Pakistan's renowned national snooker player Majid Ali, who was reportedly suffering from acute depression, took his own life in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The 28-year-old player, who won a silver medal in the 2013 Asian Under 21 Snooker championship and bronze in the 2018 World 6-Red Snooker championship, was reportedly a patient of depression for the last few years and he took his life on  Jul 1 .

Philippine tourism officials were left red-faced after the creators of a video promoting the archipelago nation as a holiday destination said  that they had used stock shots from other countries.

Advertising agency DDB Philippines apologised for the "highly inappropriate" images, which included rice terraces in Indonesia and sand dunes in Brazil.

The agency was behind the video for the government's $900,000 "Love The Philippines" tourism campaign launched on June 27.

Far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was barred from running for office again until 2030 after a panel of judges concluded that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

The decision upends the 68-year-old’s political future and likely erases any chance for him to regain power.

Five judges on the nation’s highest electoral court agreed that Bolsonaro used government communication channels to promote his campaign and sowed distrust about the vote. Two judges voted against the move.

The case focused on a July 18, 2022, meeting where Bolsonaro used government staffers, the state television channel and the presidential palace in Brasilia to tell foreign ambassadors that the country’s electronic voting system was rigged.

Former President Fernando Collor de Mello and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were declared ineligible in the past, but Bolsonaro’s case marks the first time a president has been suspended for election violations rather than a criminal offense. Brazilian law forbids candidates with criminal sentences from running for office.

Lula’s eligibility was reinstated by Brazil’s top court following rulings that then-judge and now Sen. Sergio Moro was biased when he sentenced the leftist leader to almost 10 years in prison for corruption and money laundering.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologized for his country's role in slavery and asked for forgiveness in a historic speech greeted by cheers and whoops at an event to commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery.

The king’s speech followed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's apology late last year for the country’s role in the slave trade and slavery. It is part of a wider reckoning with colonial histories in the West that have been spurred in recent years by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Slavery was abolished in Suriname and the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean on July 1, 1863, but most of the enslaved labourers were forced to continue working on plantations for a further 10 years.

In 2018, Denmark apologized to Ghana, which it colonized from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. King Philippe of Belgium has expressed "deepest regrets" for abuses in Congo. In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the church's role in slavery. Americans have had emotionally charged disputes over taking down statues of slaveholders in the South.

In April, King Charles III for the first time signalled support for research into the U.K. monarchy's ties to slavery after a document showed an ancestor with shares in a slave-trading company.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman  has said the public sector banks' profit in the last nine years has tripled to Rs 1.04 lakh crore due to initiatives taken by the government and underlined the need for continuing the momentum to fuel the economy.

The net profit of public sector banks (PSBs) has almost tripled to Rs 1.04 lakh crore in FY23 from Rs 36,270 crore in FY2014.

The finance minister said that there was a time when the Indian economy faced the problem of twin balance sheets -- stress on the balance sheets of banks and corporate at the same time.

The 4R strategy followed by the Modi government to revitalise the state-owned banks has yielded results, she said.

The 4R strategy refers to recognising the problem of non-performing assets, recapitalising the banks, resolving their problems, and reforming them.

Cash-strapped Go First has  announced extending the cancellation of its scheduled flights till July 6.

The airline, which is undergoing insolvency resolution process, stopped flying from May 3 and since then, it has extended cancellation of flights multiple times.

The company has filed an application for immediate resolution and revival of operations.

The revival process gathered pace after the formation of the airline's Committee of Creditors (CoC), comprising Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Deutsche Bank, on June 10.

Lenders have committed an interim funding of around Rs 450 crore, considering a day's operations are expected to cost around Rs 10 crore.

World Championship bronze medallist boxers Deepak Bhoria (51kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg) were named in the Indian men's boxing team for this year's Asian Games in Hangzhou, China after undergoing assessment.

Parveen Hooda (57kg), the 2022 World Championship bronze medallist, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jaismine Lamboria (60kg), Arundhati Chaudhary and Preeti Pawar joined star boxers Nikhat Zareen (51kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) in the women's team for the continental event to be held from September 23 to October 8.

The Asiad boxing competitions assume greater significance as they are also the first Olympic Qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Games for the boxers from the continent.

Squad

Women: Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Parveen Hooda (57kg), Jaismine Lamboria 60kg, Arundhati Chaudhary (66kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg).

Men: Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Sachin Siwach (57kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Lakshya Chahar (80kg), Sanjeet 92kg, Narender Berwal (+92kg).

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra clinched the prestigious Diamond League title for the second consecutive time by throwing his spear to 87.66m.

But the coveted 90m mark eluded the star Indian javelin thrower yet again.

Coming back from a one-month injury lay-off, Chopra's title-winning performance at the Lausanne leg in challenging conditions was below his own top-10 efforts but he still stamped his authority in the prestigious One-day meet.

The 25-year-old Chopra, who had skipped three top events due to a muscle strain he sustained last month, had won the season-opening Diamond League in Doha on May 5 with his fourth career-best throw of 88.67m.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to congratulate the champion athlete on his latest achievement.

Germany's Julian Weber was second with a best throw of 87.03m, while Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and season-leader Jakub Vadlejch (SB: 89.51m) of the Czech Republic was third with an 86.13m effort.

Reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who has been struggling for form, was fifth with a best throw of 82.23m.

Chopra had won the Lausanne leg in August last year also for his maiden Diamond League title.

A month later, he became the first Indian Diamond League champion after winning the 2022 grand finale in Zurich.

The Indian superstar, who has a personal best of 89.94m, cemented his top spot in the Diamond League standings with 16 points, followed by Vadlejch (13 points) and Weber (12 points).

Following the Lausanne event, men's javelin throw will also be a part of the roster in the Monaco and Zurich legs on July 21 and August 31 respectively before the Diamond League grand finale in Eugene, USA, on September 16-17.