Current Affairs Quiz-September, 2020

Notes:
United Kingdom has named the Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott as a trade adviser. He headed Australia from 2013 to 2015.
Along with the 62-year old former Prime Minister, Former member of the European Parliament, is to become Adviser to Britain’s Board of Trade. However, there were allegations that Tony Abbott was not suitable for the job due to his conservative social views.

Notes:
As per the Japan Meteorological Agency, the typhoon Haishen hit Japan and released fierce winds and rains.
Haishen means Sea God in Chinese and the typhoon unleashed winds of speed over 180 kilometers per hour and damaged some parts of Okinawa, Kyushu island. The typhoon is estimated to approach some regions of South Korea.

Notes:
The first World Solar Technology Summit (WSTS) is to be organized by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on September 8, 2020.
More than 25000 participants from 149 countries and several distinguished judges are set to participate in the virtual summit. The President of the assembly and India’s New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh will be joined by Principal Scientific Adviser, K. Vijay Raghavan.

Notes:
The first-ever International Day of Clean Air for blue skies is observed on September 7th, 2020. It aims to raise public awareness on the importance of air quality.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution to hold this day on December 19, 2019. It also invited the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to facilitate the observance of the International Day celebrated for the first time in 2020.

Notes:
The International Literacy Day was observed on September 8 every year, across the world. The first International Literacy Day was declared at the UNESCO General Conference in 1966.
The day aims to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals and communities around the world. The theme of this year’s International Day focusses on “Literacy teaching and learning in the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.”

Notes:
World No.1 Tennis player Novak Djokovic was declared disqualified from the ongoing 2020 US Open recently at its 4th round.
This decision was taken for accidentally hitting a line judge in throat with a tennis ball, during a match against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta. Djokovic was justified that it was not done intentionally, but after 12 minutes of discussion, the referee decided to disqualify him as per the Grand Slam regulations.

Notes:
As per a statement by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the rainfall received by the country in August 2020 is the highest since 1926.
August 1926 recorded a rainfall of 34.8 cm exceeding normal by 33%, whereas August 2020 recorded 32.7 cm rainfall exceeding normal by 27%. Also, IMD has stated that in June’20 to 6th September’20, India had registered 7% more rainfall than what is normal for this period.

Notes:
A loan agreement for $82 million has been signed between the Government of India, the Government of Himachal Pradesh and the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development).
The loan would be used for implementation of Himachal Pradesh State Roads Transformation Project. The world bank loan is given for a term of 15 years including a grace period of 5 years.

Notes:
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is representing India at the Foreign ministers Meet of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) to be held at Moscow.
The meeting is hosted by Russian Foreign Minister. The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC) would hold a luncheon meeting on the side-lines of the SCO. India has been the fulltime member of SCO since 2017.

Notes:
Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya has recently launched ‘SAROD-Ports’ (Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes – Ports).
SAROD-Ports is established under Societies Registration Act and aims to resolve the disputes with the panel of technical experts as arbitrators. It is expected to save legal expenditure and time. This works similar to the SAROD-Roads constituted by NHAI.