Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2020

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently set up an independent panel to review its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The panel is headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. This action has been taken after the United States has been criticising the organisation over its handling of the crisis.

Notes:
GOAL is a literacy and mentorship initiative, that aims to identify leaders and make them train 5,000 youth from tribal communities across the country. It is implemented by the Tribal Affairs Ministry.
The Ministry has hosted a webinar on Going Online As Leaders (GOAL) Project, to sensitise Members of Parliament from Scheduled Tribe (ST) Constituencies. Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda and other officials from the Ministry participated in the seminar.

Notes:
The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently announced that the iconic architectural place of the country Hagia Sophia would be made a mosque, which gained criticism from across the world.
After the top Turkish court revoked the museum status of the monument, the President made this announcement. The UNESCO World Heritage site in Istanbul was first constructed as a cathedral but was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It has been a museum since 1935 and open to people of all faiths.

Notes:
The incumbent President of Poland, Andrzej Duda has been re-elected to a second term, in a narrow count.
Andrzej Duda was backed by the ruling party, the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party. He won with 51.21% of the votes, as per the country’s election committee. Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, of the center-right opposition Civic Platform party (PO) secured 48.79%.

Notes:
Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog presented India’s second Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the United Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) 2020.
The HLPF is the international platform for review of progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It meets annually in July under the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The India VNR 2020 report was titled “Decade of Action: Taking SDGs from Global to Local”.

Notes:
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing of start-ups.
IIT Alumni Council is the largest body of alumni, students and faculty across all the 23 IITs. The partnership aims at developing confidence among investors in the start-up’s platform. This will also ensure a complete ecosystem for the proposed social stock exchange.

Notes:
Malini Parthasarathy has been named the new Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications. She is to replace the current head, N Ram.
The former editor of the Hindu from 2013 to 2016 was also the Co-Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications. She also founded a think tank named ‘The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy’.

Notes:
As per the recent data by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India posted a trade surplus of USD 790 million in June 2020.
This surplus has been recorded for the first time after over 18 years. Due to the Covid-19 induced decrease in domestic demand for crude oil, gold and other industrial products, the country’s import was deeply reduced. This led to a trade surplus with imports of USD 21.11 billion and exports of USD 21.91 billion.

Notes:
The United States President Donald Trump has signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act into law. He also signed an executive order ending US preferential treatment for Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Autonomy Act was passed unanimously by the Congress. It gives provisions to the country, to hold accountable the individuals involved in suppressing Hong Kong’s freedom. After this act, Hong Kong will be treated the same as mainland China by the US.

Notes:
As per the data recently released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), India has recorded the largest reduction in the number of people living in multi-dimensional poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16.
About 273 million Indians moved out of multi-dimensional poverty in the said decade. As per the report, 65 out of 75 countries reduced their multi-dimensional poverty levels between 2000 and 2019.