Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2020

Notes:
The companies of USA and China have dominated the global arms market in the year 2019, as per a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The arms industry of USA accounts for nearly 61% of the sales by top 25 arms manufacturers. Chinese firms account for 15.7% of the sales by top 25 arms manufacturers.

Notes:
Anil Soni, who is an Indian Origin health expert, has been appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer of WHO Foundation. He is set to assume office on 1st Jan 2021. Erstwhile, he was the head of global infectious disease of the health care company named Viatris.
The WHO Foundation is a newly formed organisation will work alongside the World Health Organisation that would combat the most pandemic disease of the world.

Notes:
Ranjitsinh Disale, who is a primary school teacher from the state of Maharashtra, has been awarded the most prestigious “Global Teacher Prize 2020”.
He has been conferred with the USD 1 million Global Teacher Prize, for his contribution in the field of teaching and for injecting new ideas for girl education. This award was constituted by Varkey Foundation in partnership with UNESCO.

Notes:
Google launched a new health research app called the ‘Google Health Studies’. It enables the research institutions to connect with potential study participants.
Through this app, android users can take part in health studies by answering survey questions and providing relevant data. Its first study will focus on respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.

Notes:
Morocco has become the latest Arab League country to agree to normalise relations with Israel in a deal brokered with US initiative.
As part of the deal, the US has agreed to recognise Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region. Morocco is also the fourth country to normalise ties with Israel since August, this year. Earlier, Bahrain and UAE signed such deal.

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly created UNICEF on December 11, 1946, as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
The programme was originally initiated to provide assistance to improve the nutrition, education, and welfare of children after World War II. It was later renamed as United Nations Children’s Fund. UNICEF Day is observed every year on December 11.

Notes:
Every year December 12th is observed as the International Day of Neutrality by the United Nations. Neutrality is defined as abstention of a state from all participation in a war and maintaining impartiality.
A resolution in this regard was adopted by the United Nations in the year 2017, which was introduced by Turkmenistan.

Notes:
The Indian Embassy in Beijing recently launched a movie series “CinemaSCOpe”, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Under the programme, over two dozen Indian films dubbed in Russian, will be screened on a monthly basis. The screening will continue till India’s chairmanship of the SCO ‘Council of Heads of State’ meeting in 2023.

Notes:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has decided to launch an international award / prize in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Rahman. The award would be given in the field of “Creative economy”.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Rahman politician belonging to Bangladesh and is commonly called as the “Father of Nation” of Bangladesh.

Notes:
Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who was undergoing treatment for coronavirus, has recently passed away. He is the first Prime Minister to die from the Covid pandemic.
Eswatini, which was earlier called as ‘Swaziland’ before official renaming in 2018, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is surrounded by Mozambique and South Africa. Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa.