Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) recently clarified that the Padma Bridgeis not part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
It is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of the Ganges. When completed it will be the largest bridge in Bangladesh and the first fixed river crossing for road traffic. BRI or the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative is a flagship programme of President Xi Jinping for trade and connectivity and India has raised concerns over the BRI projects.

Notes:
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, Infosys, and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) were included in the Global Top 100 list in the Kantar Brandz 2022 Most Valuable Global Brands report.
TCS jumped 12 positions to 46th position from 58th in 2021 and its brand value was up 61 per cent. HDFC Bank’s rank was up five positions while LIC saw its rank slip 19 positions to 92, and its brand value was down by 4 per cent compared to 2021.

Notes:
Former rebel fighter Gustavo Petro secured majority of votes in the Colombia’s presidential election and is set to become the first leftist President of the country.
A shift of South American politics to the left has been observed with the victories in Peru last year, and in Chile and Honduras this year. During the pandemic, Colombia saw anti-establishment protests against corruption, stagnancy, increased taxation and a new health care reform.

Notes:
Spain has been facing wildfires amid an unusual heat wave in the Western Europe region. In Spain’s northwest province of Zamora, over 30,000 hectares have been consumed. The fire in the north-western Sierra de Culebra mountain range has caused significant damage.
Germany has also been hit by wild fires and heat wave due to climate change.

Notes:
The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is the nodal agency responsible for protecting India’s critical information infrastructure. It was established in 2014 under Section 70A of the IT Act, 2000. It is part of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), an intelligence agency under the NSA.

Notes:
Former US President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 to free African Americans in secessionist Confederate states from slavery. It remained ineffective for more than two years as the slave owners withheld this information from their slaves. The last of the enslaved African Americans were freed on June 19, 1865 – two months following the end of the Civil War.

Notes:
The UNSC 1267 committee was set up in the year 1999. It was strengthened in 2001 following the 9/11 attack. Its members include both the permanent and non-permanent members of the UNSC. It is also known as Da’esh and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.

Notes:
The Russian enclave Kaliningrad is located on the Baltic Sea. It is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. It was captured by the USSR from Nazi Germany in April 1945. It became part of the USSR territory as the result of the Potsdam Agreement. It was recently in news because of a row after Lithuania decided to ban goods part of EU sanctions from moving through its territory to reach Kaliningrad.

Notes:
South Africa was the last member country to join the BRICS in the year 2010. Other BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, India and China. Together, these countries account for around 40 per cent of the global population and some 30 per cent of the global GDP.

Notes:
Demodex folliculorum is a microscopic parasitic mite that live and reproduce on human faces. According to a new research this 0.3 mm long organism is at the risk of extinction because of inbreeding and gene loss.