Business & International:

  • Nikkei Japanese media group is going to buy the Financial Times from Britain’s Pearson in a $1.3 billion.
  • Alibaba to invest INR 4000 crore in paytm (m-commerce company). Alibaba has picked up 25 percent stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 communication through its subsidiary Ant Financial.
  • Toyota has fallen behind Volkswagen in the race for the world’s biggest automaker title, figures showed, as the German giant outsold its Japanese rival in the first half of the year.
  • Egypt’s government has inaugurated an $8bn (£5.2bn) expansion of the Suez Canal with an elaborate ceremony hailing the project as a national achievement. It Connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
  • Google co-founder Larry Page will be Alphabet’s chief executive while his partner Sergey Brin will be president of the umbrella company while former Android chief Sundar Pichai will replace Page as Google’s new chief executive.
  • Ranil Wickremesinghe has sworn-in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for the fourth time.
  • In August 2015, The 193 member states of UN finalized the draft outcome document titled “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” that is due to be ratified at the New York Climate Summit next month.
  • Turkmenistan’s state-owned company TurkmenGaz will lead the consortium for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline, with a majority investment in August 2015.
  • Wipro chairman Azim Premji and HCL founder Shiv Nadar are the only two Indian tycoons in the top 20 richest people in the world of technology.
  • The AP Shah committee on minimum alternate tax (MAT) has recommended to the finance ministry that the levy shouldn’t be imposed for the period preceding April 1, 2015.

National:

  • Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh launched SAMANVAY, a compilation of all schemes of both Central and State governments for Gram Panchayats.
  • Mysore city in Karnataka has topped the Swachh Bharat Rankings of 476 cities in the country.
  • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly working on the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission to co-develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite.
  • Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on 15th August 2015 declared Kerala as the ‘complete digital state’.
  • Finance minister Arun Jaitley launched a seven-pronged plan– Indradhanush–to revamp functioning of public sector banks.
  • Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh (PAHAL) scheme is selected as the world’s largest cash transfer program by the Guinness Book of World Records. As on date, 13.9 crore LPG consumers have joined the PAHAL scheme.
  • Cochin airport becomes the first airport in India to run on solar power; spread over 50 acres project is estimated to generate approximately 50,000 units of electricity daily.
  • The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry on 30th August 2015 will launch SAHAJ online LPG connections to give more convenience to new LPG consumers.

Award:

  • Hindi litterateur Kashinath Singh was chosen for the Uttar Pradesh’s highest literary award Bharat Bharti for the year 2014.
  • Mathematician DoctorAmalendu Krishna won the Ramanujan Prize for the year 2015.
  • Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has been awarded the PATWA – Safari India South Asia Travel Award for the year 2015. Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) is an affiliate of United Nations WTO.
  • Indian conservationist and activist Rajendra Singh, known as the “Waterman of India,” received the Stockholm Water Prize in recognition of his efforts toward water restoration efforts and improving water security in rural India on August 26th, 2015. The prize was presented by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.)
  • Indian sociobiologist Raghavendra Gadagkar was awarded Germany’s highest civilian honor the Cross of Order of the Merit for his contribution in the field of behavioral ecology and sociobiology in August 2015.
  • Indian whistle-blower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi, on 31st August 2015 conferred with the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Sports:

  • Beijing has been chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, beating the bid of Kazakhstan’s Almaty.

Note: South Korea’s Pyeongchang will host the 2018 Winter Games and Japan’s Tokyo the 2020 Summer Olympics.

  • Indian e-commerce shopping website Paytm, owned by One97 Communication won the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI )’s title sponsorship rights for all series played at home till 2019. Paytm will pay Rs 203 crore, or Rs 2.42 crore per match.
  • South Sudan became the 206th Olympic member four years after independence, allowing the war-ravaged African nation to take part in the Rio Games next year.
  • The sport of flying disc (Frisbee) was officially recognized as an Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 2nd August 2015.
  • Saina Nehwal lost to world number one Carolina Marin in the final of the World Badminton Championship in Jakarta.
  • Ajinkya Rahane became the first non-wicket-keeper to take eight catches in a single Test
  • Bangladesh won Under-16 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship for the first time.
  • Aditi Chauhan, India’s international football goalkeeper, became the country’s first woman to play English league football.
  • England cricket team won 2015 Ashes Test series, 3-2 against Australia at England
  • Nineteen-year-old Eritrean athlete Ghirmay Ghebreslassie becomes the youngest winner of the marathon at the World Championships with gold in Beijing.
  • World No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic on 27th August 2015, appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
  • U Mumba Beat Bengaluru Bulls to Win Second Season of Pro Kabaddi League 2015.

Miscellaneous:

  • Indian writer Anuradha Roy’s “Sleeping on Jupiter” deals with the malaise of sexual abuse in India has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015.
  • The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has topped the list of the world’s wealthiest private foundations established by living ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individuals, according to a Wealth-X report.

Important Days in August:

  • World Breast Feeding Day 1st August
  • World Peace Day, Hiroshima Day 6th August
  • Quit India Day, Nagasaki Day 9th August
  • 12th August: International Youth Day
  • Pakistan’s Independence Day 14th August
  • Independence Day (India) 15th August
  • World Photography Day 19th August
  • Sadbhawana Divas 20th August
  • National Sports Day (Birth Day Of Dhyanchand) 29th August
  • Small Industry Day 30th August