VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY 4^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY 4^th, 2019

1.       (4th May 2019) is International Firefighters' Day.

a.       It was instituted after proposal emailed out across the world on January 4, 1999 due to the deaths of five firefighters in tragic circumstances in a wildfire in Australia. 

b.       May 4 used to be a traditional Firefighters' Day in many European countries, because it is the day of Saint Florian, patron saint of firefighters.

2.      US President Donald Trump said that he discussed a 3-way nuclear deal involving Russia and China during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin today. 

a.       Trump also discussed with Putin the issue of getting North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. 

b.       Important Note : The United States and Russia recently withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

3.      China is planning to build military bases around the world to protect its investments under the Belt and Road Initiative, the Pentagon has said in its annual report to the Congress. 

a.       Other locations where China could build the military bases include the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the western Pacific. 

b.       Note : As of now, China has just one overseas military base, in Djibouti.

4.      The UN agency for disaster reduction has commended India Meteorological Department's "almost pinpoint accuracy" of Cyclone Fani's early warnings that helped authorities conduct a well-targeted evacuation plan and minimise loss of life. 

a.       More than 10 lakh people were evacuated ahead of the cyclone, which had hit Odisha's Puri yesterday.

5.      Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar was conferred with France's highest civilian award 'Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur' for his contribution to India-France space cooperation. 

a.       The Padma Shri awardee lead ISRO from 2015-2018 and has contributed to projects like India's first experimental remote sensing satellite, Bhaskara-1, launched in 1979 and even Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan.

6.      2 journalists working for Reuters who are under arrest in Myanmar have been awarded the 2019 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. 

a.       The award for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were detained for exposing attacks against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, were presented in absentia in the East African country that is hosting the World Press Freedom Day events.

b.       Note : The World Press Freedom Prize is formally conferred every year by Director-General of UNESCO, on occasion of World Press Freedom Day observed on 3 May. 

7.      An article titled ‘Coalgate 2.0’, authored by Indian author Nileena M. S. and published in March 2018 issue of ‘The Caravan’ magazine, has won the Asian College of Journalism’s Award for Investigative Journalism.

a.       The article investigates allotment of ‘captive coal blocks’ in Parba East and Kanta Basan regions of Chhattisgarh.

8.      The Defence Ministry has approved the Indian Navy's proposal to acquire 10 Kamov-31 Airborne Early Warning and Control choppers from Russia at a cost of about ₹3,600 crore to strengthen its capability against aerial threats to aircraft carriers and warships. 

a.       The decision was taken during a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council led by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

9.      India has further delayed implementation of its June 2018 order to impose retaliatory tariffs on 29 US products, including almonds, apples and phosphoric acid, till May 16. 

a.       The tariffs were announced after the US refused to exempt India from new steel and aluminium tariffs. 

b.       The extension comes amid the US' decision to withdraw duty-free benefits to Indian exporters.

10. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed an around ₹3-crore fine on Vodafone's m-pesa and a ₹1-crore fine each on Flipkart's payment arm PhonePe alongside two Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers over "non-compliance of regulatory guidelines".  

11. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced its plans to launch its latest radar imaging reconnaissance satellite ‘RISAT 2BR1’ towards the end of May 2019. 

a.       Its launch was earlier scheduled in 2020 after RISAT-2A but is now preponed.

12. The Chief Economic Advisor to Central government, Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian has been included as the member of the Advisory Council of the 15th Finance Commission.

a.       Note : The Advisory Council was set up in April 2018 to advise the commission on any issue or subject related to the terms of reference (ToR) of the commission, and also to assist in the preparation of any paper or research study which would enhance the commission’s understanding on the issue contained in its ToR.

b.       The council now has 12 members, including NIPFP Professor Pinaki Chakraborty, noted economists Surjit Bhalla, Arvind Virmani, Indira Rajaraman and M Govinda Rao.

13. Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn was formally crowned as a divine monarchtoday. 

a.       The 66-year-old became constitutional monarch after the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016 after 70 years on the throne.

14. The United States Air Force General Tod D. Wolters was sworn in as top military officer of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), at NATO’s military headquarters in Mons, southern Belgium.