Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
South Korea recently said that North Korea has blown up the inter-Korean liaison office building, that is located north of the Korean border.
This serious incident followed the recent degradation in the relations between the two countries. North Korea has earlier threatened to engage in military action at the border with South Korea. The two countries jointly set up a liaison office at Kaesong in North Korea in 2003. The Kaesong Industrial Complex is a joint industrial zone operated by both North Koreans and South Koreans.

Notes:
‘International Day of Family Remittances (IDFR)’ is celebrated on June 16, every year across the world.
This year, the International Day is observed with the theme of “Remittances are a lifeline”. The United Nations that designated the day, also calls upon governments, private sector companies and the civil society, to maximize the impact of remittances through individuals.

Notes:
Indian software major, Infosys signed on to ‘The Climate Pledge’, an initiative by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Global Optimism founder and former United Nations climate chief Christian Figueres.
The initiative seeks to fast-track the transition to a low carbon economy. Infosys also announced that it will make its business net zero carbon by 2040, ten years ahead of the deadline set out by the Paris Agreement. US-based Verizon and British firm Reckitt Benckiser also signed on the climate pledge.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took over the powers to regulate HFCs from the National Housing Bank (NHB) in August 2019.
Recently, RBI proposed to modify the rules of housing finance firms, which includes the formal definition of housing finance as “financing, for purchase/ construction/ reconstruction/ renovation/ repairs of residential dwelling unit”. RBI also proposed to classify HFCs as systemically important HFCs and non-systemically important HFCs.

Notes:
The World’s first Quantum communications satellite, Micius was launched by China in the year 2016. It has pioneered in the field of quantum encryption.
The satellite was seen in news recently, as it sends particles of light to Earth to establish the world’s most secure communication link. This is considered to be a milestone in the research, as long-range secure communication can be obtained without the help of traditional communication satellites. Secure long-distance links such will be the foundation of the future global network called the quantum internet.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs along with FICCI and two private healthcare institutes organised a webinar titled ‘National Sickle Cell Conclave’, to mark World Sickle Cell Day.
Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda addressed the webinar and announced that the government has launched a new portal with registration facility, information about the disease and various government initiatives undertaken. The Ministry has initiated ‘Action Research’ project for helping SCD patients. A report titled ‘Stepping out of the shadows – Combating Sickle Cell Disease in India’ was released.

Notes:
As per a new study published in the journal Nature, the 68 million-year-old egg found nine years ago, might belong to Mosasaur.
The fossilised egg is the second-largest to be discovered in the world. It is also the largest soft-shelled egg to be found in Antarctica. Mosasaurs are an extinct species of large marine reptiles which lived in the dinosaur era in Antarctica.

Notes:
Ministry of Culture is celebrating International Yoga Day 2020 by organising a campaign titled ‘Namaste Yoga’ from 19th to 21st June, 2020.
Union Minister of State for Culture Prahlad Singh Patel urged everyone to join him for a Surya Namaskar. He also asked them to post their Surya Namaskar videos on social media platforms to create health awareness among all citizens.

Notes:
World Music Day is celebrated on June 21, to promote peace and spread positivity through music. The event is also popularly called as ‘Fete de la Musique’.
This special day was a music festival, which began in France in 1982. French Minister of Culture Jack Lang proposed the idea of the celebration of Music Day in the year 1981. Every year, on this day, amateur and professional musicians are encouraged to showcase their work.

Notes:
According to the latest report by the economic wing of State Bank of India (SBI), India’s per capita income (PCI) is to decrease by 5.4 per cent in 2020-21.
The main reason for this dip is due to the effect of Covid-19 pandemic. The report also revealed that this decline in PCI is higher than the nominal GDP decline of 3.8 per cent. The states that would witness the maximum hit in PCI would be Delhi, Chandigarh, and Gujarat with 15.4 per cent, 13.9 per cent and 11.6 per cent, respectively.