Modi to visit Facebook HQ in California

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on 13^th September, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Facebook�s headquarters in California for a town hall question-and-answer session on September 27.

Mr. Modi and Mr. Zuckerberg will discuss how communities can work together to address social and economic challenges.

Centre schedules global education meet in Gujarat

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s decision not to limit big-ticket events to New Delhi, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has opted to hold the first international summit on education in Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat, in November. The ministers in-charge of education in 180 countries will participate in the summit.

Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, which can seat 15,000 people, has trumped Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi as the venue of the two-day Vibrant India Global Education Summit scheduled for November. Mr. Modi is likely to inaugurate the summit.

India, Germany to teach each others� language

German Chancellor Angela Merkel�s visit to New Delhi in October will see the announcement of a joint declaration on teaching of Hindi and Sanskrit in Germany and German in India. The move comes less than a year after the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry decided to discontinue the teaching of German in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools.

According to officials in the government, the HRD Ministry�s decision had put a strain on Indo-German ties, especially at a time when India was reaching out to Germany to partner with it in its various flagship programmes including the �Make in India� and �Skill India� campaigns.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Frank D. Gilroy dies at 89

Frank D. Gilroy, whose play about a veteran�s fraught return home, �The Subject Was Roses,� won him a Pulitzer Prize, died Saturday in Monroe, New York. He was 89.

Gilroy, who served in the Army from 1943 to 1946 in the European Theatre, also won a Tony Award for �The Subject Was Roses.� It premiered on Broadway in May of 1964. He then wrote a screenplay for a 1968 film adaptation starring Jack Albertson and Patricia Neal, which would earn both supporting Oscar nominations and a win for Albertson.

Second consecutive Grand Slam for Sania-Hingis pair

India�s tennis star Sania Mirza bagged her second consecutive Grand Slam title of the season, and fifth overall, as she won the US Open women�s doubles with Swiss partner Martina Hingis, here on 13^th September.

The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair outplayed the fourth-seeded duo of Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3 in the final, which never rose to great heights.

Sania�s win capped off a memorable US Open for the Indians as Leander Paes had won the mixed doubles trophy with Hingis on Saturday, in a repeat show of the Wimbledon.

Kazakshtan�s Shvedova and Australia�s Dellacqua struggled to hold serve, making it too easy for Sania and Hingis. The contest was over in just 70 minutes.

It was Sania and Hingis� second Major title in a row, having won the Wimbledon championships earlier this season.

Sania now has five Grand Slam titles in her collection.

She won three mixed doubles trophies, the last one coming at this very venue with Bruno Soares in 2014.

Djokovic beats Federer for second U.S. Open title

Thrilled to win a point in the U.S. Open final, and bent on proving a point, Novak Djokovic roared and threw an uppercut, then glared at some of the thousands of spectators pulling for Roger Federer.

After winning another point in that game, Djokovic nodded as he smiled toward the stands. And moments later, Djokovic shook his right arm, and screamed, �Yes! Yes!� to celebrate a missed forehand by Federer.

Djokovic appeared to be all alone out there in Arthur Ashe Stadium, trying to solve Federer while also dealing with the thousands of fans pulling for the 17-time major champion proclaimed �arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport� by the stadium announcer during pre-match introductions.

In the end, Djokovic handled everything in a thrill-a-minute final on a frenetic night. Frustrating Federer with his relentless defence and unparalleled returning, Djokovic took control late and held on for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory on Sunday to earn his second U.S. Open title, third major championship of the year and 10th Grand Slam trophy in all.

The 34-year-old Federer found himself trying to put the ball into the tiniest of spaces. And it didn�t work. He wound up with 54 unforced errors, 17 more than Djokovic. Another key statistic � Djokovic saved 19 of the 23 break points he faced, while winning six of Federer�s service games.

The momentum, and match, shifted dramatically late in the third set, when Federer held two break points to go up 5-3 and get a chance to serve for a 2-1 lead in sets.

Ageless Paes, Hingis win mixed doubles trophy

Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes scripted history by notching up the US Open mixed doubles title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis to become the format�s most successful male player in the Open era.

The fourth-seeded Indo-Swiss pair edged past unseeded Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in a tricky final to win their third Major title together this season.

The 42-year-old Paes has now won nine Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, surpassing compatriot and former partner Mahesh Bhupathi�s record of eight titles.

He is now behind only the legendary Martina Navratilova, who won 10 mixed doubles trophies. Of those 10, two came with Paes when they won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2003.

With this win, the Paes-Hingis pair, who also won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles early this season, has become the first mixed doubles team since 1969 to win three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles in the same year.

It was Paes�s 17th Grand Slam title overall and Hingis�s 19th. Hingis has won four Grand Slam titles and all of them have come with Indians.

She won her first mixed doubles trophy with Mahesh Bhupathi when they won the 2006 Australian Open.

Bhambri clinches Shanghai Challenger

Yuki Bhambri rallied to beat Di Wu of China 3-6, 6-0, 7-6(3) to clinch the $50,000 Challenger title in Shanghai on Sunday.

This was 23-year-old�s fourth singles Challenger title; he has won one title in each of the last four years.

The 80 ATP points should help the 145th ranked Bhambri rise appreciably in the world rankings, and should definitely see him surpass his career-best 143 that he had achieved in February last year after winning an event in Chennai.

The fourth-seeded Bhambri also collected $7,200.

Wrestling: Narsingh bags bronze, earns Olympic quota place

Narsingh Yadav claimed the 74kg freestyle bronze medal on the final day of World wrestling championship in Las Vegas, USA, on Saturday.

Narsingh�s performance also earned the country its first Olympic quota place.

Narsingh, a 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and a 2014 Asian Games bronze medallist, capped his roller-coaster experience in Las Vegas with the biggest medal of his injury-prone career. 

The Mumbai-based wrestler�s feat also saved the country�s blushes at a high profile event, where the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) actively campaigned for its ambitious Pro Wrestling League.

Narsingh is the 11th Indian wrestler to win a medal in the prestigious World championship.

Earlier, Uday Chand (bronze, 1961, Japan), Vishambhar Singh (silver, 1967, India), Alka Tomar (bronze, 2006, China), Ramesh Kumar (bronze, 2009, Denmark), Sushil Kumar (gold, 2010, Russia), Geeta Phogat (bronze, 2012, Canada), Babita Kumari (bronze, 2012, Canada), Amit Kumar (silver, 2013, Hungary), Bajrang (bronze, 2013, Hungary) and Greco Roman wrestler Sandeep Kumar (bronze, 2013, Hungary) had good results in the elite event.

Narsingh began his campaign by taming Hanoc Rachmin of Israel 14-2 and going past current European Games silver medallist Soner Demirtas of Turkey 4-3 to reach the quarterfinals.

The Indian stunned Olympic bronze medallist and triple Worlds medallist Cuban Livan Lopez Azcuy 16-5 in the last eight.

In the semifinals, Narsingh was edged out by Mongolian Unurbat Purevjav even as the scores were tied at 4-4.

In the bronze medal match, Narsingh, trailing 8-12 against France’s Zelimkhan Khadjiev, experienced an extraordinary turnaround in fortunes as he beat his opponent ‘by fall.’