News Flash (6th August 2020): Top 10 Stories Of The Day

1. CLAT 2020 exam postponed till further notice, says Consortium of NLUs

CLAT (The Common Law Admission Test) 2020 has been pushed forward till further notice, the Consortium of National Law Universities informed the applicants on Wednesday. The exam was earlier scheduled to be conducted on August 22. As mentioned in the reports, CLAT was first going to be conducted on 10th May and has been getting postponed since then.

2. Govt says, since Chinese aggression is rising, LAC standoff to be prolonged

The border dispute between India and China in eastern Ladakh continues to grown sensitive by the day, and the standoff along the LAC is likely to be prolonged, informed the Defence Ministry in a document listing the major activities in June. The Defence Ministry said that China’s aggression has been escalating, and added that the Chinese army made several “transgressions” in May.

3. Today marks 75th anniversary of the world’s 1st atomic bombing in Hiroshima

Japan’s Hiroshima observed the 75th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing by sounding the Peace Bell while the citizens gathered at the memorial service stood to observe a moment of silence. Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, along with survivors and their families attended the service. Around 1.4 lakh people succumbed to death after the US dropped the bomb during World War II.

4. Bill Gates: By 2060, climate change could be as deadly as COVID-19

Bill Gates, Microsoft Co-founder has warned all about climate change in a blog where he wrote, “By 2060, climate change could be as deadly as COVID-19.” “As awful as this pandemic is, climate change could be worse.” He further wrote, “To understand the damage that climate change will inflict, look at COVID-19 and spread the pain out over a much longer period.”

5. Crucial services sector activity contracts for 5th mth in row

For the fourth consecutive month in June, India’s services PMI shrunk due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The services business activity contracted by 33.7 in June, however, it was vividly higher than the services PMI of 12.6 in May, as reported by the IHS Markit report. India’s service sector remained under intense pressure during the month of June as operations plunged down at another substantial month-on-month rate amid the ongoing economic disruption, the IHS Markit report further added. 

6. 11 new penguin colonies found in Antarctica using satellite images

Scientists have evidently claimed to have spotted 11 new emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica with the help of the satellite mapping technology. There are nearly 20% more emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica than previously thought, the scientists said. These recent findings carry forward the global census to 61 colonies around Antarctica. However, the colonies take the overall population count up by 5-10% to just over half a million penguins.

7. J&J gets $1 billion deal US govt for 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine

On Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson announced their intention to deliver 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for the citizens of the United States of America. The organization is still it its early state of vaccine trials. Soon in September it will initiate its process of human trials. The company estimates to later serve 1 billion doses worldwide.  

8. Visitors flock the malls but rains dampened the shopping-spree

The malls have slowly opened up for visitors amidst the pandemic. But on Wednesday heavy rains dampened the shopping spirit of Mumbaikers as rain poured down. The reopen of malls was to favour the economy. The reopen took place while taking all the safety measures like social distancing, touchless handling situation and more. 

9. IPL clean bowled by sorting priorities

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League struggles to find a way to start the tournament amidst the controversy related to its sponsors. The stakeholders until last week have tried finding alternative ways to get the game going. A meeting via telecommunication took place between BCCI and IPL GC over the suggested SOPs. An owner of one of the team put it, “A Catch-22 scenario is building up and there are no immediate answers.”

10. A drop of 1.5L seats in many professional courses

A major setback initiated by the pandemic is the massive loss of college seats. An estimate of 1.5 lakh seats has been reduced in courses like engineering, management, pharmacy, and other major college courses. Many institutions also face the challenge in updating their approval from the government for 2020. 179 colleges have also applied to the All India Council for Technical Education for letting their campus shut for their students.