Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2017

Notes:
Liu Xiaobo (61), the Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy campaigner, has died of multiple organ failure while under guard at a hospital in Shenyang, China on July 13, 2017. Liu had been serving an 11-year jail sentence for demanding an end to one-party rule and for introduction of multi-party democracy. He was the most prominent human rights and democracy advocate of China. Now, Xiaobo became the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody since Carl von Ossietzky, the German pacifist and foe of Nazism who won the prize in 1935 and died under guard in 1938 after years of maltreatment.

Notes:
Bilal Dar (18), an 18-year-old ragpicker of Laharwarpora in Bandipora district, has been appointed the new brand ambassador of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC). He has been earning his livelihood by cleaning the Wular Lake and removing garbage, used bottles and shoes among other things for almost 5 years now and is an inspiration for everybody. Dar will get a special uniform and vehicle to go and meet people and sensitize them about environmental issues, cleanliness and garbage disposal.

Notes:
Lilly Singh, an Indian-origin Canadian YouTube star, has been appointed as the new UNICEF’s Global Goodwill Ambassador at a special event in New Delhi. As the UNICEF ambassador Lilly will use her channel to showcase the organisation’s work and urge millions of her followers to work for children’s rights.

Notes:
India’s first solar-powered 1600 HP Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) broad gauge train has launched from Safdarjung railway station to promote clean and renewable energy. The train will run from Sarai Rohilla in Delhi to Farukh Nagar in Haryana. The solar power DEMU train has six trailer coaches and is expected to save about 21,000 litres of diesel and ensure a cost saving of Rs 12 lakh per year. The coaches are equipped with a battery bank which will optimize solar energy to full load and provide power at night. There will also be a reduction of 1350 tons of carbon dioxide per train over the same time period.

Notes:
The World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) is observed every year on July 15 to raise awareness about the importance of investing in youth skills development. The 2017 theme is “Skills for the Future of Work”.

Notes:
Sundar Singh Gurjar from India has won gold in the men’s javelin throw with a personal best of 60.36 metre at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, United Kingdom (UK). Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Priyantha Herath came second with 57.93 metre, while defending champion Guo Chunliang of China was third with a season’s best 56.14 metre.

Notes:
Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of Nepal on July 17, 2017 and will head the judiciary till April 28, 2018. Prior to this post, Justice Parajuli was the acting Chief Justice after the retirement of Chief Justice Sushila Karki on June 6, 2017.The Chief Justice is the highest judicial officer in the country and acts as a chief administrative officer for all the judicial system.

Notes:
Maryam Mirzakhani (40), an Iranian- born mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University, has died of cancer in a US hospital on July 14, 2017. Mirzakhani was the first woman and the first Iranian to win the coveted Fields Medal in 2014, the most prestigious award in mathematics. The award recognized her sophisticated and highly original contributions to the fields of geometry and dynamical systems, particularly in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces such as spheres. Her research topics include Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic theory, and symplectic geometry.

Notes:
Lewis Hamilton, a British Formula One racing driver, has won the 2017 Formula One British Grand Prix tournament at Silverstone, United Kingdom. The result also marked Hamilton’s fifth career Grand Slam. Additionally, he equalled the record for most British Grand Prix wins jointly held by Alain Prost and Jim Clark.

Notes:
Harinder Pal Sandhu from India has won the 2017 Victorian Open Squash tournament by defeating top-seed Rex Hedrick of Australia in the final by 12-14, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 in Melbourne on July 16, 2017.