VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY 18^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY 18^th, 2019

1.      (18th May) is International Museum Day.

a.       This day is an occasion to raise awareness on how important museums are in the development of society.

b.       Theme of International Museum Day 2019 : "Museums as Cultural Hubs: The future of tradition".

2.      India has expressed its full support for sustainable peace, economic development and stability in Afghanistan.

a.       External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj gave this assurance to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's Special Envoy and High Peace Council Secretary Umer Daudzai in New Delhi today.

b.       Both sides also discussed India’s role in Regional Peace Consensus with regards to Afghanistan, progress in peace talks and bilateral relations.

3.      India has voiced concern over the delays in reimbursement to countries providing peacekeeping troops and police for UN missions.

a.       Note : The UN owes India  38 million US Dollars, among the highest it has to pay to any country, for peacekeeping operations as of March 2019.

b.       India's share of the UN's budget has been increasing in recent years, including a 13 per cent increase from this year and the country has been paying its share on time.  

c.       UN Secretary-General : Antonio Guterres 

4.      Polling is underway in Australia for Parliamentary elections. 

a.       Voting is taking place for 150 members of the House of Representatives (the lower house) and 76 seats of Senate (the upper house).

b.       Australia, one of the world's oldest continuing democracies, has mandatory voting and a record 16. 5 million enrolled voters.

c.       Note : The nation holds elections every three years, but no Prime Minister has succeeded in serving a full term since 2007.

5.      Buddha Purnima, marking the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha, is being celebrated in different parts of the country today.

6.      Centre has issued a Drought Advisory to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu and asked them to use water judiciously as water storage in dams dropping to a critical level.

a.       The drought advisory is issued to states when the water level in reservoirs is 20 per cent less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years.

7.      United States has approved more than 600 million dollar in sales of air defense missiles to South Korea and Japan as tensions return with North Korea.

a.       The State Department yesterday said it had approved 94 SM-2 missiles used by ships against air threats, along with 12 guidance systems for a total cost of  313.9 million dollar. 

8.      A Reserve Bank of India-appointed committee headed by Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani has submitted its suggestions on promoting digital payments to Governor Shaktikanta Das.

a.       In January, the RBI had set up the 5-member panel on deepening digital payments with a view to encouraging digitisation of payments and enhance financial inclusion through digitisation.

b.       The RBI will examine the recommendations of the committee and will link the action points, wherever necessary, in its Payment Systems Vision 2021 for implementation.

9.      ISRO Chairman K Sivan today announced that the space agency is planning several missions apart from Gaganyaan manned mission and Chandrayaan-2. 

a.       They would include Mars Orbiter Mission 2, Chandrayaan 3, a mission to Venus, EXPOSat, Aditya L1 (to study Sun's corona).

10. The Indian Navy achieved a significant milestone in enhancing its Anti Air Warfare Capability with the maiden cooperative engagement firing of the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM).

a.       The firing was undertaken on the Western Seaboard by Indian Naval Ships Kochi and Chennai wherein the missiles of both ships were controlled by one ship to intercept different aerial targets at extended ranges.

b.       The firing trial was carried out by the Indian Navy, DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries.

11. Indian Hotels Company, which runs hotels under Taj, Vivanta and Ginger brands, has partnered with Singapore's wealth fund GIC to invest ₹4,000 crore for buying hotels in India. 

a.       The equity contribution of Indian Hotels in the acquisitions will be 30% and GIC's will be 70%. 

b.       The partners will acquire fully-operational hotels mainly in the luxury, upper scale and upscale segments.

12. 'Grumpy Cat', the feline whose facial expression inspired memes on social media, has died aged 7. 

13. Veteran Telugu actor Rallapalli Venkata Narasimha Rao (74) passed away.

a.       He acted in more than 800 films and was popular as a comedian and character artiste. 

b.       He was a five time winner of the the prestigious Nandi award in undivided Andhra Pradesh. 

c.       Some of his well-known films include 'Thoorpu velle Railu', 'Srivariki Prema Lekha' and 'Rendu Rellu Aaru'.

14. Indian filmmaker, Achyutanand Dwivedi's film, "Seed Mother", won the 3rd prize in the international section of Nespresso Talents 2019 in Cannes last night.

a.       The 3-minute film celebrates the exceptional spirit of Rahibai Soma Popere, a woman who champions the use of local seeds and traditional methods of farming in villages of Maharashtra.

b.       The Nespresso 2019 first prize in the international section was won by New Zealand's Josh Morrice for "Subak", about rice cultivation in Bali, while the second prize went to Mexican filmmaker Marco Aurelio Celis' "Ruffo".

15. German luxury automaker BMW Group has appointed former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka to its supervisory board.

16. Bangladesh won their 1st-ever multi-nation ODI tournament by beating the Windies by five wickets via the DLS method in the tri-nation tournament in Dublin. 

17. The winners of the 10-team 2019 ICC World Cup will get a prize money of $4 million (₹28 crore), while the runners-up will be awarded $2 million (₹14 crore). 

a.       Of the total prize pot of $10 million (₹70 crore), the losing semi-finalists will get $800,000 (₹5.6 crore) each. 

b.       The winner of each league stage match will get $40,000 (₹28 lakh).