1. Oleksiy Honcharuk appointed new Prime Minister of Ukraine
- Oleksiy Honcharuk (35-years) has been appointed as the youngest-ever Prime Minister of Ukraine.
- He replaces Volodymyr Groysman, who offered his resignation after Zelensky's inauguration.
- Ukraine's new president Volodymyr Zelensky (41-year) nominated Honcharuk after weeks of consultations.
- The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the consent of the Verkhovna Rada.
- The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government, presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government.
2. Trump nominates Indian-American ‘Shireen Mathews’ as District Court judge
- President Donald Trump has nominated Indian American Shireen Mathews as a judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of California.
- Currently, Matthews is a partner at Jones Day, the fifth-largest law firm in the country, in San Diego.
- Matthews earned her BA, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University and her law degree, cum laude, from Duke University School of Law.
- Matthews will be the first Asian Pacific American woman and first Indian-American to serve as an Article III federal judge in the Southern District
- Article III judges "hold their office during good behaviour", which means they have a lifetime appointment, except under very limited circumstances.
- A judge of a United States district court is officially titled a "United States District Judge".
- The formal name of a district court is "the United States District Court for" the name of the district.
3. CEC Sunil Arora assumes charge as AWEB Chairman
- India’s Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora (1980 batch IAS officer - Rajasthan cadre) has assumed Chairmanship of Association of World Election Bodies (AWEB) for the term 2019-21, as India takes over the chair from Romania.
- Earlier, India was unanimously nominated to the Vice-Chair of AWEB at the last General Assembly held at Bucharest (in 2017).
- The AWEB Flag was handed over to the new Chairman, Sunil Arora and it will remain with Election Commission of India for the two-year term till 2021.
- More than 110 delegates from 45 countries attended the meeting.
- Mr Arora announced, an AWEB Centre would be set up at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, New Delhi for documentation, research and training and for the sharing best practices.
National Affairs
4. Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain to be developed on lines of Kashi Vishwanath Temple
- Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain will be developed on the lines of the ongoing development works at Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.
- A plan of Rs 300 crore has been prepared for this proposed development of Mahakal temple.
- A high-level committee of three ministers has also been formed to plan the development.
- The development and expansion plans of Mahakal temple mainly include increasing the facilities for devotees, Mahakal theme park, Mahakal corridor, Kumbh Museum, display of various stories related to Mahakal, Revival of Rudra Sagar Lake, Tourist Information Centre and other facilities for the betterment of Ujjain.
- Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and one of the twelve Jyotirlingams, shrines which are said to be the most sacred abodes of Lord Shiva.
- Mahakaleshwar is located at the ancient city of Ujjain in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India.
5. India to contribute USD 22 million to Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria
- India has announced a contribution of USD 22 million to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFTAM) for the 6th replenishment cycle (2020-22).
- This is an increase of 10% over the amount contributed by the US in the 5th cycle.
- The Global Fund is a partnership designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
- As an international organization, the Global Fund mobilizes and invests more than USD 4 billion a year to support programs run by local experts in more than 100 countries.
- India has received USD 2.0 billion from the Global Fund for attaining targets related to HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria reduction.
- As a donor, India has contributed USD 46.5 million so far till 2019 including USD 20 million for the 5th Replenishment.
6. Indira Gandhi International Airport Gets India’s tallest ATC tower
- The Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri has inaugurated the new “Aerodrome Control Tower” at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi.
- This ATC tower is India’s tallest (102-metres) and most technologically advanced air traffic control (ATC) tower.
- It will enhance safety and boost the efficiency of air transport management services.
- The earth-quake resistant building has been constructed at the cost of approximately Rs 250 crore.
- This allows for simultaneous landings from the same direction on parallel runways which will further increase the capacity of the airport.
7. ICMR-NIN conducting programmes on occasion of National Nutrition Week till Sept 7
- The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) is going to implement the effectiveness of diet and lifestyle intervention with respect to lifestyle diseases like hypertension and diabetes.
- This will be done through information, education and communication through Anganwadi Workers as a centre of knowledge dissemination with respect to these diseases.
- The national institute has generated extensive data recently over the prevalence of overweight, obesity and non-communicable diseases relating to 16 states of the country from both urban and rural areas.
- The study will help to reduce the increase of non-communicable diseases.
- The NIN is conducting several programmes for students and teachers on the National Nutrition Week till 7th of this month.
Arts and Culture
8. Nuakhai: The greatest harvesting festival of Odisha
- The festival of Nuakahi (nua means new and khai means food) for the people of western Odisha districts came with much pomp and gaiety.
- The major agrarian festival of this region is being celebrated in every nook and corner collectively with much fanfare and religious fervour.
- People offer the newly harvested crop called Nabanha to their respective presiding deities.
- Nuakhai festival traces it origin to the Vedic period where the sages or Rishis used to talk about Panchyajna.
- One among them was Pralambana yajna which means the cutting of new crops and offering them to mother goddess as followed in Nuakhai festival.
9. KVIC launched a first-ever ‘Terracotta Grinder’ in Varanasi
- Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launched a first-ever ‘Terracotta Grinder’ at Sewapuri in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
- The Terracotta Grinder will grind the wasted and broken pottery items for re-using in pottery-making.
- This Terracotta grinder will make grinding of wasted pottery items faster than the traditional mortar and pestle. This will also create more job opportunities in the villages.
Banking & Finance
10. ESIC ties up with SBI for real-time payments to ESIC beneficiaries
- The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the State Bank of India (SBI) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide electronic payment services for beneficiaries of ESIC.
- As per an agreement, SBI will provide e-payment services directly to bank accounts of all ESIC beneficiaries and payees without any manual intervention as an integrated and automated process.
- The e-payment integration would affect the statutory benefit payments to ESIC beneficiaries as well as other payees on a real-time basis, reducing time lags and delays and at the same time, help eliminate mistakes and errors caused by repetitive and manual data entries.
11. IDBI Bank to be recapitalised with an infusion from govt, LIC
- The Union Cabinet has cleared recapitalization of IDBI Bank with a one-time infusion of funds by both the government and the LIC.
- It has approved 9,000 crore capital infusion into IDBI Bank, including 4,557 crores by the government as one-time re-capitalisation.
- This will help both IDBI and LIC, and it shows the government's commitment to take banking to a sound level.
Sports
12. Mithali Raj announces retirement from T20Is
- Indian women's cricket ODI (One Day International) Captain Mithali Raj (36-years) has announced her retirement from T20 Internationals.
- She wants to focus on her ODI career, keeping in mind the 2021 World Cup in New Zealand.
- Mithali ended her T20 career with 2,364 runs from 89 matches at an average of 37.5 and the highest score of 97 not out.
- Mithali is also the first Indian woman to reach the landmark of 2000 T20 runs.
- In 203 ODIs, she scored 6,720 runs at an average of 51.29, with seven hundred.
- She has also played in 10 Tests, with 663 runs including a hundred.
13. Hamilton Masakadza to retire from international cricket after Bangladesh series
- Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza (36-years) has announced to retire from international cricket after conclusion of Bangladesh & Afghanistan T20I Tri-series(13 to 24 September 2019).
- He is a right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler.
- Hamilton Masakadza has represented Zimbabwe in 38 Tests (2223 runs), 209 ODIs (5658 runs) and 62 T20Is (1529-run).
- In his overall international career, he scored 9,410 international runs including 10 international tons and 42 half-centuries.