Title Daily Current Affairs Capsule 26th May 2020

Title
Daily Current Affairs Capsule
            Title2020
       26th May

World Thyroid Day: 25 May

World Thyroid Day is observed globally on 25 May every year.

      The main purpose of the WTD is to be aware of the importance of Thyroid and the prevention and
       treatment of thyroid diseases.
      The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the throat that produces T3 (Thyroxine) and T4
       (Triiodothyronine) and maintained by the Thyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH).
      It regulates the metabolism of the body and abnormalities in this may cause dysfunctioning body systems.

57th Africa Continent Day: 25 May

On 25 May 2020, the African continent marked the 57th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation of
African Unity (OAU).

      The day is marked annually as Africa Day.

   The OAU was established on 25 May 1963 with the aim of promoting political, economic and social
       integration among the family of African States, and to eradicate colonialism, apartheid and neo-
       colonialism from the African continent.
      The organisation was transformed into the African Union on 09 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, to
       achieve greater unity, cohesion and solidarity between African countries and nations.

Former SC judge Justice Sikri inaugurates Indian Dispute Resolution Centre

Former Supreme Court judge Justice A K Sikri has inaugurated the Indian Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC),
which provides a paperless dispute resolution environment.

      The centre offers offline as well as e-alternate dispute resolution (ADR) facility through its state-of-the-
       art e-arbitration, e-meditation and e-conciliation software portal.
      It provides a completely paperless dispute resolution environment.
      The IDRCs are located at strategic commercial places in the country with its head office in Connaught
       Place in New Delhi.

MoHFW constitutes committee to reform Drug Regulatory System

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has constituted a committee to reform the Drug Regulatory
System.

   The committee comprises 11 members including the senior health officials, scientists and representatives
       of the pharmaceutical industry.
      The committee is headed by Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty to the Union health minister.
      The committee has been tasked with examining the current drug regulatory system and to give
       recommendations for reforms in order to bring the system more efficient and to streamline it with global
       standards.

Gadkari inaugurates breakthrough event of Chamba Tunnel under Chardham Pariyojana

In a boost to the Rs 12,000 crore ''Char Dham'' project to connect Gangotri, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Badrinath,
the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has achieved a milestone in construction of a tunnel below the densely
populated Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road (NH-94) in Uttarakhand.

      Latest Austrian technology has been used in construction of the Chamba tunnel.
      The tunnel will be through for traffic by October 2020 almost three months before its scheduled date of
       completion of January 2021.
      The 6 km road and 450 metre tunnel is being constructed at a cost of Rs 88 crore.

India helps Uganda to set up military war game centre

Indian Association in Uganda, with help of the Indian Military training team, set up a military war game centre
in Jinja district.

   Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni inaugurated the war game centre conceptualised by Indian military
       team for Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF).
      The war game centre is named 'INDIA' and is a type of strategy game that simulates warfare realistically,
       as opposed to abstract strategy games such as chess.
      The war game centre, constructed with an amount of over 1 billion Ugandan Shillings ($265,000), has
       been funded by voluntary contributions from Ugandans of Indian origin.

IIT-M researchers develop high performance magnesium alloy, could replace steel, aluminium in auto,
aerospace industry

The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) researchers in association with the University of North Texas
and US Army Research Laboratory have developed an engineered magnesium alloy with significantly improved
properties.

      It could replace steel and aluminium alloys in automotive and aerospace components.
      The current industrial application of wrought magnesium alloys in structural components was very limited
       due to their poor moderate, low strength, poor ductility, yield strength asymmetry and lack of high strain
       rate superplasticity.
      The research team has made headway in solving this challenging problem by formulating a magnesium
       alloy with almost zero yield asymmetry and high ductility.

Zaggle partners with Visa to launch payment solutions for SMEs, startups

Fintech startup Zaggle has partnered with payments technology major Visa to launch innovative payment
solutions for SMEs and startups.

   Under this partnership, both the companies will jointly create solutions for small and medium enterprises
       (SMEs) and startups to improve productivity, efficiency, automate processes, and reduce costs, along with
       focussing on easy and faster credit through a unique card which will have forex, prepaid along with credit.
      Zaggle will leverage Visa's expertise in the payments space to co-create and build new solutions for SMEs,
       and will also be able to acquire new customers and merchants, and get the latter's support for newer
       technological innovations and ideas.

Govt appoints PK Nair as envoy to Niger

The government announced the appointment of Prem K Nair as Indian Ambassador to Niger.

      Mr Nair is currently posted as Consul General of India to Hambantota
      He is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
      Niger is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger River.
      Capital: Niamey
      Currency: West African CFA franc

In a first, Indian Army Major to be honoured with UN Military Gender Advocate award

Major Suman Gawani, an Indian Army officer and woman peacekeeper who has served with the United Nations
Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), has been selected for the prestigious United Nations Military Gender
Advocate of the Year Award (2019).

      She has been awarded for her outstanding contribution to peacekeeping efforts in the UNMISS.
      This is the first time that an Indian peacekeeper is being given the UN Military Gender Advocate award.
      Created in 2016, the award honours the dedication and effort of individual military peacekeepers in
       promoting the UN principles on Women, Peace and Security in peace operations as nominated by Heads
       and Force Commanders of peace operations.
      Major Gawani was scheduled to visit New York for the award ceremony but due to COVID-10 pandemic,
       she will receive the award during an online ceremony.

American tennis player Jamie Hampton announces retirement

American tennis player and former world number 24 Jamie Hampton has announced her retirement from the
game.

      She had undergone numerous surgeries in the past few years, but those operations were not successful
       enough for her return to professional tennis.
      Hampton clinched five International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles during her professional tennis career.

   However, numerous injuries in the last five years as well as six surgeries over an 18-month period in 2014
       and 2015 brought a sudden halt to her career.
      Hampton, who reached career-high ranking of World No.24 in July of 2013, concluded by saying that she
       is now looking forward to the next chapter of her life which will be attending college.

Japanese pro wrestler Hana Kimura dies aged 22

Japanese professional wrestler Hana Kimura died at the age of 22.

      While the cause of death is yet to be ascertained, Kimura had posted a number of troubling social media
       posts in recent days.
      Kimura is said to have been the target of hundreds of abusive tweets on a daily basis.
      Kimura began her professional career in 2016 when she played in Wrestle-1 against classmate Reika Saiki
       in a losing effort.
      Kimura was featured as a cast member on the Netflix reality series “Terrace House: Tokyo,”.