Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2021

Notes:
As per a new study, a 4,000-year-old war memorial known as the ‘White Monument’ in Syria was built to honour soldiers who died in battle.
The White Monument, was first excavated several years ago, is found to be built above layers of buried adult males, may have been a memorial to the community’s dead, rather than a symbol of victory over the enemy.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yediyurappa has launched a portal named Akanksha, which would provide details on all the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in Karnataka.
This comprehensive portal would help the state Government officials, corporates and donors. It seeks to improve transparency in utilisation of CSR funds by the Government.

Notes:
Germany and Norway have opened the operations of a 623-kilometer undersea power cable between the two countries. This project is called the NordLink and is aimed to exchange green energy between the two countries.
The project has cost more than $2.2 billion and is seen as a major initiative to shift to green energy.

Notes:
Recently, a piece of space debris hit and damaged a part of the ISS’s robotic arm, called as Canadarm2.
The astronomers confirmed that the arm’s functions will not be impacted by the damage. Canadarm2, the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), is used to move objects outside the station and to help in repairing works in the station.

Notes:
Pakistan has recently launched its homemade Covid-19 vaccine named “PakVac” which it developed with the help of its ally China.
According to the Ministry of National Health Services of Pakistan, 1,771 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, with the tally of confirmed cases at 922,824. It has vaccinated over 5.3 million people with about 2 million fully vaccinated.

Notes:
International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) is being hosted by the Germany’s Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt–UBA).
The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the main focus of the eighth triennial conference of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI). It is being held virtually from May 31-June 3, 2021.

Notes:
Mahesh Jethmalani, who is a noted advocate has been recently nominated by the Union Government to the Rajya Sabha. Additionally, former journalist Swapan Dasgupta has also been nominated to the upper house.
Mahesh Jethmalani has been nominated to Rajya Sabha to fill the vacancy of seat due to the demise of Raghunath Mohapatra.

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:
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 was launched recently by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).
The organisations also launched a report titled ‘#GenerationRestoration: Ecosystem restoration for People, Nature and Climate’, to mark the launch of the decade. The report urges the countries to restore at least 1 billion degraded hectares of land in the next decade.

Notes:
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a first-of-its kind ‘Programmable Digital Fiber’.
This digital fiber contains memory, temperature sensors, and a neural network program to infer physical activity. It was created by placing hundreds of square silicon microscale digital chips into a preform, which was then used to create a polymer fiber.