22 August 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download

2. World No.1 shuttler Saina Nehwal signed an exclusive management contract with leading management and marketing company IOS Sports and Entertainment for a period of two years. IOS is targeting around Rs. 25 crore over two years, depending upon her performance in the 2016 Rio Olympics and her stability in the rankings. The announcement comes just after Saina won a silver medal at the World Championship in Jakarta.

3. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has resigned, as he went on the offensive to defend the country's massive bailout after it triggered a rebellion within his own hard-left party. Tsipras did not give a date for the new polls but they are expected to be held on September 20.

4. Union government appointed Ashwani Lohani as the new chief of national carrier Air India. Ashwani Lohani is an Indian Railway Service officer of the 1980 batch and is currently serving as Managing Director of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPTDC). He will succeed Rohit Nandan whose three-year term ended last year and who was on a one-year extension till the government was able to find a new chief for Air India.

5. Union government launched “Vidya Lakshmi” portal, India's first dedicated portal for the benefit of students seeking educational loans. It is the first of its kind portal providing single window for students to access information and make applications for educational loans provided by banks and also government scholarships. 5 PSU banks (SBI, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India) have integrated their educational loan products to the “Vidya Lakshmi” portal initially, so far 13 banks have registered their 22 educational loan schemes on it.

6. The Union government announced that the Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) emission norms will come into force across the country from 1 April 2017. The move from BS-III to -IV is supposed to halve the particulate matter from cars (0.0250 g per km) and reduce pollution. BS-IV was first implemented from April 2010 in the national capital region and Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Kanpur, Pune, Surat, Agra, Lucknow and Solapur.

7. Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Sun Pharma Industries are the three Indian companies that have been named among the world's 100 most innovative companies by Forbes in a list that has been topped by Tesla Motors. Hindustan Unilever has been ranked 41 on the list, followed by TCS at rank 64 and Sun Pharma at rank 71 in the Forbes list of 'The World's Most Innovative Companies'. The list has been topped by Elon Musk's California-Based Tesla Motors which has a market capitalization of USD 25.5 billion.

8. Prasar Bharti and Digital Television Russia signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation which will set the stage for a new media era in both the countries. This purposeful and meaningful MoU was inked in New Delhi. The MoU is aimed at co-producing TV programmes, repackaging and dubbing popular programmes from the both countries. It also covers technology modernisation, news exchange and programmes.

9. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval for the signing of the revised Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and Seychelles to modernize and update the existing ASA signed on 30.10.1978. The ASA signifies an important landmark in the civil aviation relations between India and Seychelles and has the potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges between the two countries. As a result of this agreement, the number of flights between India and Seychelles has been increased from three per week to seven per week.

10. Athletic Bilbao claimed their first title in 31 years after defeating Barcelona 5-1 in the Spanish Super Cup 2015. Following their 4-0 first leg win, the Basque side followed that up with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou to win their first trophy since 1984 when they claimed they league/cup double.