Current Affairs 16 July 2020

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Current Affairs 16 July 2020

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1. UK bans its companies from sourcing 5G equipment from Chinese telecom company Huawei
  • The UK has banned its companies from sourcing 5G equipment from Chinese telecom company Huawei. The move comes despite Beijing’s threat to retaliate to any such action by Britain.
  • The new guidelines require the British telecom operators to remove all 5G-related equipment, supplied by the Chinese company, from their infrastructure by 2027.
  • The cumulative cost of the actions against the Chinese telecom giant would come to around £2 billion.
Foot Notes:
About UK:
Capital: London
Prime Minister: Boris Johnson
Currency: Pound sterling

2. India’s Only Golden Tiger ‘KAZI 106F’ spotted in Kaziranga National Park
  • ‘Kazi 106F’, described as the country’s only Golden Tiger, has emerged as the social media sensation right after its picture tweeted by an IFS officer went viral.
  • Kazi 106 F, the tigress, resides in world heritage Kaziranga National Park of Assam. It is also known as ‘Tabby tiger’ or ‘Strawberry tiger’.The skin of tigers is orange-yellow with black stripes and whitish abdominal region.
  • The yellowish background is controlled by a set of ‘agouti genes’ and their alleles and the black colour stripes are controlled by ‘tabby genes’ and their alleles. Suppression of any of these genes may lead to colour variation in tiger.
Foot Notes:
About Kaziranga National Park:
Kaziranga National Park is a protected area in the northeast Indian state of Assam. Spread across the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River, its forests, wetlands and grasslands are home to tigers, elephants and the world’s largest population of Indian one-horned rhinoceroses. Ganges River dolphins swim in the park’s waters. It’s visited by many rare migratory birds, and gray pelicans roost near Kaziranga village.

3. Hand sanitisers are essential commodity but will attract 18% GST
  • Even as the government classifies hand sanitisers as an essential commodity, it will attract a 18 per cent GST on them. The Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has said that a GST of 18 per cent will be levied on all alcohol-based hand sanitisers. 
  • Merely classifying any goods as an essential commodity will not be the criteria for exempting such goods from GST, the AAR ruling added. 
  • Essential Commodities are goods that are considered essential to maintain a minimum acceptable standard of living.
4. South American country Suriname elects Indian-origin ‘Chan’ Santokhi as President
  • South American country Suriname brought an end to dictatorial rule by electing a new President Chan Santokhi. Santokhi is an Indian-origin former police chief, who won a landslide victory in the election that took place in May this year.
  • 61-year-old Santokhi belongs to the Progressive Reform Party and sworn in as President on July 16. Santokhi was the sole nomination for President of Suriname.
Foot Notes:
About Suriname:
Capital: Paramaribo
Currency: Suriname Dollar
Official language: Dutch
 
5. Gurbux Singh, Palash Nandi to be conferred with prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna
  • Indian hockey great Gurbux Singh and former Bengal cricketer and coach Palash Nandi will be conferred with the prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna this year.
  • Last year Keshav Datt became the first sportsperson from a non-footballing background to get the award.
  • The awards are given on July 29 every year which is celebrated as Mohun Bagan Day.
  • July 29 was the date of Bagan’s IFA Shield triumph in 1911 when they defeated East Yorkshire Regiment 2-1.
 
6. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama's twitter accounts hacked in Bitcoin scam
  • The Twitter accounts of some of the world's top business magnates, politicians and celebrities were hacked in an alleged Bitcoin scam. Some of the accounts include those of former US President Barack Obama, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Democratic US Presidential nominee Joe Biden, Apple’s Mike Bloomberg,  and Celebrities Kim Kardashian and Kayne West. 
  • The unidentified hackers broke into these verified twitter accounts and posted fake tweets that offered $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin address. The tweets were taken down immediately after the account owners informed that they were not posted by them. Twitter Support tweeted saying that they are aware of the security incident and they are investigating the matter and are taking steps to fix it.
  • Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also tweeted saying that is a tough day for all at Twitter and they feel terrible this happened. Dorsey assured that twitter is diagnosing the problem and will share everything when they have a more complete understanding of exactly what happened. 
Foot Notes:
About Twitter:
CEO: Jack Dorsey 
Founded: 21 March 2006, California, United States
Headquarters: California, United States
Founders: Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Noah Glass, Biz Stone
 
7. India and Bhutan opened a new trade route between Jaigon in West Bengal and Pasakha in Bhutan.
  • On July 16, 2020, India and Bhutan opened a new trade route between Jaigon in West Bengal and Pasakha in Bhutan.
  • The land route will help to move industrial raw materials and goods destined for Pasakha Industrial Estate. The route will help boost trade and commerce and will lead to decongestion of vehicular traffic.
  • India had recently proposed to build road in Yeti territory of Bhutan which China claimed recently. The road will also help India access Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh quickly. The road will reduce distance between Guwahati and Tawang by 150 kilometres. China claims Tawang to gain absolute control over Tibet.
Foot Notes:
About Bhutan:
Capital: Thimphu
Prime Minister: Lotay Tshering
 
8. 2022 FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar
  • On July 15, 2020, the Federation Internationale de Football Association announced that the 2022 World Cup is to be held in Qatar. The governing body also released schedule of matches.
  • The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be the first world cup to be held in Arab World and also the first in a muslim-majority country. The World Cup would be the last to involve 32 teams as the teams are to be increased to 48 in 2026 tournament.
  • The tournament is to be held in November-December. The final match of the tournament has been scheduled on December 18, 2020, which is also Qatar National Day.
Foot Notes:
About FIFA:
Founded: 21 May 1904
Headquarters: Zürich, Switzerland
President: Gianni Infantino
 
9. Pema Khandu releases book “The Tangams: An Ethnolinguistic Study Of The Critically Endangered Group of Arunachal Pradesh”
  • The book titled ‘The Tangams: An Ethnolinguistic Study Of The Critically Endangered Group of Arunachal Pradesh’ was released by Arunachal Chief Minister PemaKhandu.
  • The Tangams are a little-known community within the larger Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh and reside in the hamlet of Kugging in Upper Siang district’s Paindem circle.
  • Tangams are now concentrated in only one village (Kugging), with 253 reported speakers.
  • As per the UNESCO World Atlas of Endangered Languages (2009), Tangam — an oral language that belongs to the Tani group, under the greater Tibeto-Burman language family — is marked ‘critically endangered’.
10. Legendry Dutch footballer Suurbier passes away at 75
  • Netherlands and Ajax defender Wim Suurbier, a key member of the 1970s Dutch squad who played in two World Cup finals, died at the age of 75.
  • With Ajax from 1964 to 1977 he won three European Cups and seven national titles.
  • The club described him as the "first modern back of the Netherlands", able to attack deep as well as defend.
  • Suurbier was also part of the Dutch sides that lost in the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals, to West Germany and Argentina.
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