Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2020

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly has recently adopted a new voting procedure for the upcoming election of new members of the Security Council.
This change is due to the restrictions for large gathering and to ensure social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Usually, the assembly meet in a horseshoe-shaped assembly chamber at UN headquarters. But now, the ambassadors from 193 UN member nations will cast secret ballots at predetermined places and time slots.

Notes:
Swiss Tennis legend Roger Federer has been ranked at the top spot in the annual Forbes ranking of highest-paid athletes.
As per the magazine, the total earning of Federer amounts to USD 106.3 million. He is the winner of record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, the prize money of which gave him USD6.3 million. Federer is followed by the football trio in next three ranks: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar. Two female Tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams were found in the top-100 list.

Notes:
Major technology firm Google has launched a new application named ‘Sodar’, to help people maintain social distancing.
The application uses Augmented reality (AR) for this purpose. It creates a visual boundary using the user’s smartphone camera and show who is breaching that distance, on a real-time basis. Earlier, the UN Technology Innovation Labs released a free mobile social distancing app 1point5 which uses Bluetooth signal.

Notes:
Recently, a rare species of Trionychidae turtle was caught by local fishermen at Deuli Dam under the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.
It was rescued and released by the forest department in Deuli dam. Trionychidae turtles are softshell turtles, that are usually found in Africa, Asia, and North America. As per the forest department, the turtles weigh more than 30 kilograms and has a maximum life is 50 years.

Notes:
The large group of asteroids that share the Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun are commonly called as Trojan asteroids or Jupiter Trojans. The trojans follow the same orbit of planet but stay either around 60 degrees ahead or 60 degrees behind along the orbit.
Recently, a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii and Queen’s University Belfast have found that 2019 LD2 is the first known Jupiter trojan asteroid to have a comet-like tail. It was first discovered in June 2019 by the ATLAS system funded by NASA. But it could not be observed then, as it passed behind the sun.

Notes:
Apex Governing body of men and women’s hockey, Hockey India has recently nominated national women’s team captain Rani Rampal for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Rani Rampal is the first Indian to be named as the World Games Athlete of The Year. She played an important role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019. Hockey India also nominated other players Vandana Kataria, Monika and Harmanpreet Singh for the Arjuna award.

Notes:
The Government of India has recently prohibited the export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in containers with dispenser pump.
As per the notification of the Directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT), the alcohol-based hand sanitizers exported in any other form or packaging, will be allowed for exports. Earlier, On May 6, the government had prohibited the export of all alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has recently given its approval to re-establish Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H) as Subordinate Office under Ministry of AYUSH.
PCIM&H is to be merged with the two central laboratories: Pharmacopoeia Laboratory for Indian Medicine (PLIM) and Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia Laboratory (HPL). The two laboratories were established in Ghaziabad in 1975. At present, PCIM&H is an autonomous body under AYUSH ministry.

Notes:
As per the recent data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), as many as 750 tigers have died in the country in the last eight years.
Out of the total mortalities, 369 were due to natural causes and 168 were due to poaching. The state of Madhya Pradesh reported the highest casualties at 173, which is followed by Maharashtra. The data also highlighted that 101 tigers were seized by different authorities across the country between 2012 and 2019. In December 2019, there were 2976 tigers in the country.

Notes:
The legislature of Hong Kong has recently approved a bill that makes it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem.
In Hong Kong, the pro-democracy camp sees the anthem bill as an infringement of freedom of expression whereas the pro-Beijing majority said the law was necessary to show appropriate respect for the anthem. If one intentionally abuses the “March of the Volunteers” anthem, he might face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to 50,000 Hong Kong dollars.