5 June 2014 Current Affairs

1) Which anniversary of China’s infamous Tiananmen Square massacre was observed on 4 June 2014? – 25th (The students protests of Tiananmen Square took place at Beijing’s famous Tiananmen Square from 15 April 1989 and went till 4 June 1989 when these protests were forcibly suppressed by hardline leaders who ordered the military to enforce martial law. The protests started during April 1989 against the killing of a former Communist Party General Secretary and liberal reformer Hu Yaobang. These protests were mowed down by Chinese Army which used tanks and heavy armoury to target protestors. Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 are considered one of the strongest pro-democracy movements in China which shook the Communist regime to the core and resulted in some degree of reforms)

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2) Which country would become the 19th member of Eurozone and the last Baltic nation to adopt the euro on 1 January 2015 as announced by the European Commission on 4 June 2014? – Lithuania (European Commission announced that Lithuania has fulfilled all conditions to join the Eurozone and it recommended that the country would become the currency bloc’s 19th member on 1 January 2015. Lithuania would be the last Baltic nation to adopt the euro, after Estonia did so in 2011 and Latvia followed suit at the beginning of 2014)

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3) The Operation Blue Star, under which Indian Army carried out a military operation in order to establish control over the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib Complex) in Amritsar, completed how many years on 3 June 2014? – 30 years(Operation Blue Star was carried out from 3 June to 8 June 1984. The main objective of the operation was to flush-out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers from the complex buildings. Bhindranwale had earlier taken residence in Harmandir Sahib and made it his headquarters in April 1980. Unofficial sources claim that over a hundred army soldiers died in this operation while over 500 civilians and Sikh militants were killed. Operation Blue Star was led by Lt. Gen. Kuldip Singh Brar, who operated under Lt. Gen. Sundarji. However, the operation has been criticized on numerous grounds including ill-planning, ill-timing and arrogant attitude of the strategists of this operation. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale also died in the operation)

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4) The first sitting of the newly constituted 16th Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on 4 June 2014 after paying homage to the departed Union Minister Gopinath Munde. Who was sworn in as the Protem Speaker of the newly constituted Lok Sabha? – Kamal Nath (Kamal Nath, a nine-term MP, was administered the oath at a simple function in the Rashtrapati Bhavan which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Minister of State (Parliamentary Affairs) Santosh K Gangwar)

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5) According to the HSBC Services Business Activity Index released on 4 June 2014 India’s services sector expanded for the first time during May 2014 after a gap of how many months? – 11 months (The headline HSBC Services Business Activity Index released on 4 June stood at 50.2 in May 2014, rising from April’s reading of 48.5 and pointing to the first expansion of output in 11 months. This clearly indicated that activity in the services sector is improving gradually)