Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2020

Notes:
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) recently announced that its Director-General of Roberto Azevedo will step down on August 31, 2020 on personal grounds. This is a year before the end of his second term as he has completed 7 years as the WTO chief.
The Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) was founded in the year 1995 and India is one of the founder members of this body. The main objective of WTO is to frame rules for global exports and imports and regulate international trade by reducing barriers.

Notes:
The Social-media giant Facebook has recently acquired the popular GIF-making and sharing website GIPHY. Facebook is also planning to integrate its GIF library Instagram, its photo-sharing app.
GIPHY, one of the most popular GIF-making and sharing sites on the internet, allows users to create, share and remix GIFs. Several platforms including Apple, Twitter, Pinterest and Reddit use Giphy’s API for providing GIFs.

Notes:
In the recent economic stimulus package, the Finance Minister announced that the government is taking steps to make India a global Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hub of aircraft.
As the aircraft component repairs and airframe maintenance is set to increase from Rs 800 crore to Rs 2,000 crore in three years, India can make use of the opportunity. Major engine manufacturers in the world are expected to set up engine repair facilities in India in future. The Minister also announced auctioning of six more airports on public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

Notes:
As a part of the economic stimulus package, the Centre has increased the borrowing limit of states to 5% of Gross state domestic product (GSDP) in 2020-21.
The present limit of the state’s borrowing is 3% of their corresponding GSDP. This move is expected to make an additional Rs 4.28 lakh crore available to the states. But, the additional borrowing beyond the 3.5% of GDSP limit shall be linked to specific reforms carried out by the states, including ‘One Nation, One Ration card,’ ease of doing business and power distribution etc.

Notes:
According to a recent study published in the journal MycoKeys, the researchers found an image of a millipede in Twitter and noticed some tiny dots near the creature’s head.
It has never been seen on the American millipedes and the newly discovered parasitic fungus has now been officially named as Troglomyces twitteri in Latin. The team discovered several specimens of the same fungus on some American millipedes found in the Natural History Museum.

Notes:
The super-cyclone that has recently developed in the Bay of Bengal named ‘Amphan’, is claimed to be only the second super-cyclone faced by India in several decades.
According to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), as the cyclone developed into a severe cyclonic storm, massive evacuation of 1.1 million people, who are likely to be hit by the cyclone, would be carried out. Heavy rain and high-velocity winds are expected across coastal Odisha, West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Notes:
This year’s World Health Assembly, the key decision-making body of the World Health Organization, the 73rd edition was recently held virtually. The assembly is usually held in Geneva and attended by representatives of the United Nation’s 194 member states.
India along with other 122 countries, supported the key conference paper, which proposes for a review of the world’s response to Covid-19. The draft called for a global approach to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and its path of introduction to the human population. China committed to provide USD 2 billion over two years to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Notes:
The World Hypertension Day observed on May 17 across the world every year. This year the World Hypertension League (WHL) has postponed the celebration of World Hypertension Day (WHD) 2020 to October 17, 2020, due to global COVID-19 pandemic.
The theme for World Hypertension Day is “Measure Your Blood Pressure, Control It, Live Longer”. Hypertension, also called as elevated blood pressure, is a serious medical condition that increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and blindness.

Notes:
International Museum Day is celebrated every year across the world on May 18, for the last 40 years. This year the theme of the International Museum Day is ‘Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion’.
The objective of celebration of this day is to raise awareness about the importance of Museums in cultural exchange and mutual cooperation and peace among people. Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces of the Culture Ministry hosted a webinar on ‘Revitalising Museums and Cultural Spaces’ on the International Museum Day.

Notes:
About 88 Nobel laureates across the world including the Indian Nobel prize winner Kailash Satyarthi united and called for governments to spend USD 1 trillion for marginalised children, during the lock-down imposed due to Covid-19.
Other notable personalities who signed this agreement were Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Human rights activist Desmond Tutu, among others. The assistance would cancel two years of debt repayments from low-income countries and fund 2 years of the global gap to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).