Weekly Current Affairs (13th May 2019 – 18th May 2019)

National

• The Union Government has extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for another five years.

International

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have announced to approve the first vaccine for dengue, ‘Dengvaxia’.
• The billionaire Hinduja brothers have been named as the wealthiest people in the UK for a third time, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
• US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to protect American computer networks from foreign adversaries.
• Aarohi Pandit has become the world’s first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA).
• China has broadened its block of online encyclopedia Wikipedia to include all language editions.
• US President Donald Trump has rolled out a merit-based immigration system from which foreigners, including hundreds and thousands of Indian professionals and skilled workers, waiting to get Green Cards or permanent legal residency stand to benefit.
• Taiwan has approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, a landmark decision that makes the self-ruled island the first place in Asia to pass gay marriage legislation.
• The second edition of the United Nations Ocean Conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal in early June 2020.
• The Saudi government has approved for the first time a scheme that gives permanent residency to certain expatriates, allowing them to own real estate in the kingdom and reside with their families without a Saudi sponsor.

Economy and Business

• Doordarshan has launched an online souvenir store for its viewers on Amazon India so that one can easily access it.
• Merchant service and UPI payments app BharatPe has roped in Bollywood actor Salman Khan as its brand ambassador.
• Oil prices rose after Saudi Arabia said explosive-laden drones had attacked two pumping stations belonging to state oil company Aramco.
• Nainital Bank fails to fully automate the non-performing asset (NPA) identification process, despite specific directions issued in this regard.

Sports

• Mumbai Indians (MI) became IPL champions for the fourth time after defeating Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by one run in a thrilling final in Hyderabad.
• Top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia has won the 2019 Madrid Open title at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain.
• Pakistan off-spinner Sana Mir has become the most successful women’s ODI spinner in history after she took her 147th wicket, highest ever by any spinner in One-day International (ODI) cricket.
• Manchester City clinched their fourth Premier League title (football) after winning the 2018-19 season.
• India’s Rahil Gangjee finished tied 39th while Viraj Madappa ended tied 53rd at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup held in Japan.
• India’s G.S. Lakshmi (51-years) has become the first woman to be appointed to ICC’s international panel of match referees
• British racing driver Lewis Hamilton (34-years) has won the Spanish Grand Prix for a third consecutive year.
• China has become the sole contender to host Asian Cup Football tournament in 2023 after South Korea has announced to withdraw its bid to host the game.

Awards

• Indian captain Virat Kohli bagged the International Cricketer and Batsman of the Year award during the CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) International awards 2019.
• United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) conferred Sasakawa Award 2019 for Disaster Risk Reduction to Dr. Pramod Kumar Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister of India.

Appointments

• Nigerian Professor Tijjani Mohammad Bande has been appointed as the new President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
• Shri Subhash Chand has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the northeast African country Eritrea.
• ITC Ltd. has appointed Managing Director (MD) Sanjiv Puri (56-years) as the Chairman of the company with immediate effect.
• LIC Mutual Fund appointed Dinesh Pangtey as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Pangtey was Director and CEO at LIC Group’s private equity division LIC HFL AMC.
• Jet Airways (India) Ltd’s CFO and deputy CEO Amit Agarwal has resigned from his positions at the airline.
• The Reserve Bank of India has appointed its former Deputy Governor, R Gandhi, on the board of private sector lender YES Bank as an additional director.
• RBI has appointed former deputy governor Rama Subramaniam Gandhi as an additional director on the board of Yes Bank for two years, from 14 May 2019 to 13 May 2021.
• ITC Managing Director Sanjiv Puri has been appointed as the chairman by the Board of Directors.
• Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri (former judge of Supreme Court of India) has been appointed Chairperson of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA).
• Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited has appointed Nitin Chugh as its next Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from December 1, 2019.
• Justice Madan B Lokur (Retired Indian Judge) has been appointed to the Supreme Court of Fiji as a judge of its non-resident panel.

Important Days

• The Government of India (GoI) has declared 16th May as National Dengue Day to mark the toll from the deadly disease ‘Dengue’ (transmitted by the bite of Aedes mosquito).

Science and Tech

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.
• The scientists have created a next-generation plastic that can be fully recycled into new materials of any colour, shape, or form, without loss of performance or quality.
• Zoologists have discovered a new vine snake species from the eastern State of Odisha.

Defence

• The Indian Navy’s first full-fledged Services Selection Board (SSB) was inaugurated by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba at Diamond Harbour near Kolkata, West Bengal.
• Major General AK Dhingra has been appointed as the first head of India’s first tri-services Special Operations Division.
• India handed over a pair of Mi-24 helicopters to Afghanistan.
• The military drill ‘Exercise Bull strike’ was conducted to showcase joint operations capability of the armed forces.
• Jeffrey Rosen was confirmed as the United States’ latest Deputy Attorney General by the US Senate.
• The Indian Navy has successfully test-fired a Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM), achieving a significant milestone to enhance its anti-air warfare capability.
• The Indian Coast Guard ship (ICGS) Vigraha was decommissioned at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Obituaries

• Renowned American actress and model, Peggy Lipton (72-years) passed away.
• Padma Shri awardee Bhojpuri vocal artist Hiralal Yadav passed away in Varanasi at the age of 93.
• Former Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke (89-years) passed away.
• Former Swimming Champion MB Balakrishnan (29-years) passed away in road accident in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• Veteran Telugu actor Rallapalli Venkata Narasimha Rao passed away in Hyderabad following a cardiac arrest.

States

• The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) has identified a substation to be upgraded into an unmanned substation- the first of its kind in the city.
• About 35% of India’s total Graphite reserves are found in Arunachal Pradesh, as per the GSI report.

Miscellaneous

• Inaugural issue of world’s first exclusive women’s cricket magazine ‘Criczone’ was released with Indian team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana featuring as the cover story.
• Digital payments company Paytm, in association with Citibank, launched its first credit card called Paytm First Card.
• Veteran Nepali sherpa Kami Rita (49-years) scaled Mount Everest for the 23rd time.

Agreements

• As a part of CSR initiative under the Namami Gange Programme, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU was signed between National Mission for Clean Ganga, HCL Foundation and INTACH for taking up a project of Plantation of Rudraksha Trees in Uttarakhand