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Today’s major current affairs, which are important for students preparing for government jobs-
NATIONAL
1. VD Satheesan becomes the 13th Chief Minister of Kerala
- On 18 May, Congress leader VD Satheesan was sworn in as the 13th Chief Minister of Kerala.
- Apart from the Chief Minister, Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar also administered the oath to 20 cabinet ministers.
- 14 MLAs have become ministers for the first time in the Kerala cabinet.
- Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan of Congress will be the Assembly Speaker and Shanimol Usman will be the Deputy Speaker.
- Apart from Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, former Chief Minister P Vijayan and BJP leader Rajiv Chandrashekhar participated in Satishan’s oath taking program.
- This has happened after 64 years, when the entire cabinet has been sworn in together. Earlier, R Shankar, the third Congress Chief Minister of the state, had taken oath along with the entire cabinet in 1962.
- V D Satheesan’s full name is Vadasseri Damodaran Satheesan and he is the MLA from Paravur seat in Ernakulam district.
2. BCCI will no longer come under the purview of RTI
- On May 18, the Central Information Commission, or CIC, said that BCCI is not a public authority.
- After this decision, BCCI is not obliged to provide information under the RTI Act.
- The full name of BCCI is ‘Board of Control for Cricket in India’. This is the supreme organization governing cricket in India.
- Information Commissioner PR Ramesh said that the government neither funds BCCI nor controls it. Therefore it is not a government institution.
- The decision came after an RTI appeal, in which BCCI was asked about the process of selecting players.
International
3. India and Sweden sign MoU on Venus Orbiter Mission
- On May 17, PM Narendra Modi and Swedish PM Ulf Christerson held a meeting regarding bilateral relations.
- Space agencies of both the countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding, i.e. MoU, regarding ‘Venus Orbiter Mission’.
- This MoU has been signed between India’s space agency ISRO and Sweden’s national space agency SNSA.
- The objective of the mission is to study the atmosphere, surface and geological activities of Earth’s neighboring planet Venus.
- Sweden will prepare and provide a scientific instrument called Venusian Neutrals Analyst (VNA) to ISRO for this mission.
- India will launch ‘Venus Orbiter Mission’ in March 2028.
- PM Modi invited Swedish companies to participate in ‘Make in India’, ‘National Green Hydrogen Mission’ and ‘National Critical Mineral Mission’.
- India and Sweden also partnered in the sectors of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.
- Modi has reached Sweden after 8 years. Earlier he had visited Sweden in 2018.
PM Modi was awarded Sweden’s highest honor ‘Royal Order of Polar Star Commander Grand Cross’.
SPORTS
4. Jannik Sinner wins Italian Open
- On May 17, world number one tennis player Jannik Sinner won the Italian Open 2026 title.
- 24-year-old Sinner defeated Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final held in Rome.
- With this win, Janik has completed his ‘Career Golden Masters’ by winning all 9 ‘ATP Masters 1000’ titles.
- Sinner has become the second player in the world to complete his career Golden Masters. Before him, Novak Djokovic had achieved this feat.
- Sinner completed the Golden Masters at the age of 24, while in 2018 he completed the Golden Masters at the age of 31.
Jannik Sinner started playing tennis at the age of 7.
International
5. WHO declared Ebola virus an epidemic
- On May 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the rapidly spreading outbreak of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda as a global health emergency.
- So far 80 people have died due to Ebola in Congo’s eastern Ituri province. 246 suspected cases have been reported.
- The Ebola virus is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or animal, such as blood, saliva, sweat or vomit.
- WHO has issued an advisory to all countries to remain alert and conduct screening at the borders.
- According to experts, this time ‘Bundibugyo strain’ of Ebola has been found, whereas in Congo earlier most of the cases were of ‘Zaire strain’.
- There is no cure for Ebola virus yet. However, WHO has said that this virus is not as dangerous as Covid-19.
- No new case of Ebola has been reported in India since 2014.
- The first case of Ebola virus in the world was reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1976.
Across the world, an average of 25% of patients suffering from Ebola virus disease (EVD) have died.
MISCELLENEOUS
6. Britain’s Prudential Company will buy 75% stake in Bharti Life
- On May 18, British insurance company Prudential plc announced the purchase of 75% stake in ‘Bharti Life’, a leading private life insurance company of India.
- Prudential will buy this stake from Bharti Life Ventures Private Limited and 360 ONE Asset Management.
- This deal can be done for Rs 3,500 crore to Rs 4,200 crore.
- Sunil Bharti is the chairman of Mittal Bharti Enterprises.
- After the deal, Prudential will expand its services in India and launch new insurance schemes.
- Prudential plc is a major British multinational finance company, which mainly deals in life insurance. In India, this brand provides its services through ‘ICICI Prudential’.
7. Sherpa Kami Rita made a record by climbing Mount Everest for the 32nd time.
- On May 17, Nepalese mountaineer Sherpa Kami Rita set a world record by climbing the world’s highest peak Mount Everest (8,849 meters) for the 32nd time.
- 56 year old Kami Rita is also called Everest Man. Earlier, on May 27, 2025, he had made the record of climbing Everest for the 31st time.
- Rita has previously climbed many other peaks above 8,000 meters including K2, Lhotse, Cho Oyu and Manaslu.
- Rita started her mountaineering career in 1992 and first climbed the peak of Everest in 1994.
- Sherpa Rita has climbed the world’s sixth highest mountain ‘Cho Oyu’ eight times.
- Mount Everest was first climbed in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
Sherpa Rita has made more than 40 successful climbs on mountains above 8,000 meters.
today’s history
- Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group, died in 1904.
- In 1971, the first submarine of the Indian Navy was commissioned at Port Veer Bahu, Visakhapatnam.
- Hindi litterateur Hazari Prasad Dwivedi died in 1979.
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