Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
Amazon has recently acquired the Self-driving Car start-up firm Zoox, in a deal estimated to be worth over USD 1 billion.
Zoox is an American company, which employs more than 1000 persons and was also developing an electric self-driving vehicle. As per sources, this is Amazon’s biggest investment so far in self-driving car technology. This is also one of its biggest purchases ever. The technology is expected to be deployed in automated delivery projects of Amazon.

Notes:
National Statistics Day is observed on June 29 every year in India. This year it was celebrated through virtual conference with the theme of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) and SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls).
The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation instituted a new award ‘Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis National Award in Official Statistics’, which was conferred upon Former RBI Governor C Rangarajan. ‘Prof. P.V. Sukhatme National Award in Statistics 2020’ was given to Dr Arvind Pandey and Dr. Akhilesh Chandra Kulshreshtha.

Notes:
The International Asteroid Day is celebrated on June 30, every year across the world, to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution declaring 30 June as International Asteroid Day. The day also marks the anniversary of the impact of Tunguska explosion caused by an asteroid, on Siberia and Russian Federation in 1908.

Notes:
International Zinc Association (IZA) has launched Asia’s first-ever Continuous Galvanized Rebar (CGR) manufacturing facility in Punjab.
The project would be supported by Hindustan Zinc Limited. It has been launched in collaboration with a private manufacturing company Madhav KRG Group. The new product called Continuously Galvanized Rebars (CGR) are value added rebars for better life and lower maintenance. Rebar is the short form of Reinforced Bar.

Notes:
The United States has recently eliminated the special status under U.S. law and halted Defence Exports to Hong Kong.
U.S has also restricted the access of the country to high technology products. This decision has been taken while China is preparing new Hong Kong security legislation. U.S also proposed to end the export of dual-use technologies to the territory, which have both commercial and military uses.

Notes:
Nimu is a small village located in the Union Territory of Ladakh. It is surrounded by the Zanskar range and located on the banks of the Indus river.
The place was seen in news recently, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Nimu, to interact with Indian troops. Nimu is the reserve brigade headquarter of the Indian Army, situated at 11,000 feet near Kargil. The Border Road Organisation (BRO) is constructing a road from Padum in the Zanskar Valley to Nimu.

Notes:
The World Bank assigns the countries of the world to four income groups namely low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries.
The classifications are updated on July 1 every year and it is based on GNI per capita. In this year’s classification, seven economies including Nepal and Indonesia are moving to a higher category. Three economies including Sri Lanka have moved down to a lower category. India retains its Lower-middle position.

Notes:
The Government of Maharashtra’s industrial infrastructure development agency, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has recently signed a MoU with UK India Business Council.
The agreement aims to promote sustainable business relations between UK and India. This will help the state to develop its business environment and promote its partnership with the British business.

Notes:
Former Chief Executive Officer and present Chairperson of Maruti Suzuki R C Bhargava has authored the book titled ‘Getting Competitive: A Practitioner’s Guide for India’.
In his book which is set to release, R C Bhargava explains his experience of more than 60 years as an industry leader. He has also given practical solutions to create a globally competitive country.

Notes:
Ace Indian boxer and World championships silver medallist Amit Panghal is ranked at the first spot, in men’s 52kg category, as per the latest world rankings released by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
Worlds silver medallist Manju Rani has been placed at the second rank in 48 kg category. Legendary boxer Mary Kom is placed at third place. Kavinder Bisht, Deepak and Manish Kaushik also found place in the top ten ranks in their categories.