Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
The Indian Navy has taken two MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones from an American defence company, on lease for 1 year.
The unmanned aerial vehicles, manufactured by US firm General Atomics, have been obtained on lease, to enhance surveillance over the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The vehicles arrived at the naval air station INS Rajali in Tamil Nadu.

Notes:
US President-elect Joe Biden has recently appointed the country’s first all-female White House communications team.
He also appointed Jen Psaki, who earlier served as the spokesperson in Barack Obama administration, as the White House Press Secretary. Six other women who had held important positions, were appointed in the official Press Team.

Notes:
Sadiq al-Mahdi was Sudan’s last democratically elected prime minister and also the leader of the nation’s largest political party. He died recently of COVID-19 at United Arab Emirates.
He was 84 years old. Al-Mahdi was overthrown from power in a 1989 by an autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Al-Mahdi’s party allied with pro-democracy uprising and the military overthrow al-Bashir in April 2019.

Notes:
World Investor Week (WIW) is a week-long global campaign observed to raise awareness about the importance of investor education.
The campaign is promoted by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). In India, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chose November 23 – 29, 2020 to celebrate this week. Various bodies including AMFI, NSDL and stock exchanges conduct awareness campaigns.

Notes:
The World AIDS Day is observed every year on the 1st of December, since 1988. It is an international day dedicated to raise awareness about AIDS and to mourn for those who have lost life due to this pandemic.
The theme for this year’s AIDS Day is “Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Resilience and Impact”. There were 38 million people living with HIV infection, in the year 2019.

Notes:
The United Kingdom has become the first nation in the world to approve coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer – BioNTech.
The country’s medical regulator has given a nod for commercial production and mass vaccination. The vaccine is said to offer 95% protection against Covid disease. The country aims to produce 8 lakh doses in the next few days.

Notes:
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has mandated to mention the 8- digit HSN code or tariff code for 49 chemical-based products.
The HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature) code should be mentioned while issuing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) invoice. At present, businesses mention up to 4-digit tariff code, while issuing invoice. This new direction is expected to curb tax evasion.

Notes:
As per the provisional 2020 State of the Global Climate report released by U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the last 6 years from 2015 to 2020 are the hottest years on record.
The report has stated that the average global temperature in 2020 would be 1.2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level

Notes:
The Senate of United States of America has passed a bill which envisages to remove the restrictions on number of employment related immigration visas from a particular country.
This bill has been passed unanimously by the Senate. This relaxed legislation is expected to benefit many Indian professionals in America.

Notes:
India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently with the United States of America (USA) to increase intellectual property cooperation between the two nations.
The agreement has been signed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) – India and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).