Current Affairs in Short: 7 July 2022

Jul 7, 2022, 19:46 IST

A new variant of Omicron variant of COVID-19, BA.2.75 has been detected in many countries including India.

Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant is expected to be appointed as India's new G20 Sherpa, succeeding Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goel who has been tasked with other pressing duties.
A full-time sherpa would be required as the next G-20 presidency would be coming to India in November. The person appointed to the post will need to devote a lot of time to numerous meetings that will be held in different parts of the country.
Minister Piyush Goyal has an intensive workload in Ministries like Commerce and Industry and he is also the Leader of Rajya Sabha which was given to him after his appointment as Sherpa.
The G20 is a major international grouping that brings together 19 major economies of the world and the European Union. The G20 members account for over 80 per cent of global GDP, 75 per cent of global trade and 60 per cent of global population.

A new variant of Omicron variant of COVID-19, BA.2.75 has been detected in many countries including India.
World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the organisation is following the development.
There has been an almost 30 percent increase in COVID-19 cases globally in the past two weeks. In total, four out of six WHO sub-regions have seen an increase in COVID-19 cases.
WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan had also said during a briefing yesterday that there has been an emergence of a sub-variant called the BA.2.75. She said that it was first reported from India and then from about 10 other countries.

The Indian government has put restrictions on the export of wheat flour and other related products like rava, maida, wholemeal atta and resultant atta.
The decision will come into effect from July 12, as per a notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued on July 6th.
While the export policy of wheat flour does remain free with no outright ban, exporters will require permission from an Inter-Ministerial Committee on wheat export.

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu stormed into the quarter-finals of Malaysia Masters 2022 on July 7, 2022. She beat China's Zhang Yiman 21-12, 21-10 in the Round of 16 match.
The Indian shuttler completely dominated the proceedings in both rounds and qualified for quarter-finals.
This comes as B Sai Praneeth bowed out of the tournament after losing in the men's singles Round of 16.
Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap also bowed out of the ongoing Malaysia Masters 2022 after losing to Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-10, 21-15.

US President Joe Biden notified Congress on July 7, 2022 of his intent to rescind the designation of Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally.
The United States had designated Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally in July 2012.
This comes a year after the Taliban overthrew the democratically-elected government of Afghanistan after US withdrew NATO forces from the region.