Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2021

Notes:
Russian aircraft makers unveiled a prototype of the stealth fighter dubbed “Checkmate”, as per the statement from Rostec, the state-owned military giant which is responsible for exporting Russian technology.
The sneak peek of the new fifth-generation lightweight single-engine fighter jet, was unveiled to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. With a combat radius of 1,500 kilometers and seven tons of combat load, this unique fighter prototype has not been developed before in Russia.

Notes:
The International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has announced that the Australian city of Brisbane has been selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
The Games of the 35th Olympiad are awarded to Brisbane, Australia. With this, Australia has become the second country after the United States to host the Olympic Games in three different cities. Before this, Melbourne had hosted Olympics in 1956 and Sydney in 2000.

Notes:
UNESCO has removed the Liverpool city of the United Kingdom from its World Heritage status. This decision was taken after the UN Committee found some developments threatening the value of the city’s waterfront.
UNESCO had announced that the developments, including the proposed Everton FC stadium, had resulted in serious deterioration of the historic site. Liverpool is only the third site to lose its World Heritage status since the list began in 1978, the others being Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009.

Notes:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a high-strength beta titanium alloy. This has been developed indigenously for manufacture of intricate aerospace components like slat/flap tracks, landing gear.
Key features of the alloy are good forgeability and high strength-to-weight ratio, which would provide excellent weight reduction.

Notes:
The United States President’s “nuclear football” or the Presidential Emergency Satchel is said to contain the codes needed for a nuclear strike. One such briefcase nearly came within range of rioters storming the US Capitol on January 6, this year.
The Pentagon’s watchdog said that it would evaluate the safety protocols surrounding the issue and find if it were “lost, stolen or compromised.” Any nuclear strike order would be confirmed and processed only by the Military.

Notes:
Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal introduced the Inland Vessels Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha.
It seeks to provide safety of navigation, protection of life and cargo and prevention of pollution that may be caused. It also seeks to bring in transparency in administration of inland water transportation, strengthen procedures governing inland vessels. inland waterways of 4000 km  are operational in India.

Notes:
Bhilar, a village in Maharashtra’s Satara district, was declared a ‘village of books’ by the State government in 2017.
India’s second village of books, has been set up in the small Kerala village, Perumkulam, five kilometres from the Kottarakkara town in Kollam district. A library has been started in memory of Mahatma Gandhi, to promote readers from the village to read more books.

Notes:
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has approved the The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, without any changes.
The Bill amends the term ‘major airport’ to include group of airports. It also increased the threshold of annual passenger traffic in a major airport to 35 lakh. Previously, an airport with annual traffic more than 15 lakh were called as major airports. AERA will regulate tariff and other charges for aeronautical services for major airports and also a group of airports.

Notes:
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific, which is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand has recently released a Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. Under this evaluation 143 countries have been scored on 5 key indicators.
India has scored 90.32 per cent for the year 2021 as against its score of 78.49 per cent in 2019. In terms of transparency, India scored 100 per cent in 2021.

Notes:
The Energy and environment ministers meeting of the G20 countries, hosted by Italy was held at Naples. This meeting has assumed significant importance since it has been convened 100 days ahead of the UN Climate conference – COP 26 at Glasgow.
But this meeting has been criticized since the member nations have failed to agree on the wording of key climate change commitments in their final communique.