1. The 'supermom' of India, former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, passed away

• The 'supermom' of India, former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, passed away after late Tuesday night on 6th of August after a massive cardiac arrest.
• Sushma Swaraj was an Indian politician and a Supreme Court lawyer. A senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party, Swaraj served as the Minister of External Affairs of India from 26 May 2014 to 30 May 2019.
• She was the second woman to hold the office, after Indira Gandhi.

2. Union environment ministry unveiled a draft ‘Nation Resource Efficiency Policy’

• In order to save the natural resources, the Union environment ministry unveiled a draft ‘Nation Resource Efficiency Policy’ which suggests the institutional mechanism and a three-year action plan through the principle of 6R and ‘green public procurement’.
• In India, the consumption of fossil fuels, biomass, metal ores and non-metal ores was increased by over 6 times in 45 years, from 1.18 billion tonnes (BT) in 1970 to 7.4 BT in 2015. It is projected to be doubled by 2030 from 2015 level.
• The draft pitches for moving towards ‘zero landfill’ approach. It may impose ‘landfill taxes’ and ‘high tipping fees’ for bulk generators of waste so that they can move towards optimal use of materials and better waste management.

Foot Notes:
About About MoEFCC:

1. Headquarters: New Delhi
2. Founded: 1985
3. Minister In-charge: Prakash Javadekar

3. Mastercard launches ‘Identity Check Express’ for uninterrupted secured online transactions

• On August 6, 2019, American multinational financial services corporation, Mastercard has launched a next-generation, mobile-first authentication solution,  called “Identity Check Express” that will help customers to do uninterrupted secured transactions while shopping online.
• The new card payment feature was showcased in New Delhi at the Global Mastercard Cybersecurity Summit 2019, held for the 1st time in India.
• As per the Mastercard’s analysis, up to 20% of mobile e-commerce transactions are interrupted mid-way. The present rules to verify an identity online are time-consuming which led to the shoppers away from a merchant’s website due to the issues such as consumers being redirected to a third website to complete the payment process or mobile network fluctuations.

Foot Notes:
About Mastercard:

1. Headquarters: United States
2. Founded: 16 December 1966
3. President and CEO: Ajay Banga

4. Iran launched 3 new precision-guided missiles “Yasin”, “Balaban” & “Ghaem”

• Iran unveiled three precision-guided missiles “Yasin”, “Balaban” and a new series of “Ghaem” in Tehran. The air-to-air missiles were developed jointly by the Ministry of Defence of Iran and Sa Iran, also known as Iran Electronics Industries.
• Yasin is a smart, guided missile with folding wings that can be fired from a range of 50 kilometres (30 miles) of its target from manned or unmanned aircraft.
• Balaban is guided by GPS (Global Positioning System) and sensors. It is equipped with folding wings and can be mounted under the aircraft.
• Ghaem is a heat-seeking missile which can hit within 50 centimetres of a target.

Foot Notes:
About Iran

1. Capital: Tehran
2. Currency: Iranian rial
3. President: Hassan Rouhani

5. Hiroshima Day 2019 observed on August 6

• It marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States (US) in 1945. An American B-29 bomber had dropped the first atomic bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
• Three days later i.e on August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
• Hiroshima Day, the annual event is organised by the Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW) in Eyre Square, Ireland.2019 marks the 74th anniversary of the disastrous event.

Foot Notes:
About Japan

1. Capital: Tokyo
2. Currency: Japanese Yen
3. Prime Minister: Shinzo Abe

6. Mission Shakti sports initiative launched by Bollywood actor Aamir Khan

• Mission Shakti which is an initiative to train athletes from Chandrapur and Gadchiroli for international events like the Olympics by the Maharashtra minister SudhirMungantiwar, was launched by Bollywood film actor Aamir Khan in presence of Maharashtra sports minister Ashish Shelar.
• A team of tribal mountaineers who climbed Mount Everest under the“Mission Shaurya” by Maharashtra govt., were facilitated by Aamir Khan.

Foot Notes:
About Mission shakthi

1. This initiative will focus on sports like archery, shooting, swimming, athletics, volleyball, weight lifting and gymnastics.
2. Mega sports complex is planned at Ballarpur in Chandrapur and is to be funded by state govt. iii.The Maharashtra govt. Started this initiative to train and produce athletes of Olympic level and to make them participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

About 2024 Paris Olympics

1. It is the 2024 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
2. Host city- Paris, France.
3. Stadium- Stade de France.

7. U.S. labels China a ‘currency manipulator’

• The United States has officially labeled China a "currency manipulator". The US has accused China of using yuan to gain “unfair competitive advantage” in trade.
• The US took the action as Beijing has allowed its yuan to fall below the politically sensitive level of "seven" to the U.S. dollar for the first time in 11 years.

Foot Notes:
About US

1. Capital: Washington, D.C.
2. President: Donald Trump

8. NASA satellite uncovers 'first nearby super-Earth'

• The Super-Earth planet named GJ 357 d  was discovered in early 2019 owing to NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a mission designed to comb the heavens for exoplanets.
• Scientists have characterised the first potentially habitable world outside our own solar system located about 31 light-years away.

Foot Notes:
About NASA

1. Administrator of NASA: Jim Bridenstine
2. Headquarter of NASA: Washington DC, US.

9. Mohali gets first 3-D traffic signal

• Mohali traffic police have launched 3-D Smart Traffic Signal devised by the students of a Chandigarh university.
• The wireless system, called 'Intelights', has been installed at the traffic crossing near the Airport Road, on a pilot project basis, and will regulate traffic signals with a smart bird's eye view wireless sensor system.
• The new system will have sensors which would automatically switch on the green and red signals depending upon the number of vehicles coming from that particular side.

10. Udaipur to host India’s Largest Education Brainstorm

• The 3rd edition of India’s largest education brainstorming event, the ScooNews Global Educators Fest (SGEF) will held in the city of lakes, Udaipur. It will bring together over 500 educators to discuss the way towards establishing India as the next global education powerhouse.
• The theme for the fest is 'Education for Sustainability: Moving on from Conformity to Creativity’.

Foot Notes:
About Udaipur

1. Udaipur, formerly the capital of the Mewar Kingdom, is a city in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.
2. Founded by Maharana Udai Singh II in 1559 .