Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2020

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Hassan Diab has recently stepped down from his post, after a massive blast occurred in the country.
The catastrophic explosion in the capital city Beirut, has triggered a public outrage in the country. It has caused heavy destruction, by killing more than 160 people and injuring over 6,000 people. There have been mass demonstrations against the Government demanding the steeping down of the leadership.

Notes:
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has virtually launched the Minimum Standards of Architectural Education Regulations, 2020.
These regulations have been prepared by the experts of the Council of Architecture (CoA). It aims to address the major challenges lying in the field of human habitat in the country. The Minister asked the Council to use innovation in the field of Architecture.

Notes:
Founded by two former scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Space tech start-up Skyroot Aerospace is the first Indian private company to build a homegrown rocket engine.
The company has recently test-fired an upper stage rocket engine successfully. It has also planned to launch the first satellite into the lower earth orbit by the end of 2021. The company had also manufactured India’s first 3D printed Cryogenic rocket engine.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Tourism organised a themed webinar titled “Cellular Jail: Letters, Memoirs & Memories”, as a part of the “Dekho Apna Desh” webinar series. The webinar has been organised ahead of the 74th Independence Day celebrations.
The Cellular Jail is in Andaman and Nicobar Islands where Indian Nationalist who were part of freedom struggle were exiled and imprisoned. The Webinar showcased the journey of India’s independence struggle through the galleries and cells of the Cellular jail.

Notes:
A beginner level course on French has been started in Lok Sabha of the Parliament for the officials and staff of the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The course has been inaugurated by the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This course is an initiative by Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE). In future, courses in German, Spanish, Russian and other important world languages would also be organized.

Notes:
The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative was launched by the United States in 2019, aiming to promote women’s economic empowerment.
Recently, India’s Reliance Foundation has partnered with US Agency for International Development (USAID) and W-GDP. The W-GDP Women’s Connect Challenge (WCC) to be launched by the Reliance Foundation to bridge gender digital divide and empower women.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has permitted registration of Electric Vehicles without pre-fitted batteries.
The ministry has stated that Electric Vehicles without batteries can be sold and registered only with the type approval certificate issued by the Test Agency. Also, the Ministry has clarified that there is no need to mention any other details of the Battery for the purpose of Registration.

Notes:
The construction work of the Katra (Jammu and Kashmir) – Delhi Express Road Corridor is proposed to be completed in 3 years and will be operational by 2023. The express corridor would bring down the travel time from Katra to Delhi to around six and half hours.
One key feature of this road is that it will connect the holy cities of Katra and Amritsar, and other major religious shrines between the two destinations.

Notes:
The United States’ NASA launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has completed its primary mission.
During its 2-year long primary mission, the survey satellite has found 66 new exoplanets outside our solar system. TESS also found over 2000 objects which would be confirmed by astronomers soon. The extended mission of TESS is to be completed in 2022.

Notes:
The famous computer scientist Russel Kirsch who is celebrated for invention of Pixel died at the age of 91.
Russel Kirsch created a small 2 by 2 inch black and white image of his son in digital form in 1957. This was also the world’s first photograph that was scanned into a computer using a device created by his research team. That was the basis for satellite imaging, medical scans, virtual reality and other imaging technology being used recently.