National

Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM)

• Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju will formally inaugurate the 46th ATCM at the Lulu Bolgatty International Convention Centre in Kochi, Kerala.
• The ATCM and the 26th Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection is hosted by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences through the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research.
• ATCM has 56 member-nations, of which 29 have consultative status or decision-making powers.
• India has been a Consultative Party to the Antarctic Treaty since 1983.

FAME 

• A high-level government panel has held that companies knowingly violated Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) subsidy scheme guidelines that were 'very clear'.

CRPF Exits Parliament Building

• CISF will take over security of Parliament building as CRPF exits after 2023 security lapse.

 International

Starlink Satellite Internet Service

• Elon Musk and Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin launched Starlink satellite internet service in Indonesia.

Artara’24 Fine Arts Exhibition and Competition

• The Artara’24 Fine Arts Exhibition and Competition has made its mark in Dubai as a platform for discovering and nurturing emerging artistic talents from the country.
• The event aimed to discover hidden artistic gems, with a particular focus on the Indian talent residing in Dubai.

Economy

India and Russia-led EEU to start FTA

• India is set to negotiate a free trade agreement with Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, providing it with access to markets in five resource-rich post-Soviet states.
• The agreement will benefit Indian exporters in sectors like engineering goods, electronics, and agriculture.
• The agreement will also benefit India's management of the Chabahar Port in Iran, providing a connectivity corridor to Eurasia.
• Eurasian Economic Union comprises Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

 Sports

Thailand Open badminton tournament

• India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched the men's doubles crown at the prestigious Thailand Open badminton tournament.

Italian Open final

• The top-ranked Iga Swiatek dominated in her latest meeting with No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, winning the Italian Open final 6-2, 6-3 to earn her third trophy on Rome’s red clay.

Paris Paralympics

• Ace Indian para shuttlers Sukant Kadam, Tarun and Suhas have sealed their berths for the upcoming Paralympics in Paris.

French Open 2024

• French Open 2024 tennis tournament will begin at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris.

Person in News

Sanjiv Puri

• ITC Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Puri has assumed office as the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry for 2024-25.

Ebrahim Raisi

• Iranian state media confirmed Ebrahim Raisi died in the chopper crash.

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

• President Droupadi Murmu paid floral tributes to former President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy on his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• Neelam Sanjiva Reddy served as the sixth President of India from 25th July 1977 to 25th July 1982.

Lai Ching-Te

• Lai Ching-te of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in as new President of Taiwan.

 Environment & Ecology

National Endangered Species Day 2024

• National Endangered Species Day is observed annually on the third Friday of May.

Elephant Census

• An elephant census in the border areas of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh will be held from May 23 to 25.
• The exercise aims to understand the area, the conflict and chalk out better policies for better coordination and future planning.

Hydrogen and Global Decarbonisation

• The Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE), Visakhapatnam, in collaboration with Stony Brook University, New York, will host a Indo-US workshop on Hydrogen and Global Decarbonisation.

 Miscellaneous

Bacterial Priority Pathogens List 2024

• World Health Organization released its updated Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) 2024, featuring 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grouped into critical, high and medium categories for prioritisation.

AK-203 Rifles

• Indian Army has received 27,000 Russian AK-203 assault rifles by the Indo-Russian joint venture established at Korwa in Uttar Pradesh.
• Under an over ₹5,000-crore contract signed in July 2021, over 6.1 lakh AK-203 assault rifles are to be manufactured in India with technology transfer from Russia, by a joint venture Indo-Russian Rifles Private Ltd. (IRRPL).
• The IRRPL was set up in 2019 between the erstwhile Ordnance Factory Board [now Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) and Munitions India Ltd (MIL)] from India and Rosoboronexport (RoE) and Kalashnikov concern of Russia.