Current Affairs Quiz , 10 May 2019

1) Which among the following recently flew the world’s first ‘zero waste’ flight?

a) Qantas
b) Emirates
c) Singapore Airlines
d) Etihad

Answer: a
• The first-ever commercial flight to produce “zero waste” has taken to the skies, as part of a new initiative from the Australian airline Qantas to cut single-use plastics that end up in landfill.
• Flying from Sydney to Adelaide, all products and packaging onboard QF739 will either be reused, recycled or disposed of as compost

2) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is an initiative of

a) USA
b) Germany
c) India
d) China

Answer: a
• Through NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, the team found that the global green leaf area has increased by 5% since the early 2000s.
• A new satellite-based study shows that China and India are leading the increase in “greening efforts” across the world.

3) The report Sand and Sustainability was recently released by

a) UNEP
b) Food and Agriculture Organization
c) WWF for Nature
d) International Fund For Agricultural Development

Answer: a
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Tuesday released a report, Sand and Sustainability: Finding new solutions for environmental governance of global sand resources, that highlights a problem that has largely stayed under the radar: sand consumption globally has been increasing and we are extracting it at rates exceeding natural replenishment rates.

4) In the exercise Group Sail, India participated in naval drills with

a) USA
b) Philippines
c) Japan
d) All of the above

Answer: d
• Amid growing Chinese assertiveness on matters pertaining to the South China Sea, Indian Naval ships carried out ‘Group Sail’ (drills) with vessels from Japan, the Philippines and the United States in the disputed sea.
• The exercises, conducted from 3-9 May, saw the participation of guided missile destroyer ‘Kolkata’ and fleet support vessel ‘Shakti’ from India, an aircraft carrier and a guided missile destroyer from Japan, a Philippine patrol vessel and a US guided missile destroyer.

5) Monkeypox, recently seen in news, is caused by a

a) Bacteria
b) Virus
c) Protozoa
d) Parasite

Answer: b
• Singapore has reported its first case of the rare monkeypox virus brought in by a Nigerian man who authorities said may have been infected by bushmeat he ate at a wedding.
• Monkeypox, a virus similar to the human smallpox which was eradicated in 1980, does not spread easily from person to person, but can in rare cases be fatal.
• Human monkeypox infections have only been documented three times outside of Africa, in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel, according to the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.