Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2023

Notes:
Recently, Moderna and its collaborator Merck announced the commencement of patient enrolment for an advanced-stage clinical trial.
This trial aims to test their customized mRNA-based vaccine for skin cancer, in combination with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda. Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer.

Notes:
Maharashtra-based Aditya Samant became India’s 83rd Grandmaster after earning his third GM norm at the Master Tournament (MTO) in the Biel International Chess Festival.
He had earned his first norm to become a grandmaster at the Abu Dhabi Masters last year in August. His second norm was achieved in December last year at the 3rd El Llobregat Open.

Notes:
A Coup by group of soldiers is currently underway in Niger. Soldiers appeared on state TV to announce they had removed the President from power, seized control of the government and suspended the constitution.
Recently, the commander of the guard, Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani has declared himself the leader of Niger in a televised address.

Notes:
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has set up a working group to decriminalise laws to further promote ease of doing business.
The group comprised representatives from industry associations, business chambers, legal professionals, and officials of seven ministries. It would also have representatives of the National Housing Bank, NABARD and CPCB.

Notes:
Digital payments across the country registered a growth of 13.24 per cent in a year through March 2023, as per RBI’s index that measures the adoption of online transactions.
RBI’s Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) stood at 395.57 at end-March 2023 compared to 377.46 in September 2022 and 349.30 in March 2022. The index is a base to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.

Notes:
Resource Efficiency Circular Economy Industry Coalition (RECEIC) was launched on the sidelines of the 4th G-20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) and Environment and Climate Ministers meeting in Chennai.
Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav said that this mission of this coalition is to promote greater company-to-company collaboration, build advanced capabilities across sectors, bring learnings from diverse and global experiences of the coalition members among others.

Notes:
The Danish World No.1 Viktor Axelsen clinched victory in the Japan Open final after defeating Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
In women’s singles, world number two An Se-Young of South Korea beat He Bing Jiao of China to clinch the title. She also replaced replacing Japan’s reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi to bag the World No. 1 spot.

Notes:
Department of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Government of Meghalaya and Meghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA) has recently facilitated market linkages of over 1.3 tonnes of Pineapples to the Middle East.
The pineapples from Meghalaya are being sold across malls in Dubai, Kuwait and Sharjah.

Notes:
A new World Health Organization (WHO) report revealed that over the past 15 years, 71% of the global population, approximately 5.6 billion people, are now protected by at least one of the measures, five times more than in 2007.
The WHO’s MPOWER measures aim to monitor tobacco use and prevention policies, protect people from tobacco smoke, provide assistance to quit tobacco, warn about the dangers of tobacco, enforce bans on tobacco advertising, and raise taxes on tobacco products.

Notes:
Italian authorities from the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage reported the discovery of an ancient cargo ship wreckage off the port in Civitavecchia, near Rome.
The ship, dating back to the 1st or 2nd century BC, contains hundreds of well-preserved Roman jars, known as amphorae, found using a remotely operated robot.