JULY GK

[Sanket Pargaien]

INTERNATIONAL:

- James Holmes charged with 24 counts of murder and 116 counts of attempted murder in the shooting rampage at the midnight showing of the new Batman movie.

- Barclays chairman Marcus Agius resigns following the Libor interest rate scandal.

- Hong Kong marks the fifteenth anniversary of the handover from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. 

-NASA and Lockheed Martin unveil the first space-bound Orion spacecraft in Cape Canaveral.

- South Korea announces plans to start "scientific" whaling of minke whales at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Panama City. 

- The United States declares Afghanistan one of its major non-NATO allies, a designation that permits it to buy advanced U.S. weaponry.

- Thousands of computer users around the world lose Internet access as a result of the expiration of a Federal Bureau of Investigation temporary fix to the Internet Doomsday virus.

- A court in Jerusalem convicts the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert on one count of "breach of trust" and acquits him on two fraud counts.

- The Russian Wikipedia goes blank for 24 hours in a protest over legislation before the State Duma that would allow the creation of a unified digital blacklist of all websites containing banned content. 

- The US city of San Bernardino becomes the third city in the state of California to file for bankruptcy protection following Stockton and Mammoth Lakes.

- Court documents reveal former FIFA president João Havelange had accepted bribes upwards of 1.5m Swiss francs.

- Astronomers announce the discovery of S/2012 P 1, the fifth moon of Pluto. 

- Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is appointed United Nations special envoy for education.

- Marissa Mayer, who was a top executive at Google for the past 13 years, is appointed Yahoo! Inc.'s CEO.

- The sunken German U-Boat U-550 is discovered off the coast of Massachusetts, United States.

- Pakistan decides to reopen key NATO supply routes into Afghanistan after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized for a NATO airstrike that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers and officials in November 2011.

- The Shard, the tallest building in Europe and the tallest habitable free-standing structure in the UK at 309.6 metres (1,016 ft), is officially opened.

- Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi's order to reopen parliament is rejected by the highest court, stating that its ruling dissolving the assembly is binding.

NATIONAL:

- Indian actor Rajesh Khanna dies at 69 in Mumbai after a prolonged illness.

- Pranab Mukherjee is elected as the new President of India.

- Fighting between indigenous tribes and Muslim settlers in Assam, northeast India kills at least 19 people, causing 50,000 people to flee.

- Nine people are killed overnight in ethnic clashes in the Indian state of Assam with the total death toll since last Friday being 35.

- A train fire kills 32 passengers and injures 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India. 

- A power grid failure in Delhi leaves more than 300 million people without power in northern India. Minister for Power Sushilkumar Shinde announces that all those affected should have power restored within "hours".

- A second power cut hits northern India and leaves 670 million people without electricity.

- The northeastern power grid also fails becoming the third after the north and eastern grids.

- 1 person was killed and atleast 40 were injured in a clash between the workers and the managerial staff at the Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar plant.

SPORTS:

- Spain defeated Italy 4-0 in the EURO FINAL in Kiev, Spain becoming the first country to win three International Tournaments in a row.

- Robin van Persie is willing to join Manchester United if they are ready to pay him £220,000-a-week which is similar to striker Wayne Rooney's wages.

-Tottenham have reportedly agreed a £36m fee with Real Madrid for Luka Modric.

- American gambler Antonio Esfandiari wins the 2012 World Series of Poker $1,000,000 Buy-In "The Big One for One Drop" with the highest prize money in poker of $18.3 million.

- Andy Murray makes it to the final of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles, becoming the first Briton to do so in 74 years.

- Serena Williams of the United States beats Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the final of the Women's Singles.

- Britain's Jonathan Marray and Denmark's Frederik Nielsen win Wimbledon's men's double final by three sets to two. Marray becomes the first Briton to win such a match since 1936.

- South Africa cricket player Mark Boucher ends his career after sustaining an eye injury during the tour of England.

- Luis Garcia del Moral, Michele Ferrari, and Jose "Pepe" Marti, who were former staff members and consultants for Lance Armstrong's winning Tour de France teams, are banned for life from sports by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

- The International Cycling Union (UCI) announces that Fränk Schleck failed a drugs test at the Tour de France; he withdraws from the event.

- Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France after coming first in this year's race. 

- The 2012 Summer Olympics commences in Great Britain with the Women's football tournament. 

- Andriy Shevchenko announces his retirement from football in order to go into politics.

- Michael Phelps of the United States wins a record 19th Olympic medal, with gold in the 4x200 metres freestyle relay.