Daily Current Affairs, 09th May 2018

1)  Forbes Most Powerful People In The World: PM Modi 9th, Xi Jinping Tops

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked ninth on Forbes' 2018 list of 'the world's most powerful people'. Chinese President Xi Jinping ranked first, followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump at the second and third rank, respectively.

•The only other Indian to feature on the list is Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani at 32. The PM Modi ranks ahead of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (who is at 13th spot).

2)  Carlos Alvarado Sworn In As Costa Rican President

•Carlos Alvarado was sworn in as the new President of Costa Rica. Alvarado swept to victory against conservative Protestant singer Fabricio Alvarado Munoz.

•At 39, Alvarado is the country's youngest president in modern history. 

3)  Nikol Pashinyan Becomes Prime Minister Of Armenia

•Armenia’s parliament elected Nikol Pashinyan as a new prime minister in a 59-42 vote. His election comes after Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation as Prime minister of Armenia.

•Nikol Pashinyan is the leader of Civil Contract party. He is a former newspaper editor.

4)  September 2019 Climate Summit To Be Held In New York: UN Chief

•UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced to hold a climate summit in September 2019 in New York to review the commitments of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The announcement was made at the opening ceremony of the 37th session of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

•In March 2018, Guterres appointed former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as his Special Envoy for Climate Action who was tasked to support the United Nations (UN) in its climate strategy and in organising the 2019 summit.

5)  USA Withdraws From Iran Nuclear Deal

•President Donald Trump announced US withdrawal from the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with Iran. Mr Trump signed a fresh set of sanctions against Iran and warned countries against any cooperation with Tehran on its controversial nuclear weapons programme. 

•According to the President, the deal gave Iran millions in cash and did not prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. The historic nuclear deal was reached in Vienna in July 2015 between Iran and the P5 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council) along with Germany and the European Union.

6)  Google Names Nitin Bawankule Head Of India Cloud Business

•Google had appointed Nitin Bawankule as the country head for its cloud business in India, as the search giant looks at taking a larger share of the booming demand for those services in the country.

•Bawankule has been with Google for six years and was previously head of sales for its e-commerce, retail and classifieds and education business. Bawankule will report to Rick Harshman, managing director of Asia Pacific for Google Cloud.