1. Russia launches first Arctic train service

• The first tourist train traveling through Russia's Arctic region and on to Norway set off from Saint Petersburg station Wednesday with 91 passengers aboard for the inaugural trial journey.
• The train, named "Zarengold" ("The Tsar's gold" in German) complete with two restaurant cars will travel from Saint Petersburg through Petrozavodsk, the historic town of Kem and Murmansk.
• The whole trip will take 11 days and allow passengers to discover areas difficult to access by other means, according to the organizers.

Foot Notes:

About Russia

1. Capital: Moscow
2. Currency: Russian ruble
3. President: Vladimir Putin

2. Facebook brings interactive game show 'Confetti' to India, will allow viewers to win Rs 3 lakh per day

• Social media network Facebook is set to launch ‘Confetti’, its interactive game show, in India.
• To be launched on June 12, the show will be aired live five days a week - from Wednesday to Sunday – on Facebook’s dedicated video platform, Facebook Watch. It will challenge participants to answer pop culture trivia questions for a chance to win a cash prize of up to Rs 3 lakh everyday.
• “Confetti is a new social video interactive initiative from Facebook for our Indian users,” said Manish Chopra, director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India. “This is first of its kind live interactive show that is aimed at building community together. It has seen success in various South Asian countries already.”

Foot Notes:

About Facebook

1. Founded: February 2004, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
2. CEO: Mark Zuckerberg
3. Headquarters: Menlo Park, California, United States
4. CFO: David Wehner
5. Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes

3. ‘Swachh Survekshan League 2020’ launched

• Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched the ‘Swachh Survekshan League 2020’ (SS 2020), saying parameters pertaining to wastewater treatment, reuse and fecal sludge management have been given special focus in the survey.
• He said there will be a quarterly cleanliness assessment of cities and towns in India.
• This will be integrated with Swachh Survekshan 2020, the 5th edition of the annual cleanliness survey of urban India to be conducted from January February 2020 by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry under the aegis of Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban (SBM-U).

4. Agreement between India and Marshall Islands for Exchange of Information notified

• The Agreement between the Government of India and the Government of the Marshall Islands for the Exchange of Information with respect to taxes was signed on 18th March, 2016 at Majuro, the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The Indian-Marshall Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) was notified to the gazette of India.
• The agreement provides framework for exchange of Information in tax matters which helps in tax evasion and tax avoidance.
• It provides information like banking and ownership between two countries for tax purposes.

Foot Notes:

About Marshall Islands

1. Capital – Majuro
2. Currency – United States Dollar
3. President – Hilda Cathy Heine
4. Prime Minister – Stefan Löfven

5. Indian Navy successfully conducted ‘live mating’ of submarine rescue system DSRV

• On June 2, 2019, The Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) based at Visakhapatnam, successfully conducted the live mating exercise. It involved the transfer of personnel from the bottomed submarine, INS Sindhudhvaj. It was inducted into the Navy by the former Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba in December.
• The live mating exercise is a historic achievement towards DSRV integration into the Indian Navy. It paved way for the Indian Navy to emerge as a Submarine Rescue Provider in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• The DSRV is equipped with sophisticated radar and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
• It is operated by a crew of three and can rescue 14 personnel from a disabled submarine at one time.

Foot Notes:

About Indian Navy

1. Chief of the Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh
2. Navy Day: 4th December
3. Motto: Sham No Varunah (May the Lord of the water be auspicious unto us)

6. 'Cyclone Man' Mrutyunjay Mohapatra appointed as chief of Indian Meteorological Department

• Renowned scientist and cyclone warning specialist Mrutyunjay Mohapatra was appointed as the chief of India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday, according to a Personnel Ministry order.
• Mohapatra and his team at the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD have earned praise for their accurate forecasts on cyclones, its wind-speed and likely impact on life and property including during the recent cyclone 'Fani', when their timely warnings enabled the authorities to ensure early evacuation of millions of people.
• The 54-year-old Scientist 'G' and Additional Director General in the IMD has been appointed as Director General of Meteorology, IMD, for a period of five years, the order said.He will assume charge in August.

Foot Notes:

About IMD

1. Headquarters: New Delhi
2. Founder: Government of India
3. Founded: 1875
4. Jurisdiction: India
5. Chief: Mrutyunjay Mohapatra

7. P Jayadevan Appointed as IOCL Executive Director for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry

• P Jayadevan has been appointed as the executive director of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry succeeding  R Sitharthan.
• He will be coordinating oil company. He was previously heading Chairman’s Secretariat at the corporate office, New Delhi.
• Prime Minister’s Aadhaar Excellence Award was awarded to him for his contribution.

Foot Notes:

About IOCL

1. Head quarters: New Delhi
2. Chairman : Sanjiv singh

8. Dr. Patricia Bath inventor of Cataract treatment passes away at age of 76

• Dr. Patricia Bath, a pioneering ophthalmologist who became the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent after she invented a more precise treatment of cataracts, has died. She was 76.
• Bath died on from complications of cancer at a University of California San Francisco medical center, her daughter, Dr. Eraka Bath, said.