News in Short

• Neeraj Chopra created history as he became the only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold by winning the men's javelin throw final at Tokyo 2020.
• Neeraj ended India's 121-year wait for an athletics medal with his gold in the javelin final. Chopra threw the javelin 87.03m in his first throw and bettered it with 87.58m.
• He is independent India’s second Olympic gold medalist after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who bagged gold in Beijing 2008.

• An estimated 1.2 million snakebite deaths have happened in the country between 2000 and 2019. Snakebite envenoming is classified by WHO as a high-priority neglected tropical disease.
• About 5.4 million snake bites occur each year across the world, resulting in 1.8 to 2.7 million Many snakebite victims, mostly in developing countries, suffer from long-term complications such as deformities, contractures, amputations, visual impairment, renal complications, psychological distress.
• India has the highest number of snakebite cases in the world, accounting for nearly 50 per cent of the global snakebite deaths.
• Farmers, labourers, hunters, shepherds, snake rescuers, tribal and migrant populations, and those with limited access to education and healthcare are high-risk groups for snakebites.

• As a tribute to the martyrs, the government schools in Jammu and Kashmir will be renamed after troopers and officers of the Indian Army, police, and CRPF personnel who have sacrificed their lives for the country.
• The Divisional Commissioner Jammu has written a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Jammu, Doda, Reasi, Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua, Samba, Ramban, Kishtwar and Udhampur districts to identify government-run schools, which can be named after the martyrs.
• The Jammu and Kashmir government has asked the local authorities to form a committee at the district level to prepare such details after due verification.
• The committee can include representatives of the Indian Army, the SSP, ADC, DPO, or AC Panchayat.

• India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have agreed to work on “four pillars” of security cooperation, covering areas of marine security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, and cyber security.
• Their meeting marked the revival of NSA-level trilateral talks on maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region after a gap of six years.
• The ‘Colombo Security Conclave’ among the three neighbouring countries seeks to “further promote” maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region, and was initiated by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2011.

• The Taliban have captured their first provincial capital since launching an offensive to coincide with the departure of foreign troops.
• The city of Zaranj, provincial capital of Nimroz, has fallen to the Taliban. It is located in southwest Afghanistan near the Iranian border.
• The Afghan and US militaries have stepped up air strikes in their fight against the insurgents in a string of cities.
• Fighting in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict has intensified since May, when foreign forces began the final stage of a withdrawal due to be completed later this month.