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- Maharashtra Government approves total farm-loan waiver. The decision was taken in a meeting of steering committee and high-powered ministerial group led by Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil. Eligibility criterion for loan to be decided in joint meeting between farmer and government representatives.
Rafael Nadal, winner of Roland Garros 2017 - French Open 2017: Rafael Nadal beats Stanilas Wawrinka in straight sets to win 10th French Open title. Nadal, 31, came through 6-2 6-3 6-1 against the Swiss third seed to claim his 15th major title. He becomes the first man or woman in the Open era to have won a Grand Slam tournament 10 times. Nadal moves above Pete Sampras on the list of all-time Grand Slam winners into second place behind Roger Federer, who beat the Spaniard to win his 18th at the Australian Open in January. Only Australia’s Margaret Court has more victories at a single Grand Slam tournament, with 11 Australian Open wins between 1960 and 1973.
- Thespian Bengali actor, Soumitra Chatterjeehas been conferred with the France’s highest civilian honour, the coveted Legion of Honour. The award will be presented to the Kolkata-based actor by the Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler. The award comes to the octogenarian Bengali screen legend exactly 30 years after Satyajit Ray got the honour by the then French President Francois Mitterrand in 1987. Dadasaheb Phalke award winner, Chatterjee featured in some of Ray’s most talked about movies such as Apur Sansar, on one of the famous Apu trilogy, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri and Sonar Kella.
- Aiming to reduce emissions and promote sustainability to help India’s smart city programme, France and the European Union have extended a grant of 3.5 million euros under the ‘Moblise Your City’ (MYC) Three Indian cities-Nagpur, Kochi and Ahmedabad — will get the grant as part of the EU’s commitment under the Paris Climate agreement according to French Development Agency (AFD). More funds would be provided to India as the loan to take forward the smart city and sustainable transport initiatives in the three cities on the pilot basis. The MYC, supported by the French and German government, also has financial support from the European Union (EU).
- Furthering the agenda for cooperative federalism, NITI Aayog has launched SATH, a program providing ‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital’ with the State Governments. The vision of the program is to initiate transformation in the education and health sectors. The program addresses the need expressed by many states for technical support from NITI. NITI Aayog invited all States and Union Territories for the three-stage selection process out of which 16 responded. Five States were shortlisted post project presentation by 14 States. Subsequently, three States will be selected through further assessments. SATH programme will be implemented by NITI Aayog along with global consultancy McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium in the three selected States after the signing of MoUs.
- Michael Venus and Ryan Harrison defeated Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and American Donald Young 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 in the final at Roland Garros. Michael Venus became New Zealand’s first Grand Slam champion since 1974 when he partnered American Ryan Harrison to the French Open men’s doubles title. The 29-year-old is just New Zealand’s second Grand Slam winner in the modern era after Onny Parun teamed up with Australian Dick Crealy to win the men’s doubles crown in Paris 43 years ago.
- Jelena Ostapenko won her first Grand Slam title by beating Simona Halep 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in just under two hours in the women’s final of the French Open 2017. With this win, the unseeded Latvian became the youngest women’s champion at Roland Garros in 20 years. Ostapenko also recovered from a break behind in the third set and finished the contest with a flashing backhand winner to become the first unseeded player to win the title since Briton Margaret Scriven in 1933.
- The Goods and Services Tax Council on Sunday decided to reduce tax rates on 66 items including cashew nuts, packaged foods such as sauces and pickles, agarbatti, insulin, school bags, children’s colouring books, cutlery, and some tractor components. The Council has also reduced the tax rate on cinema tickets costing ₹100 or less
- AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) leader Panneerselvam announced the disbanding of the seven-member committee formed to negotiate terms of a merger with the ruling AIADMK (Amma) signalling a breakdown in efforts to unify the warring groups. Incidentally, though both AIADMK (PTA) and AIADMK (Amma) had constituted a panel each comprising seven members in April this year to work towards unification, the committees had never met formally.
- China today reacted guardedly to India’s plans to establish a tsunami warning system in the South China Sea, saying the proposal can be a part of the existing mechanism being operated by it since last year. China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, said its tsunami system in the area had begun issuing alerts though the system is under construction. China feels that India’s proposal should be a part of its system. China in the past had warned India to stay away from the hotly-contested waters, over which Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have counter claims. India has put in place its own tsunami-alert system after the 2004 deadly tsunami.
- Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand suffered his second defeat in the Altibox Norway chess tournament after losing to Anish Giri of Holland in the fourth round, here. After losing to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the second round, Anand got double black and the Indian star was under consistent pressure from a rejuvenated Giri who had been sharing the bottom of the table with Anand at the start of the fourth round.
- India and Israel set to expand defence ties. As India and Israel celebrate 25 years of their diplomatic relations, Tel Aviv has quietly emerged as one of the largest and trusted suppliers of defence equipment to the Indian armed forces, which rely heavily on imports. After protracted negotiations, the two countries are close to concluding a deal for Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles.
- Iran sends food to Qatar amid Gulf dispute. Iran’s flag carrier is flying vegetables to Qatar after Arab nations cut land, sea and air routes to the energy-rich Gulf nation. Saudi Arabia has sealed Qatar’s only land border, through which it had imported most of its food. Riyadh and its allies have severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and of being too close to Iran, charges denied by Doha.
- The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said on Sunday talks were ongoing with British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party with a view to supporting their minority government. The Conservatives lost their House of Commons majority in Thursday’s election and will not be able to govern without support from the DUP’s 10 Members of Parliament.
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