Current Affairs Questions & Answers - July 10, 2016

ANSWER: Serena Williams

Explanation:
Serena Williams said it was a relief to clinch a record equalling 22nd Grand Slam title as the American star made history with a Wimbledon final victory against Angelique Kerber from Germany.

• She has drawn level with Steffi Graf’s Open era record of major titles since winning Wimbledon in the past year
• The player defeated German fourth seed Kerber 7-5, 6-3 to secure a seventh Wimbledon title
• In her ninth final Wimbledon final, Serena was pushed hard to defeat her opponent and now equals Steffi Graf’s record

ANSWER: Water

Explanation:
The recurring slope lineae (Latin for line), dark streaks that change seasonally, on Martian slopes indicate presence of flowing water, as per a new study detailing thousands of such features in the red planet’s largest canyon system.

• Study investigated these warm season features in the Valles Marineris region near Mars equator.
• Some sites displayed seasonal flows including isolated peaks and canyon ridges, ground shapes that make it hard to explain the streaks resulting from underground water directly reaching the surface.
• It is unlikely that shallow ground ice would be present as a source for seasonal melting given the warm temperature in the equatorial canyons, according to researchers.
• Water pulled from the atmosphere by salts or mechanisms with no flowing water involved remain possible explanations for the features at these sites.
• These features are called recurring slope lines and since they were discovered in 2011, Martian RSL has become one of the hottest topics in planetary exploration, the strongest proof of liquid water on the Martian surface, even if it is transient.
• Occurrence of these slope lines in these canyons is much more widespread than previously recognised.
• They appear as dark lines extending downslope during the warm season, then fading away during the colder part of the year, then repeating the progression

ANSWER: TCS

Explanation:
Country’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services on 9th July 2016 indicated Non Executive Director Phiroz Vandrevala resigned from the company.

• He relinquished the office of Non-Executive Director of the company on account of personal reasons with effect from July 8, 2016
• He has been a director on the TCS board since September 2007.
• He will continue as Vice Chairman and MD of Diligent, a TCS subsidiary where he is responsible for driving business strategy and operations of the organisation globally.
• He has over 25 years of consulting and leadership experience with TCS

ANSWER: Sydney Schanberg

Explanation:
Sydney Schanberg, a Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent who chronicled the Khmer Rouge’s brutal rise to power in Cambodia in the 1970s died on Saturday at the age of 82.

• The 1984 film The Killing Fields was inspired by him. The Roland Joffe directed movie captured Schanberg and friend Dith Pran’s captivity and survival under the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror

ANSWER: Abdul Sattar Edhi

Explanation:
Well known Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi died from renal failure at the age of 92 in Karachi on July 8, 2016.

• His funeral prayer was followed by placing his body in the final resting place in a grave dug 21 years ago in Edhi village, a suburb in Karachi.
• Born in the city of Bantva in Gujarat, he migrated to Pakistan in 1947.
• In his autobiography “A Mirror To The Blind”, he indicated that social welfare was his vocation.

ANSWER: The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence

Explanation:
South Korea and the United States indicated on Friday, July 8 2016 that they would deploy an advanced missile defence system in South Korea to counter the threat from nuclear armed North Korea.

• This has drawn a sharp and swift protest from neighbouring country China.
• The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence or THAAD anti missile system will be used for protecting the country against North Korea’ s growing military and nuclear capabilities.
• North Korea’s continued development of ballistic missiles has necessitated this defence system.
• This comes after the US Treasury Department blacklisted Kim Jong Un and 10 other leaders for human rights abuses.
• North Korea has referred to this as a “declaration of war.”

ANSWER: Hizbul Mujahideen

Explanation:
Wani was shot dead by security forces along with two accomplices at Kokernag area.

• The son of a headmaster and a school dropout, he was allegedly involved in brainwashing several local boys to join terrorist groups.
• Burhan shot to fame with a series of videos and pictures on social media sites asking youths to become militants.
• He was a resident of Tral in the outskirts of Srinagar.
• He was considered the Poster Boy of the Hizbul Mujahideen group whom he joined at the age of 15 years.
• He introduced tech savvy terrorists who used social media to recruit youngsters.

ANSWER: 4

Explanation:
India and South Africa on July 8, 2016 announced an MoU and programme in four areas of bilateral cooperation.

• MoUs cover ICT, grass root innovation and tourism, the Programme of Cooperation will cover segments of arts and culture.
• MoUs and programmes were announced after summit level talks between President Jacob Zuma and India’s PM Narendra Modi who is currently on a trip to S. Africa.
• PM Narendra Modi began his 4 nation tour of African countries namely Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania on July 7, 2016

ANSWER: Bahamas

Explanation:
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee extended greetings and felicitation to the government and people of the Commonwealth of Bahamas on the eve of their national day.

• The country celebrated its National Day on July 10, 2016.
• Currently, the Governor General of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling.

ANSWER: 100

Explanation:
The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on July 8 and 9, 2016 organised a 2 day workshop for cleaning up 100 iconic places in the country starting with 10 in the first phase.

The following 10 places were the focus of the workshop:

• CST, Maharashtra
• Ajmer Sharif, Rajasthan
• Golden Temple, Punjab,
• Tirupati Temple Andhra Pradesh
• Meenakshi Temple, Tamil Nadu
• Kamakhya Temple, Assam
• Jagannath Puri Odisha
• Manikarnika Ghat, UP
• Taj Mahal, UP
• Vaishno Devi, J&K