Current Affairs of 6 October 2015

1. Arthur B McDonald and Takaaki Kajita shared 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics
Japan's Takaaki Kajita and American Arthur B. McDonald  jointly won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass. Takaaki Kajita belongs to the University of Tokyo while McDonald is from Queen's University, Canada.
Both the winners will share the 8 million Swedish kronor prize money with one half going to McDonand and the other half to Kajita. Each winner will also get a diploma and a gold medal at the annual award ceremony on 10 December 2015, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel.
2. Central Government launched KISAN Project and Hailstorm App for crop damage
The Union Government unveiled KISAN Project [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatics] of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
The project will use satellite and drone-based imaging and other geospatial technology to get timely and precise data on crop yields.
The pilot study will be carried out in one district each of Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra during Kharif season of 2015 and two districts each of these states during Rabi season of 2015-2016.
The programme will be jointly implemented by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), an attached Office of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW, ISRO Centres (Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad & National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad), India Meteorological Department, CCAFS, State Agriculture Departments and State Remote Sensing Centres.
In addition, the government also launched an Android-based app, developed by ISRO, for collection of data of hailstorm to access large-scale damage to standing crops. The data collected by the app will greatly help the Union Agriculture Ministry in making quick assessment of damage to crops because of hailstorm.

3. California signed Right to Die Bill for terminally ill people into a Law
California on 5 October 2015 allowed terminally ill patients to legally end their lives under a doctor’s supervision after state governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law.
With this signing of the bill, California became the fifth state in United States to allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives. 
The other four states that allow such assisted suicides to terminally ill people are Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.
The bill is partially inspired by the case of a terminally ill Californian woman who moved to Oregon to end her life and is modeled on the lines of Oregon’s assisted suicide system. 
Oregon approved the assisted suicide system for the first time in 1994, however, it said that before receiving life-ending drugs, patients need two physicians to say that they have less than six months to live and are mentally fit to make the decision.
The right-to-die bill was introduced by the California lawmakers in 2015 for the first time since 2007. The lawmakers cited increased attention to end-of-life issues after the highly publicized case of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old San Francisco Bay Area woman with terminal brain cancer who moved to Oregon to legally kill herself in 2014.

4. Jack Dorsey appointed as permanent CEO of Twitter
Popular micro-blogging site Twitter  announced Jack Dorsey as its permanent Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The appointment of Dorsey, who is also the CEO of mobile payments company Square, marks his second stretch as Twitter’s CEO. He will handle both the jobs at once.
Dorsey has served as interim CEO of Twitter since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down on 1 July 2015.

5. Renowned Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell died
Renowned and best seller Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell died on 5 October 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden due to lung cancer. He was 67.
He  was best known for creating his most famous character, Swedish police inspector Kurt Wallander, on whom he based a series of mystery novels between 1991 and 2009. He introduced Wallander in 1997 in his famous novel, Faceless Killers.He was also a noted children's author and dramatist.

6. Extreme poverty to fall below 10% for first time: World Bank
For the first time less than 10 per cent of the world’s population will be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2015. It was revealed by the World Bank report projections released by Bank President Jim Yong Kim in Washington, US. 
According to World Bank projections -
About 702 million people or 9.6 per cent of the world population will live below the poverty line in 2015 and mostly it will comprise populations from Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. There is continuous decline in extreme poverty as result of dynamic economic growth in developing nations and investment in education and health as well as social safety nets. There is decline in extreme poverty in Asia (particularly India) and South America. However slowdown in emerging markets worldwide and in Latin America may spurt extreme poverty. East Asia and Pacific region was mainly focused in this projections but the reliable data was not available in parts of the West Asia and North Africa because of conflict. Previously, World Bank had defined extreme poverty as people living on 1.25 US dollar or less a day. Now it has been revised to 1.90 US dollar a day to reflect inflation. Currently, United Nations (UN) defines poverty based on the World Bank’s income measure. UN recently also has announced its aim to end extreme poverty by 2030 as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

7. US, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries signed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement
The United States (US), Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries on 5 October 2015 signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to lower trade barriers, bolster worker protections and set standards for a raft of other industries.
The TPP is designed to facilitate trade among the US and a host of other countries scattered across both sides of the Pacific Ocean. 
The 10 other countries of the Pacific Rim which signed the agreement are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. China, the world's second-largest economy, is not part of the agreement.
This TPP agreement encompassing nearly 40 percent of the world economy will now have to be ratified by the lawmakers of each country.

8. Torpedo launch vessel commissioned
A torpedo launch and recovery vessel, the country's first totally indigenously designed and built TLRV, INS Astradharini was commissioned here on Tuesday and inducted into the Eastern Fleet.
The 50-metre catamaran hull vessel is the first indigenously built warship of the Navy to be built in a private shipyard with machine gun mounts. The design of the ship was a collaborative effort of Naval Science and Technological Laboratory, IIT Kharagpur and Shoft Shipyard. The catamaran hull configuration significantly reduces the power requirement of the ship capable of attaining 15 knots. The ship has a complement of two officers and 27 sailors and can carry 13 scientists.
INS Astradharini will be used to carry out the technical trials of underwater weapons and systems developed by the city-based NSTL. It is an advanced replacement for Astravahini which was decommissioned on July 17 this year. Astravahini was 112 tonne 28.5 m auxiliary ship.
1. Arthur B McDonald and Takaaki Kajita shared 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics
Japan's Takaaki Kajita and American Arthur B. McDonald  jointly won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass. Takaaki Kajita belongs to the University of Tokyo while McDonald is from Queen's University, Canada.
Both the winners will share the 8 million Swedish kronor prize money with one half going to McDonand and the other half to Kajita. Each winner will also get a diploma and a gold medal at the annual award ceremony on 10 December 2015, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel.
2. Central Government launched KISAN Project and Hailstorm App for crop damage
The Union Government unveiled KISAN Project [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatics] of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
The project will use satellite and drone-based imaging and other geospatial technology to get timely and precise data on crop yields.
The pilot study will be carried out in one district each of Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra during Kharif season of 2015 and two districts each of these states during Rabi season of 2015-2016.
The programme will be jointly implemented by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), an attached Office of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & FW, ISRO Centres (Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad & National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad), India Meteorological Department, CCAFS, State Agriculture Departments and State Remote Sensing Centres.
In addition, the government also launched an Android-based app, developed by ISRO, for collection of data of hailstorm to access large-scale damage to standing crops. The data collected by the app will greatly help the Union Agriculture Ministry in making quick assessment of damage to crops because of hailstorm.

3. California signed Right to Die Bill for terminally ill people into a Law
California on 5 October 2015 allowed terminally ill patients to legally end their lives under a doctor’s supervision after state governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law.
With this signing of the bill, California became the fifth state in United States to allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives. 
The other four states that allow such assisted suicides to terminally ill people are Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.
The bill is partially inspired by the case of a terminally ill Californian woman who moved to Oregon to end her life and is modeled on the lines of Oregon’s assisted suicide system. 
Oregon approved the assisted suicide system for the first time in 1994, however, it said that before receiving life-ending drugs, patients need two physicians to say that they have less than six months to live and are mentally fit to make the decision.
The right-to-die bill was introduced by the California lawmakers in 2015 for the first time since 2007. The lawmakers cited increased attention to end-of-life issues after the highly publicized case of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old San Francisco Bay Area woman with terminal brain cancer who moved to Oregon to legally kill herself in 2014.

4. Jack Dorsey appointed as permanent CEO of Twitter
Popular micro-blogging site Twitter  announced Jack Dorsey as its permanent Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The appointment of Dorsey, who is also the CEO of mobile payments company Square, marks his second stretch as Twitter’s CEO. He will handle both the jobs at once.
Dorsey has served as interim CEO of Twitter since former CEO Dick Costolo stepped down on 1 July 2015.

5. Renowned Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell died
Renowned and best seller Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell died on 5 October 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden due to lung cancer. He was 67.
He  was best known for creating his most famous character, Swedish police inspector Kurt Wallander, on whom he based a series of mystery novels between 1991 and 2009. He introduced Wallander in 1997 in his famous novel, Faceless Killers.He was also a noted children's author and dramatist.

6. Extreme poverty to fall below 10% for first time: World Bank
For the first time less than 10 per cent of the world’s population will be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2015. It was revealed by the World Bank report projections released by Bank President Jim Yong Kim in Washington, US. 
According to World Bank projections -
About 702 million people or 9.6 per cent of the world population will live below the poverty line in 2015 and mostly it will comprise populations from Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. There is continuous decline in extreme poverty as result of dynamic economic growth in developing nations and investment in education and health as well as social safety nets. There is decline in extreme poverty in Asia (particularly India) and South America. However slowdown in emerging markets worldwide and in Latin America may spurt extreme poverty. East Asia and Pacific region was mainly focused in this projections but the reliable data was not available in parts of the West Asia and North Africa because of conflict. Previously, World Bank had defined extreme poverty as people living on 1.25 US dollar or less a day. Now it has been revised to 1.90 US dollar a day to reflect inflation. Currently, United Nations (UN) defines poverty based on the World Bank’s income measure. UN recently also has announced its aim to end extreme poverty by 2030 as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

7. US, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries signed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement
The United States (US), Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries on 5 October 2015 signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to lower trade barriers, bolster worker protections and set standards for a raft of other industries.
The TPP is designed to facilitate trade among the US and a host of other countries scattered across both sides of the Pacific Ocean. 
The 10 other countries of the Pacific Rim which signed the agreement are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. China, the world's second-largest economy, is not part of the agreement.
This TPP agreement encompassing nearly 40 percent of the world economy will now have to be ratified by the lawmakers of each country.

8. Torpedo launch vessel commissioned
A torpedo launch and recovery vessel, the country's first totally indigenously designed and built TLRV, INS Astradharini was commissioned here on Tuesday and inducted into the Eastern Fleet.
The 50-metre catamaran hull vessel is the first indigenously built warship of the Navy to be built in a private shipyard with machine gun mounts. The design of the ship was a collaborative effort of Naval Science and Technological Laboratory, IIT Kharagpur and Shoft Shipyard. The catamaran hull configuration significantly reduces the power requirement of the ship capable of attaining 15 knots. The ship has a complement of two officers and 27 sailors and can carry 13 scientists.
INS Astradharini will be used to carry out the technical trials of underwater weapons and systems developed by the city-based NSTL. It is an advanced replacement for Astravahini which was decommissioned on July 17 this year. Astravahini was 112 tonne 28.5 m auxiliary ship.

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