Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
Indian tennis player Sidharth Rawat defeated Rio Noguchi of Japan to win his first title in the $25,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament on June 2, 2019. With the ATP points being restored for events of this level, he will be able to improve his current rank of 510. He had a career-best rank of 430.

Notes:
China has successfully launched a space rocket from sea for the first time and became the third nation to successfully demonstrate the ability to launch satellites into orbit from a floating platform after Russia and United States. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has announced that a Long March 11 rocket was launched from a floating launch pad in the Yellow Sea just off the coast of Shandong on 5th June 2019. China now spends more than Russia and Japan on its civil and military space programmes. Earlier this year, China became the first nation to land a rover on the far side of the moon. It also unveiled ambitious plans to build a research base on the lunar surface, send a probe to Mars and build a space station in Earth orbit.

Notes:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the two-day meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors in Japan on June 8 and 9. This will be the first overseas visit of Ms. Sitharaman as Finance Minister. Besides Ms. Sitharaman, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is also likely to attend the meeting at Fukuoka in Japan. Among other things, the meeting is likely to focus on risks and challenges being faced by the global economy, investment in infrastructure and international taxation. G-20, which is a group of developing and developed nations, includes India, the U.S., the U.K., China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, France and Australia. The G20 meetings, convened annually since 1999, provide a forum for key countries in the international financial system to discuss major international economic issues and to coordinate to achieve the stable and sustainable growth of the global economy.

Notes:
American author Tayari Jones has won the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel “An American Marriage”. The book portraits a young African American’s wrongful conviction and how it affects his marriage. It is a story of love, loss and loyalty, the resilience of the human spirit painted on a big political canvas – that shines a light on today’s America. Jones wins £30,000 and the “Bessie” – a limited edition bronze figurine. The prize is one of the biggest international celebrations of women’s creativity.

Notes:
The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia organised a “Gandhi cycle rally for peace” in Riyadh on Friday to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The cycle rally was organized in association with the Diplomatic Quarter Authority and Saudi Cycling Federation. Over 150 participants from all walks of life, cultural and ethnic identities participated in the cycle rally. The rally was flagged off by Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was one of the first events of its kind held at the Diplomatic Quarters in Riyadh and reflected the increasingly friendly relations between India and Saudi Arabia especially after the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Kingdom in April 2016 and the state visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to India in February 2019.

Notes:
The Thai parliament has recently elected ex military government chief Prayuth Chan-ocha as its new Prime Minister. He beat the popular billionaire leader of the anti-junta Future Forward Party, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, with 500 votes to 244 after a 12-hour session that included 10 hours of fierce debate in Parliament on June 5. Prayuth will now head a coalition government led by the pro-military Palang Pracharat Party. Prayuth’s appointment becomes official when it is endorsed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has not had a royal run for frontline office since 1932.

Notes:
Former President Jimmy Carter will be bestowed with the George H. W. Bush Award for Statesmanship for his contributions to relations between the U.S. and China. A private award ceremony is scheduled June 12 at the Carter Center in Atlanta. The George H. W. Bush Foundation has said that the award goes to people who have made profound contributions to the development of constructive and mutually beneficial relations” between the U.S and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Notes:
In Tennis, World No. 2 Rafael Nadal has lifted the French Open Men’s Singles title for the 12th time. In the summit clash played at Paris on June 9, he defeated Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to win at the Roland Garros for the third straight year. Hence, Nadal became the first player to win 12 Singles titles at the same Grand Slam and has now won 18 majors overall. Nadal is now just two titles behind Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20 majors and is three ahead of world number one Novak Djokovic. Nadal also took his Paris record to an astonishing 93 wins and just two losses. The win also gave Nadal an 82nd career title and 950th match win.

Notes:
R V Janakiraman (79), the former Puducherry Chief Minister and senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader, has passed away in Puducherry on 10th June 2019. He began his career as a taxi driver and later went on to become a fleet operator before foraying into politics. He was the Chief Minister between 1996 and 2000, heading the coalition government of DMK and the Tamil Maanila Congress. Mr. Janakiraman became the Chief Minister in 1996 and represented the Nellithope Assembly constituency for five consecutive times.

Notes:
Mount Sinabung, on the island of Sumatra, erupted for around 9 minutes on June 9 & send clouds of volcanic ash 7 km into the sky. The volcano has seen a spike in activity since its last major eruption in 2010. Mount Sinabung, which is 2,460m (8,071 ft) high, is among Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, but had been inactive for four centuries before its 2010 eruption. Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country. It follows the eruption of Mount Agung on the Indonesia island of Bali last month, which caused several flights to be cancelled.