National:

Lucia wins award at London Indian film fete Director Pawan Kumar’s Kannada film 'Lucia' has won the Audience Award at the fourth London Indian Film Festival. The inventive crowd-funded film was powered by the U.K.-based online outfit, Distrify. Anurag Goswami won the Satyajit Ray Foundation’s short film award for 'Kaun Kamleshwar?' , while the Special Jury Mention went to Vikram Dasgupta for 'Calcutta Taxi'

Lokmanya Tilak Award for Sreedharan "Metro Man" E Sreedharan has been selected for the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak award for 2013 for his outstanding contribution to society. The name of Sreedharan, considered as the architect of the ambitious Delhi metro project. The Padmashree laureate is also credited for pulling off the Konkan Railway project. The award consists of a gold medal, memento, citation and Rs.1 lakh in cash. Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, will present the award on August 1 at a function in Mumbai.

International:

Ex- Sri Lankan CJ summoned over bribery charges The Colombo Magistrate Court has issued summons to former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, asking her to appear in court on September 16, in connection with a case filed by the Bribery Commission. In January 2013, President Mahinda Rajapaksa dismissed the former Chief Justice of on charges of corruption. Her impeachment, followed soon by the appointment of former Attorney-General Mohan Peiris in her place.

Gas pipeline links China and Myanmar The first phase of the Myanmar-China gas pipeline became operational with China expecting 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas from its neighbour every year. This will pave the way for a more important oil pipeline project that will enable China to move crude from West Asia from the Indian Ocean through Myanmar. The 793 km gas pipeline connects Myanmar's coast on the Bay of Bengal with southwest China's Yunnan province. China is also involved in the construction parallel 771km oil pipeline that will reduce China's dependence on the crowded Malacca Straits for shipping oil. The main players in the gas and oil projects are state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and Myanmar's national petroleum company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. Four other companies from India and South Korea have financial stakes in the project.

UK school bans skirts for girls as young as 9 A UK school has banned skirts for girls as young as nine citing concerns over shrinking hemlines and the pupils appearing very “unladylike”. Girls from Walkwood Church of England Middle School in Redditch, Worcestershire, have been told to wear trousers from September amid concerns over shrinking hemlines. The school will also ban female pupils from donning blouses from 2014 to ensure boys and girls wear the same uniform.

Business & Economy:

RBI eases curbs on payment gateways The stand-off between electronic payment gateway PayPal and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appears to be winding down, with the central bank allowing all such gateway service providers to substantially increase their export-related transaction value limits. Indian merchants that use PayPal will now be able to receive up to $10,000 per transaction, with the company increasing the receiving limit from the earlier $3,000. The RBI had earlier effectively grounded service providers like PayPal when it issued a circular that mandated that the value of transactions should not exceed $500. This was later increased to $3,000 nearly two years ago.

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Sebi tightens disclosure norms for hedge funds Sebi has tightened disclosure norms for hedge funds and other Alternative Investment Funds using complex trading strategies, especially for those leveraging investments for higher returns or borrowings. Such funds have been asked to have a comprehensive risk management framework and a strong compliance function as per their size, complexity and risk profile. They have also been asked to maintain appropriate records of their trades and provide full disclosure of their trade management practises and any conflict of interest to Sebi.

Direct plans form 25 pct of total AUM of Mutual Fund industry Direct plans in the mutual fund industry now constitute 25 per cent of total assets under management (AUM), up from 15 per cent in the previous quarter, a report by Crisil Research said. Direct plan, launched in January 2013 as per Sebi direction, provides an option to investors to subscribe to various mutual fund schemes directly without the help of any distributor or agent. The direct plan route is increasingly attracting large investors, especially to debt fund schemes. As per the report, within debt category, liquid and ultra short-term debt funds were the highest contributors to the AUM of direct plans.

IMF approves $2.29 billion payment for Greece The International Monetary Fund has approved a further $2.29 billion payment to Greece as the latest installment of a bailout programme. The latest payout brings the IMF's total disbursements in the Greek rescue programme to $10.94 billion.

Easun Reyrolle buys stake in Australian co Easun Reyrolle Limited, through its wholly owned subsidiary and overseas investment organ, ERL International Pte Limited, bought 82 per cent equity and ownership control in Electrical Distribution Solutions Pty Limited, (EDS) based in Australia. Recently, ERL India obtained order from EDS to supply medium voltage switchgear products to Australian Utility, Energex in the State of Queensland. The total value of this order is $ 84 million.

Sport:

India emerges champion India won the Youth Chess Olympiad at Chongqing, China. In the final round, second-seeded India thrashed Iran 3.5-0.5 to take its tally to 18 points, one point ahead of top seed Russia, which finished runner-up. Turkey came third with 15 points. In the 10th round of the premier World team championship in the under-16 category, India won three out of its four games.

Isner clinches title Top-seeded John Isner saved two match points then dominated the closing tie-breaker to beat Kevin Anderson 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 7-6(2) to win the ATP Atlanta Open. In a match billed as the ‘tallest final’ in the history of the ATP Tour, the 2.06m Isner fired 24 aces to the 21 of the 2.03m Anderson and saved all 11 break points.

IHF gets new president The Indian Hockey Federation named K.D. Singh as its new president after incumbent Dinesh Reddy expressed his inability to continue. Reddy, the Director General of Police in Andhra Pradesh, cited work pressure and hectic schedule as the reason for resigning. Singh, one of the vice-presidents of IHF, was elevated.

Posthumous honour for former star Thousands braved a heavy downpour to see their club Mohun Bagan accord its highest order of merit (Mohun Bagan Ratna) posthumously to the star of the 1930s Balaidas Chatterjee. The honour was received by his grandson Biswajit. Commemorating the historic IFA Shield triumph against the British East York Regiment in 1911, the club organises its annual awards function on this day.

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Pakistan win T20 series too Umar Akmal smashed an unbeaten 46 and ’s spinners restricted the world champion West Indies in an 11-run victory in the second Twenty20 international, clinching the two-match series 2-0 . The team has risen to No. 2 in the ICC Twenty20 rankings, behind Sri Lanka. West Indies dropped to No. 4, one spot back from India.

Ray Price retires Zimbabwean left-arm spinner Ray Price, part of the team for the ongoing ODIs against India, has decided to call it quits from international in the middle of the five-match series after failing to get a single game so far. Price finishes his ODI career with 100 in 102 matches along with the 80 scalps in 22 Tests. His Twenty20 -count stood at 13 from 16 matches.

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