Current Affairs - May 22, 2018 Current Affairs

The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day was observed across the world on May 17. The theme for WTISD was "Enabling the positive use of Artificial Intelligence for All". The 2018 theme focuses on the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to accelerate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It aims to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) announced that an LPG bottling plant is being set up in Balkhani,Balangir district in Odisha. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) announced that an LPG bottling plant is being set up in Balkhani,Balangir district in Odisha, This project will costRs. 103 crore. The LPG will be built across 23 acres of land of Barkhani village, 12 kms from the Balagir railway station. This will produce 42 lakh cylinders per year and will be operational from March 2020.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has promoted Stacey Cunningham to President, making her the first sole woman head of the 226-year-old exchange. The 43-year-old became NYSE's Chief Operating Officer (COO) in June 2015. With Cunningham's promotion, America's leading two stock exchanges will be led by women after Adena Friedman took over as CEO of Nasdaq in January 2017.

India has released grant of Nepalese Rupees (NRs) 18.07 crore for river training and construction of embankments along Lalbakeya, Bagmati and Kamla rivers in Nepal. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri handed over a cheque of the grant to Dr Sanjay Sharma, Secretary Ministry of Energy, Irrigation & Water Resources, Nepal in Kathmandu. The river training and embankment work in the Lalbakeya, Bagmati and Kamla rivers in Nepal aimed at flood control and water resources management, which benefit several million people inhabiting in the watershed of these rivers in India and Nepal.

Prajnesh Gunneswaran won the prestigious T.K. Ramanathan award for the year 2017-18 at the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) annual day function at the SDAT tennis stadium. He received a cash prize of Rs. 30,000.

21st May is observed as the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development all over the world. World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development was celebrated all over the world. This day provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of cultural diversity and to work for the goals of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions adopted on 20th October 2005.

The President of India has appointed Shri Uttam Pacharne, as regular Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi. Shri Pacharne is an eminent artist and sculptor. He is a widely respected person in the field of art and has held various important positions. Currently, he is Member of Advisory Committee, Kala Academy, Goa and Member of Advisory Committee, P.L. Deshpande State Lalit Kala Academy and Director, Janseva Sahakari Bank Borivali. He is the recipient of National Lalit Kala Award 1985, Maharashtra Gaurav Puraska 1985 from Government of Maharashtra, Junior National Award 1986 and Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar 2017 from Prafulla Dahanukar Foundation.

3 Indian warships namely - INS Sahyadri, INS Shakti & INS Kamorta entered into Tien Sa Port, Vietnam on May 21. A professional interaction will be held between personnel of the two navies as well as official calls & interaction with dignitaries of the Vietnamese government. On completion of the harbour phase, warships from the two navies would conduct their 1st joint naval exercise.

Neymar was named as France's player of the year at an awards ceremony in Paris, France despite the Paris Saint-Germain superstar missing the last three months of the season due to injury. The Brazilian, the world's most expensive player, scored 19 goals in just 20 league games for PSG before suffering a foot injury in February that required surgery.

Haryana government is going to launch Chatra Parivahan Suraksha Yojana for the safety of girls. Under this scheme, all the girl students will get free travel facility from their home to their educational institutions. The primary objective of this scheme is to ensure that the girls feel secure at public places, workplaces and while traveling.

According to AfrAsia Bank Global Wealth Migration Review 2018, India is the sixth wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of $8,230 billion. In the context of this report, "Total wealth" refers to the private wealth (assets viz. property, cash, equities, business interests, less any liabilities) held by all the individuals living in a particular country. India emerged as the "Best Performing Wealth Markets" registering 25% growth in total wealth for the year 2017. US tops in the report with $62,584 billion wealth followed by China, $24,803 billion, Japan; $19,522 billion.

Lionel Messi has won the European Golden Shoe for the fifth time. The Argentina international claimed the prize after scoring 34 goals in La Liga this season, helping his club to a 25th league triumph. Messi also won the award last year, as well as in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Four-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo finished ninth in the rankings after scoring 26 goals for Real Madrid in La Liga.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has received environment clearance for the expansion and optimisation of its petrochemical complex at Nagothane in Raigad district of Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs 2,338 crore. The proposal is to expand the gas cracker and downstream plants located at Nagothane village in Raigad district by way of debottlenecking, expansion and change of fuel in a captive power plant (CPP).

India successfully test-fired the Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a test range along the Odisha coast to validate some new features. The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher stationed at Launch pad 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, according to DRDO. The trial was conducted to validate its "life extension" technologies developed for the first time in India by DRDO and team Brahmos.

NMDC (National Mineral Development Corporation) Limited and NLC India Limited (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation) may invest over USD 26 million for setting up an research & development (R&D) facility for developing innovative technologies in iron and steel making. NMDC's and NLC's investment for this purpose will be through a joint R&D agreement with an Australian company named Environmental Clean Technologies Limited (ECT). ECT is an expert in commercialising leading-edge coal and iron-making technologies. The agreement envisages creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) upon completion of the R&D phase, in which ECT will hold 49 per cent stake while NLC and NMDC will hold 25.5 per cent stake each.

The International Day for Biological Diversity is observed across the world on May 22, with an aim to raise awareness about the conservation of biodiversity. The theme of International Day for Biological Diversity 2018 is 'Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity' as the year 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The day was proclaimed with an aim to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on May 22, 1992 by the Nairobi Final Act.

The 26th BASIC Ministerial Meeting of Environment Ministers was held in Durban, South Africa. India was represented by Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. In it, Dr Vardhan reiterated his appeal to make joint efforts to create a societal movement in combating climate change through "Green Good Deeds". He told his counterparts from BASIC countries and Michal Kurtyka of Poland, who will take over as next president of Conference of Parties (COP-24), that India has shown the vision and the political will to act. The Basic countries is a bloc of four countries - Brazil, South Africa, India and China, formed by an agreement on November 28, 2009.