1) Pope Francis Awards Medals to Richard Gere, George Clooney, Salma Hayek.
- Pope Francis awarded medals to American Hollywood actors Richard Gere and George Clooney and actress Salma Hayek at an event held at the Vatican.
- This award is to promote the work of a foundation inspired by the pontiff, Scholas Occurrentes foundation.
- These actors had agreed to be ambassadors for one of the foundation’s arts projects for the foundation named schools that meet in Spanish, links technology with the arts, aiming at social integration and a cultural of peace.
2) Indian banker Raghavan Seetharaman awarded Green Economy Visionary Award.
- Dr. R. Seetharaman, Group CEO of Doha Bank, has been honoured with the 2016 Green Economy Visionary Award.
- He has been awarded with this award for his contribution in environment-friendly activities and thereby promoting green economy for nearly two decades.
- The award was bestowed upon him by Mohammed Jarrah Al-Sabah, Chairman of Union of Arab Banks at the 2016 Union of Arab Banks (UAB) International Banking Summit held in Rome.
About Dr. R. Seetharaman:
- In 2015, business magazine Forbes had ranked Seetharaman sixth in the Forbes’ Top Indian Leaders in the Arab World 2015 list.
- R. Seetharaman is a recipient of multiple doctorates, first in Global Governance from the European University (2013) and the second in Green Banking and Sustainability from Sri Sri University (2015).
- He was named CEO of Doha Bank in September 2007. Since then, he has overseen the bank’s expansion from its base in Qatar to the UAE, India, Singapore and China and other countries.
3) India Post releases `My Stamp` with Amazon India.
- India Post released a My Stamp with Amazon India, to commemorate three years of its tie-up with the website and celebrate the e-commerce marketplace’s third anniversary in the country.
- Usha Chandrashekar, Chief Post Master General, Bengaluru, handed over the Amazon India My Stamp to Amit Agarwal, Vice-President and Country Manager, Amazon India.
- India Post is one of the prime delivery channels of Amazon India. Using the extensive network of India Post, Amazon services customers in over 19,000 pin-codes through 1,55,000 post.
4) Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik bags gold medal at World Sand Art Championship.
- Pattnaik emerged as the gold medal winner at the World Sand Art Championship that was held in Bulgaria
- Titled Drugs kill Sports; Pattnaik`s sand art highlights the issue of drugs in the sporting field.
- With a total 10 artists participating in the championship, Pattnaik received the highest number of public votes and was awarded the gold medal for his sand art that was 2 metre high.
- Pattnaik has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships and festivals around the world and won many prizes.
- Sudarsan Pattnaik was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2014.
- He was the brand ambassador of NALCO, India.
- He established ``The Golden Sand Art Institute`` which is first of its nature in India.
5) PM Modi conferred Afghanistan’s highest civilian honour.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with Afghanistan`s highest civilian honour, the Amir Amanullah Khan Award.
- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani conferred the award on Modi after the two leaders jointly inaugurated the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier known as Salma Dam that was rebuilt with India`s aid.
- It is the Highest Civilian honour bestowed by Afghan government to Afghan national as well as foreigners in appreciation of their services.
- As the first Indian, and amongst only a handful of foreign leaders to receive the award
The citation on the reverse of the medal reads: ``Nishan-e dawlati Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan``, or "State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan``.
About The Amir Amanullah Khan medal:
- The Amir Amanullah Khan medal is highest civilian honor of Afghanistan. The award is named after the Afghan national hero, Amanullah Khan (Ghazi), who championed the cause of Afghanistan’s freedom. He was the ruler of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1919-1929 who led Afghanistan to independence.
- King Amanullah advanced Afghanistan’s modernist constitution, incorporated equal rights and individual freedom.
This award was instituted by the Afghanistan government in 2006. Previous recipients include:
US President George Bush, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, NATO General James Jones, former Afghan President spiritual leader Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, and Afghan Chief Justice (CJ) Abdul Salam Azimi.
6) 96-yr-old man Shigemi Hirata becomes world`s oldest graduate.
- Shigemi Hirata, a 96-year-old Japanese man, has been recognised by the Guinness World Records as the world`s oldest university graduate.
- Hirata received a degree in ceramic arts from the Kyoto University of Art and Design.
- He was enrolled in the university at the age of 85 in 2005 and took 11 years to complete the course.
7) Tuticorin port bags national award on cost management.
- Tuticorin based V.O. Chidambaranar Port also second-largest port in Tamilnadu has bagged National Award for Excellence in Cost Management for the year 2015 from The Institute of Cost Accountants of India under the category of Public Service Sector- Small.
- The award has been given for exemplary performance towards optimization of manpower, savings in electricity, and implementation of Solar Energy Systems, reduction of overall cost of handling by mechanization and improvising efficiency and logistics support.
- The award was presented in 13th National Awards for Excellence in Cost Management-2015 hosted by Institute of Cost Accountants of India. With this the port is bagging the award for the third time the earlier years being 2008 and 2012.
8) US Army Reserve officer Deshauna Barber crowned as Miss USA 2016.
- Deshauna Barber, a serving Army Reserve officer of United States (US), crowned as the Miss USA 2016 at the Miss USA competition 2016 held at the T-Mobile Arena off the Las Vegas Strip.
- She represented the US capital as Miss District of Columbia. Miss Hawaii Chelsea Hardin came in as the first runner-up and Miss Georgia Emanii Davis was the second runner-up.
- With this, Barber became the first-ever military member to win Miss USA title. She will now represent the USA at Miss Universe Competition 2016.
- Barber inherited the crown from 2015 winner Miss Oklahoma Olivia Jordan.
9) Indian-origin professor in UK awarded by Queen.
- Eminent Indian-origin professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya has been awarded the prestigious Regius Professorship in Manufacturing by Queen Elizabeth II for his outstanding contribution in manufacturing.
- Through his career, he has advised the UK government on manufacturing, innovation, and technology. He is an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus.
- Bhattacharyya has founded Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), at the University of Warwick in 1980 to invigorate UK manufacturing.
- Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) has been granted the Regius Professorship for its academic research which has contributed to driving growth and improving productivity.
- The award falls under the Royal Prerogative, with each appointment being approved by the Queen upon Ministerial advice.