Current Affairs May 2010 - II

·        Defending champions India and South Korea were declared joint winners of the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey tournament as the summit clash between the two teams was called off due to rain.

·        State-owned SAIL is mulling over setting up a steel project, at an estimated cost of Rs 60,000 crore, in Jharkhand.(Go for Current Affairs - I)

·        India's top industrialist and Chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata has received the 2010 CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award for his outstanding global leadership, vision and professional excellence.

·        The UPA government has received seven points out of ten for its performance from India Inc from a majority of the 500 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), surveyed by industry chamber Assocham.

·        Dr Ratan Kumar Sinha, closely associated with the design and development of India's first thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, will be the new Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Sinha will take over from Dr S Banerjee, who had been holding the post of BARC director and Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

·        Aravane Rezai defeated Venus Williams to win Madrid title 2010.

·        Reliance Industries said it has entered into an agreement with Russia's leading petrochemical firm, SIBUR to form a joint venture in India to produce butyl rubber.

·        The government will consider a proposal for setting up the country's first financial services sector special economic zone (SEZ). Diversified corporate entity GMR Group has submitted a proposal to the Centre for setting up this international financial services-focussed SEZ in Hyderabad.

·        India and Russia will hold a joint military drill nicknamed Indra-2010 with the involvement of more than 150 Russian servicemen from the motorised mountain infantry brigade.

·        Haryana will soon have a large scale biogas plant and bottling facility for use in cooking, transport and fertilisers.

·        Chief Minister Narendra Modi claimed that Gujarat has merged as the number one state in agriculture growth in the country. According to him, two factors have helped the state in agriculture sector, irrigation through check dams and canals, and use of technology in the farm sector.

·        Australian schoolgirl sailor Jessica Watson sailed into history, becoming the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop and without help.

·        In a bid to ward off fresh UN sanctions being pushed by the US, Iran announced it would ship 1,200 kgs of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey in a nuclear fuel swap deal. Under the new deal, brokered by Brazil and Turkey, Iran will ship 1,200 kgs of uranium enriched to low levels to Turkey to trade it for fuel rods containing uranium enriched to higher levels.

·        Defence Minister A.K. Antony left for Oman on a two-day visit to reinforce India's bilateral security ties in the Gulf region where other major powers, including China, have deepened their strategic military cooperation.

·        National Dinosaur Fossil Park would be set up in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh where more than 100 dinosaur eggs, estimated to be more than 6.5 crore (65 million) years old.

·        Rima Fakih who belongs to Michigan, was crowned the new Miss USA 2010.

·        UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica to be the next head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

·        The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved immediate disbursement of USD 1.3 billion of financial assistance to Pakistan, as it noted that the country's vulnerability remains high.

·        Filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's National-award-winning film 'Antaheen' has been selected as the only Indian entry for competition in 13th Shanghai International Film Festival.

·        Underworld don and India's most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai bombings, figures third on the Forbes' Most Wanted list which has been topped by Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. The list, carried in the latest edition of the Forbes magazine, also has Mexico's most powerful drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman in no.2.