when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to buy the Patriot surface to air missile system, the administration of Obama did not sell it.

4.The latest directive passed by Reserve Bank of India to banks is any audit firm who are in the middle of any discipline proceedings will be barred from signing the balance sheet of any bank in the audit process.

• Thus, even chartered accountant firms which face no ban either from the RBI or the court could be forced to pull out some of their senior partners from playing a role in any bank audit.

            Appointment and Resignation

5. Anilkumar Manibhai Naik is appointed as non executive chairman of Larsen & Toubro ­acquired by Mindtree which is in effect fromJuly 18, 2019. 

                     Awards and Recognition

6.Benjamin Netanyahu has become the longest serving Prime Minister of Israel as his 13 ­year rule collapses. 

• Mr. Netanyahu fails to form a parliamentary majority in the April elections, the country is holding a repeat vote in September. 
• He also faces a hearing with the Attorney General, who has recommended indicting Mr. Netanyahu on corruption charges and if formal charges are filed, Mr. Netanyahu could be forced to step aside. 

7.Bill Gates has never achieved the rank below 2 in the seven-year history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

• It ended when the Microsoft Corp. co-founder dropped to No. 3 behind France’s Bernard Arnault. 
• Arnault’s luxury-goods maker, advanced to a record and pushed his net worth to $107.6 billion and ahead of Gates by more than $200 million. 
• Arnault has added about $39 billion to his fortune in 2019 alone, the biggest individual gain by far among the 500 people in Bloomberg’s ranking. 

                          Obituary

8. P Rajagopal founder of restaurant chain Saravana Bhavan passed away

                                   Sports

9.Pakistan chief selector Inzamam-­ul­-Haq withdraw as the chief selector but he agreed to take any new responsibility from the Cricket Board. 

• He told that he would not seek an extension or renewal of his contract, which expires on July 31. 

10.U Mumba announced Iranian player Fazel Atrachali as the skipper for Season­ 7 at Pro-Kabaddi League. 

• The franchise also named Sandeep Narwal as the vice­-captain.

11.The 148th British Open at Royal Portrush is ready to become the second ­highest attended tournament with 237,750 spectators expected across the week. 

Source: The Hindu, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, Press Information bureau website