28th May 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Menstrual Hygiene Day, an annual global initiative for breaking taboos and raising awareness about the importance of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), is being observed today.
• • The day was first introduced by the NGO 'WASH United' in 2014.
  • Note : The NGO has worked with UNICEF in India to formulate national MHM guidelines, which were implemented in December 2015.
  • Theme of Menstrual Hygiene Day 2016 : Menstruation matters to everyone, everywhere
• Pakistan has banned advertisements for contraceptives, birth control, and family planning products on the television and radio, citing concerns they expose "innocent children" to the subject of sex. 
• The Malaysian government today submitted to parliament a 'hudud' bill, an Islamic penal code which includes provisions of amputations and stoning. 
• • Prime Minister Najib Razak said the bill was "enhanced punishment," and would apply only to Muslims.
• The G7 nations have pledged to end government support for coal, oil and gas by 2025. 
• • Important Points to Note : 
    
  • The nations have previously discussed phasing out fossil fuels, but this is the first time they have set a deadline to end most fossil fuel subsidies. 
  • G7 comprises the United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Italy and Japan.
• The Thailand government has decided to close three islands to tourists citing "excessive tourism". 
• • The islands of Koh Khai Nok, Koh Khai Nui and Koh Khai Nai will be closed to visitors to protect the beaches and the coral reefs around them.

National Affairs

• The government has organised a ‘Governance Quiz’ on its 'MyGov' portal, winning which will allow citizens to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 
• • The quiz comprises 20 questions related to government initiatives like 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' and 'Direct Benefit Transfer'.
• Former Union Minister of State, V Narayanaswamy was today unanimously elected as Congress Legislature Party leader, to become the Chief Minister of Puducherry, where the Congress-DMK alliance won the May 16 Assembly polls. 
• The Telangana government has entered the Limca Book of Records for conducting the most intensive household survey by a state. 
• • In August 2014, four lakh government employees covered over 1.09 crore households between 7 am and 8 pm in one day. 
  • Chief Minister : K Chandrasekhar Rao

Business & Economy

• The Union Government has given its final approval to setting up of National Investment & Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) in Kalinganagar, Odisha. 
• • It will come up on a massive area of 163 square kilometres and on completion will be the third NIMZ of India.

Science & Technology

• ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is going to launch a record 22 satellites in a single mission next month.
• • ISRO Chairman : Kiran Kumar
• Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, for the third consecutive time, successfully landed its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship at sea after it was launched on Saturday carrying the 'THAICOM 8' satellite. 
• • The satellite, which was put into an elliptical orbit 22,000 miles above sea level, is a commercial communications satellite intended to serve parts of India, Africa and South-East Asia.
• The length of steel wires used in the construction of the Bandra-Worli sealink, Mumbai, is equivalent to the earth's circumference. 
• • The eight-lane sealink, constructed at a cost of ₹1,600 crore, is the first cable-stayed bridge on open sea in India. 
  • Its weight is equivalent to that of 50,000 African elephants and its length is 63 times that of Qutub Minar.
• Microsoft has started dynamically banning certain common passwords like '12345' and 'qwerty' across its services including Skype, Xbox and Outloo. 
• • The company said that the move is part of an effort to crack down on stolen passwords. 
  • This comes shortly after the reports of 117 million LinkedIn accounts being hacked.
• The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has launched an Android app called the BMTC Easy Travel Information Planner, which enables commuters to keep a track of real-time bus movements. 
• • It gives commuters suggestions regarding bus routes, and records whether buses skip stops, over speed or are delayed. It is reportedly the first such system in India.

Awards & Honors

• Pakke Tiger Reserve in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh has won the ‘India Biodiversity Award 2016’. 
• • The tiger reserve was selected in the conservation of threatened species category for its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme.

People in News

• Former Argentinian dictator Reynaldo Bignone (88) has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for conspiring to assassinate leftist dissidents as part of Operation Condor in the 1970s and 1980s. 
• • Fourteen ex-military officials have also been jailed over the operation, which was coordinated by dictatorships of numerous nations. 
• Three class 12 girls from Leh, Jammu and Kashmir have scaled Mount Everest. 
• • The girls, Stanzlin Laskit, Tashi Laskit and Tsering Angmo, were a part of the first ever all-girls Mount Everest expedition of the National Cadet Corps (NCC). 
  • The girl cadets were chosen for the expedition via NCC trials held across India.

New Appointments

• Infosys Ltd, the country’s second largest information technology company, has appointed Anantha Radhakrishnan as the Chief Executive of the company’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary.

Sports

• The Football World Cup for unrecognized states, de facto independent states, ​and autonomous regions began in the breakaway region of Abkhazia today. 
• • The participating teams include Kurdistan, Székely Land, Somaliland and hosts Abkhazia among other regions, none of which are UN members. 
  • The tournament is organised by CONIFA, which represents national sides unable to join FIFA.
  • CONIFA -  CONfederation of Independent Football Associations 

Careers

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) today declared the Class 10 exam results. 
• • The pass percentage this year has fallen to 96.21% from last year's percentage, which was 97.32%. 
  • Girls, with a pass percentage of 96.36%, outperformed boys (96.11%). 
  • Note : Over 12% of the 13,73,853 students who appeared for the exams have scored 10.0 CGPA.

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