18 and 19 October 2015 Daily current affairs Digest: Book Titled Smita Patil : A Brief Incandescence authored by Maithili Rao launched on 18 Oct 2015.
- The book was launched on Smita Patil’s 60th birth anniversary, acquaints the readers with a remarkable journey of the short-lived actress.
- It traces the journey of the actress from her childhood to stardom.
- The book shows glimpses of Patil’s controversial marriage and untimely tragic death.
Typhoon Koppu (Lando) hits northern Philippines battering the coast with powerful winds with speed of 240 kph.
- The eye of tropical cyclone (typhoon) Koppu has struck the remote northern coastal town of Casiguran which is 215 kms northeast of Philippines capital city Manila.
- US military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center has categorised this typhoon equivalent of a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
- The Typhoon Koppu is considered as the strongest landfalling of tropical cyclone in past five years faced by Philippines.
Haryana Government approved the Swadhar Greh scheme for women in distress.
- It will assure economic and social security to women in distress.
- The Scheme aims at creating a supportive institutional framework catering to their primary needs in difficult situations.
- The scheme will work upon providing basic amenities, such as shelter, food, clothing and health along with economic and social security to women in distress.
London Film Festival 2015 : Indian short film “An Old Dog’s Diary” won award.
- The award was bestowed by the British Film Institute (BIF) at 59th edition of LFF.
- The film is 11 minute long directed by Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel.
- It is story of film reveals the cultural conditions of Indian avant-garde painter Francis Newton Souza’s work and its institutionalisation by assembling the puzzle-piece evocations of his portrait.
- Earlier the film was showcased in the Wavelengths category at 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) made it mandatory for telecom operators to compensate consumers by Rs 1 for call drop.
- As per new TRAI rules The compensation will be limited to three dropped calls in a particular day.
- It is mandatory for telecom operators to send a message to the calling customer within 4 hours of the occurrence of call drop along with details of amount credited in his account.
- In case of post-paid customers, the compensation details of the credit should be provided in the next bill.
Great Britain beat Indian junior men’s hockey team to win Sultan of Johor Cup Hockey Tournament.
- Great Britain defeated defending champions India by 4-3 in sudden death penalty shootout in the final after the match had ended 2-2 in regulation time.
- For the third place, the host Malaysia defeated Argentina to settle for Bronze.
Renowned Egyptian novelist and journalist Gamal al-Ghitani passed away on 18 October 2015 in Cairo, Egypt.
- He was 70. Al-Ghitani was born on 9 May 1945 in Gihena, Egypt.
- He began writing at a young age. His first short story was published when he was only 14.
- For critically commenting on the regime of Gamal Abd el-Nasser, the second President of Egypt, Al-Ghitani even faced imprisonment from October 1966 through March 1967.
- He was awarded with the Egyptian National Prize for Literature in 1980.
- In 2005, he won a French Award for translated literature Laure Bataillon, one of the highest French awards to be conferred upon non-French writers.
Ministry of environment, forest and climate change has announced post-doctoral research fellowships in the name of APJ Abdul Kalam on his 85th birthday.
- The target group of this programme are young scientists who have completed their PhD, or are about to complete their PhD, in areas related to environment and ecology and possess a good, academic record.
- The applicants should preferably be below the age of 35 years.
- The ministry proposes to constitute a committee of experts headed by RA Mashelkar for selection of APJ Abdul Kalam post-doctoral research fellows.
Mani Rangarajan appointed as Chief Financial Officer(CFO) of Housing.com.
- The appointment was made to strengthen its senior management team.
- Rangarajan holds over 20 years of experience and has successfully played executive level roles in companies such as Yahoo! and Citigroup.
- He also played vital roles in many Silicon Valley start-up companies, like Boku, Kosmix and Media Boost.
Denmark Open Title 2015 (Badminton) :
Women’s single category :
- China’s Xuerui Li has won the Denmark Open Badminton Title 2015.
- Final match was played at Odense, Denmark. She defeated PV Sindhu of India 19-21, 12-21.
- It was Li’s second title of Denmark Open and earlier she had won in 2014.
In the men’s single category :
- China’s Chen Long has won the 2015 title.
- He has won the title for record 3rd time after he had earlier won it in 2013 and 2014 .
- It is formerly known as Danish Open and is organized by Danmarks Badminton Forbund.
Saketh Myneni wins Vietnam Open Tennis Trophy 2015.
- He defeated Jordan Thompson of Austrailia by 7-5, 6-3 in summit clash lasted for one hour and 27 minutes.
- It was Saketh’s first singles ATP Challenger title of the 2015 season.
- It was also overall his second singles title at the Challenger level. Earlier he had won the Indore Open.
- Presently, he is ranked 168 and this victory will help him to score 90 points in his pocket to break into top-150 when the new rankings chart.
Novak Djokovic won Shanghai Rolex masters tennis title 2015 in men’s singles category.
- He defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-4 in final match held in Shanghai, China.
- It was the third Shanghai title for Djokovic in four years, having defeated Andy Murray (the UK) and Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) in the 2012 and 2013 finals respectively.
