Lieutenant-General Mohan Subramanian of the Indian Army has been appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as his new Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Lt.Gen.Subramanian succeeds Lt.Gen.Shailesh Tinaikar, also from the Indian Army. Tinaikar was appointed by Guterres as the UNMISS Force Commander in May 2019.

Subramanian has a “distinguished military career with the Indian Army spanning over 36 years” and most recently, he served as the General Officer Commanding, Military Region (Operational and Logistic Readiness Zone) in central India, contributing to the Army's operational and logistic preparedness.

Previously, he served as the Additional Director General for Procurement and Equipment Management at the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army) (2019-2021), General Officer Commanding a Strike Infantry Division (2018-2019), Deputy General Officer Commanding of Infantry Division (2015-2016), Commander of a Mountain Brigade (2013-2014) among other appointments within the Indian Armed Forces.

He has served as India's Defence Attache to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (2008-2012) and as a Staff Officer with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone in 2000. He holds two Master of Philosophy degrees in Defence and Management Studies as well as in Social Sciences.

India is among the largest contributors of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping. The UN mission in South Sudan, a country born in July 2011, has 17,982 personnel deployed with it as of November 2021.

Tibetans in exile on july 6 celebrated the 87th birthday of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, in the north Indian hill town of Dharamshala.

The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) of the Tibetan government-in-exile organized the Dalai Lama's 87th birthday in Dharamshala. The Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama turned 87 on july 6.

The Dalai Lama, throughout his life in exile, has achieved prominence among the world's political, religious, and social leaders as a universal icon of peace, harmony and non-violence.

Cooking gas LPG price on July 6 was hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder, the third increase in rates since May on firming international energy prices.

Non-subsidised LPG now costs Rs 1,053 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital, up from Rs 1,003 previously.

Common households pay non-subsidised rates for the cooking gas they buy, after the government restricted subsidy to just poor beneficiaries who got connections under the Ujjwala scheme.

This is the third increase in the LPG rate since May and the fourth this year.

The country's unemployment rate has shot up at 7.80 per cent in June with the loss of 13 million jobs, mainly in the agriculture sector, according to the data released by economic think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The massive fall in number of jobs last month was triggered by higher unemployment rate in rural areas, which went up to 8.03 per cent from 6.62 per cent in May.

In urban areas, it was slightly better at 7.30 per cent compared to 7.12 per cent recorded in May, according to the CMIE data.

The highest rate of unemployment was witnessed in Haryana at 30.6 per cent followed by Rajasthan  at 29.8 per cent, Assam at 17.2 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir at 17.2 per cent, Bihar at 14 per cent, the data stated.

Top cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital on july 6 filed for bankruptcy in the US, after top crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) did the same last week, in which Voyager has made significant investments which the company is yet to get back.

It had significant investments in Singapore-based hedge fund 3AC, which failed to make payments on a loan of 15,250 Bitcoins and $350 million USDCs -- that makes the loan worth more than $650 million.

Earlier this week, Voyager suspended all trading, deposits, withdrawals and loyalty rewards on its platform.

Voyager has approximately $1.3 bn of crypto assets on the platform and more than $350 million of cash for customers.

The company said it has over $110 million of cash and owned crypto assets on hand, which will provide liquidity to support day-to-day operations.

Voyager said it was actively pursuing all available remedies for recovery from 3AC.

The development came as popular crypto tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum nosedived by nearly 70 per cent from their record highs amid the economic meltdown.

FMCG firm Dabur India promoter Burman family has now become the promoter of Eveready Industries, according to a regulatory filing by the Kolkata-based flashlight and battery maker.

Entities belonging to the family -- Puran Associates, VIC Enterprises, MB Finmart, Gyan Enterprises and Chowdry Associates -- now jointly own 38.38 per cent in Eveready Industries after the completion of an open offer in June.

These firms "have become the promoter of the target company," said a disclosure to bourses made by the company under SEBI's takeover regulation.

The investment firms of the Burman family entities had acquired a 14.55 per cent share of Eveready Industries from the open market in June and now collectively own a majority stake.

Prior to this, the family already had acquired a 23.83 per cent stake in Eveready Industries.

Besides Dabur, Burman family owns other businesses which include Aviva Life Insurance Co, Lite Bite Foods, HealthCare atHOME (HCAH) and Burman Hospitality, which is Taco Bell's master franchise partner in India.

Shikhar Dhawan was on july 6 named India captain for the three ODIs against the West Indies in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, while Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant were among those who have been rested for the series beginning on July 22 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Two other senior players, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami have also been rested.

Hardik Pandya, who recently made his India comeback following a successful IPL, is also not a part of the side.

Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Avesh Khan, who are not part of ODI squad for the series in England beginning July 12, have been included in the 16-member team for the West Indies tour.

Shubman Gill, who last played an ODI in December 2020, has also got the selectors' nod.

Ravindra Jadeja has been named Dhawan's deputy for the series.

Dhawan, who only plays ODI, had first captained the side during the tour of Sri Lanka last year when the Test specialists were in England.

All three games will be played in Port of Spain.

The games in the West Indies are the only ODIs India will play before the T20 World Cup in Australia and therefore, senior players being rested doesn't come entirely as a surprise.

After the ODIs, India will play five T20Is against the West Indies in the Caribbean and the United States, the squad for which is yet to be announced.

India's star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant blazed his way into a career-best fifth position in the latest ICC Test rankings announced on july 6, even as the out-of-form Virat Kohli dropped out of top-10 for the first time in six years.

Pant's meteoric rise in the rankings comes after his heroics in the recently-held COVID-delayed fifth Test between India and England in which he scored 146 and 57 across two innings.

It is worth mentioning that Pant scored two tons and three half centuries in his last six Test innings.

However, former India skipper Kohli dropped four places to 13th in the batting rankings, thanks to a prolonged lean run.

Interestingly, it is for the first time in six years that Kohli has found himself out of top 10 in the Test rankings.

Current Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who missed the Edgbaston Test after testing positive for COVID-19, also dropped one place in the rankings.

England batter Joe Root, who reigned supreme at Edbagston with a sublime 142 in England's second innings, consolidated his position at the top of the rankings with 923 points, with Australians Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith taking the second and third positions respectively.