 The Germany forward player & World Cup winner, Andre Schurrle has announced retirement from the sport. He helped his country to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He represented Germany in 57 matches, scoring 22 goals. He also played for Chelsea from 2013-15 and also won a Premier League winners medal in 2015. |
 A mission titled as “Hope” has been launched to “Mars” by the United Arab Emirates. With the help of mission, UAE aims to provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere for the first time, studying daily and seasonal changes. An unmanned “Hope” Probe blasted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 1:58 a.m. (UAE time) for a seven-month journey to the red planet and is expected to enter Mars orbit by February 2021, which also marks the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE, an alliance of seven emirates. Rest of the journey of “Hope” would be tracked by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai. The Hope probe constitutes three different instruments namely an imager and two spectrometers. The “Imager” will facilitate detailed images of the planet’s surface while all three will provide data to the scientists in order to track what ingredients are located where in the atmosphere of Mars. The probe will not land on the Red Planet, but instead orbit it for a whole Martian year i.e. for 687 days. The “Hope” mission to “Mars”, also called Emirates Mars Mission costed $200 million and is UAE’s first foray into interplanetary exploration. With the launch, UAE is targeting to build a human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years. |
 The mobile application of PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) has been launched. It aims to offer user friendly digital interface to the Lending Institutions (LIs) as well as to their field functionaries in order to source and process loan applications to the street vendors under the scheme. The launch of the mobile app is a step towards boosting the use of digital technology and will ensure maximum coverage of the scheme. The mobile app will promote paper-less digital accessing of micro-credit facilities by the Street Vendors and will give impetus to the implementation strategy of the PM SVANidhi scheme. The application have various features such as vendor search in the survey data, e-KYC of applicants, processing of applications, as well as real time monitoring. |
 An e-Portal named “Automobile Solutions Portal for Industry, Research & Education (ASPIRE)” has been launched by the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT). The portal has been launched to improve the technological capability of Indian automotive sector with the help of exchange of knowledge & expertise, to make them self reliant and to enable the growth of automobile sector including overall socio-economic progress of the country. ASPIRE will act as an one stop solution and will enable the Indian auto industry, R&D institutions and academia to come together for R&D, technology development, expert opinions etc. on issues involving technology advancements. The portal is a part of strategy devised by the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Government of India, under the leadership of Secretary, Heavy Industries, to promote innovation, R&D and product development in India. |
 United Nations celebrates World Chess Day globally on 20 July every year. The day marks the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924. It also provides an important platform to foster, dialogue, solidarity and culture of peace along with recognizing the instrumental role played by the FIDE in supporting international cooperation for chess activity and aiming to improve friendly harmony among all peoples of the world. To celebrate the International Chess Day 2020 top chess personalities will participate in a high-level virtual event “Chess for Recovering Better”. |
 National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) organised its first ‘Digital Choupal’ to mark its 39th foundation day. “Digital Choupal” was conducted in the form of a video conference which was attended by participants of different projects initiated by NABARD, to share their experiences about the projects they are involved in. During the ‘Digital Choupal’ session, NABARD also announced Rs 5,000 crore of refinance scheme for banks and financial institutions. With this refinance scheme, the development finance institution aims to offer finance to the beneficiaries of its 2,150 watershed development projects. It also assigned another Rs 5,000 crore to transform Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) into multi service centres. This concessional line of assistance will be available for a period of three years from 2020-21 to 2022-23. NABARD has planned to upgrade 5,000 PACS in the fiscal year 2021, followed by 15,000 PACS in fiscal year 2022 and 15,000 PACS in fiscal year 2023. |
 Dutch Football legend Wim Suurbier passed away. He was a key member of the 1970s squad of Netherlands who played in two World Cup finals. He also achieved the rare feat of playing in consecutive FIFA World Cup Finals in year 1974 and 1978, that his country lost to West Germany and Argentina. He ended his national team career spanning 12 years with 60 caps. Wim Suurbier also played for club Ajax Amsterdam. He played 509 matches for the club and won three European championships from 1964 to 1977. He was described by the club as the “first modern back of the Netherlands” as well as the “king of Dutch football humour”. |
 The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Bakamla RI (Indonesian Coast Guard) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on ‘Maritime Safety and Security’ to boost maritime relations. India and Indonesia are historically connected through the Indian Ocean and it has been the resolve of both nations to ensure safe and secure sea passage for all seafarers in the region. This MoU will strengthen cooperation by augmenting information exchange mechanisms. This real-time Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) will then be the foundation for controlling and responding to incidents of piracy, smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal migration and other such maritime crimes which will bring safety and security to the region and also result in protection of our precious marine environment. The MoU will also provide avenues to improve our interoperability and carry out joint search and rescue when required. |
 Wrestler-turned-actor, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has been named Instagram’s highest-paid celebrity. Dwayne has dethroned Kylie Jenner as Instagram’s highest-paid celebrity. According to social media marketing firm Hopper HQ, Johnson has 189 million followers while Jenner has 183 million followers. He can charge advertisers roughly $1,015,000 for a sponsored post. He was also named Hollywood’s highest-paid actor of 2019 by Forbes. |
 Mobility platform Ola has entered into a partnership with digital payments platform PhonePe to expand payment options for riders. The partnership will help the mobility platform enable better digital payments experience on its Ola app. Ola customers across the country can now pay for their ride using PhonePe. It will also benefit the digital payments platform in order to help it expand its user base. Ola’s customers can use all of PhonePe’s payment options, including the PhonePe wallet, to make payments in addition to UPI. Ola had recently launched its Ride Safe India encouraging customers to opt for digital payment channels amid Covid-19 to minimise the risk of exposure and avoid physical contact. |
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