The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics kicked off a six-year countdown on july 18 with the announcement of the dates for the Games’ return to the city.

The opening ceremony will be July 14. Competition will run through July 30. The Paralympic Games will be Aug. 15-27.

Los Angeles previously hosted the Olympics in 1984 and 1932.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was on hand for the announcement. He visited future venues and met with LA28 leadership.

Teenage shooters Anish Bhanwala and Rhythm Sangwan won bronze in the 25 rapid fire pistol mixed team event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup  in Changwon on july 19 .

This was Anish and Rhythm's second medal as a pair in the ISSF Shooting World Cup, after having won the gold in the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team event at the Cairo World Cup in March this year.

·       The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked former Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra for alleged misappropriation of funds of Hockey India (HI). The agency carried out searches at his premises across five locations in Delhi and Jammu.

·       Batra, head of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) till july 18, is a former secretary general and president of HI. He was the head of the IOA from 2017.

·       Batra ceased to be president of IOA after the Delhi High Court, on May 25, struck down the post of ‘life member’ in Hockey India.

Q1. Name the former  Mumbai Police commissioner who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal phone tapping of NSE employees ?

1. Param Bir Singh
2.  Sanjay Barve
3.  Subodh Kumar Jaiswal
4. Dattatray Padsalgikar
5. None of These 

Q2. The postponed Asian Games will be held from September 23 to October 8 next year in the Chinese city of

1. Hangzhou
2. Beijing
3.  Shenzhen
4. Shanghai
5. None of These

Q3. Who among the following is the Joint opposition candidate for the vice presidential election ?

1. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
2. Margaret Alva
3. Mallikarjun Kharge
4. Sitaram Yechury
5. None of These

Q4. Name the countries with which European Union has  started  membership talks recently ?

1. Turkey and Norway
2. Switzerland and Montenegro
3. Albania and  North Macedonia
4. Kosovo and Serbia
5. None of These

Q5.The Indian Railways has finally installed the bio-toilets in the entire fleet of passenger coaches as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission with the support of

1. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
2. Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)
3. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
4. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
5. None of These 

Answers

1-----------------5    None of These Ans -Sanjay Pandey

2-----------------1   Hangzhou

3-----------------2     Margaret Alva

4----------------3    Albania and  North Macedonia

5------------------4   Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

At least 12 of 19 MPs of Shiv Sena will form a separate group in the Lok Sabha and meet Speaker Om Birla to submit a formal letter.

The move comes weeks after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena witnessed a vertical split with 40 of the MLAs joining the faction headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The Congress has in principle agreed to name Ghulam Nabi Azad as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls and appoint a Pradesh Congress Committee chief to replace G A Mir.

The Congress high command has agreed to the demand of J&K leaders that Azad be named as the party’s CM face. The first Assembly poll in J&K Union Territory is likely to be held by the end of this year.

J&K Congress leaders, belonging to different factions, have unitedly backed Azad’s candidature during a meeting in New Delhi, which was also attended by Azad.

The Indian Railways has finally installed the bio-toilets in the entire fleet of passenger coaches as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission with the support of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Adopting  the ‘anaerobic bacteria’ the first of its kind in railway systems in the world the Indian Railway (IR) has installed the bio-toilets in 79,269 passnger coaches during 2021-22 ,which prevent fall of nearly 2, 74,000 litres human excreta on tracks every day.

To achieve this eco- feat, the Indian Railway Bio-digester Technology of Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) worked with the DRDO for years and finally developed this eco-friendly enabled ‘anaerobic bacterial’ system under ‘Make in India’ initiative.

It takes- in the human waste as input and converts into water and gas as output. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw continued monitoring this system to set a benchmark in the installation of bio-toilets. It has also helped the railways in preventing corrosion of rails and fittings due to human waste. Detailing about this, he said that the indigenously developed ‘anaerobic bacteria’ converts human waste into water and bio-gases (mainly methane CH4 and Carbon dioxide). The gases escape into atmosphere and waste water is discharged after chlorination onto the track.

·       The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on  july 17 said single packages of food items like cereals, pulses and flour weighing up to 25 kg will be considered as 'prepackaged and labelled', and liable to five per cent GST from July 18.