Daily Current Affairs Update of 15 April 2015 | General Knowledge
Daily Current Affairs Update of 15 April 2015 | General Knowledge
1. India continued to be the leading nation in remittances during 2014 as announced by the World Bank. According to World Bank’s Report on Remittance, India, China, Philippines, Mexico and Nigeria were the top five remittance recipient countries, in terms of value of remittances during 2014. Total remittances in 2014 reached $583 billion. This is more than double the official development assistance (ODA) in the world. India received $ 70 billion, China $ 64 billion, the Philippines $ 28 billion.2. Former South African cricketer Allan Donald resigned as the bowling coach of South Africa Cricket team. The resignation coincided with the end of his four year tenure. He was appointed as South Africa's bowling coach in June 2011.
3. Ernst & Young (EY) released a report titled Global IPO Trends 2015. The report focuses on the global trends in Initial Public Offerings (IPO) in the Quarter 1 (Q1) of 2015. As per the report, Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) became the world leader in Initial Public Offerings (IPO) for the first time, outshining rivals, New York and Hong Kong during the 2015. In 2015 Q1, SSE raised 5.4 billion US dollars.
Daily Current Affairs Update of 15 April 2015 | General Knowledge |
5. North Korea’s Foreign Minister, Ri Su-yong, arrived in India on a rare visit where Delhi hosted the meet. Ri became the first North Korean foreign minister to visit India in at least 25 years. In New Delhi, Ri met with his counterpart, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. According to reports, the two discussed North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and regional security issues, including the stability of the Korean peninsula.
6. The Union home ministry has renamed the tourist visa-on-arrival scheme as 'e-tourist visa' scheme. The step is aimed at avoiding inconvenience to foreign tourists who, misled by scheme's nomenclature, would fly into India presuming that they would be granted visa on arrival upon landing.
7. India has slipped 6 places to rank 89th on a global Networked Readiness Index, showing a "widespread" weakness in its potential to leverage information and communications technologies for social and economic gains. While Singapore has replaced Finland on the top of the 143-nation list, prepared by World Economic Forum (WEF), it has called for improvement in India's business and innovation environment, infrastructure and skills availability.
8. International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted that India will overtake China as the fastest growing emerging economy in 2015-16 by clocking a growth rate of 7.5 per cent on back of recent policy initiatives, pick-up in investments and lower oil price. While India's growth rate is expected to improve from 7.2 per cent in last fiscal to 7.5 per cent this year and next fiscal, China will witness a deceleration with growth rate sliding from 7.4 per cent in 2014 to 6.8 per cent in 2015 and 6.3 per cent a year after.
9. President Barack Obama has named yet another Indian-American as member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service for a term expiring in October 2019. The nomination of Shamina Singh, executive director of the MasterCard Centre for Inclusive Growth since December 2013, has been sent to the Senate.
10. International Master Sayantan Das finished on a high defeating Daniele Vocaturo of Italy in the ninth and final round and earned the distinction of being the best placed Indian in the Dubai International Open chess tournament. Despite his heroic performance that found him in the main prize list, Das, could not get a Grandmaster norm in his kitty as he fell short in the average rating by a mere 2.5 points. Dragan Solak of Turkey was adjudged the champion on best tiebreak after a five-way tie at the top was resolved.