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- The joint meeting of Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions on chemicals and waste namely was held in Geneva, Switzerland with the theme “Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste”. The Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions are multilateral environmental agreements, which share common objective of protecting human health and environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes.
- India handed over two Mi-24 attack helicopters to Afghanistan. Under a tripartite agreement in 2018, India had agreed to finance purchase of four attack helicopter from Belarus and then deliver them to Afghanistan. In December 2016, India had gifted four Mi-25 (Mi-24D) helicopters drawn from the inventory of the Indian Air Force and three Cheetah utility helicopters manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to the Afghan Air Force (AAF).
- The USA’s House of Representatives (lower house of US) Speaker Nancy Pelosi was honoured with 2019 John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. John F Kennedy was the 35th president of United States. His served from January 1961 till his assassination in November 1963. Established in 1989, seeks to honour J.F. Kennedy and to recognize and celebrate quality of political courage which he admired most.
- Seven mega missions are announced by ISRO which will be conducted over a period of next 10 years. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced its planned seven mega missions. Out of seven missions Chandrayaan-2, India’s second lunar exploration mission will be launched in July 2019. The rest six are classified as: Defined Missions – which include XPoSat (to study cosmic radiation in 2020) and Aditya-L1 (to the Sun in 2021). Undefined Missions – which include missions namely Mangalyaan-2 (2022), Lunar Polar Exploration (2024), Venus mission (in 2023), Exoworlds (in 2028).
- On May 17, 2019 in a landmark decision, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage thus giving gay couples the ‘Right to Marry’. The bill was passed on 17 May which is celebrated annually as the ‘International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia’. Taiwan is officially called as Republic of China (ROC) and is a self-governing island nation in East Asia.
Theodore Maiman - The second International Day of Light (IDL) was observed on May 16 by UNESCO. The day marks the anniversary of first successful operation of laser by engineer and physicist Theodore Maiman on 16 May 1960. IDL is an annual, global initiative which provides a focal point for continued appreciation of light.
- The 50th World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is celebrated on May 17 across the world with the theme Bridging the standardization gap’. The first WTISD was observed in the year 1969. The day marks the establishment of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 1865. The day seeks to help raise awareness about possibilities which can be brought to societies and economies with the use of Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT).
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