Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
The Golden Jubilee Edition of International Film Festival of India, IFFI, culminated in Goa. The festival saw screening of 300 films of various languages from India and abroad for delegates from different parts of the world.The IFFI was awarded the ICFT-UNESCO Fellini medal at the closing ceremony which was received by Information and Broadcasting Secretary Amit Khare and Director of festivals Chaitanya Prasad. Governor of Goa Satyapal Malik, Chief Minister of Goa Dr. Pramod Sawant, Union minister Babul Supriyo and others were present on the occasion.

Notes:
Veteran Tamil actor and theatre artist Bala Singh passed away at the age of 67 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu due to illness. Bala, an alumnus of National School of Drama (NSD) started his career as a theatre artiste. He rose to fame in actor Nasser’s Avatharam(1995), where he played the role of a villain. It was also his debut film.

Notes:
Indian archers Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat won the gold and silver medals respectively in the women’s individual recurve event of the 21st Asian Championships in Bangkok on November 28. Deepika defeated Ankita 6-0 in the one-sided final. The duo had earlier secured an individual Olympic quota for the country by storming into the semifinals of the event. Earlier in the last-four stage, Ankita got the better of Bhutan’s Karma, Deepika defeated Nguyet Do Thi Anh of Vietnam.

Notes:
Steve Smith has become the fastest man to score 7,000 Test runs in the ongoing second Test against Pakistan. He broke English great Wally Hammond’s record that had stood since 1946. Smith also passed Bradman’s 6,996 Test runs.  It took Smith 70 Tests to do so, while Bradman needed only 52.

Notes:
UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP25 gets underway in the Spanish capital, Madrid, under the Presidency of Chile from 2-13 December 2019.COP 25 is an important conference as countries prepare to move from pre-2020 period under Kyoto Protocol to post-2020 period under Paris Agreement. India’s approach will be guided by principles and provisions of UNFCCC and Paris Agreement particularly the principles of Equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capability (CBDR-RC).

Notes:
Bestselling author Ashwin Sanghi will come out with his next book, “The Vault of Vishnu”, on January 23, 2020, announced publishing house Westland. The book, which will be the sixth installment of the author’s famous mythological ‘Bharat series’, will be released at the upcoming Jaipur Literature festival (JLF). Setting a fictional timeline of mythological events, Sanghi said, the new book will also be a “combination of history, mythology, culture, philosophy, geology, and science”.

Notes:
On December 3, 2019 the former arts and culture minister Pritivirajsing Roopun was elected as president of Mauritius. His predecessor Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned in March 2018 after being embroiled in a scandal over her use of a credit card to buy luxury personal items. In Mauritius, the prime minister is head of the government and holds most political power while the President is head of the state but has no executive role and is considered the guardian of the Constitution.

Notes:
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been observed with varying degrees of success around the planet. The observance of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. It was originally called “International Day of Disabled Persons” until 2007.Each year the day focuses on a different issue. The theme for 2019 is “The Future is Accessible”

Notes:
The world’s best loved species are being slaughtered by widespread and dangerous criminal networks. On December 4, 2012, the first time that World Wildlife Conservation Day was officially recognized around the world and calls on individuals around the globe to sign its Wildlife Pledge to respect and protect wild animals.

Notes:
Amazon.com Inc is extending its cloud to 5G networks in partnership with Verizon Communications Inc, so developers can run latency-sensitive programs on mobile and connected devices. The program, called AWS Wavelength, is one of several new ways that Amazon Web Services is pushing its cloud into new territory. At the company’s annual re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, the world’s top cloud provider also announced new infrastructure called Local Zones, debuting in Los Angeles, that will help nearby users run speed-intensive applications like gaming.