The first-ever India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise - Dustlik-2019 will begin at Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent today. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Uzbekistan counterpart Major General Bakhodir Nizamovich Kurbanov presided over the Curtain Raiser of the military drill yesterday.

The exercise, which will focused on counter-terrorism, will continue till November 13. During the exercise, an Indian Army contingent will train along with Uzbekistan Army. The exercise will enable sharing of best practices and experiences between the Armed Forces of the two countries and will lead to greater operational effectiveness.

UNESCO has designated Mumbai as a member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the field of FILM and Hyderabad in the field of GASTRONOMY. Culture Minister Shri Prahlad Singh Patel has congratulated the people of Mumbai and Hyderabad for this unique distinction.

UCCN, created in 2004, is a network of cities which are thriving, active centres of cultural activities in their respective countries. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network now counts a total of 246 cities.

The member cities that form part of the Network come from all continents and regions with different income levels and populations.

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday inaugurated the 21st North East Book Fair in Guwahati in presence of Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Speaking at the event, the Vice President highlighted the importance of libraries in our culture. 

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu laid stress on the use of mother tongue and relevance of books to stir one's creativity and stimulate innovative and inventive ideas.

He also added that the demographic dividend that we want to achieve cannot be realized without quality books as well as improved literacy and number of readers.

He also urged schools and parents in helping children inculcate reading habits. In this line of thought he stressed on establishing one library per village.

Superstar Rajinikanth, also known as Thalaiva, will be honored with the Icon of Golden Jubilee award at the Golden Jubilee edition of International Film Festival of India, to be held in Goa from November 20.

This was announced by the Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on Saturday.

The I&B Minister also announced international lifetime achievement award to French Actor Isabelle Hupert.

Earlier, the 50th International Film Festival of India announced the list of films to be screened in Festival Kaleidoscope, one of the most important sections of the festival. The section showcases 20 films handpicked and curated from various parts of the world which have already generated a lot of positive word about them in other film festivals across the globe.

Indian women grappler Pooja Gehlot (53kg) has entered the finals after beating Turkey's Zeynep Yetgil in the semifinals of the UWW Under-23 World Championships 2019 in Budapest last night.

Pooja defeated Yetgil, a gold medallist at the Junior European Wrestling Championships in 2018. In the summit clash today, Pooja will be up against Haruno Okuno of Japan. No Indian has ever won a gold in the last three editions of the UWW Under-23 World Championships.

Pakistan's hard-line cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday gave Prime Minister Imran Khan a two-day ultimatum to resign. Addressing a massive protest rally held at Islamabad, Maulana Rehman said only people of Pakistan and not any institution had the right to govern the country. He said that "Gorbachev of Pakistan" Imran Khan must step down without testing the patience of peaceful protestors.

The much-hyped rally led by the right-wing opposition leader's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl reached its final destination Islamabad on Thursday after it set off from the Sindh province and left Lahore on Wednesday. Along with Rehman, leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, Pakistan People's Party, and Awami National Party participated in the march held to topple Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government led by Prime Minister Khan.

Union minister for Mines and Coal Pralhad Joshi has said that state-owned Coal India will produce 750 million tonnes of coal in the next financial year and will offer around 10,000 new jobs to boost employment. Mr Joshi also directed Coal India to take necessary steps to achieve this goal in light of growing energy requirements of the nation. The minister announced this target during his address at the 45th foundation day of Coal India Limited in Kolkata on Friday.

The PSU is currently given the target of producing 660 million tonnes of coal amounting to 82 per cent of the country's coal output. The minister also urged Coal India to get associated with Jal Shakti Abhiyan to conserve water and provide treated mine water to the populace living in and around coal mining areas.

In Men's Hockey, India beat Russia 4 - 2 in first leg of Tokyo Olympics Qualifiers at Bhubaneswar in Odisha. Mandeep Singh's brace and goals from Harmanpreet Singh and Sunil steered India to a comfortable victory over Russia in Friday's match. Andrey Kuraev and Semen Matkovskiy scored one goal each for Russia. India captain Manpreet Singh was adjudged Player of the Match.
   
Earlier, Indian women's team took giant leap towards Olympic qualification with a near-flawless performance to hammer United States of America 5-1 in the first-leg of the two-match FIH Qualifier. Dragflicker Gurjit Kaur struck brace while Lilima Minz, Sharmila Devi and Navneet Kaur were the other scorers. USA's consolation goal came from a penalty stroke converted by Erin Matson.

Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom has been included in a 10-strong athlete ambassadors group to represent boxers in the build-up to next year's Tokyo Olympic Games by the IOC's Task Force for the sport.

Mary Kom will represent the Asian bloc in the group, which also comprises two-time Olympic and world gold-medallist Vasyl Lamachenko and five-time world champion and 2016 Olympic gold-winner Julio Cesar La Cruz among others.
 
The 36-year-old Indian recently surpassed herself as the most successful boxer in the history of the world championships when she claimed her eighth medal, a bronze, at the marquee event's latest edition in Russia. 

Indian women grappler Pooja Gehlot (53kg) has entered the finals after beating Turkey's Zeynep Yetgil in the semifinals of the UWW Under-23 World Championships 2019 in Budapest last night.

Pooja defeated Yetgil, a gold medallist at the Junior European Wrestling Championships in 2018. In the summit clash today, Pooja will be up against Haruno Okuno of Japan. No Indian has ever won a gold in the last three editions of the UWW Under-23 World Championships.