09th September 2020 Current affairs

1. The United States President Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize because of his efforts on brokering the historic Israel-UAE Peace Deal.  

2. The last phase of clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca has been put on hold after one of the participants fell ill in the United Kingdom. AstraZeneca described the pause as a “routine” pause in the case of “an unexplained illness”.  

3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be digitally launching the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) and e-Gopala App on September 10, 2020. The e-Gopala App will be launched for farmers along with several other initiatives in the fisheries and animal husbandry sectors in Bihar. 

4. Northrop Grumman has named its next space station resupply ship after Dr Kalpana Chawla, astronaut of Indian descent. The S.S. Kalpana Chawla spacecraft will be Northrop Grumman’s next Cygnus spacecraft to launch to the International Space Station. It has been named in the honor of the astronaut who was one of the seven crew members who died in the Columbia space shuttle disaster.  

5. Reliance Retail has raised Rs 7,500 Crore by selling a 1.75% Stake to American private equity player Silver Lake. The investment was announced by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL). 

6. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Indian government have signed a USD 500 million loan agreement for the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Corridor. The loan is a first tranche of the ADB approved one billion- dollar loan facility to build a high-speed, modern 82-km Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor, which will improve the regional connectivity and mobility in India’s National capital Region (NCR). 

7. David Attenborough, a renowned author, and natural historian was conferred with Indira Gandhi Peace Prize 2019 by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented the Peace Prize in a virtual ceremony. 

8. The Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had made a stopover at Tehran, Iran as a part of his Russia visit on September 8, 2020 and met his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.