7 August 2016

2nd Handloom Day to be observed on August 7, 2016

·        The second National Handloom Day will be celebrated all over the country, on August 7, 2016.

·        The main function will be held in Varanasi in which Sant Kabir Awards and National Handloom Awards will be presented.

·        The Union Textiles Minister Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani would be the Chief Guest on the occasion. Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (I/C), Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy would be the Guest of Honour.

·        Minister of State, Textiles, Shri Ajay Tamta and the Textiles Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Mahboob Ali would also grace the occasion.

Swachh Survekshan of 500 cities launched by Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu 

·        Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu today launched ‘Swachh Suvekshan-2017’ to assess and rank 500 cities and towns based on levels of sanitation and efforts made by respective urban local bodies and also to capture progress towards achieving ‘Open Defecation Free’ status. 

·        The Minister also released in New Delhi today various publications and mobile applications to help the 500 cities and towns prepare for the survey to be conducted in January next year.

·        Shri Venkaiah Naidu addressed Mayors, Municipal Chairpersons, Municipal Commissioners and other concerned officials of 500 cities and towns to be surveyed via video conferencing.

Takehiko Nakao re-elected as Asian Development Bank president 

·        The board of Asian Development Bank has re-elected Takehiko Nakao as the multilateral funding agency's president for a five-year term beginning November.

·        Nakao was first elected as ADB president on April 28, 2013 to serve the three-and-half-years remaining term of his predecessor Haruhiko Kuroda.

·        Being the ninth president of ADB, he was the sole nominee after ADB's Governors were invited from May 31 to June 30, 2016, to make nominations for the organisation's presidency, the release added.

American teenager Thrasher wins first gold of Games 

·        Unflappable American teenager Virginia Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Saturday, holding her nerve against two Chinese Olympic champions to clinch the women's 10m air rifle event.

·        The 19-year-old U.S. college champion edged out China's Du Li, gold in Athens in 2004, with an Olympic-record score of 208 in the sport's new finals format. Defending Olympic champion Yi Siling, also of China, took the bronze medal.

·        Competing in her first Olympics, Thrasher, as the first champion of the 2016 Games, was awarded her medal by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach and said the achievement was beyond her wildest dreams.