Current Affairs Recap of the Week: 16 May - 21 May 2016

• He was elected as the Chief Minister of Kerala by the Left Democratic Front that secured majority in the Assembly elections - Pinarayi Vijayan

• As per the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6): Regional Assessments released by the UN, this many million Indians will be at risk from rising sea levels by 2050 – 40 million


• The US House of Representatives approved a legislation to upgrade defence ties with this country on par with its NATO allies – India

• Phalodi in Rajasthan recorded 51 degrees Celsius - the highest temperature recorded in India since 1956. The previous high of 50.6 degrees Celsius was recorded in - Alwar

• They were appointed as special envoys for El Nino and climate by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - Mary Robinson and Macharia Kamau

• As per the World Health Statistics 2016, the life expectancy for children born in India in 2015 – 68.3 years

• This campaign was in news for its effectiveness in curbing irrational use of antibiotics in India – Medicines with the Red Line

• This Indian-American professor was conferred with the US National Medal of Science 2015 – Rakesh K Jain

• As per the World Health Statistics 2016, the global life expectancy for children born in 2015 – 71.4 years

• This island nation decided to sever 40-year-old diplomatic ties with Iran - Maldives

• Union Cabinet approved an ordinance to keep State Boards out of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for – One year

• This former Union Finance Secretary was appointed as the Principal Adviser in NITI Aayog – Ratan P Watal 

• This football club created a record by winning the third consecutive UEFA Europa League title – Sevilla FC 

• This city hosted the 1st World Conference on Tourism for Development - Beijing

• A noted expert in the study of function of genes who was appointed is - Rakesh Kumar Mishra

• The 27th series of CORPAT was conducted between the Indian Navy and –Indonesian Navy

• The political party that emerged triumphant in the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election is – AIADMK

• The Centre for Environmental Health launched by Union Health Minister JP Nadda is a joint initiative between - Public Health Foundation of India and the Tata Institute of Social Science

• A software solution named Intelligent Operations Centre, which was launched by President Pranab Mukherjee, is designed by - IBM

• Indian-American biotechnologist who was awarded with the University of Houston’s Distinguished Leadership in Teaching Excellence Award in 2016- Rupa Iyer

• Noted Gujarati folk singer and Padma award winner who passed away in May 2016- Diwaliben Bhil

• Indian journalist who was elected unanimously as the Deputy Mayor of Loughton town in the United Kingdom on 19 May 2016- Philip Abraham

• Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who was appointed as the Ambassador of India to Romania- A V S Ramesh Chandra

• Election Commission of India on 19 May 2016 announced results of 2016 by-election held for four states, namely - Gujarat, Jharkhand, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh

• The cyclonic storm over the west central Bay of Bengal that will strike Andhra Pradesh coast - ROANU

• First female president of Taiwan who was sworn-in on 20 May 2016 - Tsai Ing-wen

• As per the World Health Statistics 2016, the life expectancy for children born in India in 2015 – 68.3 years

• In this city Apple Inc. will be setting up an iOS App Design and Development Accelerator - Bengaluru

• In this city Apple Inc. opened a Development Office to develop Maps for Apple products – Hyderabad

• A draft bill was released to grant Statehood status to this Union Territory – National Capital Territory of Delhi

• Nokia Technologies entered into a 10-year brand-licensing deal with this company to market Nokia-branded phones and tablets – HMD Global Oy

• Platform launched by Income Tax (IT) department to fast track taxpayer grievances- e-nivaran

• Five Indian car models that failed crash tests conducted by NCAP- Renault Kwid, Maruti Suzuki’s Celerio and Eeco, Mahindra Scorpio and Hyundai Eon

• The UN-Habitat released the new global flagship report on sustainable urban development titled- World Cities Report 2016, Urbanization and Development - Emerging Futures

• Mobile app platform that signed MoU with Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to benefit Safai Karamcharis- Ola

• The state government that recently decided to launch Green Passage Scheme for orphan students is - Odisha

• The Indian 4x100m women's relay team recently broke the 18-year-old national record at - IAAF World Challenge

• The Ambassador of Mexico to Germany who was recently appointed the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is - Patricia Espinosa Cantellano

• Rohit Philip was recently appointed as the Chief Financial Officer of – IndiGo

• Punjab inaugurated the world’s largest single rooftop solar power plant with capacity of 11.5 MegaWatt (MW) at - Beas in Amritsar district

• The United States (US) Senate on 18 May 2016 approved a bipartisan emergency funding of a amount to combat the Zika virus in 2016 and 2017 is - 1.1 billion US dollars

• Election Commission of India on 19 May 2016 announced the Assembly Elections results of four states and one Union Territory and they are - Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry

• The revision of the rehabilitation of bonded labour scheme that will be made a Central Sector Scheme will replace - Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976

• International Museum Day (IMD) coordinated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) is annually observed on or around - 18 May

• This private sector bank launched the SmartUp platform to offer banking and payment solutions to start-ups – HDFC Bank Ltd

• The SBI is planning to merge this public sector bank with itself along with its 5 associate banks - Bharatiya Mahila Bank

• Researchers of this American university developed world’s first zika virus clone – University of Texas

• Indian artist won prize at the 2016 UN poster contest on N-disarmament - Anjali Chandrashekar

• World Hypertension Day (WHD) was observed across the world on - 17 May 2016

• India signed pact for global promotion of traditional systems of medicine with - World Health Organization

• First woman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Lucknow - Manzil Saini

• One of the discoverers of Neptune's rings who died recently - Andre Brahic

• The football club that won the La Liga Champions Parade 2016 is - Barcelona FC

• The athlete who created history by breaking the national record in women's 3000m steeplechase event is – Sudha Singh

• Chief of Air Staff who became the first CAS to fly the indigenously designed and produced Light Combat Aircraft Tejas - Arup Raha

• Himalayan brown bears came into news after being sighted for the first time after 1999 in - Kargil

• The Indian American boy who the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards of 50000 US dollar for developing a low-cost electronically aided knee brace - Syamantak Payra

• Draft National Policy for Women that was unveiled for consultation by Union Government seeks to replace - National Policy for Empowerment of Women, 2001

• The person who will head the five member committee to give recommendations on the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) - NK Singh

• The British publicist who coined the phrase "Fab Four" to describe the early Beatles, and died in May 2016 is - Tony Barrow

• Grammy-Winning Singer-Songwriter, who helped mentor a generation of songwriters and wrote hits like LA Freeway and Desperados Waiting for a Train, and died in May 2016 is - Guy Clark

• The theme of the 2016 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day that is observed annually on 17 May is - ICT Entrepreneurship for Social Impact

• The South Korean author, who won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for her novel 'The Vegetarian' is - Han Kang

• Scientists of this country built the world’s first scanning helium microscope to study human, animal and plant samples in pristine form – Australia

• The country that launched the Yaogan-30 remote sensing satellite on board the Long March 2-D rocket – China

• The campaign launched by the British Royals to tackle stigma of mental health – Heads Together

• He was sworn in as the acting Chief Justice of Tripura High Court - Justice Tinlianthang Vaiphei

• The three-member Indian women's archery team who were named for the Rio Olympics are -  Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi

• The doctoral researcher from IIT-Kharagpur, who bagged the European Materials Research Society’s (EMRS’s) Young Scientist Award - Nandini Bhandaru

• The United Nations project that has turned testimonies of displaced people in Ukraine into “books” - Living Library 

• A new fund that will be launched at UN World Humanitarian Summit to assist millions of children whose education has been disrupted by conflicts and natural disasters - Education Cannot Wait

• NASA successfully launched a super pressure balloon from New Zealand's South Island Wanaka Airport to conduct - Near-space scientific investigations

• The island of Thailand that will be closed from tourism as heavy tourism is negatively affecting natural resources and the environment - Koh Tachai

• Hockey player who will lead the Indian team at the FIH Champions Trophy in London from 10 to 17 June 2016 is - PR Sreejesh, the goalkeeper

• NTPC Limited formed Joint Venture with which company to revive plants of the Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited - Coal India Limited

• India held the first round of Maritime Security Dialogue with - United States

• The former Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court who was recently appointed the Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court is - Justice Deepak Gupta

• Name of the robot lawyer that was hired by the law firm BakerHostetler to assist with bankruptcy cases is - ROSS

• The winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, the longest-running annual international TV song competition, is – Ukraine

• The Maharashtra Ex-Servicemen's Corporation recently launched a military tourism initiative in Pune, named - Veer Yatra

• This former India cricket captain was re-elected as the chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee for another 3-year term – Anil Kumble

• A new ground-based missile defense system was launched by the USA in this European country – Romania

• These two former players were appointed to the ICC Cricket Committee for a 3-year term - Rahul Dravid and Mahela Jayawardena

• The Union Government decided to replace 5-year plans with 15-year vision documents. They will be prepared by – NITI Aayog

• The former Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court who has been sworn-in as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court is - Justice Navin Sinha

• The former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation who has been honoured with the IAF Hall of Fame award 2016 is - Udupi Ramachandra Rao

• The theme of the 2016 International Day of Families is - Families, healthy lives and sustainable future

• The pair that won the 2016 Italian Open women’s doubles title is - Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis

• The Indian peacekeepers, namely Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav, Rifleman Manish Malik, Havildar Amal Deka, Naik Rakesh Kumar and Gagan Punjabi, will be honoured with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal on - the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

• The indigenously developed Advanced Air Defence interceptor missile that was test fired from the complex of Abdul Kalam Island (formerly known as Wheeler Island) off Odisha coast on 15 May 2016 - Ashwin

• Tennis star who on 15 May 2016 won his first Italian Open Men's Singles Tennis title – Andy Murray

• Tennis star on 15 May 2016 won his first Italian Open Women's Singles Tennis title – Serena Williams

• The four minute documentary film on girl child education from India that has been invited for special screening at the 42nd Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), Washington DC - Beti

• World governing body for football, FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) on 14 May 2016 appointed an Indian retired judge as deputy chairman of its Governance Committee - Mukul Mudgal

• Women’s squash team that won the 18th Asian Team squash championships played at Taipei in Chinese Taipei - Malaysian team

• Men’s squash team that won the 18th Asian Team squash championships played at Taipei in Chinese Taipei - Pakistani team

• The Dutch teenager who became Formula One's youngest race winner after winning the Spanish Grand Prix - Max Verstappen

• Former Test cricketer who was the first Indian to score a memorable ton in his debut innings, died at the age of 87 - Deepak Shodhan 

• The Union Government has declared a day as National Dengue Day - May 16 

• BJP National president Amit Shah inaugurated the second phase of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana at - Dahod in Gujarat

• Indian Air Force will hand over 15. 84 Acres of Land to Airport Authority of India for the Expansion of - Lohagaon Airport in Pune

• The state that has been asked by the Union Government to lay aerial Optical Fibre Cable on electric poles in rural areas so that internet connections can be provided to gram panchayats at a lower cost under the Digital India scheme - Odisha

• The 'Income Declaration Scheme' or four month window for declaration of domestic black money will commence from - 1 June 2016 

• The 'Income Declaration Scheme' or four month window for declaration of domestic black money will commence from 1 June 2016 and will remain in force till - 30 September 2016