Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The new Prime Minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kadhimi assumed office after the country’s parliament approved a new government. The parliament also approved 15 ministers in a vote of confidence and seven ministries including Foreign affairs and Oil were left empty.
There has been political crisis for more than six months in the country. The two previous nominees for the role of prime minister, Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi and Adnan al-Zurfi failed to secure the required support from cabinet ministers.

Notes:
The National Anti-Doping Agency, a national organisation under the Ministry of Sports announced that it would conduct its disciplinary hearings online. It is responsible for promoting and monitoring the doping control programs in all forms of sports in India.
Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) and Anti-Doping Appeals Panel (ADAP) will start hearing cases online, due to the lockdown imposed. NADA will also launch an application to create awareness about anti-doping.

Notes:
‘Mukhyamantri Yuba Yogayog Yojana’ is a welfare scheme of the state of Tripura. It was seen in news as the state’s Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb launched an online portal scholarships.gov.in as a part of the scheme.
Under the scheme, the students who are in final year in colleges or Universities can apply through the portal and the state government will provide Rs. 5,000 as a grant for smart phone. More than 14000 students will be benefitted by this scheme.

Notes:
Monaco-headquartered International Association of Athletics Federations leads the celebration of World Athletics Day in the month of May. The first World Athletics Day was celebrated in 1996.
Every year, the date is decided by IAAF and this year it was celebrated on May 7. IAAF was founded at Stockholm, Sweden in the year 1912. The Athletics Day is celebrated to educate the people about the significance of sports and to encourage athletics as the foundational sport in educational institutions.

Notes:
The richest online chess tournament in history held so far was recently organised by the World Chess champion Magnus Carlsen after live tournaments could not be held amidst the Covid-19 crisis.
Named the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, the 16-day contest comprised of a total prize fund of $250,000. Magnus Carlsen won the final match and bagged the winner prize of $70,000 after defeating his American counterpart Hikaru Nakamura 2.5:1.5. Live feeds were offered during the matches with live commentary from chess grandmasters.

Notes:
According to the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), using the high-quality imaging of a galaxy called PKS 2014-55, sent by the South African satellite MeerKAT, the ‘X’ galaxies were found to be of a ‘double boomerang’ shape.
The galaxy that is located 800 million light years from Earth, is classified as ‘X-shaped’ because of its appearance from previous blurry images. The study also showed that these structures ultimately turn black due to the pressure of tenuous intergalactic gas.

Notes:
India International Exchange Limited (India INX) is India’s first international stock exchange located in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) city and is a subsidiary of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Recently the Union Finance Minister launched INR-USD futures and options contracts on the two international exchanges — BSE’s India INX and NSE’s NSE-IFSC, at GIFT city, Gandhinagar. This decision of allowing rupee derivatives will bring the rupee trading to our country, which are presently dominated by exchanges in Dubai and Singapore.

Notes:
On 8 and 9 May every year, the United Nations commemorates the millions who lost their lives during the Second World War. The World War-II led to the formation of the United Nations.
The commemoration to pay tribute to all victims is officially called the “Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War”. It was created by a General Assembly resolution in 2004.

Notes:
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR through its flagship New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) programme has approved a project towards development of human monoclonal antibodies (hmAbs).
The antibodies can neutralize the mutated virus SARS-CoV-2 and could be used for fighting future SARS-CoV infections. The team that is going to develop the therapeutic antibodies comprises of academic institutes and industries.

Notes:
Several states in India including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Goa have relaxed the provision of the Factories Act, 1948 and increased the working hours of labourers, after facing a shortage of workers following the lock-down.
Recently, Odisha and Maharashtra labour departments exempted their industries from four sections of the Factories Act, 1948, related to working hours of the staff, till June 30. Uttar Pradesh suspended key labour laws for three years through an ordinance. With the approved exemption, employers can allow labourers to work in two shifts of 12 hours each.