Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2021

Notes:
A US-based rights group ChinaAid has awarded journalist Zhang Zhan with the Lin Zhao Freedom Award. She was jailed by Chinese authorities for reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
The journalist was conferred with the award for her work in promoting the Chinese civil society and advancing the rule of law. Lawyer-turned-journalist Zhang travelled to Wuhan and  investigated the area.

Notes:
Kerala recently reported bird flu cases in the Alappuzha district and a total of 12,000 ducks were culled in Thakazhi gram panchayat, which has been declared as a containment zone.
More samples from different areas have also been sent to ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal for testing and the identification of bird flu cases.

Notes:
The 94-year-old renowned Indian architect Balakrishna Doshi has recently won the Royal Gold Medal 2022, by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
It is the highest honor for architecture in the United Kingdom. During the architect’s 70 year career, which included 100 projects, he has significantly contributed in both practice and his teaching.

Notes:
The USA recently announced a new bill named ‘Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA)’.
The bill establishes new rules which could compel social media platforms to share data with “Qualified researchers”. They are defined as university-affiliated researchers pursuing projects that have been approved by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) mandatory for cross-border transactions for capital or current account transactions of Rs 50 crore and above, from October 1 next year.
LEI is a 20-digit number used to identify parties to financial transactions worldwide to improve the accuracy of financial data systems. Banks should obtain LEI numbers from local companies undertaking capital or current account transactions of Rs 50 crore and above, for each transaction.

Notes:
The present world chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway defended his title and won the FIDE World Championship in Dubai.
Carlsen beat Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, crossing the seven point threshold to win the global tournament held at Dubai’s Expo 2020 in the United Arab Emirates.Carlsen clinched his fifth world championship title.

Notes:
UN General Assembly declared December 12 as the International Day of Neutrality. Neutrality is defined as a legal status which arises when the state decides not to take part in any armed conflict.
International Day of Neutrality aims to raise awareness in public about the value of neutrality in international relations. Article 2 of the UN charter permits the member states to settle their disputes by peaceful means.

Notes:
All 5 central Asian countries- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have been invited by India as the Republic day guest.
This is the first time that all central Asian countries will be present as the guest. In 2018, countries of ASEAN bloc were invited. Prime Minister Modi had visited all Central Asian countries in 2015, a first by any Indian Prime Minister.

Notes:
India voted against a UN Security Council (UNSC) draft resolution that linked climate change with global security challenges.
Moved jointly by Niger and Ireland, the draft resolution called on “integrate climate-related security risk as a central component into comprehensive conflict-prevention strategies.”India argued that this resolution would only create friction among the UN membership.

Notes:
Meta-owned WhatsApp announced its pilot programme of adopting 500 villages across Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The programme aims to empower people with access to digital payments through ‘payments on WhatsApp’. The announcement regarding the programme was made at “Fuel For India 2021 — Meta’s annual event in India”.