India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah dropped to second among bowlers while Hardik Pandya rose a whopping 13 places to eighth in the all-rounders' list after his strong show against England in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued on July 20 .

While India clinched a narrow 2-1 triumph in what was a thrilling ODI series, star pacer Bumrah was forced to miss the final match owing to back spasms, which cost him his top spot.

New Zealand quick Trent Boult reclaimed the top spot with 704 rating points as against Bumrah's 703.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam remains on top in the list for batters, with the Indian duo of Virat Kohli (fourth) and Rohit Sharma (fifth) and South Africa opener Quinton de Kock (sixth) all dropping a spot

Abdullah Shafique hit an epic 160 to anchor Pakistan's record chase of 342 at Galle as the tourists won a thrilling opening Test against Sri Lanka on July 20 .

The opener capped his marathon display with the winning runs in the final session on day five, jumping for joy and pumping his fist as Pakistan triumphed by four wickets for a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Shafique has been  named man of the match

The second Test starts on July 24, also in Galle, after it was moved from Colombo due to the political unrest in Sri Lanka.

Q1. Who among the following has been elected as the President of Sri Lanka ?

1. Gotabaya Rajapaksa
2. Anura Kumara Dissanayake
3. Dullas Alahapperuma
4. Ranil Wickremesinghe
5. None of These

Q2. Name the sport with which Magnus Carlsen  is associated ?

1. Golf
2. Chess
3. Snooker
4. Boxing
5. None of These

Q3. 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

1. Goa
2. UP
3. Gujarat
4. MP
5. None of These

Q4.  Name the country which has announced on July 20  that it was severing ties with Ukraine in support of its close ally Russia ?

1. Iran
2. Turkey
3. Lebanon
4. Syria
5. None of These

Q5. Lira is the currency of

1. Turkey
2. Italy
3. Malta
4. Spain
5. None of These

Answers

1--------------------4    Ranil Wickremesinghe

2------------------------2   Chess

3-------------------------3   Gujarat 

Joint opposition candidate for the vice presidential election Margaret Alva on july 19  filed her nomination papers for the post and was accompanied by a host of leaders.

The vice presidential poll will be held on August 6 to elect the successor to M Venkaiah Naidu, whose term ends on August 10.

Several opposition leaders, including Congress' Rahul Gandhi, NCP's Sharad Pawar, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, were present during her nomination filing.

July 19 is the last date for submission of nominations for the vice presidential election.

Alva, 80, is pitted against NDA's Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned as West Bengal governor after being nominated.

Former Rajasthan governor and Congress veteran Alva was unanimously chosen as the joint opposition candidate for the post of vice president .

All MPs of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, comprise the electoral college for the vice president's election.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on july 19  arrested former Mumbai Police commissioner Sanjay Pandey in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal phone tapping of NSE employees.

The retired 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was taken into custody by the federal probe agency after more than seven hours of questioning in the case.

The ED had last week arrested former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna in the case.

Pandey retired from service on June 30.

Before his four-month stint as Mumbai's commissioner of police, Pandey served as the acting Maharashtra director general of police.

The Centre has notified amendments to environmental impact assessment rules, exempting highway projects related to defence and strategic importance within 100 km of the Line of Control or the border from the requirement of environmental clearance.

The notification issued by the Union Environment Ministry also exempts projects pertaining to the expansion of terminal buildings at airports (without an increase in the existing area of the airport) from seeking a green nod.

Over 3.92 lakh Indians gave up their citizenship in the last three years and 1.70 lakh of them, the highest, took up American citizenship, Lok Sabha was informed on july 19.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said that according to details provided by the Ministry of External Affairs, individuals renounced Indian citizenship for reasons personal to them and took citizenship in over 120 countries.

A total of 3,92,643 Indians gave up their citizenship in 2019, 2020 and 2021, he said in a written reply to a question.

Of these, 1,70,795 people took up American citizenship, 64,071 took up citizenship in Canada, 58,391 in Australia, 35,435 in the United Kingdom, 12,131 in Italy, 8,882 in New Zealand, 7,046 in Singapore, 6,690 in Germany, 3,754 in Sweden and 48 in Pakistan, among others.

The number of Indians who relinquished Indian Citizenship in 2019 and 2020 are 1,44,017 and 85,256 respectively.

A maximum of 78,284 Indians relinquished Indian Citizenship and received citizenship of the USA followed by 23,533 who took citizenship in Australia; 21,597 in Canada; and 14,637 in the UK in 2021.

The Railways has removed on-board service charges on all meals and beverages that are not pre-ordered on premium trains. But there is a catch -- the Rs 50 charge has been added to the prices of snacks, lunches and dinners.

The prices of tea and coffee will be the same for all passengers, who have pre-booked it or ordered those on the train, and will see no increase in the rates.

Under the previous norm of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), if the person has not booked their meals along with their train ticket, they had to pay an additional Rs 50 while ordering food during the journey, even if it is just a Rs 20 cup of tea or coffee.

Now, a passenger on board premium trains like Rajdhani, Duronto or Shatabdi who haven't pre-booked their meals, will pay Rs 20 for tea (similar to the amount paid by those who pre-booked their meals).