TAMILNADU
- Kodaikanal’s ‘hill garlic’ gets GI tag
- Kodaikanal’s famed hill garlic (malai poondu), which is a pungent, raindrop-shaped bulb, has earned the Geographical Indication (GI) tag, making it an agricultural product unique only to this southern hill station. The tag protects prohibits use of the name ‘hill garlic’ for other varieties.
- Kodaikanal Malai Poondu is known for its medicinal and preservative properties due to its antioxidant and antimicrobial potential, which are attributed to the presence of higher amount of organosulfur compounds, phenols and flavonoids compared to other garlic varieties.
- Tamil Nadu is now behind only Karnataka (42) and Maharashtra in the number of GI products.
INTERNATIONAL
- NASA announced a new mission to explore Saturn’s largest moon
- NASAannounced a new mission to explore this fascinating world with a helicopter drone. The mission, called Dragonfly is the latest in NASA’s New frontier program. NASA has earlier launched explorations of Pluto, Jupiter, the asteroid Bennu, and now, Titan.
- Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, has a lot in common with Earth. It has a thick, nitrogen-dense atmosphere and features like rivers, lakes, mountains, and, potentially volcanoes. The atmosphere of Titan is four times as dense as the Earth’s and there’s less gravity which makes it a prime location in the solar system to deploy a drone.
- G20 Summit
- TheGroup of 20 (G20) nations summit concluded in Osaka, Japan. The summit was held on 28-29 June 2019. The primary aim of the summit is to promote international financial stability. The ongoing trade war between China and the United States topped the agenda.
- The G20 is an international leaders’ forum comprising19 countries and the European Union. The grouping represents more than 80% of the world’s economic output and two-thirds of its people.
The G20 countries are Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Turkey, USA, Republic of South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UK and European Union.
US and Trade Highlights:
♦ The United States reiterates its decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement because it disadvantages American workers and taxpayers.
♦ US withdrew the imposed sanctions on Turkey for buying Russian-made S-400 missiles.
♦ US withdrew its ban on US companies selling high-tech components to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. China will also be buying more