Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has approved eight Chinese names for features around the area on the Moon
Last year, China’s spacecraft Chang’e-5 probe landed near those places to collect samples from the lunar surface and return to Earth. China has been naming geographical entities on the Moon since 2010.

Notes:
Dal is a lake in Srinagar city, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also called as the “Jewel in the crown of Kashmir”.
Recently, illegal constructions have been reported in the lake. The Lakes and Water Ways Development Authority (LAWDA), has demolished more than 170 illegal structures around the lake, in the last three months.

Notes:
A team of Australian scientists has discovered a new species of a tree frog from the rainforests of New Guinea.
Also called as the “chocolate frog” due to its chocolate colour, it belongs to the Australasian tree frog genus Litoria. Hence the new species was named as ‘Litoria mira’. The closest known relative of this new species is the Australian green tree frog.

Notes:
Marine mucilage or “sea snot” is reported to have accumulated along the coast of Turkey. The sea snot is a thick jelly-like layer of slime which is formed by the population explosion of microscopic plants called phytoplankton.
Some Researchers believe that the increase in sea surface temperature due to climate change, has led to this effect while few others see over-fishing as the root cause.

Notes:
China has reported the first human infection of a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3. The case has been confirmed in a 41-year-old man, by China’s National Health Commission.
This bird flu variant is supposed to be low pathogenic, which means it causes relatively less severe disease in poultry. No other case of this infection has been reported in the world.

Notes:
President Joe Biden’s administration of the USA has formally ended the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which denies asylum seekers entry into the USA.
Under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which was brought into force in 2019, individuals who arrived at the Southwest Border of the USA were returned to Mexico to await removal proceedings in US courts.

Notes:
Cyrtodactylus bengkhuaiai, one of four new species of bent-toed geckos recently discovered, has been named in honour of a Mizo Chief Bengkhuaia, who fought the British forces 150 years ago.
Two geckos each were found in Mizoram and Meghalaya by two groups of scientists in October-November 2020. This gecko is a species of pest-controlling lizard new to science.

Notes:
The Scientists at Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad have developed an indigenous Chip-off technique.
The main objective of the technique is to retrieve encrypted data from locked and severely damaged smart cell phones. This would benefit investigative agencies to produce credible evidences against criminals.

Notes:
The Pakistani Army has conducted a military exercise named ‘Taskheer-e-Jabal’ near Kotli in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) region. Under this exercise, the troops rehearsed various defensive and offensive manoeuvres in mountain terrains.
The exercise was overseen by its Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. It was aimed to enhance the operational preparedness, defensive and offensive formations of various contingencies.

Notes:
The Tata Power group, which is involved in conservation of Blue Finned Mahseer and Golden Mahseer in Lonavala for the past 50 years, has stated that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has moved Blue Finned Mahseer out of its “Endangered Red List”.
The species has been moved to “Least Concern”. But the Golden Mahseer is still on the endangered list.