Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
World Sickle Cell Day is observed globally on 19 June every year. This year is the 40th year of observance of the day by the Sickle Cell Society.
The UN General Assembly recognised sickle cell disease as a public health problem and one of the world’s foremost genetic diseases. If someone has the Sickle Cell disease, the red blood cells become hard and look like a sickle. It restricts the movement of oxygen carried by the red blood cells.

Notes:
Recently, a team of astronomers at NASA and European Space Agency ESA have discovered a neutron star called ‘Swift J1818.0-1607’.
The neutron star has been estimated to be about 240 years old. It was first discovered in March 2020, when it released a massive burst of X-rays. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars. According to NASA, Swift J1818.0-1607 contains twice the mass of our Sun in a volume of more than one trillion times smaller.

Notes:
India’s first listed stock exchange Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has featured among the world’s 10 largest exchanges in terms of cumulative market capitalisation of all companies listed on its platform.
As per the latest data from the World Federation of Exchanges, BSE stands at the tenth place in the list, with a market capitalisation of USD 1.7 trillion. The list is topped by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a valuation of USD 19.3 trillion. It is followed by Nasdaq with a market capitalisation of USD 13.8 trillion.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan, a Rs 50,000 crore dedicated programme to create job opportunities for millions of migrant workers who returned home during the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19.
It was launched from Telihar village of Bihar’s Khagaria district. The scheme is expected to run in mission mode for 125 days across 116 districts in six states namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha. Twelve different ministries or departments will be engaged in implementing the programme.

Notes:
China has recently provided a huge boost in trade with Bangladesh by offering them a tariff exemption for 97 per cent of their exports.
The exemption is to be made effective from July 1. Earlier, the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a discussion on upgrading their bilateral relations. With this exemption, as many as 8,256 products of Bangladesh will come under the 97 per cent of products that would be exempted.

Notes:
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of Maharashtra launched ‘Mission Zero’ rapid action plan to combat Covid-19.
Under the action plan, as many as fifty dispensary vans will cover various parts of Mumbai for 2-3 weeks to carry out a preliminary examination of patients. As per the data of the Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Maharashtra stands at the top spot with maximum number of people affected by Covid-19 in the country.

Notes:
As per the recent data from Vietnam, the 36th ASEAN Summit will be held via video conference on June 26.
Vietnam is the chair of ASEAN in 2020 and its Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will chair the opening session, plenary session and special sessions on woman empowerment in digital era among other meetings. The 36th ASEAN Summit, which had been scheduled to be held in April, has been postponed to June end due to COVID-19.

Notes:
The students and researchers of IIT-Bombay has recently developed a homegrown receiver chip – Dhruva.
The chip can be used in smartphones and navigation devices to find locations and routes within the country. It will receive signals from NAVIC group of navigation satellites of India, as well as the US Global Positioning System-based satellites to determine a person’s location precisely.

Notes:
A Japanese broadcaster had reported that the Ishigaki City assembly in Okinawa, in Japan, had passed a bill to change the name of the administrative area covering the islands to Tonoshiro Senkaku from Tonoshiro.
China has recently said that it reserved the right to respond to the city’s decision to rename the area that includes remote islands claimed by both China and Japan. The disputed islands are known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. It also warned that Japan should not interfere in Beijing’s internal affairs.

Notes:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting.
It has been attended by the Union External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This is the first time the foreign Ministers of India and China are virtually meeting through video conference after the recent standoff between their troops at Ladakh. On June 24, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attends the Victory parade in Russia.