Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The President of the United States Donald Trump has recently announced that US is terminating its relationship with World Health Organization over its handling of the Corona virus.
The President has been blaming WHO and China for the deaths and damages caused by the pandemic across the world. The President also said that the funds provided by the US to WHO will be redirected to other global public health needs. He also issued directions to deny entry to certain Chinese nationals and tightened regulations against Chinese investments in America.

Notes:
Swiss Tennis legend Roger Federer has been ranked at the top spot in the annual Forbes ranking of highest-paid athletes.
As per the magazine, the total earning of Federer amounts to USD 106.3 million. He is the winner of record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, the prize money of which gave him USD6.3 million. Federer is followed by the football trio in next three ranks: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar. Two female Tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams were found in the top-100 list.

Notes:
Major technology firm Google has launched a new application named ‘Sodar’, to help people maintain social distancing.
The application uses Augmented reality (AR) for this purpose. It creates a visual boundary using the user’s smartphone camera and show who is breaching that distance, on a real-time basis. Earlier, the UN Technology Innovation Labs released a free mobile social distancing app 1point5 which uses Bluetooth signal.

Notes:
The Tata Group has recently signed a partnership agreement with the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) of Thiruvananthapuram for commercial production of Covid-19 testing kits.
The kits to be produced are based on Reverse Transcriptase Loop-Mediated Amplification (RT-LAMP) technology for Covid-19 detection. The kits provide results in a lesser time against the conventional method. Earlier, Tata Sons had partnered with CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology to produce CRISPR-based COVID test kits.

Notes:
California-based American aerospace manufacturing and space transportation services firm SpaceX has become the first private company to send astronauts into space.
The firm is owned by the tech-billionaire Elon Musk. The Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX carried two astronauts of NASA Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station (ISS). Earlier, this feat has been achieved by the governments of the United States, Russia and China. The US halted to use its own shuttles nine years ago.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved further changes to the definition of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Earlier, the Union Minister had proposed that Micro units can have up to Rs 1 crore investments and turnover up to Rs 5 crore while Small units can have up to Rs 10 crore investments and turnover up to Rs 50 crore. The investment limit of a medium unit has been increased from Rs 20 crore to Rs 50 crore and the turn over limit from Rs 100 crore to Rs 250 crore. The Cabinet also approved Rs 20,000-crore fund for stressed entities and equity infusion of Rs 50,000 crore.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently launched a technology-based platform named as CHAMPIONS, for MSME sector.
‘CHAMPIONS’ stands for Creation and Harmonious Application of Modern Processes for Increasing the Output and National Strength. The platform aims to provide a comprehensive solution including Grievance redressal, Financial access, Permissions among others will be addressed in the platform. It also provides latest communication tools and is enabled by Artificial Intelligence.

Notes:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently had a discussion with the French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly.
The Minister later announced that France has assured timely delivery of the Rafale fighter aircraft, made by Dassault Aviation company, despite challenges arising out of COVID-19 pandemic. The leaders agreed to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation between India and France and discussed matters of mutual concern regarding COVID-19 and regional security.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers recently fixed the minimum percentage of local content in public procurement of 55 chemical and pesticide products.
This step is a part of the government’s effort to boost domestic manufacturing and the Make-in-India programme. As per the new norm, the minimum local content has been fixed at 60 per cent for 2020-21, 70 per cent for 2021-23 and 80 per cent during 2023-25. Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had revised the Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 for implementing this norm.

Notes:
International Sex workers day is celebrated on June 2, every year across the world, to highlight the plight of sex workers.
On the same day in the year 1975, hundreds of sex workers gathered in the Church Saint-Nizier in France, to sensitise people about their exploitative living conditions and to demand an end to police harassment. The Odisha Human Rights Commission has directed the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation commissioner to provide ration and other assistance to sex workers in Bhubaneswar.