1) 5 Indians posthumously awarded with Dag Hammarskjold Medal of UN.
- Four Indian peacekeepers and a civilian have been chosen posthumously for United Nation’s Dag Hammarskjold Medal for their courage and sacrifice.
- Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav, Rifleman Manish Malik, Havildar Amal Deka, Naik Rakesh Kumar and Gagan Punjabi will be honoured with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal awarded posthumously.
- They are among the 124 police, military and civilian personnel who have been posthumously awarded a prestigious UN medal. They will be honoured on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (observed annually on 29 May).
Five Indians are:
About Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav: Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav served in the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). He made the supreme sacrifice in April 2015.
About Rifleman Manish Malik: Rifleman Manish Malik also served in the U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He died in August 2015 during the mission.
About Havildar Amal Deka: Havildar Amal Deka served in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).He died in June 2015.
About Naik Rakesh Kumar: Naik Rakesh Kumar served in the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). He died in January 2015.
About Gagan Punjabi: Gagan Punjabi was serving in MONUSCO in a civilian capacity under the U.N. Volunteers programme and died in an incident in January 2015.
2) Indian-American Teen Syamantak Payra Wins Intel Young Scientist Award.
- Syamantak Payra, a 15-year old Indian-American student has won the prestigious Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award for developing a low cost electronic device for people who cannot walk well through disease or injury.
- He tested his prototype on two people partially disabled by polio. His device is both inexpensive and easy to use.
- Syamantak Payra, a Texas resident, won the USD 50,000 award along with 17-year-old Kathy Liu.
- The award was given by Intel Corporation and the Society for Science and the Public (SSP) at the 2016 `Intel International Science and Engineering Fair` in Arizona last week.
3) J.K. Rowling receives highest French civilian honour.
- Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been made an honorary Knight in the French Legion of Honour, France`s highest civilian award.
- J.K. Rowling, who is also known as Robert Galbraith, is a British novelist, screenwriter and film producer.
- Rowling, has also written many award winning novel like - The Causal Vacancy, The Cuckoo`s Calling, The Silk Worm and Career of Evil etc but mainly very famous for her Harry Potter series.
- The title was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century and constitutes the country`s elite national merit society.
4) Joe Root bags hat-trick of England cricket awards.
- Joe Root, an England cricketer has bagged a hat-trick of awards, as he was named Test Player of the Year, Limited Overs Player of the Year and Fans` Player of the Year at the England`s annual awards ceremony.
- The 25 year old Root, who has been in an outstanding form in the last 12 months, has posted 2,228 in 2015, which is the most by an English batsman in a calendar year.
- He has been in contention with Australia`s Steven Smith and New Zealand`s Kane Williamson for the top spot in the ICC Test rankings. Smith currently leads the table and Root stands second, trailing by 36 points.
- Medium pacer Anya Shrubsole bagged the England women`s cricketer of the year and Callum Flynn was named the best cricketer with a disability.
- David Lloyd was given the ECB`s special achievement award, for his 50-year stint as a player, umpire, commentator and coach.
5) Indian-American Rupa Iyer awarded highest teaching award in US.
- An Indian-American biotechnologist Rupa Iyer has been awarded Distinguished Leadership in Teaching Excellence Award, University of Houston’s highest teaching award.
- She was bestowed with this award for her sustained and significant contributions in the field of education. Presently, she is Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Houston’s College of Technology.
About Rupa Iyer:
- She is founding director of the biotechnology programme in the College of Technology since its inception.
- Her lectures are based on format training on diverse biotechnology systems and develop presentation skills, enabling them to thrive in the workplace.
- Iyer has been part of the College of Technology since 2005 as a credentialed associate professor. Later in 2014 she was named Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies.
- Indian-American Rakesh K. Jain received US National Medal of Science 2015 from Barack Obama.
6) Indian American professor Rakesh K. Jain received the US National Medal of Science from the US President Barack Obama.
- He received the honour along with 16 other winners of the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a White House ceremony.
- Jain is a professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Tumour Biology Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.
About Professor Rakesh K. Jain:
- He holds a B.Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur.
- He is regarded as a pioneer in the area of tumour micro-environment and widely recognized for his seminal discoveries in tumour biology, drug delivery, in vivo imaging and bioengineering.
7) Mumbai based Mukesh Ambani honored with Othmer Gold Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
- United Based Chemical Heritage Foundation honored the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani with prestigious Othmer Gold Medal for his entrepreneurial leadership.
- He was awarded for Expansion of India’s petroleum refining industry and Generation of the Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat – the largest grassroots petroleum refinery in the world. Major initiatives in oil and gas exploration.
- He was awarded during the occasion of the Heritage Day of the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF).
- Award was presented by Carsten Reinhardt, President & CEO of CHF and Raj Gupta, Chairman of Delphi Automotive (formerly Chairman, President & CEO of Rohm and Hass).
8) Ken Loach wins second Cannes Palme d’Or with `I, Daniel Blake` award.
- Veteran British director Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake has won the his second Palme d’Or at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, France.
- Ken Loach, is one of only nine directors to have won the top prize at Cannes twice. Loach had won in 2006 with The Wind That Shakes the Barley.
- The other includes, Kent-born director Andrea Arnold won the competition`s Jury Prize for her road movie American Honey.
- The Iranian film Forushande (The Salesman) by Asghar Farhadi received two awards, for Best Screenplay and for Best Actor, won by Shahab Hosseini.
- Jaclyn Jose won Best Actress for her role in Ma’ Rosa, a brutal dive into the Manila underworld directed by Brillante Mendoza.
- Jean-Pierre Leaud, one of the most famous faces of the French New Wave, received the Palme d’Or d’Honneur, a lifetime achievement award.
9) India-Pak student exchange program gets innovation award.
- India-Pakistan school Students Exchange Program has won innovation award. The students have been interacting with each other through handwritten letters, Audios and Visual recording that are reflective of a shared history of the two neighbors before Partition.
- This has been done under the `Student Exchange Program` which is a year-long dialogue comprising a sustained exchange of written, visual and oral histories connecting school children aged between 10-14 years across the cities of India and Pakistan was initiated by NGO `Routes 2 Roots`.
- The NGO has recently been awarded the "The Inter-cultural Innovation Award 2016` from United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in Baku, Azerbaijan for this programme. Earlier in its first year in 2010, the program attracted between 2400 children from 10 schools across four cities of India and Pakistan.
- Students who hails from diverse socio-economic backgrounds from selected schools participate in the five-phased program which aimed to improving ties between the two countries and the exchange of letters, postcards, pictures, artwork and videos encourage children to form their own opinions and have a clearer understanding of history, culture and lifestyle through cross cultural communications.
10) Evolutionary engineer Frances Arnold wins €1m tech prize.
- US biochemical engineer, Frances Arnold has won the Millennium Technology Prize for her work `directed evolution` in Finland. Directed evolution is a method of rewriting DNA to improve medicines and develop green fuels.
- With this Arnold has become the first female winner in its 12 year of history and awarded with the 1 million euro prize. The award was presented by the Technology Academy Finland.
- The 59 year old, Arnold is a professor of chemical engineering at California Institute of Technology and her method of creating new proteins with desired properties is being used to convert renewable resources like sugar cane into bio fuels and to improve everyday products such as laundry and dish washing detergents to enhance their performance in cold temperatures. She recognizes developments that change people`s lives for the better.
11) Getting in rhythm: Over 31,000 in China set dance record.
- 31,697 people set a Guinness World Records for mass plaza dancing in multiple locations.
- Over 31,000 people in Beijing, Shanghai and four other cities in china have created a new feet by performing choreographed dance moves together for more than five minutes.
- The participants include generally middle-aged and elderly women, such dancers are a common site in parks, plazas and other public areas.