Danish police say three people were killed and three others are in critical condition after a shooting rampage on july 3  at a shopping mall in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen said the three victims were a man in his 40s and two young people.

A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested, Copenhagen police inspector Søren Thomassen told reporters, adding there was no indication that anyone else was involved in the attack, though police were still investigating.

Gun violence is relatively rare in Denmark. Thomassen said it was too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting, which happened in the late afternoon at Field's, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia and located on the outskirts of the Danish capital.

The suspect was an ethnic Dane, a phrase typically used to mean someone is white.

The shooting came a week after a mass shooting in neighbouring Norway, where police said a Norwegian man of Iranian origin opened fire during an LGBTQ festival, killing two and wounding more than 20.

It's the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police after going on a shooting spree in the capital that left two people dead and five police officers wounded.

In line with the government's COP26 commitments, the Ministry of Steel has asked the stakeholders to develop a time-bound action plan to lower emissions in the steel industry.

According to a ministry document, the iron and steel industry globally accounts for around 8 per cent of total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on an annual basis, whereas in India, it contributes 12 per cent to the total CO2 emissions.

Thus, the Indian steel industry needs to reduce its emissions substantially in view of the commitments made at the COP26 climate change conference.

India will meet a target of net zero emissions by 2070, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the COP26 global climate summit in November 2021.

In a meeting held recently, Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh "urged the stakeholders to develop a time-bound action plan and make concerted efforts for lowering the emissions from the steel industry in line with the commitments made by the Government in COP26".

Discussions were also held on the present scenario, the way forward for promoting the transition towards green steel, various strategies and technologies that can be adopted by the steel industry to produce green steel, and technology readiness levels, among others.

The use of green hydrogen in producing iron and the use of carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies for lowering emissions were also discussed at the meeting.

Gujarat and Karnataka have been ranked as the best performers in developing startup ecosystem for budding entrepreneurs, according to the ranking of states and Union territories by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT).

Among smaller states having population of less than one crore, Meghalaya has been adjudged as the best performer.

The rankings are based on the initiatives taken to develop the startup ecosystem for promoting budding entrepreneurs.

For the third time in a row, Gujarat was ranked as the best performer.

The exercise is aimed at supporting states and Union territories (UTs) in developing their startup ecosystem and learning from each other's best practices.

A total of 24 states and 7 UTs participated in the exercise, which ranked them under five categories -- best performers, top performers, leaders, aspiring leaders and emerging startup ecosystems.

The states and UTs were also ranked under these five categories based on the population of less than one crore.

Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir were categorised as the top performers.

Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, and Goa are in the leaders category.

States and UTs in the aspiring leaders' category include Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagaland.

According to the ranking, the emerging startup ecosystems category includes Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Mizoram and Ladakh.

They were evaluated across seven reform areas consisting of 26 action points, ranging from institutional support, fostering innovation, access to market, incubation and funding support.

The states' startup ranking 2021 was released by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal .

Goyal suggested all the stakeholders to aspire for becoming the number one start-up ecosystem in the world from the third position at present.

He also asked the states to share best practices and handhold each other in further improving the ecosystem.

The government, he said, has acted as a catalyst for startups rather than a controller through initiatives like Fund of Funds, Seed Fund Scheme, income tax exemption for three years and resolving the issue of Angel Tax.

On ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), the minister said that in the next five years the initiative would democratise the e-commerce sector.

ONDC will not only help domestic retailers "survive the onslaught" of big e-commerce firms but grow their businesses, improve profitability and customer service and become job creators, Goyal added.

At the recently concluded ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Goyal said the members of the multi-lateral body managed to agree on prohibiting subsidies for fishermen engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Startups can come up with solutions for Indian fishermen in areas like providing them safety or GPS systems so that they do not enter the waters of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, he said.

Further, the minister announced the mentorship, advisory, assistance, resilience, and growth (MAARG) portal.

It is a tool for startups that can be accessed from every corner of the country to request and connect with a mentor.

Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was on july 3  elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly during the first day of its special session.

Narvekar, who polled 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.

The Speaker's post was lying vacant since February last year after Nana Patole of the Congress resigned.

Narvekar (45) is the youngest ever Assembly Speaker in the country, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

His father-in-law Ramraje Naik of NCP is the chairperson of the Legislative Council.

Israel's outgoing premier Naftali Bennett on July 1  thanked his "dear friend" Prime Minister Narendra Modi for commending him for being "a true friend to India".

Israel's Parliament voted  to dissolve itself and send the country to the polls in November for the fifth time in less than four years.

Yair Lapid, Israel's foreign minister and architect of the outgoing coalition government, took over the prime ministership from Bennett to become the country's caretaker prime minister just after midnight on july 1

Yair Lapid officially became the 14th Prime Minister of Israel at the stroke of midnight between  June 30 and July 1 .Yair Lapid officially became the 14th Prime Minister of Israel at the stroke of midnight between  June 30 and July 1 .

·         A dozen US lawmakers have written a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to file a formal request for consultations with India at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over its "dangerous trade-distorting practices" that they claim have impacted the US farmers and ranchers.

·         The Congressmen stated that current WTO rules allowed the governments to subsidise up to 10 per cent of the value of commodity production. "However, the Indian government continues to subsidise more than half of the value of production for several commodities, including rice and wheat," they said.

·         India's "lack of rule-following" and the Biden administration's "lack of enforcement" have reshaped the global agricultural production and trade channels by driving down prices, depressing production of rice and wheat commodities, and putting American producers at a disproportionate disadvantage, the Congressmen alleged in the letter.

·         Several countries and organisations across the world have applauded India for taking a firm stand in protecting the interests of its farmers. The Geneva-based WTO is an intergovernmental organisation that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organisation to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade.

India on july 3  gifted 75 ambulances and 17 school buses to Nepal as part of its ongoing efforts to build on the "robust and longstanding" partnership between the two countries and help the Himalayan nation bolster its infrastructure in healthcare and education sectors.

India's newly-appointed Ambassador Naveen Srivastava handed over the keys of the vehicles in the presence of Devendra Paudel, Nepal's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The gifting of 75 ambulances also marks 75 years of India's Independence.

This initiative has been one of the long-standing traditions of the Indian government under the Nepal-India Development Partnership Programme to bolster efforts of the Nepal government to strengthen its infrastructure in health and education.

Paudel appreciated India's various ongoing developmental projects in Nepal and said these initiatives will continue to strengthen people-to-people linkages and improve relations between the two countries.

The 75 ambulances and 17 school buses will be handed over to various governmental departments and NGOs working in the healthcare and education sectors in various districts in Nepal.

In 2021, India gifted 39 ambulances equipped with ventilators to Nepal as part of its efforts to help Kathmandu in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similarly, in 2020, India gifted 41 ambulances and six school buses to Nepal on the occasion of the 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Nepal is important for India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often noted the age-old "Roti Beti" relationship.

The land-locked country relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services.

Nepal's access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India.