Current Affairs 18th November 2015

Current Affairs 18th November 2015

Updated : 19-Nov-2015

Current Affairs 18th November 2015 - Important Points
Current Affairs 18th November 2015 - Details
India and Bangladesh signed draft MoU on - Passenger and cruise vessel movement
Among the important International Current Affairs, On 17th November 2015, India and Bangladesh signed a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on passenger and cruise services on coastal and protocol route during the meeting of the secretary level delegation.

Highlights of the meeting
- Payment of transit fee
- Payment of Bank Guarantee
- Dredging on rivers on Protocol routes with World Bank assistance
- MoU on passenger and cruise vessel movement
Who has been conferred with Disaster Risk Reduction Asia Champion honour by UN - Kiren Rijiju
Among the important International Current Affairs, On 17th November 2015, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, was conferred with the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champion for the Asia Region by the UN for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). He is the first Indian to be conferred with this prestige.
Disaster Risk Reduction Champions
- UNISDR honours individuals as Disaster Risk Reduction Champions for using their political influence to lobby for disaster risk reduction in their country, region and beyond.
- A Disaster Risk Reduction Champion is designated only the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction and head of UNISDR.
Which two countries agreed to cooperate on intelligence sharing, border security - India & Bangladesh
On 17th November 2015, India and Bangladesh accorded to share information on terrorists and insurgent threats. This decision undertook during the meet of Home Secretaries of the India and Bangladesh, Rajiv Mehrishi and Md. Mozammel Haque Khan.
Other decisions made at the meet includes
- Bangladesh assured India that to cooperate to completely stop incursion of fake Indian currency, illegal infiltration and cattle smuggling.
- Bangladesh agreed India that it will not allow any Indian separatist group to run camps inside Bangladesh.
- India assured Bangladesh to provide information immediately if they get any information on militancy.
- Both the countries accorded to deccrease the incidents of Bangladeshi national being apprehended by Indian border forces to zero figure.
- Cooperation in stopping cross-border drug smuggling as Bangladesh is a non-narcotics producing country.
Who has been elected to Board of Governors of World Water Council - Prithvi Raj Singh
Among the important appointments, On 13th November 2015, Prithvi Raj Singh of Jal Bhagirathi Foundation was elected to Board of Governors of World Water Council (WWC).

He was 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.
Do You Know :
World Water Council is an international multi-stakeholder platform established in 1996 to provide the efficient management, planning, conservation, protection, development and use of water.
About Jal Bhagirathi Foundation
- In 2002, eminent water conservationists Rajendra Singh and Prithvi Raj Singh in partnership with The House of Marwar established this as a trust.
- It was conferred with the World Water Council’s Daegu Gyeongbuk Prize in South Korea in April 2015.
- It gives an environment in which the communities can access ample drinking water for humans and animals by assisting appropriate technology and traditional knowledge.
Who has been appointed as CEO of StanChart Bank India - Zarin Daruwala
Among the important appointments, On 17th November 2015, Zarin Daruwala was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Bank, India by Sunil Kaushal, who was appointed as Regional CEO for West Asia and Africa.
Currently, Zarin is serving as the President of the Wholesale Banking Group at ICICI Bank.
Zarin has led teams in public sector banking, financial institutions, project finance, structured finance, government and corporate banking.
Names of 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients announced
Among the important International Current Affairs, On 16th November 2015, President of the United States, Barack Obama 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 director, producer and screenwriter Steven Spielberg and American professional baseball catcher, manager and coach Yogi Berra (posthumous).
Other recipients of the award include:
- Bonnie Carroll, a life-long public servant
- Lee Hamilton, a member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council
- Katherine G. Johnson, an American physicist, space scientist and mathematician
- Stephen Sondheim, an American composer and lyricist
- Barbra Streisand, an American singer, songwriter, actress, director and filmmaker
- James Taylor, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- Willie Mays, the legendary baseball player
- Billy Frank, Jr. (posthumous), a longtime Native American activist
- Barbara Mikulski, a senior United States Senator from Maryland
- Itzhak Perlman, an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and pedagogue
- William Ruckelshaus, an American attorney and former U.S. government official
- Minoru Yasui (posthumous), a Japanese-American lawyer and activist
- Gloria and Emilio Estefan, the Cuban-born wife and husband team behind the band Miami Sound Machine
- Shirley Chisholm (posthumous), an educator and seven-term Congresswoman
Do You Know :
- It is an award bestowed by the President of the United States for a remarkable contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural.
- In 1945, President Truman established the medal to recognize notable service in the war.
- President Kennedy, in 1963, reintroduced it as an honour for distinguished civilian service in peacetime.
Name the first satellite of EKS (Tundra) system, launched by Russia - Kosmos 2510
Among the important International Current Affairs, On 17th November 2015, the first satellite for early warning system, named EKS or Integrated Space System was successfully launched by Russia. Its official name is Kosmos 2510 (Tundra 11L).
It is designed to restore Moscow's capability to identify and track worldwide missile launches from space.
Key highlights of the Tundra 11L satellite
- The Tundra spacecraft was built by RKK Energia, a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components.
- It will detect missiles launched from the sea as well as from the U.S. territory.
- Russian Aerospace Defence Forces will operate the satellite.
Do You Know :
- EKS (Integrated Space System) is a replacement for the US-KMO and US-K satellites.
- These sattelites has the ability to detect ballistic missile launches from outer space and can provide early warning radars such as the Voronezh.
- Till 2020, six Tundra satellites are planned to be launched.
World’s most powerful Supercomputer - China’s Tianhe-2
Among the important International Current Affairs, On 17th November 2015, Tianhe-2, the supercomputer of China, retained its numero uno position as the most powerful supercomputer in the world as revealed by the 46th edition of the bi-annual TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
Developed by China’s National University of Defence technology, this supercomputer topped the list for the sixth time in a row.
It topped the list with a performance of 33.86 petaflop per seconds (quadrillions of calculations per second or Pflop/s) on the Linpack benchmark.
Main Highlights of TOP500 list
Compared to July 2015 TOP500 list, only two new entries are in the top 10 list.
The Hazel-Hen system built by Cray and installed at the HLRS - Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart in Germany and Trinity supercomputer built by Cray and jointly deployed by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories are the two entries in the list of top 10.
On the November 2015 TOP500 list, China nearly tripled the number of systems.
Since the TOP500 list was created in 1993, the number of systems in the United States (US) has fallen to the lowest point.
Who will host the first International Qawwali Festival 2016 - Delhi
On 17th November 2015, it was announced that Delhi will host the first International Qawwali Festival 2015 titled Taali Ho.
The aim of the festival is to strengthen a notion that music is not restricted to any borders.
Highlights of the Festival
- It is organized to depict the evolution that Qawwali has gone through with artistes performing a fusion of old genre of music with a modern touch.
- The Nizami Brothers, hailing from the Sikandrabad Gharana, who are among the most popular Qawwali singers in Astana Gayki as well as the modern Qawwali tradition will perform at the event.
- Somme other Qawwali singers who will be a part of the event include : Ahmed Sham Sufi Qawwal from Afghanistan, Tahir Hussain Faridi Qawwal from US, Hamza Akram and Taimoor Akram from Pakistan and Warsi brothers from Hyderabad.