1. Vijayawada is no longer in contention for the 'Smart Cities' list to be funded by the Centre. It is learnt that as the city, part of the capital region, had fallen short of specified parameters laid for the smart cities. VMC officials admit that underperformance in completion of projects and a lack of feedback mechanism, have cost Vijayawada the smart city tag and funding. Read a report in The New Indian Express. 2. In a joint operation by the Kadapa police and the forest personnel, 19 red sanders smugglers from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were nabbed from the Kothakota-Dasaripalle reserve forest in Kadapa district on Thursday. The personnel seized three-and-a-half tonnes of red sanders logs worth over Rs. 7 crore along with a truck while it was about to leave for Bengaluru. Read more. 3. For the first time after bifurcation, the revenue receipts of Andhra Pradesh surpassed that of Telangana. For the three month period that ended on June 30, AP has earned a tax revenue of Rs 10,806 crore while Telangana earned Rs 10,580 crore. Telangana has always bettered because of Hyderabad, which accounted for a major chunk of united AP's revenue. Read a Times of India report. 4. The YSR Congress has decided to stage a dharna in New Delhi on August 10 protesting the inordinate delay in the grant of special category status to AP as also the TDP-led State government’s indifference in pursuing the issue with the Central government. The demonstration, which is likely to be organized at Jantar Mantar, would be followed by a march to Parliament by the members of the YSRC. Read The Hindu's report. 5. Yet another row erupted between Telangana and AP employees over staff bifurcation after the AP government issued a “revised seniority list” of employees without informing the Telangana government. The employees allege that the list would alter postings at the Secretariat and other state-level departments and have asked the Telangana government not to honour the list, Deccan Chronicle reports.