Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
E-Commerce Giant Flipkart has announced that it will acquire parent Walmart’s wholesale business, ‘Best Price’.
The loss-ridden cash-and-carry business of Walmart in India is the last part of Walmart to be acquired by Flipkart marking a complete consolidation. This acquisition is expected to help Flipkart to expand its business-to-business vertical.

Notes:
Following a leak at a Lavera petrochemical refinery in southern France, an orange-brown chemical sheet spread over 15 acres in the Mediterranean Sea.
This area includes the nationally recognized marine life area. The plant is said to have spilled 200 gallons or more of iron chloride into the sea. The chemical could harm eyes and mucous membranes and could even cause death.

Notes:
As per the recent statement from the Indian Railways, they will hand over as many as 10 broad-gauge diesel locomotives to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh had earlier sent a proposal to India in for procurement, as 72% of its present locomotives are at the verge of crossing their economic life. The country will deploy them for both intra-country and inter-country rail transport.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India has signed necessary documents for extending USD 400 million currency swap facility to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka had earlier requested for a currency swap facility under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework. This swap arrangement will remain available till November 2022 and is expected to assist Sri Lank to address the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Notes:
Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a new low-cost, portable device that can test for Covid-19 and give results in an hour.
The new technology has accuracy similar to the RT-PCR test, which is now considered the standard for testing. The device uses a disposable paper strip for analysing the sample and the results are made available in a mobile application.

Notes:
The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has entered into a partnership with IIT Delhi under the ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ (UBA) programme.
The scheme aims to connect higher education institutions with villages for economic and social betterment of rural areas. A MoU was signed between TRIFED, IIT Delhi and Vijnana Bharati for the implementation. Under ‘Van Dhan’ programme, tribal entrepreneurs will be provided guidance from academic and research institutions.

Notes:
India and the European Union are set to renew the Agreement on Scientific cooperation for the next five years, 2020-2025.
This was announced at the virtual 15th India-EU Summit, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen led the EU. The mentioned Agreement was initially signed in 2001 and has been renewed two times in 2007 and 2015.

Notes:
According to the recently released United Nations World Wildlife Crime Report, India and Thailand supplied highest illegal tiger products in the world.
It also highlighted that the biggest destination of the tiger parts was China, followed by Thailand and Vietnam. The most valuable body part of the tigers is their bones which are used to treat bone and ligament injuries in humans.

Notes:
India Meteorological Department, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences launched a weather forecast application for general public.
Named as Mausam, the application offers information on five details including current temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction for 200 cities. The information is updated eight times a day. While this app is meant for everyone, IMD already has another app meant only for farmers and agriculturists called Meghdoot.

Notes:
Olivia de Havillan, who was considered the last surviving actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood, has passed away at the age of 104.
She became popular in the movie “Gone with the Wind” in 1939. During her long acting career, she had won several prestigious awards including two Oscar awards in 1946 and 1949. She featured in as many as 49 movies from 1935 to 2009.