Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will host a regional summit next week with planetary stakes, as leaders of the countries that share the Amazon seek a roadmap to save the world's biggest rainforest.

The meeting of the eight-nation Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization in Belem, the capital of the Amazon state of Para, will serve as something of a dress rehearsal for the COP30 UN climate talks, which the city will also host in 2025.

A court in Australia's Queensland state has overturned a law that banned Sikh students to wear a kirpan, a religious article in Sikhism, on campus, calling the legislation "unconstitutional".

The ruling by the state's highest court came after Kamaljit Kaur Athwal took the state government to court last year, claiming that the ban discriminated against the kirpan -- one of five religious symbols that Sikhs are supposed to carry at all times as part of their faith.

Sikhs are required to wear a kirpan as part of their religious uniform as prescribed by their code of conduct. It's one of five religious symbols they carry at all times as part of their faith.

India has handed over INR 450 million in advance to Sri Lanka to fund its unique digital identity project, the most crucial step in the island nation's digitalisation programme being implemented through the Indian grant assistance.

The project aims to collect biographic and biometric information, including facial, iris, and fingerprint data, which will be stored in a centralised system to issue identification cards as per the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The implementation of the project would lead to more effective and efficient delivery of government services, poverty reduction and welfare programs; financial inclusion through better access to banking and other products/services.

The project commenced with the signing of a MoU between Sri Lanka and India in March 2022 and an Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Project Monitoring Committee (JPMC) for the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity Project (SL-UDI) was introduced.

Global prices for food commodities like rice and vegetable oil have risen for the first time in months after Russia pulled out of a wartime agreement allowing Ukraine to ship grain to the world, and India restricted some of its rice exports, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, increased 1.3 per cent in July over June, driven by higher costs for rice and vegetable oil. It was the first uptick since April when higher sugar prices bumped up the index slightly for the first time in a year.

Commodity prices have been falling since hitting record highs last year in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Disrupted supplies from the two countries exacerbated a global food crisis because they're leading suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products, especially to nations in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where millions are struggling with hunger.

Country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has announced a 178% rise in net profit to Rs 16,884 crore for the quarter ending June 30, mainly driven by fall in provisions for bad loans and higher interest income.

Bank’s net interest income, the difference between income earned and interest paid, jumped 25% to Rs 38,904.9 crore. Net interest margin, a key indicator of a profitability, rose to 3.47% from 3.23% a year ago. The public sector lender improved its asset quality as the bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio fell to 2.76% at June-end from 3.91% a year ago.

The net NPA ratio also improved to 0.71% in June 2023, as against 1% a year ago. Its gross NPA stood at Rs 91,327 crore as on June end this year compared to Rs 1.13 lakh crore in the same period previous year. Fall in bad loans helped the bank to make lower provisions. Provisions for the quarter fell 43% year-on-year to Rs 2,501.3 crore.

First quarter performance

Rs 16,884 cr SBI’s net profit in the first quarter of FY24

25% Growth in net interest income the first quarter

Rs 33 lakh cr Gross advances of the bank as on June end 2023

13.9% Growth in gross  advances in the first quarter of FY24

Rs 45.3 lakh cr Total deposits of the bank as on June end 2023

12% Growth in deposits in the first quarter of FY24.

The performance of the two stores opened by Apple in India has exceeded the initial expectations of the company, said its CEO Tim Cook.

Cook, in the company’s earnings call mentioned the company hit a June quarter revenue record in the country, and it grew double digits.

In April 2023, the US-tech giant opened two stores in India in Mumbai and Delhi. The market share of Apple has been growing in India in the past few years. According to the latest report by CyberMedia Research, Apple has just a 5% market share in the smartphone market in Q2 2023, recording a significant Year-on-Year increase of 62% in its shipments. However, the company is also a top contributor in the Premium segment (Rs 25,000) with 25% share.

Calling India’s market as the second largest smartphone market in the world, Cook said Apple ought to be doing really well here. Apple is also expanding its manufacturing operations in India. Its exports in FY23 increased almost fourfold to exceed $5 billion.

Honeywell announced Anant Maheshwari as President and CEO of Honeywell’s High Growth Region portfolio, effective September 4, 2023. He will succeed Ben Driggs, who will be taking another leadership role in the company.

Maheshwari will be a Corporate Officer of the Company, reporting directly to Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur and will be located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

In July, Maheshwari stepped down from Microsoft India. He was responsible for Microsoft’s overall business and presence in India, leading engagement with policymakers, customers, business partners and industry leaders.

Star athlete Jyothi Yarraji smashed her own 100m hurdles national record while winning a bronze medal at the World University Games  in Chengdu, located in central Sichuan Province in China

The 23-year-old Yarraji clocked 12.78 seconds to finish third in the women's 100m hurdles final, bettering her earlier national mark of 12.82 seconds which she had recorded in October 2022.

Viktoria Forster of Slovakia won gold, clocking 12.72, while Yanni Wu of China took the silver with a time of 12.76.

Another national record holder sprinter, Amlan Borgohain also won a bronze medal in men's 200m race with a season's best time of 20.55 seconds.

The 25-year-old missed his own national record of 20.52 by a whisker.

Tsebo Isadore Matsoso of South Africa won the gold with a time of 20.36 while Yudai Nishi of Japan was second in 20.46.