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:
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:
Chinese mobile communication cum consumer electronics company OPPO has recently partnered with Indian start-up incubator T-Hub to support start-up ecosystem in India.
Under the partnership, the start-ups specialising in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Battery, Camera and Image Processing will be scaled up. The selected start-up firms will receive incubation support and market access from OPPO as well as mentorship from T-Hub.

Notes:
The state of Telangana recently celebrated its statehood day on June 2. All national leaders including the Prime Minister wished the state and its people.
In the year 2014, Telangana was carved out of the state of Andhra Pradesh as the 29th state of India under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The capital of the state is Hyderabad and its population is about 3.5 crore.

Notes:
Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has recently launched ‘Delhi Corona’ app for real-time information on availability of hospital beds.
The dedicated application would display the availability of beds at both private and government hospitals in the city, available at any particular time. Moreover, the app will also provide redressal of complaints related to refusal of hospitals in admitting COVID-19 positive patients.

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Social networking giant Twitter has recently appointed Patrick Pichette, a former chief financial officer at Google as the next chairman of its board.
This is the first time in the history of Twitter that an outsider is presiding over the board. Patrick Pichette served as the lead independent director of Twitter since the end of 2018. He is to replace Omid Kordestani in leading the directors as Chairman. Investors have been urging for appointing outsiders to preside over boards.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has given its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding between India and Bhutan on cooperation in the field of Environment.
Under the agreement, the countries will work together in the areas of environment protection including air, waste, chemical management, climate change and management of natural resources by taking into account the applicable legal provisions in each country.

Notes:
Veteran diplomat and former spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry Raveesh Kumar has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to Finland.
The 1995-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, served as the spokesperson of the MEA from July 2017 to April 2020 and handled many important issues. In his 25-year career, he had served in several crucial missions including Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta and Consul General in Frankfurt. He is set to replace ambassador Vani Rao in Finland.

Notes:
The global innovation mapping and research company StartupBlink has recently released its annual Ecosystem Rankings Report.
As per this year’s report, India has been ranked at 23rd place out of 100 countries. In the last year’s report, India was placed at 17th rank. The report collects local data of every country to rank their start-up ecosystem based on the quality of start-ups and business environment. The United States was placed at the top spot. Only four Indian cities were ranked in the top 100 start-up cities list.

Notes:
The largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company, GAIL (India) and Energy Efficiency Services have signed a MoU for cooperation in development of Trigeneration projects in India.
In Trigeneration or Combined Cooling, Heat and Power (CCHP) projects, natural gas-fired generators are used to produce electricity. Under the MoU, the two companies will jointly explore business opportunities in Trigeneration segment, where 50:50 joint venture between GAIL & EESL will be incorporated.