November 1 2015 – Current Affairs Quick Gyan

In Current Affairs 2017
November 1, 2015

10. Singapore ranked first in World’s Healthiest Countries

Singapore has been declared as the world’s healthiest country in a recent reports with India securing the 103rd position. The list ranked the countries with the help of the data from the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation.

Singapore receives an overall grade of 89.45%. Italy is in second place with 89.07%, while Australia comes third with 88.33%. The rankings are dominated by Asian and European countries. North and South American countries did not feature in the top 20s. Israel was the only Middle Eastern country to make it in the top 10 league. The UK also failed to reach the top 20, ranking at number 21 with a score of 76.84% per cent, behind Belgium, Ireland and Norway.

11. BrahMos Missile Successfully test fired

An advanced version of BrahMos land-attack cruise missile has been successfully test-fired by India. It was launched from Indian Navy’s newest stealth destroyer INS Kochi on the west coast of India. Today’s development follows an unsuccessful test on April 9, when the missile had failed to hit the target. However, today’s test met all flight parameters, including high-level manoeuvres. The supersonic cruise missile hit the designated land- based target with the desired accuracy, said the statement issued by BrahMos. This launch is the 47th test-firing of the missile.

12. Sania Mirza, Martina Hingis clinch WTA Finals Title

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis came up with another wonderful performance on November 1 to win the women’s doubles title of the prestigious $7 million WTA Finals at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and comprehensively underline that they were the best women’s tennis pair of the year. Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis crowned WTA Finals 2015 champions and secures No. 1 in doubles ranking presented by Dubai Duty Free.

The Indo-Swiss pair brushed aside Spaniards Gabrine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 to capture the WTA doubles title. The top-seeded pair took a little over an hour to win their ninth title of the year.

13. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das Joins SEBI

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das has joined the board of capital markets regulator SEBI. Das has replaced Manoj Joshi as nominee of the Finance Ministry on SEBI’s board. Joshi is currently Joint Secretary (Capital Markets) in the ministry.

Das has also been nominated to the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank. He is a 1980-batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre. Other members on the board are Sebi chairman U K Sinha and the regulator’s whole time members — Rajeev Kumar Agarwal, Prashant Saran and S Raman.

14. 19 Maha cities become free of open defecation

A total of nineteen cities in the state have achieved the status of being free of open defecation under the government’s ‘Swachh Maharashtra Mission’ taken up in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Clean India’ drive. The state government has set a target to achieve a complete open defecation-free status by 2018.

15. India world’s 7th most valued ‘nation brand’; US on top

India has moved up one position to become the world’s seventh most valued ‘nation brand’, with an increase of 32 per cent in its brand value to $2.1 billion. The US remains on the top with a valuation of $19.7 billion, followed by China and Germany at the second and the third positions respectively, as per the annual report on world’s most valuable nation brands compiled by Brand Finance. The UK is ranked 4th, Japan is at fifth position and France is sixth on the list. While India and France have moved up one position each since last year, all the top-five countries have retained their respective places.

16. Lahiri finishes 21st at CIMB Classic in final round

Anirban Lahiri did not quite manage the kind of a finish he was looking for at the CIMB Classic as he closed the week with two-under 70 and ended tied 21st. But the USD 78,400 he took home from the USD 7 Million event, ensured that he was almost home in his race to win the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit.

India’s other entrant in the event, SSP Chawrasia had his first under-par round at 71 and with a total of three-over 291 he was 73rd.

17. Anand draws with Wesley So in Bilbao Masters

Defending champion Viswanathan Anand’s quest to retain the crown suffered a decisive setback after he played out a draw with American Wesley So in the fifth and penultimate round of the Bilbao Masters Final Chess Tournament. After suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Dutchman Anish Giri in the previous round, Anand tried hard but could not break the solid defences of Wesley who continues to share the lead along with Giri. In the other game of the day Giri was held to a draw by Liren Ding of China.

18. India to emerge as largest cotton producer

With domestic trade estimating cotton production at around 400 lakh bales, India is expected to emerge as the largest cotton producer in the world in 2015-16. Cotton output in all major producing countries in the year, barring India, has been anticipated to be lower than the previous season.

As a result, China has had to vacate its place as the largest producer of cotton to India.

19. China to launch retrievable satellite to probe dark matter

China will launch a series of scientific satellites including a retrievable one to probe ‘dark matter’ later this year. The dark-matter particle explorer satellite will observe the direction, energy and electric charge of high-energy particles in space in search of dark matter, chief scientist of the project Chang Jin said. It will have the widest observation spectrum and highest energy resolution of any dark-matter probe in the world.

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