Current Affairs Update – 18th November, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 18th November, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming Banking and Insurance Exams.

• The Union Cabinet on 18 November 2015 approved the signing
  of the Tripartite Agreement among India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) on the
  IBSA Fund for the Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger.
• The decision will help in strengthening the IBSA Fund which
  is a unique vehicle in the context of South-South cooperation.

• The IBSA countries contribute 1 million US dollars each
  annually to the Fund, which till January 2015 has accumulated to 28.2 million
  US dollars, with total implemented/approved projects commitment of 26.2 million
  US dollars.
• Remaining 2.09 million US dollars is available for
  programming.
• India on its part has contributed 9.1 million US dollars so
  far to the Fund.
• The IBSA Fund undertakes development projects in third
  countries. The first project to be financed by the IBSA Fund was in support of
  agriculture and livestock development.

• Delhi will host the first International Qawwali Festival
  2015 titled Taali Ho that is scheduled to be held from 12 February 2016 to 14
  February 2016. This was announced during the performance by Qawwali singers
  from India and Pakistan at India Islamic Centre providing a glimpse of the
  festival.
• The festival aims to reinforce a notion that music is not
  restricted to any borders.

• The event is also set to showcase the evolution that Qawwali
  has undergone with artistes performing a fusion of old genre of music with a
  modern touch.
• Hailing from the Sikandrabad Gharana, the Nizami Brothers
  are going to perform at the event. They are among the most popular Qawwali
  singers in Astana Gayki as well as the modern Qawwali tradition.

• Senior diplomat Vijay Keshav Gokhale, currently the
  country’s Ambassador to Germany, has been appointed as the Ambassador to China
  to replace Ashok Kantha, whose term will end in early January.
• A 1981 batch IFS officer, Mr. Gokhale is expected to take up
  the assignment shortly, External Affairs Ministry announced on Wednesday.
• He would replace Mr. Kantha, who was appointed as envoy to
  China in January 2014 for a two-year term.
• Before taking up position in Germany as India’s top envoy,
  he has served in Indian missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York.
• In the MEA headquarters here, Mr. Gokhale has also held the
  posts of director (China and East Asia) and then Joint Secretary (East Asia)
  and is known to be one of the most knowledgeable officials, who is well-versed
  with China affairs.

• Zarin Daruwala was on 17 November 2015 appointed as Chief
  Executive Officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Bank, India. She succeeds Sunil
  Kaushal, who was appointed as Regional CEO for Africa and West Asia.
• Zarin will be based in Mumbai and will report directly to
  Ajay Kanwal, Regional Chief Executive Officer of ASEAN & South Asia.
• Zarin is currently working as the President of the Wholesale
  Banking Group at ICICI Bank.

• Prithvi Raj Singh of Jal Bhagirathi Foundation was on 14
  November 2015 elected to Board of Governors of World Water Council (WWC) for
  2016-18.
• The elections took place during the triennial 7th General
  Assembly of WWC Members in Marseille, France where over 250 persons from 40
  countries were gathered.
• Prithvi Raj was one among 35 members elected to the board
  representing the five Council colleges. He was elected in the Civil society
  organisations and water user associations (College 4) category.

• An Indian-American professor has been appointed as the dean
  of engineering and applied science department at University of California.
• Jayathi Murthy, Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering
  at The University of Texas at Austin, who also holds the Ernest Cockrell Jr
  Memorial Chair in Engineering, has been named dean of the Henry Samueli School
  of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California.
• Her appointment becomes effective January 1, 2016. She will
  be succeeding current dean Vijay Dhir.
• Murthy joined the Cockrell School in 2012, becoming the
  first woman to head the mechanical engineering department at The University of
  Texas at Austin.

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) on 16 November 2015
  launched the World Antibiotic Awareness Week with the theme Antibiotics: handle
  with care.
• The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness and encourage
  best practices among the public, policymakers, health and agriculture
  professionals to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic
  resistance.
• The campaign is part of the WHO’s recent efforts to fight
  against antibiotic resistance due to growing misuse. In May 2015, the
  Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly a global action plan to improve awareness
  and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication,
  education and training.         

• Tianhe-2, the supercomputer of China, retained its numero
  uno position as the most powerful supercomputer in the world. This was revealed
  by the 46th edition of the bi-annual TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful
  supercomputers released on 17 November 2015.
• The supercomputer developed by China’s National University
  of Defence technology topped the list for the sixth consecutive time.
• Tianhe-2 means Milky Way-2 and it led the list with a
  performance of 33.86 petaflop per seconds (quadrillions of calculations per
  second or Pflop/s) on the Linpack benchmark.

• Russia successfully on 17 November 2015 launched the first
  satellite for its newest early warning system, named EKS or Integrated Space
  System. The satellite was officially named Kosmos 2510 (Tundra 11L).
• This new-generation satellite is designed to restore
  Moscow’s capability to detect, track and identify worldwide missile launches
  from space.
• The satellite was carried by a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Site
  43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, located in Northern Russia.
• The launch was carried out under the command of Deputy
  Commander of Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) – Commander of the Space
  Troops Alexander Golovko.

• Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, was
  on 17 November 2015 designated as the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champion
  for the Asia Region by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
  (UNISDR). Rijiju also became the first Indian to be conferred with this honour.
• The honour was conferred Margarete Wahlstrom, Special Representative
  of the United Nations Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, during the
  inaugural session of the Asia Leaders’ Meeting towards Implementation of the
  Sendai Framework for DRR in Asia.

• The United States President Barack Obama on 16 November 2015
  announced the names of 17 individuals who will receive 2015 Presidential Medal
  of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour.
• The list includes the name of American professional baseball
  catcher, manager and coach Yogi Berra (posthumous), and American director,
  producer and screenwriter Steven Spielberg.
• The 17 individuals come from the fields of music, politics,
  sports, public health and space travel.

• An Indian-American woman judge here has become the first
  recipient of a US public service award in recognition of her contributions in
  the field of law.
• Queens Senior Assistant District Attorney and newly elected
  Civil Court Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant was honoured with the ‘South Asian Public
  Service Award’ by the Office of Immigrant Affairs under Queens District
  Attorney Richard Brown.
• The award was given to Pandit-Durant coinciding with the
  commemoration of Diwali by the office of the Queens District Attorney.

• Senior journalist Hemendra Narain on 16 November 2015 passed
  away following a sudden cardiac arrest in New Delhi. He was 65.
• The senior journalist started his career with news agency
  UNI in Patna.  Thereafter, Narain went on
  to work with various newspapers and news agencies. He also worked as a special
  correspondent in Indian Express and Statesman newspapers at Patna, Shillong and
  Lucknow.
• Narain had also written many books including 25 years
  on…Nellie still haunts, a chronicled book on the infamous Nellie massacre in
  Assam in 1983.
• Death of the veteran scribe was condoled by various
  journalists and political leaders including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
  Akhilesh Yadav.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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