1. Chemical disaster caused due to gas leak kills 11 in Vishakhapatnam
Thursday morning at least 11 people died after hazardous gas leaked from a chemical plant of a company in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam city. This incident occurred at the LG Polymers Plant at RR Venkatapuram situated near the Naiduthota area between 2.30 am and 3 am and has spread over 3 km, affecting at least five villages. People affected by the leak faced breathing problems and also complained of rashes on their bodies and burning sensation in their eyes.
2. Twitter enables users to revise tweets before publishing ‘harmful’ replies
Twitter’s new feature which will now prevent users from engaging in a hurtful war of words. Initially, the feature is only going to be made available for iOS users only. In an attempt to curb the spread of harsh worlds and menace, the new feature of Twitter will send a notification to its users when they make use of expletive words or language while replying to a tweet or posting a tweet. The users will be notified to think twice before putting up a tweet. Twitter will direct them to improvise replies but it will not completely prohibit from publishing tweets.
3. Tom Cruise set to shoot 1st feature film in outer space: NASA
Hollywood actor Tom Cruise is all pumped up to shoot the first action movie in space in association with Elon Musk’s Space X, NASA confirmed. The film would be the first narrative feature film– an action thriller– to be shot in outer space for the first time. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said, “NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the Space Station! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA’s ambitious plans a reality.”
4. Closest black hole to Earth discovered by Astronomers
Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have discovered a black hole that is closest to Earth than any found previously. This newly discovered black hole is located about 1,000 light-years away in the constellation named Telescopium. The researchers studying this hole have found that it weighs in at some four times the mass of the sun. Experts says that this recent discovery hints that there are more of these out there ranging somewhere between 100 million to 1 billion in the Milky Way.
5. IT sector to emerge stronger than any other sector post COVID-19
Chairman of Axilor Ventures and co-founder of Infosys, Kris Gopalakrishnan has said that even though economies of the world are dwindling due to the outbreak of a pandemic, India’s IT sector will emerge stronger than any other sectors. He said this during a webinar with a journalist on The New Indian Express’ Expressions. As quoted in the New Indian Express he said: “both the IT and ITES sector will be impacted because their clients will be hit, but added that the relationships they have built is strong and that will help trigger the revival.”
6. Facebook appoints Indian in board to oversee content, he can overrule Zuckerberg too
Facebook Inc’s newly set up ‘content oversight board’ which will keep a check on the content issues that include hate speech, harassment, and people’s safety. The board contains 20 members, that include a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a former prime minister, several constitutional law experts, and rights advocates. The board also has an Indian named Sudhir Krishnaswamy, vice-chancellor of the National Law School of India University.
7. ICMR gives green signal to 21 institutions to begin plasma therapy trials
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has allowed 21 institutions from across India to carry out a study to assess the safety and efficiency of convalescent plasma therapy to help in the treatment of COVID-19. Under this type of treatment, the antibodies from the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients are used to treat severely infected COVID-19 patients. However, the ICMR, as of now hasn’t recommended this treatment option outside of clinical trials.
8. Elon Musk & his girlfriend Grimes names their newborn ‘X Æ A-12 Musk
Tesla CEO and philanthropist, Elon Musk and his girlfriend, musician Grimes gave birth to their baby boy and named him X Æ A-12. This name stirred lot of confusion among the fans due to its bizarre pronunciation. As a step to clear out this confusion, Grimes tweeted, “X, the unknown variable. Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence). A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft).”
9. India predicted to have highest number of births amid COVI-19: UNICEF
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has predicted that India, the second most populated country after china is going to record the highest number of births from the month of Mach. As COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March, almost more than 20 million babies are expected to be born in India between March and December. Other countries that will have the highest numbers of births after India during this period are China (13.5 million), Nigeria, Pakistan, and Indonesia (4 million).
10. Govt entities receive exemption for use of drones for COVID-19 work
The Indian government recently decided to provide ceratin conditional exemptions to state government entities for operating COVID-19 related drones, also known as Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). These exemptions will be allowed for using drones for the purpose of aerial surveillance, public announcements, and aerial photography. However, this will be limited to battery-operated rotary-wing drones.
11. To tackle labor shortage problem, Maha govt allows factories for 12hr shifts
Since the migrant workers have headed back to their villages, the state of Maharashtra is facing labor shortage. As a result of this, the Maharashtra government allowed factories operating across the state, to begin with 12-hour work shifts until June 30.
