National:

BrahMos test-fired from new warship

India's supersonic cruise missile BrahMos demonstrated its prowess yet again when it was test-fired on 1st November from the country's newest stealth-destroyer INS Kochi off the west coast.
Launch of BrahMos was part of an acceptance testing-firing during a Naval drill being conducted on the west coast.
The 7,500-tonne indigenously developed warship has new design concepts for survivability, stealth and manoeuvrability. It can carry 16 BrahMos missiles in two eight-cell vertical launch systems besides other modern weapons and sensors. The two-stage BrahMos can fly at a supersonic speed of 2.8 Mach and at a height of ten metres during the final stages of its flight. It carries conventional warheads. This was the 49th trial. It can be launched from ships, land and submarines.
Informed sources said a trial-firing of BrahMos from the fighter-aircraft Sukhoi-MKI 30 would take place in the first quarter of 2016.

Railways launches 'Vikalp' for waitlisted passengers to get confirmed berth

Railway is launching a new scheme on Sunday under which waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in next alternative train if they opt for the option while booking their tickets online.
Known as Viklap, the alternative train accommodation scheme will take off in trains running on Delhi-Lucknow and Delhi-Jammu sectors from November 1, on a pilot basis.
Initially, Vikalp scheme will be available only for the tickets booked through internet for six months and option will be limited to mail and express trains on the two selected routes
As per the scheme, waitlisted passengers of a train would be given option of getting confirmed accommodation in the next train running on the route.
Railway aims to achieve the twin objectives of providing confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and ensure optimal utilisation of available accommodation by this scheme.
While there is a huge demand for train berths in certain sector round the year, some routes witness increased rush during festive season.
Describing the scheme as a “passenger friendly” move to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternative trains, the official said, the scheme will be extended to reservation booking counters and also on other routes after getting the feedback.
Passenger, if opts for the Vikalp scheme while booking tickets online, will get SMS alert on their mobile phone about getting confirmed accommodation in alternative train.
As per the scheme, there would be no extra charges taken from the passenger or any refund provided for the difference of fare.
New Appointements:

Ex-Cabinet Secy. to head panel on new education policy

Former Cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramanian has been appointed chairperson of a committee set up by the Human Resource Development Ministry to draft the new education policy.
The committee, which has been mandated to submit the draft of the new policy no later than December 31, 2015, also has on board Shailaja Chandra, former Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi; Sewaram Sharma, former Home Secretary, NCT of Delhi; Sudhir Mankad, former Chief Secretary of Gujarat, and J.S. Rajput, former Director, NCERT.

Death:

East German, who announced the fall of the Berlin Wall, dies

Guenther Schabowski, the former senior East German Communist official who accidentally announced the opening of the Berlin Wall, has died aged 86, German media reported on 1st November.
Schabowski, a member of and spokesman for the Soviet bloc state's ruling Politburo, was speaking at an otherwise dull news conference on Nov. 9, 1989, when he was asked by a journalist about current travel rules.
Pressure had been building on the East German government for months to grant its citizens the freedom to travel to the West and a clearly underprepared Schabowski stunned the journalists present with his answer.

Hero Group founder Munjal dead

Hero MotoCorp patriarch and doyen of the Indian two-wheeler industry, Brijmohan Lall Munjal, died on 1st November evening after a brief illness. He was 92.
Munjal had retired from active role and become chairman-emeritus of the over $4-billion group earlier this year and remained on the board of the company as non-executive member.
Hero Group, which officially came into existence in 1956, had started its activities in the early 1940s as a bicycle-maker run by the four brothers. Munjal was born in 1923 at Kamalia in present-day Pakistan.
After India's Independence, the Munjal brothers started a small business of manufacturing bicycle components in Ludhiana and went on to build one of the largest business groups in the country.
Munjal led the Hero Group to a number of firsts. Hero MotoCorp is the world's largest two-wheeler company now for the 14th year in a row. Another group firm, Hero Cycles, has been the largest manufacturer of bicycles since 1986. He led the Hero group to form a joint venture with Japan's Honda in 1984, the joint venture � Hero Honda, went on to become the world's single-largest motorcycle maker. The partnership ended in 2011.
He was conferred with the 'Padma Bhushan' in 2005.

International:

Nanda Kishor Pun elected Nepal's new Vice-President

Former guerilla commander from Nepal's UCPN (Maoist) Nanda Kishor Pun was on Saturday elected as the country's new Vice-President.
Mr. Pun was elected to the post after winning 325 out of 547 votes.
His rival Amiya Kumar Yadav of Nepali Congress, received 212 votes, announced Speaker Onsari Gharti at the Parliament. Ten votes were declared invalid.
Mr. Pun succeeded Parmananda Jha, who belonged to one of the major Madhesi parties. He was born in Rolpa district. He was the chief commander of the Peoples Liberation Army of the Maoist party during the decade-long insurgency.
The lawmakers belonging to the Joint Democratic Madhesi Front did not take part in both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections after showing participation in the Prime Minister's election.
Born in Rangsi of Rolpa district, Mr. Pun joined the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) and became its district central committee member in 1990.
He soon became the district president of the youth wing of the party which played a vital role in launching the People's War in 1996. He was later appointed as one of the four deputy commander of the People's Liberation Army and commanded several battles against the then Royal Nepal Army.
Business and Economy:

Facebook to help BSNL set up 100 WiFi hotspots in rural India

Boosting the government's ambitious Digital India drive, social media giant Facebook has come forward to facilitate state-run BSNL in setting up 100 WiFi sites in rural areas of western and southern India.
Facebook will spend Rs. 5 crore per annum for sponsoring these 100 WiFi hotspots in the country.

Housing.com appoints Nikhil Rungta as marketing chief

Housing.com has appointed Nikhil Rungta as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) as part of the strategy to strengthen top management team.
Rungta, with over 20 years of experience, has played key business leadership roles at start-ups like Yebhi and Yatra.com, it added.
Housing.com has made several appointments at senior level after its board on July 1 this year sacked co�founder and then CEO Rahul Yadav.
Rishabh Gupta was appointed interim CEO in July, while Jason Kothari was appointed as the Chief Business Officer in August to drive the company's growth in India. In September, Housing.com appointed Keerthi Kiran as Vice President, New Real Estate Projects.
Last month, Mani Rangarajan was appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Nandini Mehta as General Counsel.

Sports:

Rosberg wins Mexican Grand Prix

Rosberg won the first Mexican Grand Prix since 1992 on 1st November for his fourth victory this season, denying Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in his bid to tie the Formula One record of 13 victories in a season.
And it earned him a sliver of satisfaction in defeating Hamilton, who has beaten him to the season championship the past two years.

Sania, Martina clinch WTA Finals doubles title

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis lifted their ninth title together this year, beating the Spanish pair of Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro to clinch the WTA Finals women's doubles trophy on Sunday.
Sania and Martina, the top seeds, prevailed 6-0 6-3 over their eight-seeded rivals in a lopsided summit clash which lasted little over an hour.
The Indo-Swiss pairing dropped serve only once through the match and broke their opponents five times to wrap up a comprehensive victory.
Sania and Martina are now unbeaten in 22 matches, stretching back six tournaments. In fact, since their last defeat � to Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan in Cincinnati � they have dropped just two sets.
Muguruza and Suarez Navarro � late replacements in the draw after Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova's withdrawal � were completely outplayed in the match.
In the second game, Sania unleashed a ferocious forehand to break Muguruza.
The second set was more competitive, but Sania and Martina did not let go of their supremacy and wrapped up after little over an hour on court.

Sania Mirza's titles in 2015
The following is the list of women's doubles title wins for Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza in 2015:
1. Sydney International (Sydney) with American Bethanie Mattek�Sands in January.
2. Indian Wells Masters (Indian Wells) with Swiss Martina Hingis in March.
3. Miami Open (Miami) with Swiss Martina Hingis in March/April.
4. Family Circle Cup (Charleston) with Swiss Martina Hingis in April.
5. Wimbledon (London) with Swiss Martina Hingis in June/July.
6. US Open (New York) with Swiss Martina Hingis in August/September.
7. Guangzhou International Women's Open (Guangzhou) with Swiss Martina Hingis in September.
8. Wuhan Open (Wuhan) with Swiss Martina Hingis in September/October.
9. China Open (Beijing) with Swiss Martina Hingis in October.
10. WTA Finals (Singapore) with Swiss Martina Hingis in October/November.