Current Affairs 4th May 2019

Current Affairs 4th May 2019 - Important Points

• World Press Freedom Day 2019 on - 3rd  May 2019
• Bajrang Punia bags Gold in Ali Aliyev Tournament on - 2nd May 2019
• India, England retain top spots in ICC rankings on - 2nd May 2019
• Ex ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar conferred France’s Highest Civilian Honour on - 2nd May 2019
• World Tuna Day observed on - 2nd May 2019

Current Affairs 4th May 2019 - Details

World Press Freedom Day 2019 on - 3rd  May 2019

The 26th observance of World Press Freedom Day was mutually organized by UNESCO, the African Union Commission and the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The main occasion has taken place in Addis Ababa, on May 03rd, 2019 at the African Union HQs.
Current Year's theme
“Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation” is this year’s theme that
discusses present challenges faced by media in elections, along with the media’s latent in supporting peace & reconciliation procedures.
The general theme of the occasion is the role of media in elections and democracy. A wide range of sessions including plenaries, discussions, lightning talks addressed different aspects of the whole theme.

Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize

UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by discussing the UNESCO or Guillermo Cano World Press
Freedom Prize on an admirable individual/organisation/institution that has made an outstanding
contribution to the defence/promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been accomplished in the face of danger.
Formed in 1997, the prize is awarded on the reference of an independent jury of 14 news experts.
Names are given by regional and international NGOs working for press freedom, and by UNESCO member states.
It is termed in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was killed in front of the
headquarters of his newspaper El Espectador in Bogotá, Colombia on 17th December 1986.

Bajrang Punia bags Gold in Ali Aliyev Tournament on - 2nd May 2019

World number 1 Bajrang Punia on May 2nd, 2019 secured the Gold after beating Viktor Rassadin 13-8 in the finals of men's 65 kgs freestyle in the 2019 Ali Aliyev Wrestling Tournament, Kaspiisk, Russia.
This is his 2nd title in 2 weeks. Earlier on April 23rd, Bajrang secured Gold in the same category, defeating Kazakhstan’s Sayatbek Okassov 12-7 in the final of the Asian Wrestling Championships in Xi'an, China.
Bajrang Punia
Punia started wrestling at the age of 7 and was stimulated to pursue the sport by his father. He had secured the bronze medal in the men's freestyle 60 kgs category at the World Wrestling Championships in 2013. 
At the 2014 Common Wealth Games Glasgow, Scotland, he had secured the Silver in the men's freestyle 61 kgs category, after losing 1-4 to David Tremblay of Canada.
At the 2014 Asian Games Incheon, South Korea, he had secured the Silver in the Men's freestyle 61 kgs category, after losing 1-3 to Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran.
He then secured a Gold at the Asian Wrestling Championship organised at Delhi in 2017 and Gold in men's freestyle 65 kgs category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games organised at Gold Coast, Australia.
He won Gold at the 2018 Asian Games in the men's freestyle 65 kgs category and recently he marked his authority over Asia after winning Gold in the Asian Wrestling Championships 2019 in Xi'an, China.

India, England retain top spots in ICC rankings on - 2nd May 2019

The International Cricket Council on May 2nd, 2019 published the updated MRF Tyres ICC Test Team and  International Cricket Council One-Day International Team Rankings. According to the updated rankings, India and
England reserved their Top places in Test and One-Day International rankings, respectively.
In order to compute the updated Rankings, the International Cricket Council detached series results from 2015- 16 series and weighted the results from 2016-17 and 2017-18 at 50%.
The rankings were published just days before the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup 2019, which is planned to start in England and Wales from May 30th, 2019.
Test Rankings
India's lead over the 2nd-placed team New Zealand in the International Cricket Council Test Team Rankings tapering from 8 to 2 points.
England passed the 4th place from Australia, fetching 105 points. 
Australia with 98 points ranked at 5th place.
The gap between 7th-placed Pakistan and 8th-placed West Indies compact from 11 to 2 points.
ODI Rankings
Team England remained at the Top of the International Cricket Council ODI Team Rankings with just 2 points gap over India.
South Africa overtook New Zealand into the 3rd place while West Indies shifted ahead of Sri Lanka to 7th place.
No team dropped out of the top 10, thus ensuring that the World Cup will witness the 10 Top-ranked sides in action.

Ex ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar conferred France’s Highest Civilian Honour on - 2nd May 2019

The former ISRO chairman A.S.Kiran Kumar was bestowed France’s highest civilian honour ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Legion d’Honneur’ on 2nd May 2019 by France’s Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler on behalf of French President.
Importance

• He was bestowed for his invaluable contribution in nurturing historic and ambitious space assistance between India and France.
• Throughout his occupancy in Indian Space Research Organisation office, he served towards development of India-France ambitious space assistance.
• He meaningfully made direct contribution in developing space assistance a cooperation of the people and  also one of keystones of Indo-French strategic ties.
  Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Legion d’Honneur
• It was recognized in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte and reserved by all later French governments and regimes.
• It is the highest civilian award given by France for outstanding service to country, irrespective of
  recipient’s nationality.
• The President of the French Republic is Grand Master of the l’Ordre national de la Legion d’Honneur.
• It is also highest French order of merit given for military and civil merits. The order is separated into 5 degrees including increasing distinction as, Chevalier/Knight, Officier/Officer, Commandeur / Commander, Grand Officier/Grand Officer, and Grand-Croix/Grand Cross.

World Tuna Day observed on - 2nd May 2019

World Tuna Day was celebrated on 2nd May to spread awareness about significance of tuna and to promote extra sustainable fishing practices worldwide.
Importance
Many coastal nations depend heavily on tuna fish resources for food security and nutrition, economic progress, employment, government revenue, incomes, culture and recreation.
Presently, approximately 96 nations universally are involved in conservation and management of tuna with annual value of almost US $10 billion.
Therefore, Tuna Day pursues to stress importance of stable and healthy tuna population.
It also goals to spread awareness about possible influence of drastically declining tuna stocks and to
highlight economic and social advantages of establishing more sustainable fishing practices.
Did you know?
The World Tuna Day was formally announced by UN General Assembly by accepting resolution 71/124
in December 2016. Its purpose was to highlight reputation of conservation management and ensure that a system is needed in place to avoid tuna stocks from crashing. The 1st Globally recognized World Tuna Day was celebrated on 2nd May 2017.