17th May Current Affairs: Special Days 1. The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is an annual event celebrated on 17th May, marks the 149th anniversary of the establishment of ITU, which was founded in Paris on 17 May 1865. • The theme for this year is ‘Broadband for Sustainable Development’ brings attention to the catalytic role of ICTs(Information and Communication Technologies) in securing smart solutions to achieve economic growth, social inclusion and environmental balance. 2. Armed Forces Day is observed on Third Saturday in May. • This is simply a day to salute sharply to all of the men and women in all branches of the service who protect our country and you. They can be called upon at a moments notice to perform a risky and perilous mission for freedom and country. International 1. Democracy activists in Myanmar joined opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in calling for constitutional amendments ahead of next years general elections. • Thousands of party supporters and leaders of prominent student activist groups, including the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, turned out at the rally in the main city of Yangon. 2. The Libyan army imposed a no fly zone over Benghazi in a direct challenge to a retired general who has been using airpower to press a campaign against Islamist militants there. • Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani denounced Haftar’s forces as “outlaws” and called on all parties to observe restraint. 3. Record-high floods and landslides have swept away people, homes and roads in the Balkans over the past week, but in Bosnia another deadly menace is hiding in the flood rubble — land mines. • Authorities have spent two decades trying to unearth the 1 million land mines planted during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. Before the floods, nearly 120,000 remained in 9,416 marked minefields. • Capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo. • Currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark. • President of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bakir Izetbegović. • Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Vjekoslav Bevanda. Sports 1. Atletico Madrid claimed their 10th Spanish league crown on 17 May but first in 18 years after coming from behind to draw 1-1 away at title rivals FC Barcelona. • Atleticos 10th title meant a club besides Barcelona or Real Madrid was Spanish champion for the first time since Valencia in 2004. 2. FC Bayern München clinched the German Cup in dramatic fashion, extra-time goals from Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller finally ending Borussia Dortmunds challenge and giving Josep Guardiolas side the league and cup double for the tenth time. • Bayern with four trophies having already won the Bundesliga title, Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup. 3. Eight-time world champion Pankaj Advani (ONGC) stamped his authority yet again by pocketing the billiards crown in the Cricket Club of India (CCI) Classic Billiards and Snooker tournament. • The Bangalore-based cueist defeated Dhruv Sitwala in the final. • Pankaj Advani is a 8-time World Champion. He won his first world title when he was just 18. He is the only Asian to have ever won both the Billiards and Snooker World Championships. 4. Olympic legend Michael Phelps stepped up his return to competitive swimming with a competitive swimming at the Charlotte Grand Prix, his first finals win since the London Games. • Phelps, who retired after the 2012 Games with a record 22 Olympic medals -- a staggering 18 of them gold -- launched his comeback last month in Mesa, Arizona, where he won his 100m fly heat but finished runner-up in the final to US Olympic teammate Ryan Lochte. 5. The Indian men`s team completed the formalities with a 108-32 win over Maldives to be crowned the champions of the third South Asian Basketball Association Championship, Kathmandu. • India 108 (Prakash Mishra 16) beat Maldives 32 (Aushane Ibrahim 12). Banking 1. The State bank of India launched “Retail Assets and Small and Medium Enterprises City Credit Center” (RASMECCC) in Shillong. • RASMECCC is a centralization process of loan handling and maintenance assist the bank in providing more enhanced services. • RASMECC is basically a specialized centre that handles and organizes the Personal and SME loans of 21 city based branches, further the RASMECCC centre deals with the 20000 loan accounts comprising of big branches in the state. • The RASMECCC premises will also host another important marketing hub, known as Multi Product Sales Team (MPST) aimed at providing convenience for the customers. National 1. The Union Home Ministry extended the ban imposed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil-Eelam (LTTE) in India for five more years. Earlier the ban was imposed on LTTE in May 2012. • India banned the terror outfit, LTTE after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India in 1991. It declared LTTE an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. 2. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted his resignation of his Council of Ministers. • 81-year-old Dr. Singh drove to the Rasthrapati Bhavan from his official residence 7, Race Course Road, to submit the resignation of his Council of Ministers. Persons in News 1. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar submitted his resignation to Governor D.Y. Patil on 17th May a day after his party Janata Dal (United) suffered a drubbing in the general elections. • Mr. Kumar has been in the saddle since Nov 24, 2005, and won a second term in the 2010 assembly elections. 2. Attributing a bit of arrogance and complacency within himself and the Congress for the partys poor show in the the Lok Sabha elections in Assam, Tarun Gogoi said he would resign with a week as its chief minister. State 1. The TDP-BJP alliance won 106 seats and YSRCP won 67 seats, total of 175 seats in the 16th phase of Assembly Elections in Seemandhra whereas Congress party did not get even single seat. In the Lok-Sabha Elections TDP-BJP alliance got 17 seats whereas YSRCP won 8 seats total of 25 seats. • In Telanga TRS party got majory seats to form a government with its own by getting 63 seats out of 117 seats. Where as Congress party won 21, TDP-BJP won 20, MIM party won 7, CPI-1, CPM-1 and others won 6 seats in Assembly Elections. In Lok-Sabha Elections TRS got 11, Congress got 2, TDP-BJP got 2 and MIM and Others got 1 seat respectively.
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 11:13:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015