Current Affairs July 2020 - Persons in NEWS

1 - Two Indian-Americans named as "2020 Great Immigrants''

Two renowned Indian-Americans, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee and Professor of Economics at Harvard University Raj Chetty have been named by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as ''2020 Great Immigrants'' honorees. The duo have contributed towards the efforts in mitigating the COVID-19 health crisis.

Mr Mukherjee used his “gifts as a science communicator” to educate the public about the virus through media interviews, public forums, essays and through his social media accounts. Chetty helped to launch a resource to monitor the real-time economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, people, and communities across the US.

2 - Pakistan Army appointed Nigar Johar as first female Lieutenant General

Pakistan Army has appointed Major General Nigar Johar as the first woman officer as Lieutenant General. She has also been appointed as the first female surgeon general of the Pakistan Army.

Johar graduated from the Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, in 1985 and joined the army’s Medical Corps. In 2017, she became the third woman officer in the Pakistan Army to attain the rank of major general. The other two women major generals were Shahida Badsha and Shahida Malik.

3 - Lt Col Bharat Pannu secured podium position at vRAAM 2020

Lt. Col. Bharat Pannu, a serving Indian Army Officer created history by successfully securing a podium place at the first edition of the Virtual Race Across America (VRAAM) 2020 and became the first Indian ever to win a podium place at an international ultracycling race.

The Race Across America (RAAM) is a 5,000 km transcontinental race from the West coast to East coast of the United States of America with a cut-off time of 12 days. Lt. Col. Pannu finished third on the leaderboard with a total distance of 4,086 km in 12 days and total cumulative elevation gain of 71,000 meters.

4 - Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson became Instagram’s highest-paid celebrity

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has become the highest paid celebrity of Instagram by replacing Kylie Jenner. Johnson topped the Instagram charts with 189 million followers followed by Jenner has 183 million followers. Dwayne Douglas Johnson, also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American-Canadian actor, producer, businessman, retired professional wrestler, and former American football player.

Other artists who were among highest paid lists were pro soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, who charged about $889,000 per post and actress Kim Kardashian, who could charge $858,000.

5 - Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar inaugurated Plasma Therapy Unit for treating COVID-19 patients

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar inaugurated a Plasma Therapy Unit for treating COVID-19 patients in Mumbai. The unit is an initiative of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It will offer convalescent plasma therapy to COVID-19 patients using donated blood plasma from those who have recovered.

The plasma therapy has emerged as an option to treat critically ill patients. Researchers around the globe are working to find an effective vaccine and treatment. Plasma of a donor, who has recovered, contains high levels of antibodies against the pathogen that is the cause of the disease.

6 - UN designated Pakistan Taliban leader Noor Mehsud as global terrorist

The United Nations has designated Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group's leader Noor Wali Mehsud, as a global terrorist for participating in the financing, planning and perpetrating acts on behalf of and in support of entities associated with al-Qaida.

The Pakistani national was added to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List by the UN Security Council’s Sanctions Committee, subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Mehsud was named the leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in June 2018, following the death of former TTP leader Maulana Fazlullah.

7 - Australian cricket legend Brett Lee was appointed as brand ambassador of SportsAdda

Australian cricket legend Brett Lee has been appointed as the brand ambassador of SportsAdda. As part of the partnership, Lee, will also be conducting a host of fun activities including contests, quizzes, Q&As, bowling masterclasses and giveaways that will feature exclusively on the SportsAdda app, website and social handles.

Lee has taken over 700 wickets in his international career across all three formats in cricket. SportsAdda is an Indian news and information platform that provides all updates, insights and statistics for cricket, football, and kabaddi.

8 - Marcus Rashford becomes youngest ever recipient of University of Manchester honorary degree

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford at 22 years of age, will become the youngest person to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester for his campaign against child poverty. He campaigned for the government to allow about 1.3 million children to claim free school meal vouchers in England's summer holidays.

The award is the highest honour the University can bestow. United legends Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton have previously received the award from the university.

9 - Archana Soreng named by UN chief to new climate change advisory group

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has named Archana Soreng of India to his new advisory group to tackle the worsening climate crisis. Archana is a climate activist and has studied regulatory governance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai.

Archana Soreng joins six other young climate leaders from around the world who have been named to the new Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. The group will advise the UN chief regularly on accelerating global action and ambition to tackle the worsening climate crisis.