Current Affairs Questions & Answers - June 25, 2016

ANSWER: United Kingdom

Explanation:
Close to two million people have signed a petition in the UK calling for the second referendum over the EU membership of the country.

• Petition will now be discussed in the British Parliament having crossed 100,000 signatures required to trigger a House of Commons debate
• UK voted to leave the EU by 52 to 48 per cent on 23rd June referendum
• A majority of voters in Scotland, London and Northern Ireland backed the remain side in a 72 percent turnout
• The petition calls upon the British government to implement a rule if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 percent based on a turnout less than 75 percent, another referendum should be held.
• It is currently unclear if changes to the rule demanded by the petition came into force and were inserted into UK legislation can be retrospectively applied.
• Scottish independence hopes were revived following the Brexit vote and 45 percent of the voters who lost started a campaign for another vote.
• Parallel petition calling for Londependence or British capital an independent after the UK voted to quit the EU has been signed by many people
• Meanwhile British Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a possible coup from within his party for not being able to prevent Brexit.

ANSWER: Jean Claude Juncker

Explanation:
A shocked EU on 24th June urged Britain to leave as soon as possible amidst fears that Brexit could spark further referendums.

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande had led calls for EU to reform following a parting with Britain
• The stance to give effect to the decision of the British people asap however painful the process may be came after PM David Cameron announced he would resign and leave negotiations on British departure to the successor named in October.
• European Commission Chief Jean Claude Juncker said it was sad that Britain had voted to leave, but there would be no renegotiation regarding British membership.
• Juncker, a former Luxembourg premier and strong federalist indicated that Brexit did not spell the end of EU

ANSWER: UDAY

Explanation:
Andhra Pradesh has formally joined the Centre’s scheme to revive ailing electricity distribution firms and stave off debt amounting to INR 11,000 crore in the current fiscal.

• Ministry of Power has signed a tripartite agreement to formally join the scheme with AP government and two state discos APSPDCL and APEPDCL.
• This is a landmark achievement when the state reduces power transmission, distribution and billing losses through the agreement to 5-6 percent soon.
• State’s current TDC stood at 10.19 percent and if achieved.
• AP has come forward to also replace 15 lakhs agricultural pump sets over the next three years with energy efficient pump sets.

ANSWER: Goa

Explanation:
State government on 25th June said forest cover in Goa has been increased by 5 square km as per the 2015 forest survey report of India.

• Every two years, GoI conducts the survey to find out the forest cover.
• In the 2015 report, it was found that an increase in forest cover by 5 square km of which 4 square km have risen in Mangroves
• Recorded forest cover of the state which is in government control is over 33 percent and if private forest is considered, it touches 40 percent cover of the total area.
• If the plantation like cashew or coconut is considered, Goa currently has 60 percent tree cover.
• Total geographical area of the state is 3702 square km.
• In terms of tree cover in India, Goa is in the fifth position

ANSWER: 10

Explanation:
Marine biotechnology scientists in Gujarat have discovered 10 new species of fishes including one that has been recorded for the first time in the world.

• New species have been discovered in the first ever major exercise to map and DNA bardcode all fish species along the state’s 1600 km coastline.
• Mapping will create a massive data base of all fish species along with DNA barcode which will conserve the marine biodiversity of Gujarat.
• According to the data of the Gujarat Biodiversity Board, there are estimated 606 species of fish found in the state of which 487 were marine and 119 were freshwater fishes.
• Spiny Loach fish has been found in Veraval for the first time in the world.
• Dr Yususfzai of the Department of Aquaculture leading the research team said every species of marine fish will get a DNA barcode.
• Spiny Loach is now placed in the Barcode of Life Data Systems/BOLD database which is a global reference library of DNA barcodes that can be used to assign identities to space not known.
• Mapping of marine fish biodiversity along the Veraval coast uses MtDNA barcoding funded by Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission
• DNA barcoding is a new system to discover species using a small DNA section from the standardised region of the genome
• DNA sequence is used to identify different species

ANSWER: Volcano

Explanation:
Periods of seismic quiet occur before volcanic eruptions and can be said to forecast impending eruption for restless volcanoes.

• When dormant volcanoes are about to erupt, predictive characteristics are show such as seismic activity beneath the volcano which starts to increase, causing gas to escape through the vent and the surrounding ground to become deformed.
• Till now, there had not been a way to predict the eruption of volcanoes before this.
• Diana Roman, a volcanologist at Carnegie Institution for Science in the US working with Pennsylvania State University, Oxford University and University of Iceland found periods of seismic quiet occur before eruptions and can be used to forecast eruption for restless volcanoes.
• Duration of the silence can indicate level of energy that will be released when the eruption occurs and longer periods may mean bigger eruptions.
• Of 50 explosions that occurred, 35 have preceding quiet periods lasting 30 minutes or more.

ANSWER: Charon

Explanation:
Pluto’s largest moon Charon is home to an unusual canyon system far deeper and longer than the Grand Canyon on earth according to a new image taken over by NASA New Horizon Probe.

• The deep canyon is named Argo Chasma
• It is around 700 km long while Arizona’s Grand Canyon is 450 km long
• Scientists estimate Argo Chasma to be 9 km deep more than 5 times the depth of earth’s Grand Canyon
• There are locations along the canyon’s length where sheer cliffs reach many miles high and the Verona Rupes on Miranda, a Uranus moon.
• The latter moon is known for the title of the tallest known cliff face in the solar system
• Image was taken by New Horizon LORRI or Long Range Reconnaissance Imager at 2.33 km per pixel.
• This has take a range of 466,000 km from Charon which is 5 hours 22 minutes after the New Horizons closest approach to Charon on July 14 in the previous year
• Charon which is Pluto’s largest moon once had a sub surface ocean long since frozen
• The moon is characterised by pull apart tectonic faults which result in valleys, scarps and ridges

ANSWER: Madagascar

Explanation:
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings and felicitations to Government and people of the Republic of Madagascar on eve of their national day on June 26, 2016.

• The current president of the Republic of Madagascar is Hery Rajaonarimampianina.
• India and Madagascar, an African nation enjoy cordial relations.

ANSWER: June 25

Explanation:
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings and felicitations to Government and people of the Republic of Mozambique on the eve of their Independence Day which is June 25, 2016.

• Mr Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, president of the Republic of Mozambique was congratulated by the President.
• India and the African nation share close bilateral ties.
• State Visit to India in August 2015 was followed by participation of the PM of Mozambique in the IAFS III Summit in Delhi in October 2015
• Friendship and cooperation between the two countries is strong

ANSWER: Qatar

Explanation:
President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings and felicitations to Emir and people of Qatar on the eve of the anniversary of accession of His Highness, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The day in question was June 25, 2016.

• Historical and friendly relations are occurring in cultural religions and economic spheres between the two countries.

ANSWER: Slovenia

Explanation:
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of the Republic of Slovenia on the eve of their National Day i.e June 25, 2016.

• The current president of the Republic of Slovenia is Borut Pahor and the two nations share warm and cordial ties

ANSWER: Pune

Explanation:
PM Shri Narendra Modi has launched the flagship Smart City Mission in implementation mode with 14 projects of the Smart City Plan in Pune after he set off on a mission through release of guidelines

• Smart City Mission was termed by the PM as a people’s movement and citizen participation to the tune of 25 lakh as noted on government websites for ideas regarding smart cities.
• City Challenge competition was also held for empowering people and involving them for participatory development.
• The PM also expressed satisfaction over large scale participation of people in forming comprehensive smart city planning
• The mission is meant for ensuring availability of basic services through necessary infrastructure for urban poor in comprehensive manner
• Extensive use of digital technology will also improve quality of governance and public services

ANSWER: Jitu Rai

Explanation:
Jitu Rai won silver in the 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan. This was his sixth World Cup medal overall. He had an average start to the qualification round but stabilised soon.

• Jitu has more inner 10s than the other six so he qualified sixth in the round
• In the final, he won one of the top scores.

ANSWER: Reliance Communications

Explanation:
Reliance Telecom Ltd is a wholly owned unit of Reliance Communications and will emerge operations in 5 circles back into RCom allowing customers seamless 3G and 4G services.

• Consolidation of RCom Wireless Business under one entity will be demerged at a later date and merged with Aircel
• RCom informed the stock exchange that subsidiaries will derringer the circles of Bihar, HP, Jharkhand, MP, Chattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal
• Company will benefit from maximisation of synergies in operational processes, logistics alignment leading to economies of scale and increased customer experience
• Reliance Communications Q4 net profit fell 22 percent
• 3G and 4G/LTE network resources and platforms under single license per service area, customers will obtain seamless services and compliance requirements will be attained by the company under applicable regulations
• RCom will demerge the wireless business and merge it with existing unlisted Aircel with promoters of both sides owning 50 percent in the new entity

ANSWER: Bharti Airtel

Explanation:
Telecom major Bharti Airtel and Malaysian firm Axiata have deferred agreement for merger of Bangladesh operations till September 26, 2016.

• Merger of the Bangladesh business will be completed in the first half of this year.
• Bharti Airtel Limited and Axiata Group Berhad agreed the merger has to be expected to be completed in the first half of this year 2016
• Axiata Group Berhad and Airtel on January 28 signed a Definitive Agreement for merging telecom subsidiaries Robi Axiara Ltd and Airtel Bangladesh Ltd
• As per industry sources, enterprise valuation of the merged entity is estimated to be around USD 2 billion
• Following completion of the merger, Axiata will hold 68.3 percent controlling stake and Bharti Airtel had 25 percent while remaining 6.7% will be held by existing shareholder NTT Docomo of Japan.
• Post merger, the combined entity operating as Robi will serve 40 million customers
• Airtel has entered Bangladesh by acquiring 70 percent stake in Warid Telecom in 2010 and picked up 30 percent in 2013.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
Social media major Facebook has hired co-founder of Google Fibre high speed internet project to build up internet connectivity team. Social network major has hired Kevin Lo as director of the Infrastructure Connectivity and Investments to help FB partnerships such as Terragraph to bring WiFi to dense urban areas and FB partnership with Microsoft to build fibre optic cable

Lo also confirmed the appointment on his social media FB page and indicated he wants to bring on board over 4 billion people who lag behind in terms of high speed internet services

Lo will not look after Free Basics, FB initiative for developing nations for cheaper, faster access to Internet

ANSWER: Foursquare

Explanation:
Micro-blogging site Twitter has rolled out a new feature letting users see tweets from a specific place such as business, sports stadium or music festival

• Foursquare is a search and discovery mobile application which powers precise place identification for the fresh Twitter feature
• Foursquare will also get prominent branding, link backs and the ability to enhance database according to the technology website TechCrunch.

ANSWER: Wipro

Explanation:
India’s third largest software services firm Wipro has invested a non disclosed amount in Israel based VC firm TLV Partners marking the first investment in the venture capital firm. This gives the outsourcing firm access to portfolio of early stage enterprises and security ventures in one of the most active startup ecosystems in the world.

• As per Wipro’s latest annual report, company invested in Tel Aviv based VC firm during 2015-2016
• According to the latest annual report, company has invested in the Tel Aviv based venture capital firm during 2015-2016
• TLV partners has a corpus of US $115 million and focuses on ventures in the cyber security, enterprise software and IoT according to CrunchBase.
• Wipro’s latest move underscores the enhanced importance of Israel enterprise software industry to India’s US $160 billion IT industry.
• In 2015, Israel automation tech firm Panaya was sold to Infosys for US $200 million
• StartUp Genome which ranks ecosystems across the world rated the city of Tel Aviv as the fifth best startup ecosystem in the world in 2015 coming after Silicon Valley, NYC, LA and Boston.

ANSWER: Bangladesh

Explanation:
US and Bangladesh have agreed to deepen cooperation in counter terrorism via capacity enhancement and this formed the basis of the fifth partnership dialogue between the two countries

• Partnership Dialogue was established in 2012.
• It is a regular consultation to advance common agenda and opportunities for cooperation through regional and bilateral issues