Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
Technology giant Amazon recently announced that it will invest more than USD 10 billion to build a network of over 3000 satellites.
The network is expected to provide high-speed broadband internet services to people around the world. Named as ‘Project Kuiper’, the plan aims to build a network of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. This will compete with the SpaceX’s Starlink network.

Notes:
For the first time in the world, US Technology Giants Facebook and Google will pay the media outlets of Australia for news content.
Australia is set to pass a dedicated law which mandates a royalty-style system. This is a historic move by the country to protest independent journalism. Last year, the Australian government asked the tech firms to negotiate with media companies to use their content.

Notes:
Apple surpassed multinational petroleum company Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company.
The market capitalisation of the technology company surged to USD 1.82 trillion, as per the regulatory filing of the company. Whereas, the market capitalisation of Aramco stood at USD 1.760 trillion.

Notes:
Technology major Google launched a new file-sharing feature named ‘Nearby Share’ for its Android users.
Using the feature, users can share content seamlessly with others in close range. The sender’s phone emits a low energy Bluetooth signal, which will be picked by the receiver’s phone. It can also use wi-fi to transfer files. It creates a reliable and fast connection in both online and offline modes.

Notes:
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative of the NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the country.
AIM conducts the ATL Tinkering Marathon, a national annual innovation challenge in partnership with MyGOV. AIM has released the results of the 2019 edition of the challenge. As many as 150 winners of the Marathon was announced by the AIM.

Notes:
Malayalam movie ‘Moothon’ has won the best film award at the New York Indian Film Festival 2020 (NYIFF).
In addition to the best film award, Malayalam star Nivin Pauly won the best actor award and Sanjana Dipu won in the best child artist category. The Malayalam-Hindi bilingual movie was directed by Geetu Mohandas and was released in the year 2019.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held its second bi-monthly monetary meeting of FY 2020-21 on August 6, 2020.
After the meeting, the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the central bank has decided to keep the key policy rates unchanged with ‘accommodative stance’. Hence, the repo rate will remain at 4 per cent and the reverse repo at 3.35 per cent. There were two rate cuts in March and May.

Notes:
On August 6, seventy-five years ago, the world’s first nuclear weapon used in wartime was dropped over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
The world joined hands with Japan to observe the 75th anniversary of the first Atomic Bomb attack. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was broadcast online. The bomb attack killed around 1,40,000 people and caused severe injuries. The second bomb was dropped by the US three days later.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently announced that it will establish an innovation hub to assist start-ups to tackle the challenges of financial inclusion.
The hub seeks to provide solutions for efficient banking transactions. This has been introduced in the bi-monthly monetary policy statement released by the RBI. The funds allocated for the project and its location will be disclosed by the Central Bank.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has offered a credit facility of Rs 10000 crore to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the National Housing Bank (NHB).
The fund of Rs 5,000 crore each is provided at policy lending rate to the banks, its will be deployed to boost rural lending and affordable housing across the country. Under this facility, small NBFCs and micro-lenders will extend small loans to the poor. Earlier, NABARD got a refinance support of Rs 35,000 crore and NHB got Rs 10,000 crore.