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:
Veteran American Designer Milton Glaser, who was famous for his “I (HEART) NY” logo, passed away recently at the age of 91.
He was considered as a Pioneer in using brightly coloured, extroverted posters and book covers in American visual culture in the 1960s and ’70s. Glaser had designed more than 400 posters during his long art career. A book titled “The Push Pin Graphic: A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration” describes his life.

Notes:
The government of New Delhi has recently announced the launch of the country’s first dedicated plasma bank for treating Covid-19 patients.
The facility would be set up at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), and it will be made available to all government and private hospitals of the UT. The therapy involves drawing blood from patients who have recovered from covid-19 and using the plasma and antibodies to treat active patients.

Notes:
Union Defence Ministry has launched a new portal to issue No Objection Certificate (NOC) for power projects and Research Survey Exploration Exploitation (RSEE) activities in the Indian Territorial Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone.
The Ministry of Defence gives security clearances to various Private and Public Sector Undertakings for power, wind and solar projects in areas near defence installation. The new portal will allow applicants to submit their proposals online for seeking security clearance from the Ministry.

Notes:
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has recently released the ‘State of World Population 2020’ report.
UNFPA is the sexual and reproductive health agency of the United Nations (UN) located in New York. As per the report, the number of missing women has more than doubled over the past 50 years, from 61 million in 1970 to 142.6 million in 2020. Out of that, India accounts for 45.8 million of missing females of the world.

Notes:
India celebrates National Doctor’s Day on July 1 each year, in honour of the birth and death anniversary of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy.
He was a veteran physician of the country and the second Chief minister of West Bengal. Indian Government established the Doctor’s Day in the year of 1991. This year, the theme of the day is “Lessen the mortality of COVID-19”.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched the world’s first online Diploma and Bachelor of Science Degree in Data Science and programming.
The course has no age limit and students who have passed class 12 can enrol. The course will be conducted online and its exams will be conducted in an offline mode. The course has three levels including the foundation, diploma and degree and it is divided into six semesters.

Notes:
Russia has recently held polls for a nationwide referendum on constitutional amendments, which include the reset in the term limits of the incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The amendments allow him to seek two more 6-year terms when his presidency ends in 2024. As per the preliminary results, more than 76% of Russians voted supporting the amendments. Putin has been the President from 2012 and will remain till 2036, as per the amendment.

Notes:
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is set to replace the 25-year-old NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement).
The renegotiated deal comes into effect from July 1. USMCA is a trilateral agreement between three countries namely the United States, Mexico and Canada. The deal was originally signed in 2018 and since then the countries have been working to implement the new deal. It seeks to support the technology sector and include USD 600 million to address environmental problems.

Notes:
Germany has recently become the first major economy to shut down coal and nuclear power. Both the houses of German Parliament have approved the phase-out decision.
It has decided to shut down coal-fired power plants by 2038 and nuclear power by the end of 2022. The country has also proposed to spend about 40 billion euros to help the affected regions in their transition.