13th May, 2022 Current Affairs

13th May, 2022 Current Affairs

NATIONAL

Rajiv Kumar appointed as next Chief Election Commissioner

• Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the next chief election commissioner. He will assume charge on May 15 after incumbent Sushil Chandra demits office on May 14, a notification issued by the Law Ministry said.
• In pursuance of clause (2) of Article 324 of the Constitution, the President appointed Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner with effect from the 15th of May 2022.
• Kumar took charge as the Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on September 1, 2020. Prior to assuming charge in the Election Commission, Kumar had been the chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board. He joined as the PESB chairman in April 2020.

President confers 13 Shaurya Chakras, Param Vishisht Seva Medal to Army Chief

• President of India, Ram Nath Kovind conferred 13 Shaurya Chakras which included six posthumous to the personnel of the Indian Armed forces for their conspicuous courage displayed during operations.
•  Army Chief General Manoj Pande was conferred with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) for his distinguished service of exceptional order at a defence investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
• The President also conferred 14 PVSM, four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals (UYSM) and 24 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals (AVSM) for distinguished service of an exceptional order.
• year-old jewellery factory rooted out in Haryana’s Indus Valley site Rakhi Garhi
• With the excavation of a 5000-year-old jewellery-making factory, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been working in Rakhi Garhi, Haryana, for the past 32 years, has produced one of its most significant findings yet.
•  Rakhi Garhi is a village in Haryana’s Hisar district and one of the oldest Indus Valley Civilization archaeological sites.

INTERNATIONAL

Ranil Wickremesinghe takes over as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

• Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken over as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa administrated his oath to the United National Party leader at a ceremony held in the President’s office in Colombo.
• The President’s brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as the Prime Minister following violent attacks by supporters on peaceful anti-government protesters. His resignation automatically dissolved the Cabinet leaving an administrative vacuum.
•  Mr. Wickremesinghe has been reappointed in an effort to bring stability to the island nation, engulfed in a political and economic crisis.

Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Independent Ukraine Passes Away

• Leonid Kravchuk, a former communist who helped sign the Soviet Union’s death warrant and then served as the first president of independent Ukraine, passed away at the age of 88.
• Kravchuk was known as the “wily fox” as he rose through the ranks of Ukraine’s Communist Party and take over as head of the parliament in 1990.
•  He signed the Belovezha accords with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Belarusian leader Stanislav Shushkevich in December 1991 which effectively triggered the Soviet Union’s collapse.

Biggest White Diamond Ever ‘The Rock’ Sold For $18.8 Million

• The Rock, the world’s largest white diamond, was auctioned for 18.6 million Swiss francs ($18.8 million), significantly less than the previous record for such a gem.
• Christie’s auction house in Geneva sold the 228.31-carat stone, which was larger than a golf ball.
• The Rock had high aspirations of breaking the global record for a white diamond, which stands at $33.7 million for a 163.41-carat rock sold in the Swiss city in 2017.
• The huge diamond was discovered in a South African mine in the early 2000s and has been on display in Dubai, Taipei, and New York before being sold in Geneva.
• An historic bright yellow diamond associated for more than a century with the Red Cross will be auctioned off later in the Magnificent Jewel auction.
• The Red Cross Diamond is a 205.07-carat cushion-shaped canary diamond.
• The Red Cross Diamond is a cushion-shaped, 205.07-carat canary yellow gem with a price range of $7.09 to $10.13 million Swiss francs.

South Korea becomes 1st Asian country join NATO Cyber Defence Group

• South Korea became the first Asian country join in North Atlantic Treaty Organization Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) is joined as a contributing participant in the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.
• Now, the total NATO CCDCOE has 32 countries as its official members which include 27 NATO member countries and 5 five non-NATO states as contributing participants.
•  South Korea has participated in the Locked Shields 2022, the largest and most complex annual international live-fire cyber defence exercise in the world. It has been participating two years in a row since 2020. South Korea joining the CCDCOE would help it counter the cyber security threat perception due to North Korea.

Published date : 13 May 2022 05:41PM