Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

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:
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 many as 12 leopards from Sakkar Baug Zoological Park, which came in conflict with the humans, have been transferred to a private rehabilitation centre by Gujarat Forest Department.
The leopard’s maintenance would be done in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode by the Government of Gujarat and Reliance Industries Ltd- RIL’s Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom. This is the first of its kind PPP model for protection of wild animals in India.

Notes:
The Goldman Environmental Prize is awarded to 6 individuals each year to recognize their efforts to save and protect environment. The prize is selected by an international jury among nominations submitted by global environment organisations and individuals.
Leydy Pech, Kristal Ambrose, Paul Sein Twa, Lucie Pinson, Chibze Ezekiel, Nemonte Nenquimo are the six personalities chosen for this year’s award.

Notes:
The festival named Dev Deepawali is celebrated in Indian city. This is a festival of lights and is celebrated in the Poornima day of the Karthik Month of Hindu calendar.
This year’s celebration is attended by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. During the event, 11 lakh earthern lamps were lit on both sides of river Ganga.

Notes:
China launched the ambitious ‘One Belt and One Road’ (OBOR) initiative in 2013, to link Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land and sea routes.
During the 19th meeting of the Council of Heads of Governments of the SCO, all other member nations of SCO, except India reaffirmed their support to the OBOR project of China. India is critical of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a part of OBOR.

Notes:
India and the United States attended the inaugural meeting of the Counter-narcotics Working Group (CNWG), in virtual mode.
Indian delegation was represented by the Deputy Director General of Narcotics Control Board, Ministry of Home Affairs. The two countries also agreed to improve their data sharing operations to fight the production, distribution, and export/import of drugs and related chemicals.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently directed HDFC Bank to temporarily halt all its digital launches and new sourcing of credit card customers.
The country’s largest private sector lender has been asked to stop the digital launches as the bank had faced technical glitches in the past two years. RBI also asked the bank’s board to examine the lapses and fix accountability.

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:
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