19th November 2015 Current Affair Updates |Daily GK Download

1. Standard Chartered announced to appoint Zarin Daruwala as new chief executive officer of its India operations. Presently, she is working as president of the wholesale banking group at ICICI Bank. Daruwala, who has worked in the Indian banking industry for 25 years will succeed Sunil Kaushal.

2. Swiss Tennis legend Roger Federer defeated top seeded player Novak Djokovic to win the ATP World Tour Finals.

3. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, was designated as the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champion for the Asia Region by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). Rijiju also became the first Indian to be conferred with this honour.

4. Marriott International Inc., a global hotel group announced to acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. for $12.2 billion to create the world’s largest hotel chain. It will have top hotel brands including Sheraton, Ritz Carlton, Starwood and the Autograph Collection. Marriott is predominantly US-based hotel group.

5. Prithvi Raj Singh, the Managing Trustee of Jal Bhagirathi Foundation has been elected as a Governor of the World Water Council. Singh was elected at Marseille in France during its General Assembly Council, which was attended by delegates from 160 countries.

6. The Rajasthan government signed 37 Memorandum of Understanding worth Rs. 2,349 crore with private companies in the tourism sector. These projects once operational are expected to create employment for 6,670 people.

7. Ushir Pandit-Durant, an Indian- American woman judge has become the first recipient of a US public service award in recognition of her contributions in the field of law. Queens Senior Assistant District Attorney and newly elected Civil Court Judge Pandit-Durant was honoured with the 'South Asian Public Service Award' by the Office of Immigrant Affairs under Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

8. Senior journalist Hemendra Narain passed away in New Delhi. He was 65. The senior journalist started his career with news agency UNI in Patna. Narain had also written many books including 25 years on-Nellie still haunts, a chronicled book on the infamous Nellie massacre in Assam in 1983.

9. A delegation led by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh left for Beijing on a six-day official visit to China. The visit would help in deepening of mutual understanding and trust and it is intended to further strengthen the tradition of mutual learning and better understanding from each other.