Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe was on july 20 elected as Sri Lanka's new President by Parliament, following a high-voltage political drama which saw his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country and resigning after a popular uprising against his government for mismanaging the economy.

The 73-year-old six-time former prime minister secured 134 votes in the 225-member House while his nearest rival and dissident ruling party leader Dullas Alahapperuma got 82.

Leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured just three votes.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced the result.

Wickremesinghe thanked Parliament for upholding democratic practices and sought support from both the presidential rivals as well as former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena. He also asked Tamil leaders to join him.

Syria announced on july 20  that it was severing ties with Ukraine in support of its close ally Russia, saying the move was a response to a similar move by Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky already announced he was severing ties with Syria late last month after Syria recognised the Russian-backed breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.

The breakaway states of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose independence Moscow recognised in February, are situated in the Donbas region at the centre of Russia's invasion of Ukraine which was launched on February 24.

Syria was the first country apart from Russia to recognise its independence. The government of President Bashar al-Assad, who has relied heavily on Russian support in his country's decades-old civil war, had already recognised two other Russian-sponsored breakaway republics in 2018.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but Russia and a handful of other countries recognise their independence.

The RBI on july 19  said that  it has decided to adopt a simple four-tiered regulatory framework for Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) based on size of deposits, with an aim to strengthen their financial soundness.

An expert committee, headed by former RBI deputy governor N S Vishwanathan, had made a host of recommendations for strengthening the UCBs.

The committee had recommended a four-tiered regulatory framework based on size of deposits of the banks and their area of operations, among other suggestions.

The differentiated regulatory approach was mainly recommended for key parameters such as net worth, Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR), branch expansion and exposure limits.

Membership to an Umbrella Organisation also formed a vital part of the recommendations.

The RBI has accepted several suggestions of the committee.

Specifically, a minimum net worth of Rs 2 crore for Tier 1 UCBs operating in single district and Rs 5 crore for all other UCBs (of all tiers) has been stipulated.

This, the RBI said, is expected to strengthen the financial resilience of the banks and enhance their ability to fund their growth.

As per the data reported by UCBs as on March 31, 2021, most of the banks already comply with the requirement.

The UCBs which do not meet the requirement will be provided a glide path of five years with intermediate milestones to facilitate smooth transition to the revised norms.

The RBI further said the minimum CRAR requirement for Tier 1 banks is retained at the present prescription of 9 per cent under current capital adequacy framework based on Basel I.

For Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 UCBs, while retaining the current capital adequacy framework, it has been decided to revise the minimum CRAR to 12 per cent so as to strengthen their capital structure, the central bank said.

The RBI also decided to introduce automatic route for branch expansion for UCBs which meet certain norms, in order to boost growth opportunities in the sector.

The committee had also made certain recommendations regarding Umbrella Organisation (UO) for the UCB sector.

On this, the RBI said it will be examined once the entity is fully operational.

The Reserve Bank had accorded regulatory approval for setting up of UO for UCB sector which will have a paid-up capital of Rs 300 crore.

The National Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation Limited (NCFDC) has been incorporated, which is in the process of enrolling UCBs as members.

As on March 31, 2021, there were 1,534 UCBs (53 scheduled and 1,481 non-scheduled) with an aggregate asset size of Rs 6,57,851 crore.

They constituted 3.4 per cent of the asset size of commercial banks.

The government on july 20  scrapped a week-old tax on the export of petrol and cut windfall taxes on overseas shipments of diesel and ATF as well as the one imposed on domestically produced crude oil after global oil prices fell.

While the Rs 6 a litre export duty on petrol was scrapped, the tax on the export of diesel and jet fuel (ATF) was cut by Rs 2 per litre each to Rs 11 and Rs 4 respectively.

The tax on domestically produced crude was also cut to Rs 17,000 per tonne from Rs 23,250, a move that will benefit producers like ONGC and Vedanta Ltd.

Also, overseas shipments from refineries located in export-focused ones were exempted from the levies that were imposed on July 1.

A total of 51,331 'Suryamitras' have been trained under the government's Suryamitra Skill Development Programme (SSDP) for the solar sector, of which 26,967 have got employment, Minister for New and Renewable Energy R K Singh said.

SSDP was launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in 2015 for creating skilled manpower for the installation, operation and maintenance of solar power projects, Singh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

To boost employment opportunities in the green energy sector, several other initiatives have also been taken, the minister said.

The ministry has launched the Jal-Urjamitra Skill Development Programme to train technicians for installation, operation, repair and maintenance of small hydropower projects. Vayumitra Skill Development Programme (VSDP) (Phase-1) has been launched for creating skilled and trained manpower for the maintenance of wind power projects.

The government is supporting educational and training organisations and NGOs to undertake short-term training courses on various aspects of renewable energy, specifically to create trained manpower for system design, installation, operation and maintenance of projects, he said.

India finished yet another ISSF Shooting World Cup campaign by topping the medal's tally with a haul of 15 medals, including five gold, six silver and four bronze  in Changwon  , South Korea on July 20 .

On the final day of competitions, the Indian trio of Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu and Sameer won the silver in the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol team event.

India had won all five ISSF World Cup stages in 2019, one in the curtailed 2021 season and yet again this year in the first stage in Cairo.

The next big assignment for the Indian rifle and pistol shooters will be the much-awaited ISSF World Championship scheduled in Cairo in October this year.

A good performance by the Indian shooters at the World Championships means they will have a chance to represent India at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The shotgun squad, on the other hand, will take part at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup, slated to take place in Osijek, Croatia in September.

Chess world number one Magnus Carlsen on July 20  announced that he would not defend his in 2023, but stressed that he was not retiring from chess.

Carlsen has repeatedly hinted that, bored with a title he has held for nearly 10 years, he may give up his throne without a fight.

The 31-year-old crushed Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi 7.5-3.5 in his fifth straight victorious title match last December.

A sixth successful title match would have brought Carlsen level with German Emanuel Lasker, the champion from 1894 to 1921, and Soviet Mikhail Botvinnik.

Botvinnik held the title between 1948 and 1963, although during that time he twice lost and regained the title and his two successful defences came in drawn matches.

Yogasana and Mallakhamba, which were successfully introduced in the Khelo India Youth Games, will make debut at the 36th National Games to be held in Gujarat from September 27 to October 10.

The two indigenous sports were for the first time included at the Khelo India Youth Games in Panchkula in May.

Announcing the inclusion of Yogasana and Mallakhamba, the Indian Olympic Association in a statement said the National Games will see a total of 36 sports and participation from all 28 states and eight Union Territories.

Themed 'Sports for Unity', the Games will take place in six cities of Gujarat -- Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar.

In the previous edition in Kerala in 2015, there were 33 sports on the roster.

Among other sports included in the Games are roller skating, softball and soft tennis, while beach handball, beach volleyball and yachting were excluded.