News Flash (1st June 2020): Top 12 Stories Of The Day

1. Schedule for class 10, 12 exams starting from July 17 released by NIOS

National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has announced the revised date sheet for standard 10th and 12th board examinations. The NIOS exam will now commence from July 17 and end on August 13.

Exams for the subject of physics, history, library and info science and Sanskrit Vyakaran will be held for class 12th on July 17 while for class 10th, Hindustani music paper will be conducted. The time for examinations is from 2:30 to 5:30 pm daily. Previously, as scheduled by NIOS, the 10th, 12th examinations were to take place from March 24 to April 24 which was pushed forward due to the coronavirus lockdown.

2. Maharashtra Government cancels exams and decides to promote all final year students

The government of Maharashtra yesterday decided to cancel final year examinations of all universities and university affiliates. The students will be given an average mark based on their results of the past examination. “Final-year results will be announced on the basis of aggregate marks scored by the student in the past semesters. Those students who feel they can perform better can do so by appearing for the exams that will be held in winter exam session [October-November 2020],” said CM Uddhav Thackeray in his live interaction with the state. 

3. China’s 1st domestically-built aircraft carries out sea trials to test equipment and weapons

China’s second aircraft carrier, the country’s first domestically-built carrier, has begun carrying out sea trials to test its equipment and weapons. The ship named Shandong has been actively conducting real combat-oriented training since its commissioning in 2019. “We will do our best to make our aircraft carrier capable of the fight and win,” an official said. The trials are being conducted amid rising tension with the US on the selling of weapons to Taiwan and a strong assertion by a Chinese PLA general that reunifying Taiwan by force is an option for Beijing.

4. Virtual reality (VR) replica of the German town created for tourists.

A virtual reality (VR) replica of the German town Herrenberg is being developed to allow tourists to explore its town centre and historic churches digitally. Before people actually visit Herrenberg, they would be able to see it through VR glasses. Developed by the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS), the “digital twin” is already used by Herrenberg for city planning purposes.

5. Wrestler Vinesh Phogat nominated for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has nominated Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour. This will be the second consecutive time that the wrestler would be recommended for the award. Poghat currently stands third in the world rankings in the 53kg category. She was qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in her first attempt and won bronze at the 2019 Wrestling World Championships. She then kickstarted her 2020 with a gold medal at the Rome Ranking Series and later won bronze at the 2020 Asian Championships in New Delhi. 

6. Facebook announces verification of the identity of users whose posts often go viral

Facebook Inc has stated that it will now be verifying the profiles that manage pages with large audiences by using the system ID verification. Facebook will also verify the identity of individuals who have a record displaying inauthentic behavior on the platform and whose posts are most likely to start going rapidly viral in the US. In case the directions aren’t followed, the post will be distributed among fewer people.

7. Rare colour changing bandtail scorpionfish found in Gulf of Mannar

Scientists belonging to the Kochi-based Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) have discovered a rare species of bandtail scorpionfish which has the attribute of changing its colour and carries stinging venomous spines. The CMFRI stated that the fish was found along the Sethukarai coast in the Gulf of Mannar. It has now been handed over to the institute’s National Marine Biodiversity Museum for further detailed research.

8. India known as world’s pharmacy should now explore markets in Europe: Commerce Minister

Piyush Goyal, Commerce Minister has urged all the pharmaceutical companies to tap into the markets of Russia and Europe since the time India has been recognized as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’. Over 120 countries were given essential medicines in the last two months, which include 40 countries who India gave medicines through grants, free of cost. India is currently planning to attract pharma companies and set up businesses in India that are looking to move from China.

9. 3 terrorists infiltrating across LOC killed in Jammu and Kashmir by the jawans

3 Pakistan-trained heavily-armed terrorists who were spotted trying to infiltrate across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district were killed on Monday morning by the Army troops. According to media reports, the army troops were already on vigilant in the area and shot the militants dead when they tried crossing over to the Indian side in the Kalal area.

10. Government dismisses Flipkart from entering foods and retail business with ‘FarmerMart’

The government of India has dismissed Flipkart’s proposal of entering the food retail business. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade informed the Walmart-owned company that its proposed venture, Flipkart FarmerMart, violates regulatory guidelines and thus cannot be structured on a 100% foreign direct investment. Flipkart however is still evaluating DPIIT’s response and plans to re-apply.

11. 46,000 years old caves in Australia dating back to last Ice Age destroyed by a mining firm

46,000-year-old Aboriginal caves dating back to the last Ice Age situated in Western Australia were destroyed by the Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto. The firm has apologised after it blew up the caves on May 24. The destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves, in Pilbara region, took place to expand an iron ore project. “We are sorry for the distress we’ve caused,” Rio Tinto Iron Ore CEO Chris Salisbury said in apology.

12. Dhoni “played a big role” in me becoming the captain: Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli recently gave sole credits to the Indian master of helicopter shot, and former Indian Cricket team captain MS Dhoni stating that ” Dhoni played a big role” in me becoming the captain. I was always in Dhoni’s ears, standing next to him, he would discuss a lot of things…so I got a lot of confidence that I can do this [captaincy] after him.” The Indian captain said this on an Instagram Live chat  with Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin.