Dell has become the latest company to announce firing of employees. On Feb 6 , the tech company said that it will be laying off 5% of its workforce- about 6,650 employees globally, as tech companies have been facing an uncertain global macroeconomic environment for the past few months.

The company did not disclose how many employees in India would be affected. As of January 28, 2022, the company had employed about 1,33,000 people globally, of which 32% were located in the US alone. The company has manufacturing facilities in the US, India, among other countries.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries on Feb 6 showcased a truck that runs on hydrogen, the cleanest known fuel whose tail emissions are only water and oxygen.

The Ashok Leyland manufactured truck with two large hydrogen cylinders was put up at a hall adjacent to the main venue where Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the three-day event that is themed around 'Growth, Collaboration, Transition'.

A display near the truck said this was "India's 1st H2ICE technology truck on road. The truck has 'near-zero emissions' when it uses hydrogen as fuel in place of a conventional diesel or even recently introduced liquefied natural gas (LNG). H2ICE vehicle performance on-par with diesel ICE."

H2 is the formula for hydrogen and ICE stands for an internal combustion engine.

India is fast pushing for use of hydrogen, which can be produced by splitting water using electricity. The use of electricity generated from renewable sources such as solar and wind qualifies it to be green hydrogen.

Hydrogen finds wide applicability, from refineries to steel plants and fertilizer units where it can replace hydrocarbons.

Hydrogen can also be used as fuel in automobiles but its current cost of manufacturing is very high. But this hasn't stopped companies from investing in hydrogen manufacturing. Last month, billionaire Gautam Adani's group announced plans for a hydrogen truck.

In January, Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), part of the diversified Adani portfolio of companies, signed an agreement to launch a pilot project to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for mining logistics and transportation with Ashok Leyland, India, and Ballard Power, Canada.

Promoters of Adani Group have prepaid loans worth $1.1 billion taken against shares as collateral before the end of its maturity in Sep 2024. Adani Group is promoted by billionaire Gautam Adani and his family members.

With the repayment of such amount, the following Adani Listed Company shares shall be released in due course –

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd: 168.27 million shares, representing 12% of the promoters’ holding

Adani Green Energy Limited: 27.56 million shares, representing 3% of promoters’ holding

Adani Transmission Limited: 11.77 million shares, representing 1.4% of promoters’ holding.

The promoter family, as of December 31, owns 65.13% equity in APSEZ of which 17.31% is pledged, according to the BSE data. The promoter's stake in Adani Green stood at 60.75% (pledge: 4.36%) and 74.19% in Adani Transmission (pledge: 6.62%).

This action by Adani comes as the Group faces one of its biggest crises in recent times. After the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research published its report where it accused the port-to-power conglomerate of stock manipulation among other things, Adani Group's 10 listed companies have lost about Rs 10 lakh crore in valuation with its stocks crashing up to 60% in 8 sessions.

After Credit Suisse and Citigroup, British lender Standard Chartered has now stopped accepting Adani Group bonds as collateral on margin loans.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks and Life Insurance Corporation to declare their exposures to the Adani group while India’s capital market regulator Sebi said that it is committed to ensuring the stock market's integrity and all necessary surveillance measures are in place to address any excessive volatility in individual shares.

Former Chelsea and Newcastle forward Christian Atsu is missing and believed to be trapped under rubble following the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and left more than 2,500 people dead.

The Ghana international, who plays for Turkish club Hatayspor, is thought to be in a building that was destroyed, Hatayspor spokesman Mustafa Özat said.

Özat said club director Taner Savut was also believed to be in a building that collapsed and club officials couldn't contact both men.

The 31-year-old Atsu joined Hatayspor, which is based in the southern city of Antakya, last year after a spell playing in Saudi Arabia.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked large parts of Turkey and neighboring Syria in the pre-dawn hours of Feb 6 .

The quake was centered in Turkey's southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, and was felt as far away as Cairo in Egypt.

Former Portugal and Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has worked at the last four World Cups and was hired by Qatar to aim for a fifth straight at the next edition hosted in North America.

The Qatar Football Association hired former Real Madrid coach Queiroz until 2026 to take charge of his seventh different national team.

As host of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar lost all three group-stage games on its tournament debut in November. This time it will try to advance through the qualifying program for the first time.

The 2026 edition in the United States, Canada and Mexico is the first 48-team finals tournament and Asia will have eight guaranteed qualifying places instead of the previous four.

Queiroz coached Iran at a third straight World Cup together since 2014 and again failed to advance to the round of 16. His team lost to England and the United States, though beat Wales, to place third in their group.

Queiroz, who turns 70 on March 1, coached his native Portugal at the 2010 World Cup and lost in the round of 16 to eventual winner Spain.

Q1. Name the Indian-American schoolgirl who has been  named in the "world's brightest" students list for the second consecutive year by the US-based Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth, based on the results of above-grade-level tests of over 15,000 students across 76 countries ?

1. Natasha Perianayagam
2. Shreya Ramachandran
3. Mehaa Amirthalingam
4. Anuva Shandilya
5. None of These

Q2. Name the  British author who has published his new novel "Victory City", an "epic tale" of a 14th-century woman who defies a patriarchal world to rule a city ?

1. Amitav Ghosh
2. Arundhati Roy
3. Vikram Seth
4. Anita Desai
5. None of These

Q3. Name the former Chelsea and Newcastle forward who is  missing and believed to be trapped under rubble following the powerful earthquake that struck Turkey and left more than 2,500 people dead ?

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Robert Lewandowski
3. Christian Atsu
4. Kylian Mbappe
5. None of These

Q4. Name the former Portugal and Iran coach who has worked at the last four World Cups and who has been  hired by Qatar For the next World Cup ?

1. Arsène Wenger
2. Carlos Queiroz
3. José Mourinho
4. Pep Guardiola
5. None of These

Q5. Name the sport with which  Sudirman Cup is associated ?

1. Tennis
2. Table tennis
3. Badminton
4. Squash
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------1  Natasha Perianayagam

2-----------------5   None of These Ans- Salman Rushdie

3------------------3   Christian Atsu

4------------------2   Carlos Queiroz

5------------------3    Badminton

To provide relief to consumers from rising wheat flour prices, Kendriya Bhandar has started selling the commodity at Rs 29.50 per kg from Feb 2 , while cooperatives Nafed and NCCF will also sell at the same price from February 6 across the country, according to the Food Ministry.

These institutions agreed to brand wheat flour as "Bharat atta" or "any other suitable name", with bold mention of a maximum retail price of Rs 29.50 per kg.

This was conveyed in a review meeting chaired by Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra on the progress of the sale of 30 lakh tonne of wheat from buffer stock under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) in the domestic market.

The MRP or maximum retail price of wheat flour sold by these institutions is, however, lower than the current average all-India retail price of Rs 38 per kg.

About 3 lakh tonne of wheat is being offered to these institutions without e-auction under the OMSS for converting the grain into atta and selling at Rs 29.50 per kg.

Out of which, one lakh tonne each has already been allocated to Kendriya Bhandar and Nafed, respectively, while 50,000 tonne to NCCF.

This is part of the total 30 lakh tonne wheat, which the government plans to offload from buffer stock in the domestic market under the OMSS for containing prices.

About 25 lakh tonne of wheat is being e-auctioned to bulk users like flour millers at Rs 23.50 per kg, while 2 lakh tonne of state governments for welfare schemes.

Representatives of Food Corporation of India (FCI), Kendriya Bhandar, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) were present at the meeting.

Wheat and wheat flour prices in the country have firmed up in the last few months due to tight domestic supplies in the wake of a fall in domestic output.

Under the OMSS policy, the government allows FCI to sell foodgrains, especially wheat and rice, at predetermined prices in the open market from time to time to bulk consumers and private traders.

The Centre had banned wheat exports in May last year to control rising prices, after a slight fall in domestic production and a sharp decline in the FCI's procurement for the central pool.

India's wheat production fell to 106.84 million tonne in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) from 109.59 million tonne in the previous year due to heat waves in a few growing states.

The procurement fell sharply to 19 million tonne this year from around 43 million tonne last year.

The area under wheat crop in the current rabi (winter-sown) season is slightly higher.The procurement of new wheat crops would commence on March 15.

Food Corporation of India offered 22.0 lakh tonne of wheat out of 25 lakh tonne earmarked in the first e-auction through the open market sale that took place during Feb 1-2.

Of which, a quantity of 9.2 lakh tonne was sold across the country, according to a government release on Feb 3 . In the e-auction, more than 1,150 bidders came forward to participate.

Further sales of wheat through e-auction will continue throughout the country every Wednesday till the second week of March 2023.

On January 25, the government said FCI will offload 30 lakh tonnes of wheat from the central pool in the markets under the Open Market Sale Scheme, within the next two months, for containing the rising domestic prices of the staple foodgrain.

Of the 30 lakh tonne, the government has reserved 3 lakh tonne wheat to PSUs/cooperatives/Federations like Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF and NAFED for sale without e-auction at the concessional rate of Rs 2,350 per 100 kg for converting wheat to Atta and offering it to the public at a Maximum Retail Price of Rs 29.50 per kg.

NCCF has been allowed to lift 50,000 tonne of Wheat stock across 7 states.

Allotment of 1 lakh tonne Wheat is made to NAFED and 1 lakh tonne to Kendriya Bhandar to bring down the price of Atta across the country.

In order to address the rising price of wheat and Atta in the country, the Group of Ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah made some recommendations which are being followed by the Department of Food and Public Distribution.