July 2017 Current Affairs Highlights (One-Liners)

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Friends, here are the Major Current Affairs Highlights of July 2017. These one-liners cover all important International, National, MOUs, Indexes, Banking, Technology, Books & Authors, Committees and Sports affairs of July month (from 1st to 31st July  2017). We will  provide the pdf version soon, but we advise you to write these on your own so that you wont forget them again. All the Best and Happy Reading :)

July 2017 Current Affairs Highlights (One-Liners) 

• The government launched the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, effective from July 1, 2017. In the making since 2000 and claimed to be the biggest tax reform since Independence, the GST will be a unified indirect tax structure across the country. The GST Council has come out with a four-rate structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.
• "Hywind", the world’s first full—scale floating wind farm is being built off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea.
• "Maitree 2017" a 14 day joint military training exercise between Indian Army and Royal Thailand Army commenced at Bakloh in Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh.
• “JIGYASA”, a student- scientist connect programme was officially launched in Delhi.
• 11th July 2017 was observed as World Population Day with the Theme “Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations”.
• 15th July 2017 was observed as the World Youth Skills Day with the Theme “Skills for All”
• 17th July 2017 was observed as the World Day for International Justice (International Justice Day) with the Theme “Preventing conflict and sustaining peace through decent work”
• 2017 BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers’ meeting was recently held at Chongqing (China). This meeting comes ahead of 2017 BRICS Summit to be held in Xiamen, China in September 2017.
• 28th July 2017 was observed as the World Hepatitis Day with the Theme "Eliminate Hepatitis".
• 30th July 2017 was observed as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons with the Theme  ‘Act to Protect and Assist Trafficked Persons’.
• 321st anniversary of Russian Navy was observed on 31st July 2017.
• 4th July is Independence Day of United States.
• 4-time FIFA World Cup winner Germany won it's maiden FIFA Confederation Cup Football title by defeating Copa America Champion Chile by 1-0 goals in the final match held at St Petersburg, Russia.
• 5 Indian States (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Telangana and Arunachal Pradesh) and a Union Territory (Puducherry) have formally adopted the Centre’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) initiative.
• 90th founding anniversary of Chinese Army was observed on 31st July 2017.
• A book titled "Mandela's Last Years" is in news due to controversies. The book was written by : Vejay Ramlakan
• A consortium including India's oil and gas company ONGC has announced that it is willing to invest $11 billion in Iran to develop a natural gas field and build the infrastructure to export the fuel.
• A museum in honour of late President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was inaugurated on July 27 in Tamil Nadu's Rameshwaram.
• A total of 36 places in India are recognised as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, with the latest addition being the city of Ahmedabad. With four of its sites recognised, Maharashtra tops the list in India.
• A US state department has recently revealed that India in 2016 replaced Pakistan as the world's third largest terror target after Iraq and Afghanistan.
• A US-Russia research collaboration at Harvard has created the world's most advanced quantum computer with 51 quantum bits, or qubits– the fundamental unit of information in a quantum computer.
• According to a National Commission for Protection of Child Rights' report, Maharashtra and Rajasthan recorded the highest number of cases of child marriage. 
• According to National Centre for Seismology, 29 Indian cities and towns including Delhi fall under 'severe' to 'very severe' seismic (earthquake) zones.
• According to the government data, out of India's population of 132 crore people, only 6.8 crore or 5.15%, have a valid passport. India is now third in terms of issuing passports, after China and US.
• Ahmedabad has become India's first World Heritage City.
• American multinational retailer Walmart signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Maharashtra government to invest ₹900 crore for opening up of fifteen stores.
• Arpan Doshi, an Indian-origin man, who studied in Gujarat until he was 13, has become UK's youngest ever doctor.
• Astronomers at Pune-based IUCAA and IISER have discovered a supercluster of galaxies, which they named 'Saraswati'.
• Australia has sent its first uranium shipment to India for testing purposes ahead of possible commercial sales.
• Bolivia's President Evo Morales has declared "total independence" from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
• Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has appointed her first black equerry, a senior staff member in charge of assisting the royal household. The Ghana-born Afghan war veteran, Major Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah, had moved to the UK in 1982.
• British cyclist Chris Froome won his third consecutive and fourth overall Tour de France, finishing the race in 86 hours 20 minutes 55 seconds in Paris.
• Canada has celebrated the 150th anniversary of the day it officially became a country and the self-governing dominion of Britain on 3rd July 2017.
• Canara Bank, which has set an ambitious target of moving to ‘paperless’ futuristic banking, launched its first ‘Digital Banking Branch’ at Bengaluru. Titled ‘CANDI’, the branch will provide an end-to-end digital experience to customers.
• China and Russia held their First Joint Naval Drill in the Baltic Sea. This exercise involves anti-aircraft and anti-ship defence measures coordinated from the Baltiysk base in Russia's Kaliningrad enclave.
• China has announced that it would stop accepting shipments of garbage such as waste plastic and paper as part of a campaign against "foreign garbage".
• China is going to to build its first Mars simulation base on the country's Tibetan plateau as it aims to send the first mission to the red planet by 2020 after the US, India and Russia.
• China-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a $329-million (over ₹3,100 crore) loan to build access roads across 4,000 villages in Gujarat.
• Customers of Banks will not suffer any loss if unauthorised electronic banking transactions are reported within three days, the Reserve Bank of India has recently announced.
• Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has notified of a new rule under which consumers will be compensated by power distribution companies if they don't restore an outage for more than two to three hours.
• Delhi government has announced plans to launch a mobile application which will allow people to check the status of government projects on a single platform.
• Delhi Police will be the first state police to get 'super cop' belts which are widely used by the police in the UK, USA, and Russia. The belt will help the cops carry wireless sets, pistols, and cartridges easily.
• England's women's cricket team defeated India by 9 runs at Lord's Cricket Ground to clinch their fourth World Cup title.
• European and Japanese space agencies are building a joint mission to solar system's smallest and "least explored" rocky planet Mercury.
• Expanding its outreach to the Arab world, External Affairs Ministry is going to make its website available in Arabic.
• Facebook has shut down one of its Artificial Intelligence systems after chatbots programmed to converse in English started speaking in their own language.
• Facebook TV is set to launch online in mid-August.
• Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been partially blocked in China following a censorship crackdown by the government.
• Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major ITC became the 4th Indian company to cross market capitalisation of ₹4 trillion. Earlier, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank have achieved this milestone with TCS being the most valued company with market capitalisation of ₹4.64 trillion.
• Ferrari's Formula One racer Sebastian Vettel won the Hungarian Grand Prix title, finishing ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas.
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the Financial year may soon begin from January in sync with the calendar year. In May 2017, Madhya Pradesh became India's first state to shift its financial year format to January-December from the present April-March cycle.
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Lok Sabha. This bill empowers RBI to ask any bank to initiate insolvency proceedings and give directions for resolution of stressed assets.
• Finance Ministry along with the Central Board of Excise and Customs has launched GST Rates Finder app for consumers to verify the accurate tax rates on commodity and services under the Goods and Services Tax.
• For a 4th consecutive year, US retail giant Walmart has topped the 2017 Fortune Global 500 list with a revenue of $486 billion.
• For the first time India is going to host Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS) 2017, the world’s largest conference on cyber space and related issues in New Delhi in November 2017. Theme of GCCS 2017 : ‘Cyber4All : An Inclusive, Sustainable, Developmental, Safe and Secure Cyberspace'.
• Former cricketer Ravi Shastri has been named the new coach of Team India on a two-year contract.
• Former national-level hockey player Amit Saroha, who met with an accident in 2007, clinched the Silver medal in the club throw event in the F-51 category at the World Para Athletics Championships.
• Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's name from the scheme Indira Priyadarshini Puruskar Yojana, given to meritorious girls of Class 10 and 12 from Rajasthan Board, has been removed. From now, this scheme will be called 'Padmakshi Puruskar Yojana', based on the name of Goddess 'Saraswati'. 
• Former Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov is set to come out of retirement to play in Sinquefield Cup, a US tournament next month.
• France has celebrated its 228th Bastille Day on 15th July 2017.
• French oil and gas company Total S.A has signed an agreement of $4.8-billion (over ₹31,000 crore) with Iran to develop one of the world's largest natural gas fields.
• G20 Summit, the annual meeting of the G20 (an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies), was recently held at Hamburg Messe, in the city of Hamburg, Germany during 7th and 8th July 2017.
• Government has implemented the “Seekho aur Kamao” scheme which encourages the youth from minority communities to learn employment skills.
• H-Bots Robotics, a startup from Telangana's T-Hub incubator, is developing 'police robots' priced at about ₹3.5 lakh.
• HDFC Standard Life Insurance and Max Life Insurance have called off their proposed merger after failing to win regulatory approval for a union that would've created an insurance giant with ₹1.1 lakh crore in assets.
• Hyderabad is going to establish India's first university only for Dalit students by 2018. 
• ICICI Lombard General Insurance, a joint venture of ICICI Bank and Fairfax Financial Holdings, has filed draft prospectus for its IPO. This makes it the first non-life insurance company in India to file for IPO.
• ICICI Prudential has agreed to take over the life insurance business of Sahara Group's subsidiary Sahara Life, which was shut down by insurance regulator IRDAI in June.
• In a bid to prevent harassment of women, the government has decided to make registration of marriages compulsory.
• In a bid to promote environment-friendly system, Indian Railways launched first 1600 HP solar-powered DEMU train from the Safdarjung railway station in Delhi. [DEMU - Diesel Electric Multiple Unit]
• In a recent order, the Bombay Court held that a working woman who is "capable of maintaining and sustaining herself" should not be entitled to get maintenance from her estranged husband.
• India and European Union (EU) have established Investment Facilitation Mechanism (IFM) for EU Investments in India. The mechanism will allow for a close coordination between EU and India with an aim to promote and facilitate EU investment in India.
• India and Israel jointly launched a $40 million (over ₹258 crore) technology fund. The Israel India Innovation Initiative Fund (I4F), will receive $4 million a year from each government for five years.
• India bagged a total of 29 medals including 12 golds to top the medals tally at the Asian Athletics Championships for the first time ever.
• India for the first time is going to host International Theatre Olympics, the greatest carnival of theatre in the world in 2018. The 51-day carnival of theatre will begin on February 17, 2018.
• India has contributed an additional $1 million to India-UN Development Partnership Fund launched to support sustainable development projects across the developing world.
• India has ranked 4th among world's fastest growing economies. according to recently released World Bank's Global Economic Prospects.
• India has slipped by one spot to become the 4-largest foreign investor into the UK. The US remains on the top, investing in 577 projects in the UK, followed by China (including Hong Kong) in second place with 160 projects.
• India is going to host the Men's World Boxing Championship for the first time in 2021 and the Women's World Championship in 2018.
• India is going to invite the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as Chief Guests for 2018 Republic Day celebrations.
• India recently-enforced Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016. This act prescribes death penalty for hijack conspirators in case of a casualty, and life imprisonment otherwise.
• India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed QuickReaction Surface-to-Air short range Missile (QR-SAM).
• India will host its 1st WTA tournament in five years when the city of Mumbai stages the ₹80 lakh ($125,000) Mumbai Open in November.
• India will soon join Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), a newly-constituted forum of central bankers and experts working towards promotion of a robust and transparent foreign exchange (Forex) market.
• India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, for the first time will import crude oil from the United States.
• India’s Harinder Pal Sandhu has defeated Rhys Dowling of Australia to lift South Australian Open squash title.
• India’s Karamjyoti Dalal has won Bronze medal at the World Para Athletics Championships 2017 in the discus-throw.
• India’s only ATP tournament the Chennai Open is set to move out of Chennai after 21 years because it is unable to meet the commercial demands of the main organizers IMG. 
• Indian golfer Diksha Dagar won a Silver medal in the women's individual golf event at the Deaflympics in Samsun, Turkey.
• Indian hammer thrower Damneet Singh won a silver medal in the boys' hammer throw event to give India their first medal at the IAFF World U-18 Athletics Championships in Nairobi.
• Indian National Football has managed to secure 96th spot at the latest FIFA world football rankings. This is the best ranking secured by India in 21 years.
• Indian Navy’s second LCU Mark IV L52 ship was formally launched in Kolkata, West Bengal. [LCU -  Landing Craft Utility]
• Indian Para-athlete Sundar Singh Gurjar became only the second Indian to win a gold at the World Para Athletics Championships, winning one in javelin at the 2017 edition in London. Rio gold medalist Devendra Jhajharia was the first Indian to win a gold in 2013.
• Indian shuttler C Rahul Yadav and the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy clinched the Men's singles and men's doubles title respectively at Lagos International challenge in Nigeria.
• Indian shuttler HS Prannoy won the US Open Grand Prix Gold tournament after defeating Parupalli Kashyap in an all-India final.
• Indian squash player Harinder Pal Sandhu won his second title in two weeks after winning the Victorian Open by beating top-seed Rex Hedrick of Australia.
• Indian Super League side Atletico de Kolkata has been renamed to 'Aamar, Tomar Kolkata' (ATK) after the team's partnership with Spanish football club Atletico Madrid ended.
• Indian tennis player Vishnu Vardhan won the Men's doubles event at the $125,000 ATP Astana Challenger with Japanese partner Toshihide Matsui.
• Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj has became the all-time highest run-scorer in women's ODI cricket.
• India's first bullet train project, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail, will be inaugurated this September by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.
• India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) cut interest rates on savings bank deposits by 0.50 percentage points effective July 31. For saving deposits balance up to ₹1 crore, SBI will offer an interest rate of 3.5% as compared to 4% earlier and for balance above ₹1 crore, the rate has been retained at 4% per annum.
• India's Manpreet Kaur bagged Gold medal in women's shot-put on the opening day of the Asian Athletics Championships 2017 in Bhubaneswar.
• India's para athletes Sharad Kumar and Varun Singh Bhati clinched the Silver and bronze medals respectively in High jump at the World Para Athletics Championships.
• India's tallest Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower at the Delhi Airport is going to start operations by this December.
• India's The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) has been ranked as the second best climate think tank in the world.
• India's top-ranked female shot putter Manpreet Kaur has been suspended by the Athletics Federation after she failed dope test.
• Indonesia renamed part of the South China Sea as the North Natuna Sea.
• Iran and US-backed Iraq signed an agreement to boost military cooperation.
• Italian football legend Francesco Totti anounced his retirement from football after spending his 25-year-long playing career with Seria A club Roma.
• Jammu and Kashmir became the last state to implement GST, passing the resolution during a special session of the legislative assembly.
• Japan has approved a plan to reduce working hours to lower the country's suicide rate by 30% by 2025.
• Jio has announced the launch of the 25,000-kilometre Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1) submarine cable system.
• Lahore High Court lifted a ban on the airing of Indian television serials in Pakistan.
• Maharashtra government also announced plans to make installation of GPS system mandatory in black-and-yellow taxis and autorickshaws. 
• Maharashtra government has announced that integrated coaching will not be allowed in the state from the next academic year.
• Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to provide free injectable contraceptives to women under the state's family planning programme, Antara.
• Malabar Naval Exercise 2017, a week long trilateral joint naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India was recently held at Chennai coast.
• Matunga suburban railway station in Mumbai has become the first station in India to be run by an all-women staff.
• Mercedes' Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas, has won the Austrian Grand Prix.
• Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has announced that the driverless cars and any technology that takes away jobs will not be allowed in India.
• Mizoram recently celebrated the 31st anniversary of the signing of the historic Mizo peace accord.
• Mother Teresa's Blue-bordered Sari was recognised as an Intellectual Property of the Missionaries of Charity after she was cannonised last year. It is the first time that a uniform has been protected under the Intellectual Property rights.
• Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries crossed ₹5 lakh crore in market capitalisation for the first time in its trading history, making it the second Indian company to do so after TCS.
• Mumbai Metro One announced plans to launch India's first mobile ticketing system by mid-August for easy commute.
• Mumbai-based 18-year-old racing driver Jehan Daruvala has become the 1st Indian to win the FIA Formula 3 European Championship after winning the third race at the Nuremberg circuit.
• Mumbai's 'Vikrikar Bhavan' was renamed as 'GST Bhavan' after the Goods and Services Tax regime was rolled out on 1st July 2017.
• NASA's James Webb Telescope, the largest space telescope ever built, has been locked in a vacuum vault for testing at sub-zero temperatures to simulate its working in deep space.
• National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE), India’s first demutualised online national multi-commodities exchange will merge with Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX). The merged entity will create India’s third biggest commodity exchange.
• National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was on a visit to China to attend BRICS meeting in Beijing.
• NDA's presidential candidate and former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind was elected as the 14th President of India.
• Nepal will get Internet services through Chinese optical fibre starting next month, ending its reliance on India for the service.
• Netherlands' third-largest bank ABN AMRO announced that it will no longer extend credit to clients in the tobacco industry.
• Officials of India and Bangladesh agreed to construct gates along the border to allow free and safe passage for wild elephants.
• Okinoshima,  sacred Japanese island where women are banned and men must strip naked was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Over 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic, enough to cover the entire country of Argentina, has been generated by humans since the material's mass production started in 1950s, a US-based research has revealed.
• Pakistan has launched a military operation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) targeting the Islamic State. 
• Pakistan has successfully test fired short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile 'Nasr'.
• Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from his position after the country's Supreme Court found him guilty of corruption in the Panama Papers case.
• Parliament has passed The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill, 2016. The Bill seeks to upgrade existing laws related to civil matters of admiralty jurisdiction of courts, maritime claims, arrest and detention of ships. 
• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte offered self-rule to the country's Muslim minority in an attempt to defeat militants loyal to Islamic State who have besieged the city of Marawi for nearly two months.
• PM Narendra Modi met Moshe Holtzberg, the now 11-year-old survivor of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in Jerusalem.
• PM Narendra Modi-led cabinet cleared the New Wage Code Bill which will ensure minimum wage to 4 crore employees across all sectors. The new minimum wage norms would be applicable irrespective of the pay whereas it's presently applicable to workers getting up to ₹18,000 monthly.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to Maharashtra Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2016. Maharashtra is the first state in the country to formulate a law to punish social boycott.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited a total of 49 countries in the last three years.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to adopt Kakrahia, a village in Varanasi under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. In the past two years, Modi has adopted Jayapur and Nagepur in his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to write a book for the youth of the country wherein he will address issues like overcoming examination stress, keeping one's composure and what to do after the exams. The book, a first-of-its-kind initiative by a serving prime minister, will be out later this year in multiple languages.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a 3 day historical visit to Israel. He is the first ever Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel in 70 years.
• Private sector lender Axis Bank has reached an agreement to buy digital payments platform FreeCharge for ₹350-400 crore in cash from Snapdeal.
• Punjab National Bank (PNB) Maestro debit card holders will face card blockage if they fail to replace it with a more secure EMV chip based card by July 31. Earlier, RBI had directed all banks are to migrate to EMV chip based cards by December 31, 2018.
• Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) an arm of the Indian Railways for commercial exploitation of rail land, has inked MoU with National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) for redevelopment of 10 railway stations across the country on global standards.
• Rajasthan has become the first State to lay down the minimum educational qualifications for contesting elections to village cooperative societies and various other cooperative bodies.
• Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) launched the first two Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPVs) — Shachi and Shruti at their shipyard in Pipavav, Gujarat. These two NOPVs are the first warships to be launched by a private sector shipyard in India.
• RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has releaed a coffee-table book “Narendra Damodardas Modi : The Making of a Legend”. This book has been authored by Bindeshwar Pathak (Chief of Sulabh International)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law ratifying a deal with the Syrian government allowing Russia to keep its air base in Syria for almost 50 years. 
• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree extending the embargo imposed on food products from the EU and other Western countries until the end of 2018.
• Russian space agency Roscosmos successfully launched 'Kanopus-V-IK' Earth-imaging satellite and 72 microsatellites into orbit on a single rocket. This comes after ISRO launched a world record 104 satellites at once earlier this year, breaking Russia's previous record of 37 satellites.
• SBI Life Insurance, a unit of State Bank of India, has filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), that will reportedly raise over $1 billion (over ₹6,400 crore). SBI Life will be the second Indian life insurer to go public.
• Scientists from University of Cambridge, UK have discovered the smallest star in the universe. It has been named as EBLM J0555-57Ab.
• Shyam Saran Negi, independent India's first-ever voter, recently turned 100.
• Spain's Garbine Muguruza has won the Wimbledon Women's singles title. 
• Sri Lanka has signed a US $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70% stake of the strategic Hambantota deep-sea port to China.
• Swami Vivekananda Airport of Raipur was ranked first in Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) Survey among 49 airports in the country.
• Sweden is going to hold its 'first and biggest' military exercise in over 20 years, involving all of its military branches as well as troops from several NATO countries.
• Swiss tennis star Roger Federer won a record 8th Wimbledon men's singles title. With this he also became the oldest male player (35 years) to win The Championships in Open Era.
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has appeared for the first time on the country's currency since taking office, with his portrait printed on a new 2,000-pound banknote that recently went into circulation.
• Telangana prisons department, citing Norway's example, has proposed to accommodate prisoners from overcrowded prisons in India at a rent of ₹10,000 a month per prisoner.
• Thailand has amended a royal property law to formally give King Maha Vajiralongkorn full control of the agency which manages royal assets worth more than $30 billion.
• Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul has become the youngest known winner of a professional golf tour event after claiming the Ladies European Thailand Championship at the age of 14 years, 4 months and 19 days.
• The annual buffalo racing sport 'Kambala' has been legalised in Karnataka after President Pranab Mukherjee approved the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Ordinance, 2017.
• The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) has been extended for six more months in Nagaland with effect from June 30. The AFSPA has been in force in Nagaland for several decades.
• The Assam government is going to raise a new Special Rhino Protection Force (SRPF) for better protection of the one-horned rhinos in Assam.
• The Bank of England unveiled a new polymer £10 note featuring 19th century novelist Jane Austen, in a move to replace paper £5, £10 and £20 with secure plastic notes. This makes Austen the only woman other than Queen Elizabeth to be featured on a polymer British banknote.
• The BCCI named former Indian cricketer Bharat Arun as the Indian cricket team's bowling coach.
• The central government has approved the renaming of two villages in Haryana, after complaints from villagers. The Ganda village has been renamed to Ajit Nagar and Kinnar has been renamed to Gaibi Nagar.
• The Centre has notified that action would be taken against those who post videos and images of the protected Andaman and Nicobar Islands' tribal communities on social media.
• The Chinese government has ordered telecommunications firms to completely block access to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) by February 2018, in a crackdown aimed at suppressing dissent over the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party.
• The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has adopted 3 Codex standards for pepper (black, white and green), cumin and thyme. It is for first time pepper, cumin and thyme, spices will have such universal standards.
• The Competition Commission of India approved the merger of Vodafone India and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular.
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed India's first unmanned tank 'Muntra', which has three tested and validated remote-controlled variants - Muntra-S, Muntra-M, and Muntra-N.
• The Delhi government has released ₹100 crore for the completion of the Signature Bridge, which is twice the height of the Qutub Minar.
• The Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) has become the world’s first completely ‘green’ Metro system for adhering to green building norms for its residential colonies.
• The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will establish India’s first Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) at Patent Information Centre, Punjab.
• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has inked an agreement with 4  Private Sector Banks (ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank) and one Public Sector Bank (Bank of Baroda) for the purpose of collection of provident fund dues from the employers and payments to its subscribers.
• The European Union has approved a $6.1-billion (over ₹39,000 crore) state bailout for Italy's fourth largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
• The first successful rover called Sojourner was deployed on Mars' surface via NASA's Pathfinder mission 20 years ago on 5th July 1997.
• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has banned the use of stapler pins in tea bags from January 2018. 
• The French government has announced that the country will end sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 as part of an ambitious plan to meet its targets under the Paris climate accord.
• The Goa government has announced that it is discontinuing the Goa Yuva Samwad Yojana, a scheme through which people between 16 and 30 could avail free voice calls and internet data.
• The government has approved e-commerce giant Amazon's proposed $500 million (over ₹3,200 crore) foreign direct investment (FDI) in retailing of food products in India.
• The government is going to link promotions of IPS officers to their physical fitness.
• The government's 'Project Insight', which was built over seven years at a cost of $156 million, will enable catching tax evaders by keeping a tab on their social media posts.
• The Haryana government banned the use of liquid nitrogen in drinks and food.
• The Indian Army has signed MoU with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to raise one regiment of the advanced Medium Range Surface to Air Missiles (MRSAM) defence system.
• The Indian boxing contingent at the 48th Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem in the Czech Republic claimed five gold medals, two silver and one bronze medal at the event.
• The Indian contingent at the World Para Athletics Championship ended its campaign with five medals (1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze)
• The Indian Railways has launched RailCloud, a virtual server with an inbuilt security system that will enable faster connectivity at a reduced cost. 
• The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has announced that it will waive off the fees for transgender students, in all the courses that it offers.
• The Karnataka government has announced a 3-day global conference on social justice from July 21-23 at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru. Theme of this conference : 'Reclaiming Social Justice, Revisiting Ambedkar'.
• The Karnataka government has set up a 9-member committee to design a state flag (an identity symbol unique to the state). As of now, Jammu and Kashmir is the only state that has its own flag.
• The landmark India-Japan civil nuclear agreement came into effect on 21st July 2017. This deal would enable Japan to export nuclear power plant technology as well as provide finance for nuclear power plants in India.
• The Lucknow Metro will become India's first to have its own FM radio station, which will provide entertainment and information on metro safety. 
• The Maharashtra government has launched a scheme to cover medical insurance of up to ₹10 lakh for legislators and their families. This scheme is aimed at curbing the use of fake bills in the medical reimbursement scheme the legislators were covered under earlier.
• The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has received the approval to create a 12-km 'missing link' between Khopoli and Kusgaon, which will allow motorists to drive at 100 kmph.
• The much awaited 8% Pension scheme - Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana- for senior citizens aged 60 or above was formally launched by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• The Mumbai railways is going to introduce a software which will help commuters book tickets through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes.
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first-ever mission that will deflect a near-Earth asteroid.
• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed a complete ban on 'manja' (kite strings) made of or coated with any synthetic material that is non-biodegradable. 
• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has received final nod from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) and operate the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
• The National Zoological Park, New Delhi is going to launch an Animal Adoption Scheme. Citizens would be able to adopt an animal after paying a fixed amount of money, usually spent on food and medicines for the animal.
• The parliament has passed The Collection of Statistics (Amendment) Bill, 2017 after it was approved by the Rajya Sabha. This bill aims at amending the Collection of Statistics Bill, 2008, which facilitates the collection of statistics related to social, economic, demographic, scientific and environmental aspects, by central, state and local governments.
• The Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated Textiles India 2017 India’s first ever mega textiles trade fair at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had stopped printing the ₹2,000 currency notes about five months ago and has started printing the smaller denomination ₹200 notes.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to issue a new batch of ₹20 notes under the Mahatma Gandhi series-2005 soon. 
• The Reserve Bank of India is considering setting up of Public Credit Registry (PCR), an extensive database of bank loans. 
• The Roman Catholic Mediterranean island Malta became the 24th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage.
• The State Bank of India (SBI) has waived charges for fund transfer of up to ₹1,000 through its Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) to promote small transactions. SBI was earlier charging ₹5 along with service tax for such transfers of up to ₹1,000.
• The State Bank of India (SBI) launched SBI Realty, a dedicated portal that will help home buyers to choose flats from its 3,000 approved projects across the country. 
• The Telangana government has issued an ordinance to curb the "social evils" caused by online rummy card games.
• The Telangana School Education Department has issued an order capping the weight of school bags for students in primary, upper primary and high schools. The order directed school managements to ensure that the weight of a bag does not exceed 5 kilograms for class 10 students.
• The Telecom department has made it mandatory for all phones, including feature phones, to install Global Positioning System (GPS) from January 1, 2018.
• The Unesco World Heritage committee has put the West Bank city of Hebron's Old Town on its list of world heritage in danger, drawing outrage from Israel.
• The union cabinet has approved the establishment of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), South Asia Regional Center (ISARC) at campus of National Seed Research and Training Center (NSRTC) in Varanasi.
• The Union Finance Ministry has launched a new tax payer service module titled Aaykar Setu. The new e-initiative literally means taxpayer’s bridge and will be available in android phones.
• The Union Government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a $220 million loan agreement for improving connectivity as well as transport efficiency and safety on State Highways of Rajasthan.
• The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda launched the National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination (2017-22). This Strategic Plan gives year wise elimination targets in various parts of the country depending upon the endemicity of malaria in the next 5 years.
• The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued instructions to all states to stop using bouquets during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tours within India.
• The Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension has launched a new training programme titled Comprehensive Online Modified Modules on Induction Training (COMMIT) for State Government officials.
• The Union Ministry of Power has announced that about 97% of the total outstanding debt of all state power distribution companies (discoms) has been covered under the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY).
• The Union Ministry of Rural Development is going to launch Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY), a sub-scheme under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
• The Union Ministry of Rural Development launched Aarambh mobile app for performance based maintenance contracting and community contracting for maintenance of rural roads.
• The Union Ministry of Science & Technology has launched National Biopharma Mission, a first ever Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India.
• The Union Ministry of Science and Technology has launched SOHUM, an indigenously developed low-cost hearing screening device for newborns.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDA) has launched 'mAadhaar', a new app for syncing Aadhaar data on mobile phones. This app allows users to carry their Aadhaar information including name, date of birth, gender, address, and the linked photograph, on their smartphones.
• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)  has voted to leave Australia's Great Barrier Reef off its "List of World Heritage in Danger" despite several reports claiming major coral bleaching at the 2,300-km-long ecosystem.
• The United Nations has adopted a Global Draft Treaty banning nuclear weapons amid opposition from all nuclear-weapon states which boycotted the negotiations.
• The United States and Australia have jointly test-fired a hypersonic missile capable of moving at a speed eight times faster than sound as part of a $54-million research project. 
• The United States and Qatar signed an agreement on combating terrorism and terror financing.
• The United States has banned citizens from traveling to North Korea due to "the serious risk of arrest".
• The United States has deployed anti-aircraft missiles for the first time in the Baltics for use in NATO military drills in Lithuania.
• The United States has ended a four-month ban on flyers carrying laptops on US-bound flights from airports in North Africa and the Middle East.
• The United States of America (USA) has rolled out Global Entry programme (GEP), a pre-approved expedited entry clearance programme for low-risk Indian travellers. Indian Ambassador to US Navtej Sarna was the first Indian national to enroll in the programme
• The US Defence Department has recently announced that it will not make military reimbursements to Pakistan for 2016 fiscal.
• The US House of Representatives has passed a $621.5 billion defence policy bill which includes proposals of boosting defence cooperation with India.
• The US military successfully tested the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system by launching a ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean.
• The US Navy has officially inducted the world's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford. The nuclear-powered carrier is worth over ₹83,000 crore ($12.9 billion) and weighs 1 lakh tonnes.
• The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to introduce an 'Anti-Copying' Bill in the upcoming assembly session to check for cheating in the state examinations.
• The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a scheme on World Population Day (July 11), under which it will give a kit comprising condoms and oral contraceptive pills as 'shagun' to newly-weds.
• The Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has launched an online portal SHe-box (Sexual Harassment e-box) for the central government's women employees to file complaints related to workplace sexual harassment.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• The world's longest hanging pedestrian bridge, Europabrücke opened near the Swiss town of Zermatt.
• The world's smallest spacecraft ever launched have successfully been placed in low Earth orbit by ISRO's PSLV rocket. Named Sprites, the 3.5cmx3.5cm space probes weigh 4 grams each and run on sunlight.
• To develop Bengaluru as the international hub of computer graphics technology, the Cabinet approved the Karnataka Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Policy, 2017-22.
• To facilitate trade and to improve communication between the two countries, India and Bangladesh have decided to construct a bridge over Mizoram’s Khawthlangtuipui river (also known as Karnaphuli river).
• UK PM Theresa May published the landmark 'Brexit repeal bill' to end the supremacy of EU laws and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK.
• UK's first pregnant man, Hayden Cross, has given birth to a girl after putting his sex transition on hold to get pregnant by a sperm donor. Cross is UK's first transgender man to give birth.
• Union Cabinet gave its in-principle approval for sale of the government's 51.11% stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) to India's largest oil producer ONGC for ₹30,000 crore. After this, the HPCL will become a subsidiary of ONGC and will remain a listed company.
• Uruguay has become the 1st country in the world to allow the sale of marijuana for recreational use.
• US Navy successfully tested the world’s first-ever active Laser Weapons System (LaWS).
• Uttar Pradesh Power Minister Shrikant Sharma launched free power connection schemes for BPL families at 624 places across the state. 
• Uttarakhand banned begging, making it one of the twenty states and two union territories to have banned the practice.
• Venezuela's state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela has offered a 9% stake in an oil field to ONGC Videsh, the international arm of India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
• Vietnam has granted ONGC Videsh a two-year extension to explore oil block 128 in the South China Sea.
• Vietnamese capital Hanoi has approved a proposal to ban motorbikes, the city's most popular mode of transport, from its central streets by 2030. 
• Vondaraguppe village in Karnataka's Ramanagara district has transitioned to a completely cashless system.
• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway became the largest shareholder of Bank of America surpassing Vanguard Group by exercising its warrants to buy 700 million common shares. 
• With 24.1 crore active users, India has overtaken the United States to become Facebook's largest country audience, according to data shared by the platform for July.
• World youth boxing champion Sachin Siwach clinched a Gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.  .
• 'Yara Birkeland', the world's first ever self-driving ship worth ₹162 crore will set sail along a 60 km route in southern Norway without any crew member in 2018.
• Zimbabwe's Parliament passed a bill giving President Robert Mugabe power to appoint the country's top judges without consulting anyone. 

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