# Karnataka

• The Karnataka government decided on Thursday to repeal the Karnataka protection of Right to Freedom of Religion act popularly known as anti conversion law, brought in by the previous BJP government in 2021.
• The government will introduce a bill in this regard in the upcoming legislature session, which begins on July 3.
• Karnataka cabinet also decides to repeal APMC act amended by BJP government and restore the original act.

# USA

• The defense ministry on Thursday approved the major acquisition of 31 weaponised predator or MQ-9B Sea guardian drones from the US.
• The formal announcement of the mega deal will be done during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington next week.
• The defense acquisition council, chaired by Defense minister Rajnath Singh, accorded the initial ‘acceptance of necessity’ to the estimated $3.5 billion procurement of the hunter killer drone.
• The induction of 31 predator drones include 15 for the Navy and eight each for the Navy and the airforce.

# BSE

• India’s market capitalization scaled a new peak on Thursday as it hit the the ₹295 lakh crore on the back of sustained foreign fund buying since March.
• The BSE market capitalization – the value of all its listed companies – closed marginally lower at ₹293.5 lakh crore at the end of trading.
• The highest ever market cap close was at ₹294.8 lakh crore on December 14, 2022.
• In dollar terms, with $3.4 trillion mcap, India is the fifth largest stock market in the world.

# Trade

• A slowing world economy has led to exports from India declining for the fourth month in a row to nearly $35 billion this may, down 10.3% from $39 billion in the same period.
• The trade deficit has widened to a five months high of $22.1 billion.