The Indian Air Force (IAF) will celebrate its 91st anniversary on October 8.

Keeping with a new tradition of hosting the Air Force Day celebrations in different parts of the country, this year's parade and air display will be held in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on Friday.

The ceremonial parade will be conducted at Air Force Station, Bamrauli, while the air display will take place at the Sangam area, the picturesque confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers in Prayagraj.

The India surf team, participating for the first time, in the Asian championship has bagged the bronze medal. The icing on the cake was two Tamil Nadu youths breaking into the top 10 Asian rankings. The Asian Surfing Championship was held at Thulusdhoo Island in Maldives, which saw participation from 18 countries. The Surfing Federation of India had sent four senior surfers in the men’s category and two surfers in the under-18 category. Five out of the six surfers were from Tamil Nadu.

This comes at a time when preparations are in full swing for the World Surfing League (WSL) event that India is hosting for the first time in Mahabalipuram between August 14 and 20. As a team, India scored 2,708 points securing the third position, thereby winning the bronze medal. Japan won the gold with 4,450 points. Among Indian surfers, D Srikanth, 18, from Kovalam fishing village near Chennai, was the centre of attention at the event. He reached the semi-finals and currently ranks fifth in Asia. “This was my first time competing in the Asian Surfing Championship, and it was a fantastic opportunity for me,” he told TNIE.

In shooting, India bagged one silver to stay in the second position of the medal tally on Day 4 of the ISSF Junior World Championships, in Changwon, Korea yesterday. Indian pair of Harmehar Singh Lally and Sanjana Sood won a silver medal in the skeet mixed team event. Harmehar and Sanjana had to endure a gruelling 52-shot shoot-off, which they won 26-24 eventually, enroute to the final, where they lost 38-43 to the Italian duo of Andrea Galardini and Sara Bongini.
 
With that medal, India stayed in second place on the medals table with four gold, four silver and three bronze medals. China kept rising at the top with six gold, eight silver, and four bronze medals. Italy is in the third spot with two gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

Ethiopia has allowed people to access Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube after five months. The blackout was imposed on 9 February this year after tensions between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the government. Only those with access to virtual private network (VPN) software could get on to the social media platforms, something that cost them additional data.
 
The Orthodox Church faced a split in February when some archbishops from the Oromia region said they wanted to form a new synod as they wanted to hold services in the Oromo language. The move triggered deadly clashes, but a mediation effort by the government has now papered over the cracks. There has been no statement from the authorities over the decision to lift the ban.

Gujarat will get the country’s first ‘Satellite Network Portal Site’. An MoU was signed between OneWeb and the state government in Gandhinagar yesterday for the establishment of the Satellite Network Portal Site’ near Mehsana. AIR correspondent reports that the satellite network portal will be set up at two places in Jotana taluka of Mehsana district with an estimated cost of over Rs. 100 crores for Phase-1. This project under Digital India, aims to provide affordable, secure and high speed internet access to villages, district panchayats, local administrative bodies, government departments, and other entities throughout the country. It is also expected to create approximately 500 direct and indirect employment opportunities in the state. 

A two-day Festival of Libraries 2023 will be organised at Pragati Maidan on 5th of next month. President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the festival. Briefing media in New Delhi, Union Minister of State for  Culture, Arjun Ram Meghwal said the festival will focus on the promotion of both physical and digital libraries. He said the importance of the physical library will always remain. He said development of libraries is the priority of the government.
 
Mr Meghwal said the digital library initiative breaks barriers, empowering all citizens with access to knowledge.

The Startup20 engagement Group and Jagriti Foundation under India's G20 presidency decided to launch Global Yatra in promoting inclusive entrepreneurship across the globe. It is set to be one of the world’s largest entrepreneurship journeys ever undertaken, with a diverse cohort of 350 Indian participants and 70 foreign delegates from G20 countries.

Speaking during the launch, Startup20 in New Delhi, Chair Dr. Chintan Vaishnav said, Startup20 is thrilled to join forces with Jagriti Yatra Foundation for this extraordinary endeavour. He added that the Startup20-Jagriti Yatra 2023 presents an unparalleled opportunity to connect aspiring entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, bridge borders, and collectively address the challenges of our time.

The Rural WASH Partners' Forum (RWPF), a platform of Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, for Development and Sector Partners working in the rural WASH sector in India, is celebrating its 1st anniversary with a two-day National Conference on 21st July 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The conference will be inaugurated by Union Minister of Jal Shakti Shri. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and bring together stakeholders from across the WASH sector to discuss the progress made in the past year and the path forward to support the expeditious implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G), the flagship missions of DDWS, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India.

The theme of the conference is "Accelerating Progress towards a Swachh Sujal Bharat." The National Conference will provide a forum for partners to share their experiences, learn from each other, and identify new ways to collaborate. The conference will also feature keynote speakers from government

Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Thursday announced the launch of a new credit guarantee scheme. The scheme under the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) aims to facilitate collateral-free credit for MSMEs in the livestock sector.

To operationalize the scheme, DAHD said it has set up a credit guarantee fund trust of Rs 750 crores for credit guarantee coverage of up to 25 per cent of loans disbursed to MSMEs by eligible banks and other lending institutions.

In a historic move, Rajya Sabha has brought gender parity with nominations of 50 per cent women members to the panel of Vice-Chairperson by reconstitution of the post.

The panel reconstituted before the Monsoon Session contains a total of eight names, out of which half are women. This is the first time in the history of the Upper House that equal representation has been given to women members in the panel of Vice-Chairpersons.