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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
International Firefighters’ Day
- International Firefighters’ Day is observed each year on 4th May.
- It was instituted after a proposal was emailed out across the world on January 4, 1999 due to the deaths of five firefighters in tragic circumstances in a bushfire in Australia.
- The IFFD ribbons are linked to colours symbolic of the main elements firefighters work with – red for fire and blue for water. These colours also are internationally recognised as representing emergency service.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
RBI imposes penalty on five PPI issuers
- The Reserve Bank of India has imposed penalties on five prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers, including Vodafone m-pesa and PhonePe, for violation of regulatory norms
- Also, penalties have been imposed on Western Union Financial Services Inc and MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc, both US firms, for non-compliance of guidelines
- A penalty of Rs. 3.05 crore has been imposed on Vodafone m-pesa and Rs. 1 crore each on Mobile Payments, PhonePe and G.I. Technology Private Ltd.
- Also, a penalty of Rs. 5 lakh has been imposed on Y-Cash Software Solutions.
- In a separate statement, the central bank said it had imposed a penalty of Rs. 29.67 lakh on Western Union Financial Services Inc., USA., and Rs. 10.12 lakh on MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc, USA, for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.
- RBI also imposed a penalty of 11.25 lakh on private sector lender Yes Bank for violation of norms pertaining to issuance and operations of PPIs
- According to the section 30 of the Payment and Settlement System Act, 2007, the penalty has to be paid within 30 days of the order being passed
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Huawei overtakes Apple to become second biggest Smartphone maker
- Huawei Technologies Co overtook Apple Inc to claim the No. 2 spot in smartphones in the first quarter, moving a step closer to its avowed ambition of displacing Samsung at the top of the market
- Huawei’s been steadily gaining on Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. with an increasingly high-end line-up of devices, particularly in its home market of China. Huawei grew shipments 50% from a year earlier
Asia-Pacific to grow 5.7% this year
- According to the bank’s Asian Development Outlook 2019 report released in April, developing Asia — which comprises 45 nations ranging from China to Tuvalu — is projected to grow by 5.7 percent this year
- However, the growth outlook for developing Asia is expected to moderate to 5.6 percent in 2020, according to the report
- The bank’s lending grew to a record $21.6 billion in 2018, 10% higher compared to 2017. Mr. Nakao elaborated on the Strategy 2030 plan of ADB which will focus on six key areas — operational and action plans for the private sector, addressing remaining poverty and inequality, accelerating progress in gender equality, continuing to foster regional cooperation and integration, expanding private sector operations and using concessional resources effectively.
- Addressing the opening session of the Board of Governors at ADB’s 52nd Annual Meeting in Nadi, Fiji , Mr. Nakao stated that consumer and investor behaviour could be undermined by trade tensions between countries
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS
Serbian Dragan Mihailovic appointed Indian men’s volleyball team coach
- The Volleyball Federation of India Friday appointed Serbian Dragan Mihailovic as head coach of the men’s national team
- He will take over as head coach and will be joined by Pryemyslaw Gaszyoski (Poland) and Valadimir Radosevic (Serbia) as the team’s physio and physiotherapist respectively. Apart from the men’s team, the three will also be working closely with the U-23 men’s and other junior India teams.
- All the three have been appointed for five months and will work with the team for the Asian Championships scheduled to be held in Iran in September.
US Air Force General Tod Wolters sworn in as NATO commander
- S. Air Force General Tod D. Wolters has been sworn in as the top military officer of the 29-nation NATO military alliance.
- The former pilot, who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, became Supreme Allied Commander Europe at NATO’s military headquarters in Mons, southern Belgium.
- Wolters, who replaces U.S. Army General Curtis M. Scaparrotti for a term likely to run two to three years, will also be commander of U.S. forces in Europe
| USEFUL INFO |
| NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
| Secretary General | Jens Stoltenberg |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
Former ISRO Chairman awarded France’s highest civilian honour
- Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar was conferred with France’s highest civilian award – Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Lgion d’Honneur – for his contribution to India-France space cooperation.
- Ambassador of France to India, Alexandre Ziegler conferred Kumar with the highest civilian honour of France on behalf of the President of France.
- The Ordre national de la Lgion d’Honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour), was created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, is the highest civilian award given by the French for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipient
Article on coalgate wins ACJ Award for Investigative Journalism
- The article titled ‘Coalgate 2.0’ authored by Nileena M S and published in The Caravan magazine in March last year has won the ACJ (Asian College of Journalism) Award for Investigative Journalism, 2018.
- Nileena’s story investigates the allotment of ‘captive coal blocks’ in Chhattisgarh’s Parba East and Kanta Basan regions. The article explores deforestation, re-locations of people, loss of livelihood, and denial of forest rights to tribal.
- The award comprises a trophy, a citation and prize money of Rs 2 lakh.
- The award was presented to the winner by John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, who was the chief guest at the journalism school’s annual convocation ceremony in Chennai
- Other stories that were considered as final nominations and have been awarded special mentions by the jury (in no particular order) are as follows:
- ‘The Chronicle of Crime Fiction That is Adityanath’s Encounter Raj’ authored by Neha Dixit and published by The Wire.
- ‘The Death of Judge Loya’ written by Nikita Saxena for The Caravan magazine.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
IIT Delhi to Build a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies
- Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government, Prof K. Vijay Raghavan, and Director, IIT Delhi, Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi for setting up the CoE
- The waste to wealth mission project has been approved under the recently constituted Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), which is an overarching body for assessment, creation and implementation of major scientific, technology and innovation interventions for India.
CBDT and GSTN sign pact to nab evaders, reduce black money generation
- To nab tax evaders and reduce black money generation, the income tax department and Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) signed an agreement to facilitate exchange of data between the two.
- The I-T department will share key financial information, including status of I-T return filings, turnover of business, gross total income, and turnover ratio among others with GSTN, the information technology backbone of the two-year-old indirect tax regime
- The move will allow the I-T department to verify the information filed by businesses in income tax returns, compared to the annual GST returns.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
Jaipur to host Asian youth Women Handball Championship
- Jaipur will host the 8th Asian Youth Women Handball Championship in which 10 teams, including defending champions South Korea, will be participating.
- It is the first time that the tournament will be hosted by Pink city Jaipur. Earlier Delhi had hosted it in 2015 where the hosts India had finished seventh
- The previous edition in 2017 was held at Jakarta in Indonesia where South Korea was the champion while Japan and China were placed second and third respectively
Bajrang Punia bags gold in Ali Aliyev wrestling tournament
- World number one Bajrang Punia won the gold medal as he defeated Viktor Rassadin in the finals of men’s 65kg freestyle in the Ali Aliyev wrestling tournament in Kaspiisk, Russia
- Earlier on April 23, Bajrang had won a gold in the same category, beating Kazakhstan’s Sayatbek Okassov 12-7 in the final of the Asian Wrestling Championships in China.
- Bajrang to participate in the ‘Beat the Streets’ competition at the Madison Square Garden, New York, on May 6.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY
Actor Peter Mayhew has passed away
- Actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in “Star Wars”, has passed away
- The British-US actor played the giant Wookiee warrior in several Star Wars films from 1977 until 2015