Monthly Current Affairs Capsule & Quiz May 2019 Benjamin Netanyahu sworn-in as Israel's PM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the 120 newly-elected members who were sworn-into country's new Parliament. Labour Day: 1 May • He was sworn in three weeks after his victory in the national election. • His Likud party won 35 seats in the election, the same as his main opponent from the centrist Blue and White alliance, led by former military chief Benny Gantz. • Support from smaller right-wing parties allied to Likud led to a majority of 65 parliament members supporting Benjamin Netanyahu. May Day is also called Workers' Day or International UN designates Masood Azhar as a global terrorist Workers' Day is observed every year on 1 May. The United Nations designated Pakistan-based Jaish- • The day celebrates the struggle, dedication e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a "global and commitment of the working class. terrorist". • Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement in the United States in the 19th • The decision came after China lifted its hold century when the industrialists used to exploit on a proposal to blacklist him. the labour class and made them work up to 15 • A "global terrorist" designation will subject hours a day. Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an • The theme of Labour Day 2019 is 'Uniting arms embargo. Workers for Social and Economic • France, US and UK had moved a fresh Advancement'. proposal to declare Azhar as a global terrorist at the UN in the wake of the Pulwama terror Japan's new Emperor Naruhito ascends the attack. throne • Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack. China had put a Japan's new emperor, Naruhito, has formally technical hold on the proposal, blocking it for ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, replacing his the fourth time to designate Azhar. father, Akihito. World Press Freedom Day: 3 May • Emperor Akihito abdicated thanking the people for their support over the last three World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year decades and expressing hope for a peaceful on 3 May. future. • In a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in • This day was proclaimed by the UN General Tokyo, Naruhito became the 126th Emperor Assembly in December 1993, following the of Japan. recommendation of UNESCO's General • The emperor in Japan holds no political Conference. power but serves as a national symbol. • The theme of World Press Freedom Day this • The last coronation was held in 1950 for the year is ‘Media for Democracy: Journalism king's father Bhumibol Adulyadej. and Elections in Times of Disinformation’. • Thailand has been run by an arch-royalist • The 26th celebration of World Press Freedom junta since 201 The monarchy takes primacy Day is jointly organized by UNESCO, in the country but it is buttressed by the army. African Union Commission and the Government of Ethiopia. Points to remember • The main event is being held at the African Union Headquarters at Addis Ababa. • Capital: Bangkok • Currency: Thai Baht The UK becomes the first parliament to declare a climate emergency World Laughter Day: 5 May 2019 World Laughter Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of May and this year it falls on May • The first time this day was celebrated on May 10, 1998, by Madan Kataria in Mumbai. • This day is marked to spread laughter all around as it helps to cure many problems that could be emotional or physical. • Laughters is the best medicine and can cure anything. The UK is the first national government to declare an First Japanese Commercial Rocket Launched, environmental and climate emergency. Reaches Orbit • The decision marks a renewed sense of A Japanese aerospace startup funded by a former urgency in tackling climate change. internet maverick successfully launched a small • Eleven days of protests by the Extinction rocket into space. Rebellion activist group caused major disruptions in central London in recent • It is the first commercially developed weeks. Japanese rocket to reach orbit. • There is no single definition of what that • Interstellar Technology Inc. said the means climate emergency but many local unmanned MOMO-3 rocket exceeded 100 areas say they want to be carbon-neutral by kilometres in altitude before falling into the 2030. Pacific Ocean • Founded in 2013 by Horie, former Livedoor King Maha Vajiralongkorn crowned Rama of Co. president, Interstellar Technology aims Thailand to develop low-cost commercial rockets to carry satellites to space. Thailand has crowned its new King Maha Vajiralongkorn, marking the first ascension of a new World Asthma Day: 7 May 2019 monarch in seven decades. World Asthma Day (WAD) is organized by the • King Vajiralongkorn is the tenth monarch of Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) towards the Chakri dynasty, which has reigned since increasing awareness about asthma and its 178 management across the world. • It is observed every year on the first Tuesday remembering their contribution to helping of May. people in need. • On this day activities are carried out • 2019 Theme: #love throughout the world to motivate asthma patients to keep their asthma under control. Points to remember • The theme for WAD 2019 is ‘STOP for Asthma’: where STOP stands for Symptom • International Committee of the Red Cross Evaluation, Test Response, Observe and Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland Assess, and Proceed to Adjust Treatment. NASA to crash spacecraft into an asteroid in 2022 India to attend G-7 meet in France The US space agency NASA revealed its plan to hit a small moonlet target in a double asteroid system with a spacecraft in 202 • It is its first mission to demonstrate a planetary defence technique. • The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will get one chance to hit its target. • The asteroid, called Didymoon or Didymos B, is a moon asteroid around 150 meters tall orbiting a larger body Didymos A. India signs protocol for export of chilli meal to India will be attending the Group of 7 industrialised Chinese markets nations meet organised by France in Biarritz in August along with Australia, Chile and South Africa. • The invitation to Australia, France and Chile besides India reflects the French emphasis on the Indian Ocean and the Pacific region. • The G-7 groups together the US, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Germany. World Red Cross Day: 8 May Every year the 8th of May is celebrated as World Red India and China signed a protocol for the export of Cross and Red Crescent Day. Indian chilli meal to China. • The day is celebrated as it marks the birth • This is the fourth protocol signed between the anniversary of Henry Dunant, the founder of two nations over the past year allowing the the Red Cross and International Committee export of farm commodities from India. of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the first • Chilli meal is the residue left after oil is recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. extracted from chillies. • World Red Cross Day commemorates the • It is widely used as an industry input in principles of “International Red Cross and manufacturing chilli sauce and other similar Red Crescent Movement”. products. • It is celebrated on May 8 to pay tribute to the • India is the world's largest producer, people participated in the event as well as consumer and exporter of chillies. Ireland becomes the second country to declare a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) decided climate emergency to hold its 2020 high-level conference early June in Portugal's Lisbon. Ireland has declared a climate emergency in their country, to be the second country after Britain to do • The conference aims to support t he sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine so. resources. • The UNGA decides that the theme of the • An amendment to a parliamentary report conference shall be ‘scaling up ocean action declaring a climate emergency and calling on based on science and innovation for the parliament to examine how the Irish implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, government can improve its response to the partnerships and solutions.’ issue of biodiversity loss was accepted. • Britain's parliament became the first in the International Day of Families: 15 May world to declare a climate emergency, passing the largely symbolic motion on May The International Day of Families is observed on the The US approves dengue vaccine Dengvaxia 15th of May every year. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has • The day aims to provide an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to approved the first vaccine for dengue, Dengvaxia. families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes • FDA has also placed significant restrictions affecting them. on its use because the vaccine has been • The day was proclaimed by the UN General shown to put some people at heightened risk. Assembly in 199 • It can be only given to the people aged 9 to • IDF 2019 theme: ‘Families and Climate 16 who live in areas where dengue is endemic Action: Focus on SDG 13’. and who are shown by lab testing already to have been infected with the disease. Mexico City declares environmental emergency • The Philippines, which became the first country to approve it in 2016, was also the and postpones football semi-final first to ban it in February this year over safety concerns. Mexico City has declared an environmental • Dengvaxia is produced by the French emergency. pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur. • It ordered vehicles off the road and UN to hold the 2020 ocean conference in Lisbon postponing the semi-finals of the first- division football league as a blanket of smog enveloped in the capital. • A series of wildfires on the city's outskirts have combined with stagnant weather conditions to cloak the metropolitan area of more than 20 million people in a grey cloud.