News Flash (16th June 2020): Top 12 Stories Of The Day

1. Deadline to apply for UGC-NET, JNUEE, IGNOU extended by NTA. New dates out 

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has once again extended the deadline to apply for UGC NET and other examinations which include ICAR AIEEA, CSIR- NET, AIAPGET, JNUEE and IGNOU PhD and Open MAT till 30th June considering the difficulties coming in the way of applicants while filling the application forms during the COVID- 19 pandemic. To apply for the examinations, applicants need to visit the official website of NTA at nta.ac.in. The submission of online applications will be accepted till 5 pm and the submission of the application fee will be accepted only till 11:50 pm on June 30. To check the entire official notice, click here 

2. Army officer & 2 jawans martyred in a violent face-off with Chinese Army 

While talks were underway between the Indian and Chinese Army officials to defuse the face-off in the Galwan Valley region of Ladakh, a violent clash triggered between the troops at the  Patrolling Point 14. The rival troops barged into each other with rods and stones. In this clash, an Indian army officer and two jawans are reported to be martyred. Some Chinese casualties were reported as well. 

3. 2 officials of Pinterest resign alleging racial discrimination, retaliation

Two black women who worked in the image-sharing website Pinterest’s public policy team have resigned from their jobs as they have alleged of facing workplace racial discrimination. Ifeoma Ozoma, one of the two black women said in a statement, she was underpaid, doxxed by a white colleague, got “inadequate” company response, and faced a retaliatory performance review. Her colleague, Aerica Shimizu Banks, added to this by saying she had received disparaging remarks about her ethnicity from her manager. 

4. 179 people stranded in UAE, brought back to Pune in a chartered flight 

A chartered flight carrying 179 people who were stranded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), returned to Pune on Sunday. All the passengers, who underwent thermal screening conducted by health officials at the airport, will now have to compulsorily undergo a 14-day quarantine, media reported. The passengers who returned included 83 residents of Pune, 23 from other towns in the state and nine belong to other states.

5. US Supreme Court makes workplace discrimination against LGBT workers illegal

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling barring workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status. This marks a major victory for the LGBTQ community in the US. As reported by Reuters, “the justices decided that gay and transgender people are protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex as well as race, color, national origin and religion”. Earlier, bias and discrimination against gay and transgender employees was legal in most parts of the country. 

6. ‘WhatsApp payments’ allows payments without leaving chat. Service launches in Brazil

On Monday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp’s payments service is now made available to people in Brazil and that it will allow users to send money or make a purchase from a local business without having to leave their chat. The payments on WhatsApp will be enabled by Facebook Pay. The payments will function by way of a six-digit PIN or fingerprint to complete transactions.

7. Alibaba Cloud to invest $283 mn to boost innovations in post-pandemic era 

A Chinese cloud computing company, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, Alibaba Cloud has said it will invest $283 million (around Rs2,144 crore) this financial year for the purpose of boosting joint innovations from global partners in the post-pandemic era. Its key focus will be in sectors that include retail, financial services, healthcare, and life sciences. Alibaba Cloud, along with partners including Intel and VMware, has created more than 500 joint solutions till now.

8. Class 10,12 students of CICSE board can skip pending board exams 

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) announced its decision to give the students of Class 10 and 12 an option to either appear in the pending examination that are scheduled to be held from July 1 to 14, or skip the exam. The result of students who skip the exams will be announced based on their performance in the pre-board exams/ internal assessment and already conducted board examinations. According to Gerry Arathoon, Chief Executive and Secretary, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), the students will have to communicate their choice to their respective schools by 22nd of June. 

9. SC extends insurance cover for mental illness after seeking replies from Centre & IRDA

Supreme Court of India on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on a PIL seeking direction to all insurance companies to extend medical insurance for the treatment of mental illness. The notice was issued by a bench comprising of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, Navin Sinha and B.R. Gavai seeking replies from the centre and IRDA. This comes after revelation of depression being the reason behind Bollywood actor Sushant Singh’s suicide. 

10. ICAI gives students options to opt-out of CA exams of July 2020 amid pandemic 

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in a notification has announced an opt-out option to students for CA exams in July amid COVID-19 concerns. Those who have submitted the examination application form can opt-out of the exams, and their candidature will automatically be carried forward to the November exam cycle. Students however are required to fill up a fresh application form for the November exams. The fees too will be readjusted. This decision comes after the institute received mixed opinion from students regarding the conducting of ICAI CA July exams. 

11. Instagram checking its algorithm, policies for bias against black users

Adam Mosseri, Instagram CEO has announced that the company is looking into its algorithm and policy for checking bias against the black community and underrepresented groups. Instagram will focus on four main areas – harassment, account verification, content distribution, and algorithmic bias. The platform is receiving concerns about whether it suppresses black voices and if its products and policies treat everyone equally.

12. Survey reveals only 16% startups, SMEs have cash to survive for more than 3 months

To check the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media and community platform LocalCircles had conducted a survey that has revealed that due to lockdown situations, startups, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in India have only 3-6 months of cash left. Further, 30% of SMEs said they have only 1-3 months of cash left, 12% said they have less than a month’s worth of cash left while 38% said they have already run out of funds. Additional 4% have already shut down their business due to the lockdown effect that brought absolute loss.