Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
Russia has successfully test fired a ‘Tsirkon’ hypersonic cruise missile in the Arctic Region recently. The missile was fired from a frigate war ship named Admiral Gorshkov.
The missile was fired from the white sea on to a naval target located 450 km away in the Barents Sea. The missile cruised at a speed of over Mach 8 and brought down the target.

Notes:
Japan’s spacecraft named ‘Hayabusa2’ is approaching the Earth after a year-long journey from an asteroid Ryugu, about 300 million kilometers from earth.
As per the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the spacecraft will bring soil samples and data that could provide clues to the origins of the solar system and life on Earth. The agency would drop the capsule containing the samples, in southern Australia.

Notes:
As per the recent statement, India recorded the highest reduction in Malaria cases, in the South-East Asian region.
As per the ‘World Malaria Report 2020’, India reduced the number of cases from 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019. India also recorded a reduction in the number of deaths from malaria. Globally there were 229 malaria cases in 2019.

Notes:
Avian Influenza, commonly called as the Bird flu, has been detected in a fourth region in Japan. This can be the country’s worst outbreak in over 4 years.
Avian influenza was discovered at a poultry farm in Hyuga city in Honshu island in southwestern Japan. However, the country announced that there is no possibility that humans will contract bird flu from eating poultry or eggs. It has also decided to cull over 1.8 million chickens.

Notes:
The Government of Singapore has allowed a US-based start up to sell lab grown chicken meat in the country.
The meat is generated from animal tissues in laboratories. This is the world’s first regulatory approval for lab-grown meat also called as cultured meat. Its production cost is higher compared to the original meat.

Notes:
The Indian Government has constituted a Apex Committee for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (AIPA). It was formed through a gazette notification.
The committee comprises of 17 members. It is entrusted with the responsibility of formulating policies and programmes for implementing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), under Paris Agreement 2015. The Secretary of Union Environment Minister would be the Chairperson.

Notes:
The United States has issued an order to ban the cotton and cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), one of the largest producers of China.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency issued “Withhold Release Order” to increase economic pressure on the Xinjiang region. US cites the reason for the ban as ‘slave labour’ of detained Uighur Muslims used by China.

Notes:
The 18th-century idol of Goddess Annapurna that was stolen from a temple in Varanasi, is being returned by Canada.
As per a government statement, the ancient idol was stolen about 100 years ago. The idol is said to have housed in Canada’s MacKenzie Art Gallery. It was handed over to India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa.

Notes:
The International Day of Persons with Disability is observed on 3rd December of every year.
The theme for this year is “Building back better: towards an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 world by, for and with persons with disabilities”. UNESCO is organizing a global awareness camp named “Tell our stories, enable our rights” on this occasion.

Notes:
The Supreme court on Thursday upheld that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) shall be imposed on the sale of lotteries, betting and gambling.
The Bench also highlighted that the GST Act, 2017 defines the goods to include ‘actionable claims’ and included only three categories of such claims namely lottery, betting and gambling, to levy GST. Actionable claim is the claim for a debt related to any benefit from unpossessed movable property and for which relief can be claimed in civil court.