CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY – 2010

1. Who is appointed Australia’s first women prime minister ?

Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia.
2. Who has been appointed the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India?
Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia.
He will be taking over from incumbent Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan on May 12.
3. Name of the fourth woman judge of Supreme Court of India?
Gyan Sudha Mishra, Former Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice.
4. Name of the bill passed by the Lok Sabha on April 30, 2010 which provides for setting up a special court for speedy disposal of environmental cases?
The National Green Tribunal Bill.
The Tribunal will be located in Bhopal and will have at least 10 judicial members. The Tribunal will have four benches across the country.
5. The 48-year-old Football club of India which will be disbanded at the end of current I-League season with focus of the parent company shifting towards developing talent at school level.
Mahindra United Football Club.
6. Which communist country marked the 35th anniversary of the end of its war with a grand military parade through the former Saigon, with the government basking more in its economic achievements than its historic military defeat of the United States?
Vietnam.
The cost of the Vietnam War was huge for the United States. More than fifty eight thousand Americans died in combat, and it damaged the United States economy.
7. Name the nine Indians who figured in Time magazine’s annual list of 100 most influential people?
1. Manmohan Singh: Manmohan Singh is placed at 19th spot in the Leaders list headed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
2. Sachin Tendulkar: Sachin Tendulkar gets the 13th place among 25 ‘Heroes’ headed by former US president Bill Clinton who is recognised for his work as a fund-raiser and anti-poverty activist.
3. Amartya Sen: Economist Amartya Sen is 20th on the ‘Thinkers’ list.
4.Perumalsamy Namperumalsamy : Sixth placed among heroes, Perumalsamy Namperumalsamy, 70, was recognised for performing cataract surgery at the Aravind Eye Care Hospitals since 1976 and having treated 3.6 million surgeries to date – a new one every 15 minutes.
5. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: He gets the 16th spot among ‘heroes’ for donating $2 million to support health insurance coverage for 100,000 Indian villagers and another $10 million for creating the 1,400-bed Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Centre in Bangalore.
6. Atul Gwande: Indian-American doctor and Harvard professor Atul Gwande is fifth on the list of ‘thinkers’ for his contribution to medicine.
7. Chetan Bhagat: Chetan Bhagat, author of bestsellers, ‘One Night @ the Call Centre’ and ‘Five Point Someone’ is the lone Indian in the list of artists headed by extravagantly outfitted singer Lady Gaga.
8. Rahul Singh. He in 22nd place is recognised for his relief work in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that hit on Jan 12.
9. Sanjit Bunker Roy: Humanitarian worker, Sanjit Bunker Roy’s Barefoot College has trained more than three million people for jobs in the modern world.
8. Who is appointed as the fourth woman judge in the history of the Supreme Court of India since its inception in 1959?
Justice Syan Sudha Misra.
She is the first Supreme Court woman judge since Justice Ruma Pal retired in June 2006.
Justice Fathima Beevi, was the first woman judge of the Supreme Court from Oct 10, 1989, to April 29, 1992
Justice Sujata Manohar became an apex court judge Nov 8, 1994. She retired Aug 27, 1999.
Justice Ruma Pal was the third woman Supreme Court judge, from Jan 28, 2000, to June 6, 2006.
9. Which High Court of India has the highest representation of women in the judiciary, with 8 women judges?
Delhi High Court.
The Bombay High Court comes a close second with 7 women judges.
10. Which player won the Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year 2010 award?
Wayne Rooney.
11. Karnataka food and civil supplies minister who resigned from the cabinet on 02-05-10, charged with raping his friend’s wife five months ago in Shimoga?
Haratal Halappa.
12. Which country has been ranked first in the list of “dirty dozen” spam relaying countries, accounting for over more than 13 per cent of world’s total junk mails, sent during the first quarter of the year, according to a new study?
U.S.A.
India has been ranked second in the list while China has successfully pulled itself out of the list.
13. Name of the veteran Indian diplomat who has been appointed Assistant Secretary-General for UN’s Peacekeeping Operations?
Atul Khare
14. Name of the Special Court Judge who handed death sentence to the Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab for the Mumbai terror attacks?
M L Tahaliyani. He has been promoted as the Principal Sessions Judge of the City civil and sessions Court in Mumbai.
15. Euro-region ministers recently agreed to a 110 billion-Euro ($146 billion) rescue package for which country to prevent a default and stop the worst crisis in the currency’s 11-year history?
Greece.
16. The leader of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta group in Jerusalem, noted for serving as Minister for Jewish Affairs in Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian government who died on May 2, 2010, aged 86?
Moshe Hirsch.
17. Who has won the Rome Masters Tennis title for the fourth time?
Rafael Nadal.
He defeated the Serbian player Novak Djokovic 7-6, 6-2 in the final.
18. Name of the world’s oldest person who has died a week before her 115th birthday?
Kama Chinen. She is a Japanese woman on the southern island of Okinawa who witnessed three centuries, born on May 10, 1895, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks individuals of extremely old age.
19. First Indian-origin Sikh to be knighted this year by the Queen for his services to the administration of justice in the United Kingdom, has been chosen for the Pride of Sikh Community Award?
Sir Mota Singh QC
20. The Indian Company which has been barred from doing any business with World Bank for violating “procurement guidelines”, for a period of three years, beginning January 11, 2010?
Videocon Industries Ltd.
World Bank has blacklisted this Indian company for three years, ending January 11, 2013.
21. Who resigned as India’s chief football coach following his differences with All India Football Federation (AIFF) secretary general Alberto Colaco?
Bob Houghton
22. Which state won the overall title of National senior Federation Cup Athletic Championship held in Ranchi?
Kerala.
Kerala won the overall title with 11 gold medals (1 silver, 3 bronze) followed by Haryana (6) and Uttar Pradesh (5).
23. Which developing country offers the best conditions for maternity in the world, according to a report entitled “The State of the World Mothers 2010,” released by the Save the Children NGO?
Cuba.
24. Name of the 1932 Pablo Picasso painting of his mistress which has sold for $106.5 million US, a world record price for any work of art at auction?
“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust”
Nude Green Leaves, and Bust, a 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso, sold for more than $100 million US at Christie’s auction house. (Christie’s, New York/Associated Press)
25. Indian-born business administration scholar who is set to become the tenth Dean of Harvard Business School (HBS)?
Dr Nitin Nohria.
26. Which team clinched the I-League title for the fourth time after beating Lajong FC 1-0, with one round of the country’s premier football league still to go?
Dempo Sports Club.
27. Which club won the Coppa Italia (Italian FA Cup beating Roma in the final (1-0)?
Inter Milan.
Diego Milito hit the goal for Inter Milan.
28. Which club clinched their ninth French League title beating Rennes (3-1)?
Olympique de Marseille.
Olympique de Marseille is a French professional football club which became the first and only French club to win the UEFA Champions League in 1993.
29. Name of the American weekly news magazine hard hit by the internet and the recession, has been put up for sale by its owner, the Washington Post Company?
Newsweek.
This weekly is the second largest news weekly magazine in the U.S published in four English language editions and 12 global editions written in the language of the circulation region.
30. President of Nigeria died on May 5, 2010 at the age of 58 after more than five months of battling with a heart ailment?
Umaru Yar’Adua.
He is the first university-educated president of Nigeria. He was declared the winner of the controversial Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 2007. He was a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan has been sworn in as President in a ceremony in the capital Abuja.
31. Who won a landmark ruling in the country’s highest court in a dispute with his brother over how to split the riches from the family’s gas business?
Mukesh Ambani.
India’s Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Mukesh Ambani in his long-running feud with his brother Anil Ambani over supplies from a huge natural gas discovery.
32. Who is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Britain?
David Cameron. (Conservative Party)
He will head the government which is formed by the coalition between the Conservative Party and the left-leaning Liberal Democrats.
33. Who is the Deputy Prime Minister of Britain?
Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats)
34. For the first time in the history of UK elections, two Indian-origin women have been elected to the House of Commons. Who are they?
Priti Patel and Valerie Vaz.
Priti Patel of Conservative party was elected from the Witham constituency and she has become the first Asian Woman MP (Member of Parliament) in Britain. Valerie Vaz of Labour party was elected from Walsall South constituency.
35. Largest Beaver Dam recently discovered in Canada using Google satellite technology located in?
Northern Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park.
Ecologist Jean Thie located the 2,788-foot (850-meter) dam using Google Earth and NASA technology and the dam stretches more than eight football fields long.
36. Which are the first countries to have country codes in Arabic scripts using a system that will also allow web addresses in Chinese, Thai and Tamil scripts?
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Internet regulator ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) recently enabled full web addresses in non-Latin characters.
37. A ban on which African country competing at the next two African Nations Cup finals was formally lifted by the Confederation of African Football recently, ratifying an agreement brokered by FIFA in Zurich?
Togo
38. Which country has recently initiated steps to build its first indigenous civilian transport aircraft?
India.
Government has set up a 15-member high-power committee (HPC) on National Civil Aircraft Development with former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair as its Chairman for management and development of the key project.
39. Which club won English soccer’s Premier League after an 8-0 home win over Wigan Athletic in the final round of games?
Chelsea.
Manchester United finishes second.
40. Who is sworn in as Costa Rica’s first female president?
Laura Chinchilla. She has become the third female president in Central America.
41. Who is named as Captain of the Indian Cricket Team on the tour to Zimbabwe from May 28 for the tri series involving Sri Lanka?
Suresh Raina
42. Who retained World Chess Championship title by winning a thrilling 12th and final game, beating Veselin Topalov of Russia?
Viswanathan Anand
Besides being the first Asian to win the World Championship in 2000, Anand now has the distinction of creating a hat trick with three World Championship titles in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
43. Which country became the fifth major emitter of Green House Gases after the US, China, the European Union and Russia?
India.
India’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased by 41.66 percent between 1994 and 2007 making it the fifth major emitter to contribute to global warming.
44. BSNL, the state-owned telecom operator in India, recently has banned the Chinese telecom equipment makers from the bidding for the GSM projects in the northern and eastern zones in India. Name those companies.
Huawei and ZTE.
According to security assessments of Huawei Technologies put together by RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) of India, the Chinese firm not only shares ties with the Chinese security establishment but is also suspected to be a part of its intelligence set-up. RAW clearly point out that PLA (People Liberation Army) remains a customer of that company and has become more involved with it.
45. The first Hindi film which has been selected to be screened in the ‘Un Certain Regard Section’ of the Cannes film festival?
Udan.
The film is debut film of director Vikramaditya Motwane. The last Indian film to make it to the Golden Palm Award category was Swam (Malayalam). Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection.
46. Who was declared the winner of the Philippine presidential elections?
Benigno Aquino.
Former president Joseph Estrada finished in second place.
47. The Central Government of India recently appointed five independent directors for Air India. Who are they?
M.A. Yousafali, prominent Malayalee industrialist in Gulf countries.
Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and MD of Mahindra group.
Fali Major, former Air Force head.
Harshvardhan Niyothiya, Ambuja reality chairman.
Amith Mithra, FiCCI secretary general.
48. Who has been selected J.C Daniel award for the year 2009?
K.S Sethumadhavan.
He is the renowned film director from early 60s to late 80s. The J.C Daniel award has been instituted by the State government as a part of Kerala State Film awards, since 1992.
49. Indian Government has given in principle approval for the setting-up of the Indian National Defence University in Haryana. The university is to be set up in which district of Haryana?
Binola in Gurgaon district of Haryana
50. Who is the first Muslim woman to serve in a British cabinet?
Sayeeda Warsi.

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