To the many "firsts" filling Ons Jabeur's résumé, add a new one: First Arab woman to reach the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament.

The third-seeded Tunisian improved on last year's quarterfinal run at Wimbledon by doing one better on july 5 at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. She beat Marie Bouzkova 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 on Centre Court.

Tatjana Maria. The 34-year-old German, who twice took breaks from tennis to have a child, became the oldest first-time Grand Slam semifinalist in the Open era in her 35th appearance at such a tournament.

She defeated 22-year-old Jule Niemeier 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 on No.1 Court.

Jabeur has been setting record after record for Arab players in recent years. She became the first Arab woman to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament in 2020 at the Australian Open. In 2021, she was the first Arab player to break into the top 10 of the men's or women's rankings, then became the first Arab to win a WTA title, and topped it off with her record run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

A team of Raipur police from Chhattisgarh reached Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on july 5  to arrest TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan in connection with the airing of an alleged “misleading” news over a statement of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

However, the Raipur police were obstructed by their Uttar Pradesh counterparts who took Ranjan along with them, they claimed.

A case was registered against Ranjan and others of the Zee News on july 3  for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of people based on the complaint of Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal said .

A team was constituted to investigate the case and it was sent to Ghaziabad to arrest the accused, he said.

“Complying with the due process of law, the Raipur police team reached the residence of the accused in Ghaziabad this morning for the execution of the warrant issued by the competent court in the case.

After taking the accused into custody, the team was completing the procedure of arrest.

Meanwhile, the local police (Uttar Pradesh police) forcefully took the accused along with them and obstructed the procedure despite the Raipur police showing the warrant,” Agrawal said.

MLA Yadav in his complaint alleged that on July 1, a video, in which Rahul Gandhi described those attacking his Wayanad office as children and said he had no ill-will against them, was "mischievously" used by a TV channel to suggest he was forgiving the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal.

The complainant accused the director and chairman of Zee News, its Chief Executive Officer, and anchor Rohit Ranjan of conspiring to spread fabricated and fake news against Gandhi in a bid to incite communal riots and disturb social harmony, the police official said.

Earlier on July 2, Ranjan had apologized during his TV show for “mistakenly” playing Gandhi's statement out of context by linking it with the Udaipur murder case.

·       Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged an FIR against director Leena Manimekalai for deliberately hurting religious sentiments by tweeting a poster of her new documentary film 'Kaali', where a woman dressed as the Goddess is shown smoking a cigarette.

·       An FIR was registered on July 4 at Hazratganj Police Station on charges of criminal conspiracy, offence in the place of worship, deliberately hurting religious sentiments and intention to provoke breach of peace against the filmmaker.

·       The FIR has been lodged under Sections, 120-B, 153-B, 295, 295-A, 298, 504, 505(1)(b), 505(2), 66 and 67 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Delhi Police IFSO unit has filed the FIR under IPC sections 153A and 295A.

·       Earlier, a lawyer from Delhi, Vineet Jindal, registered a complaint against the filmmaker over the controversial poster, demanding a ban on the objectionable photo and the clip from the documentary showcased at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada.

·       According to Jindal, a woman dressed as Goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette, is "hurting the sentiments and beliefs of the Hindu community." Gau Mahasabha Member Ajay Gautam has also filed a complaint against Leena.

·       The poster of the documentary, shared on social media by the Madurai-born filmmaker depicts a woman dressed in a costume portraying the goddess and smoking a cigarette. A flag of the LGBT community is seen in the background. There was an uproar on social media for hurting religious sentiments with the depiction of Goddess Kaali.

·       In an ambitious move towards indigenisation the Indian Navy has proposed that at least 75 new indigenous technologies/products may be developed and inducted into the Navy in the coming year.

·       This is planned to be a part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to celebrate the 75th year of independence, Indian Navy on Monday said, “A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) and the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) to work on a collaborative project named SPRINT (Supporting Pole-Vaulting in Research & Development) through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and Technology Development Acceleration Cell (TDAC).”

·       “The Indian Navy in conjunction with DIO shall be unveiling the problem statements for Indian Industries as part of iDEX (SPRINT) during the NIIO Seminar ‘Swavlamban 2022’ scheduled on 18-19 July in New Delhi,” the navy added.

·       The purpose of the Seminar is to engage the Indian Industry and Academia towards achieving ‘Self-reliance in Defence Sector’.

·       Defence Acquisition Policy (DAP 2020) envisages the creation of ‘Innovation and Indigenisation Organisations (IIOs)’ within the Headquarters of the Army, Air Force and Navy. Accordingly, the ‘Naval Innovation & Indigenisation Organisation’ (NIIO) was launched on 13 Aug 20 by the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri.

·       The NIIO is a three-tiered mechanism headed by the Vice Chief of Naval Staff. At the apex level, the Naval Technology Acceleration Council (NTAC) has been constituted to bring together the twin aspects of innovation and indigenisation and accelerate the induction of disruptive combat technology into the Navy so as to enhance war fighting capabilities.

·       NTAC meets every six months and gives apex-level directives. It consists of ex-officio members as well as nominated members of proven technical expertise and standing, both from within the Indian Navy and civilians/scientists/industry.

·       The Naval Innovation & Indigenisation Organisation Working Group (NIIO WG) meets every two months and has been set up for seamless interactions across the Navy and with the MoD as envisaged in the DAP. The NIIO WG also functions as the Working level Committee of the NTAC. Meetings of the Working Group are co-chaired by the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Staff Requirements)/ Assistant Chief of Material (Modernisation) as the lead sponsors of combat capability development.

·       A dedicated organisation focused on innovation named the TDAC has also been created within the NIIO. Interacting with the academia and the industry, in addition to channelling in-house innovations by naval personnel is a part of its charter of duties.

A suicide bomber attacked a convoy of security forces in the North Waziristan tribal district on july 4, injuring at least 10 security personnel.

The attack on the convoy of the security forces was carried out near Khadi market in Mirali.

Deputy Commissioner of North Waziristan, Shahid Ali Khan confirmed the suicide bombing attack on the convoy saying that a total of 10 personnel were injured in the incident and three of them have suffered severe injuries.

Officials said that the convoy of the security forces was going from Mirali to Miramshah the district headquarters when a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up near one of the vehicles.

The attack occurred when the government was holding talks with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan which had declared a ceasefire for an indefinite period.

Terrorist activities are on the surge in Pakistan border areas, especially in the North Waziristan district due to political instability in Pakistan and its cross-border tensions with its neighbours.

The government on july 4 declared a state of emergency related to the prolonged heatwave and drought conditions that have badly hit the country, particularly it's north.

The state of emergency, which will remain in force until at least the end of the year, will give the government extra funds and power to deal with the hot and dry conditions that threaten to reduce the country's agricultural output by as much as a third.

The government also earmarked a total of 36.5 million euros (38.1 million U.S. dollars) for the northern regions of Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto to tackle their water shortages.

The focus will be placed on easing droughts along the Po River -- Italy's longest waterway that is running 85 per cent below its normal water levels -- and the Eastern Alps.

People relax at sunset on Po riverbed, Italy's largest river, which is turning into a long stretch of sand due to the lack of rain, is leaving the Lomellina rice flats — without the necessary water to flood the paddies.

Most areas in Italy have been gripped by record-high temperatures, with the mercury constantly surpassing 40 degrees Celsius.

The decree comes a day after a glacial landslide in northeastern Italy that killed at least seven people. High temperatures have been blamed for the glacial collapse.

China has rejected claims by the US space chief that Beijing might be contemplating a "takeover" of the Moon as part of its military space program, and accused Washington of seeking to turn space into a "warfighting domain".

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told German newspaper Bild in an interview that the world must "must be very concerned" about China potentially "landing on the moon and saying, 'it's ours now and you stay out".

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded to the accusations on july 4, saying that this was "not the first time that the head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China".

He also said that by 2035 Beijing might finish construction of its own Moon station and start experiments a year later.

The Enforcement Directorate on july 5  conducted searches at 44 places across the country in a money-laundering investigation against Chinese smartphone manufacturing company Vivo and related firms.

The searches are being carried out under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).