Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The 36-year-old Indian umpire Nitin Menon recently became the youngest member of the International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of Umpires.
He replaced England’s Nigel Llong for the upcoming 2020-21 season. Nitin Menon has officiated in three Tests, 24 ODIs and 16 T20Is. He is only the third from India to enter the prestigious group after former captain Srinivas Venkatraghavan and Sundaram Ravi. Michael Gough of England (40), had been the youngest in the current panel.

Notes:
The President of India has re-appointed K.K. Venugopal as the Attorney General (AG) of India for one more year. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister approved the extension in term of Tushar Mehta as the Solicitor General (SG) for three years.
Six new Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) were appointed and tenure of five existing Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) was extended. Venugopal took over as the AG in 2017, succeeding Mukul Rohatgi.

Notes:
According to a study published in the US science journal PNAS, researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic.
The G4 flu is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009. As per the China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, G4 was observed to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms. More researches are being carried out on ferrets.

Notes:
June 30 is the day designated by the United Nations to celebrate the International Day of Parliamentarism.
The United Nations General Assembly recognized the role of parliaments in developing the world, and designated the special day. On the same day in the year 1889, the global organization of parliaments called the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was established.

Notes:
The Indian Air Force has successfully designed and developed an Airborne Locust Control System on Mi-17 helicopters to tackle the locusts attack.
The machine developed by the Indian Air Force can help in spraying pesticides over 750 hectares of affected land in a single mission. Union Agriculture Minister has also ordered for five aerial spray machines from United Kingdom, to deploy in IAF helicopters for locust control.

Notes:
The Cabinet Secretary of India Rajiv Gauba has ordered to revamp the e-SamikSha platform of the Indian Government.
It is a real time, online system for monitoring projects and decisions taken by the Union government and the follow-up actions by ministries. In the revamped platform, additional information related to milestones with target dates, beneficiary states and districts will also be captured.

Notes:
The President of France Emmanuel Macron has named Jean Castex as the next French Prime Minister.
The previous Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had resigned earlier. The President has reshuffled the Government to restart the country’s economy. Jean Castex is a 55-year-old public servant, who has also coordinated the re-opening strategy in the country.

Notes:
Botswana, the landlocked country in South Africa has the largest elephant population in the world, around an estimate of 1,30,000.
The country was recently in news, more than 300 elephants have died mysteriously in the famous Okavango Delta of Botswana. As per the head of the wildlife department, the reason of deaths was not poaching, as their tusks were not damaged.

Notes:
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has partnered with Technology major Facebook, to launch curriculum on digital safety.
The curriculum also includes practices of online well-being of students and Augmented Reality for students and teachers. This was announced by Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. The curriculum has been prepared comprehensively to equip the children face the future of work.

Notes:
Legendary Italian musician Ennio Morricone has recently passed away, at the age of 91. He had won two Oscar awards, the latest being awarded in 2016 for best original score for ‘The Hateful Eight’.
He was considered as one of the world’s most famous and creative music composers. His musical works including ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ and ‘The Mission’ were appreciated by his fans across the world. He had also won numerous awards including the Golden Globes, Grammys and BAFTAs.