1) How
many years of Panchsheel, the five principles of peaceful coexistence propounded by India and China, is being celebrated this year? –
60 years (Panchsheel was enunciated by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru along with his then Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in 1954. The policy was later endorsed by Burma (now Myanmar) too. A commemorative meeting was held on 28 June 2014 on the occasion of 60
th anniversary of Panchsheel in Beijing in which Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Myanmar counterpart Thien Sein took part)
2) Which three former Soviet republics on 27 June 2014 signed historic trade deals with the European Union (EU) that are expected to help them overcome their post-Soviet legacy of corruption and debt? –
Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine (These deals were signed at Brussels. For Ukraine the deal was signed by President Petro Poroshenko. The deal was supposed to be signed in November by Poroshenko’s
predecessor, Viktor Yanukovich, who balked at the last minute under the pressure of threats by Russia. With this deal the three join Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in pursuing stronger ties with Europe
at the expense of Russia, with Moscow voicing its displeasure at the progress of the discussions)
3) Which village of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh was on 27 June 2014 the witness of a gas pipeline blast in the gas trunk line of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) in which 16 people died? –
Nagaram (Nagaram village in Amalapuram Mandal of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh was witness to a huge blast and fire after the fire broke out in the 18-inch trunk pipeline owned by GAIL)
4) India has developed the world’s second largest gamma ray telescope that will help scientists gain new knowledge on the origin of the universe and origin of cosmic rays that bombard the space. Where this huge telescope will be installed? –
In Ladakh’s Hanle region (State-owned Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL) in Hyderabad designed the giant 45 m high and 180 tonne telescope. The transportation of this telescope from Hyderabad to Ladakh started on 28 June 2014 and it is expected that the telescope will be operational in Ladakh by early 2016. This will be the fourth gamma ray telescope in the world. The largest such telescope built by a consortium of European countries with a diameter of 28 m is currently in operation in Namibia. India’s telescope is the second largest with a diameter of 21 m. But because it is being located in the high altitude Ladakh region, it will have the same capabilities of the one in Namibia)
5) Jean-Claude Juncker, who was named as the new President of the European Commission (EC) on 27 June 2014, is the former Prime Minister of which country? –
Luxembourg (But Juncker’s selection for the post dealt a bitter blow to opponent and British Prime Minister David Cameron and it threatened to increase the chances of Britain leaving the bloc. Juncker,
a veteran EU insider, was backed by all EU member states, except Britain and Hungary)
6) Global e-commerce giant Amazon during May 2014 tied up with N.R. Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of IT services firm Infosys by forming an e-commerce joint venture with his private investment firm. What is the name of this investment firm of Narayana Murthy? –
Catamaran Ventures (Murthy’s private investment firm Catamaran Ventures, a Rs. 600-crore fund launched in 2010, has formed a joint venture with Amazon’s Asia unit to create a new entity. This new entity will help small and medium businesses in India. Catamaran Ventures is based in Bangalore)
7) For the first time two countries from Africa qualified for last-16 stage in FIFA World Cup by making their places in the ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup. Which team are these? –
Algeria and Nigeria(Algeria qualified for last-16 stage for the first time in this World Cup)
8) The unit 42 yoctonewtons,
which came to news recently, represents what? –
It is the smallest force ever measured so far(According to the journal ‘
Science’ the scientists at the Berkeley Lab and University of California (UC) Berkeley measured the smallest force that can be applied to an object. This force was measured using a combination of lasers and a unique optical trapping system that provides a cloud of ultra-cold atoms. 42 yoctonewtons stands for one-septillionth or 10 of a Newton)