News Flash (20th June 2020): Top 12 Stories Of The Day

1. BSF shoots down Pakistan’s spy drone carrying weapons for terrorists in J&K

The Border Security Forces shot down a drone carrying weapons near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, earlier today. After the drone was shot down, the BSF recovered an American-origin M4 rifle, two magazines, and ammunition. According to BSF, it was another attempt by Pakistani forces to drop weapons for terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. In an official statement released by the police, an officer said, “”This delivery was meant for a terrorist, Ali Bhai. The payload was carrying his name. The drone is 8-feet wide from blade-to-blade and seems to have been controlled by a Pakistani picket opposite Panesar post of the BSF formation in Kathua sector.” The BSF personnel fired nine rounds at the drone that was hovering 250 metres inside the Indian territory at around 5.00 am.

2. Mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attacks arrested in US, will face murder charges in India

Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian, and Chicago businessman has been arrested in Los Angeles, US, under the charges of conspiring the terrifying Mumbai 26/11 attack in 2008 that ruthlessly took the lives of more than 160 people. Rana who has spent more than 10 years in prison for supporting terrorist groups will now be facing murder conspiracy charges in India for the gruesome Mumbai 26/11 attack. 

3. Meteorite-like-object weighing 2.8 kg strikes in Rajasthan, explosion heard 2 km away

A Meteorite-like-object weighing 2.8 kg came striking down from the sky in Sanchore town of Rajasthan’s Jalore district leaving a 2-3 feet deep crater. Those living in and around the area reported hearing a blast like sound and intimated the police authorities about the same. “We found a huge piece of stone that had crashed into land and created a 2-3 feet deep crater,” said Bhupendra Yadav, the sub-divisional officer while talking to HT media. The piece fell down has been sent to Delhi for further research. 

4. Mukesh Ambani becomes 9th richest person globally with net worth of $64.6 bn

Reliance Industry chairman and Managing Director, Mukesh Ambani has become the ninth richest billionaire of the world on the Forbes Real-time Billionaires List with a net worth of $64.6 billion. Ambani has put behind Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin who are  10th and 11th richest, respectively. The market capitalization of Reliance Industries now stands at  Rs 11-trillion. 

5. Annual ‘Ring of fire’ to occur tomorrow, govt names places where it will be visible

Annual solar eclipse, a rare celestial event popularly called as ‘Ring of fire’ eclipse will be visible on Sunday i.e on the 21st of June. The first solar eclipse of this year takes place on the summer solstice, which is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere. The government of India said that Summer solstice will be seen in places that include, Anupgarh, Suratgarh, Sirsa, Jakhal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Dehradun, Tapowan and Joshimath.

6. Study reveals there are as many as 6 bn Earth-like planets in our galaxy

A new study conducted by the University of British Columbia claims that there could be as many as six billion Earth-like planets orbiting stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. The astronomers derived on this claim after using data from NASA’s Kepler mission. They are of the belief that there may be as many as one Earth-like planets for every five Sun-like stars in the galaxy. “Our Milky Way has as many as 400 billion stars, with seven per cent of them being G-type.That means less than six billion stars may have Earth-like planets in our Galaxy,” said Jaymie Matthews, an astronomer at the University of British Columbia working on this mission.

7. WWF finds fossil of 5 million-year-old elephant-like Stegodon in Uttar Pradesh

Wildlife organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and a joint team of forest officials together have discovered a fossil of a Stegodon, an elephant species, now-extinct known as Proboscideans. It is believed to be 5 to 8 million years old and was found in the Badshahi Bagh area of the Shivalik range in Saharanpur district. While the team was busy doing a trap camera survey for the counting of animals in the region, it came across this fossil. 

8. WhatsApp Payments to SC: We are now fully compliant with RBI norms

As reported by the media, WhatsApp has assured the Supreme Court that its digital payments service now completely complies with the RBI’s data localization norms. The payment service was launched as a test in the year 2018, and was initially made available to 10 lakh users in India. Now after gaining approval from the National Payments Corporation of India, WhatsApp will be ready to launch WhatsApp Payments on a full scale. 

9. Bidding process for procurement of Mumbai monorail called off. Had only 2 Chinese bidders

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has called off the bidding process for procurement of 10 monorail rakes since both bids came from Chinese manufacturers. MMRDA in a statement said the two companies were “dictating” it to change tender conditions. Hence it decided to initiate dialogue with Indian manufacturers like BHEL and BEML for the Rs 500-crore contract.

10. ‘Into the Wild’ bus removed from Alaska after tourists die while trying to reach it

A bus placed in Alaska Wilderness which was featured in the film ‘Into The Wild’ was removed after increasing numbers of tourists got into difficulties while visiting it. As reported by BBC, a US army helicopter lifted the bus from a trail outside Denali National Park. In the year 1992 the bus was inhabited by adventurer Chris McCandless at the age of 24, who eventually died in the bus itself of starvation. His story was then presented to the world by author Jon Krakauer in the 1996 book Into The Wild. Later, in 2007 the book was adapted into a film directed by Sean Penn.

11. India will emerge as hub of contract manufacturing for consumer electronics: Dixon Tech

Dixon Technologies, a contract manufacturing giant has predicted that India will emerge to be a hub of contract manufacturing for consumer electronics. “This is an inflection point for the industry. It’s some kind of a Y2K moment,” said company MD Atul Lall. He said that companies are now going to be focusing on branding and distribution, and outsource manufacturing and even designing for some products.

12. Facebook to have 30% more black leaders in next 5 years, says its COO

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg recently announced that the social media giant will commit to having 30% more people of colour, including 30% more Black people in senior positions over the coming next five years. Sheryl also said that Facebook will also dedicatedly work to increase the representation of women in leadership roles. In addition to this, Facebook, to support Black-owned businesses and organisations in the US, has also committed $200 million.