Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
The US Air Force has unveiled its latest nuclear stealth bomber named ‘B-21’, which will gradually replace aircraft first flown in the Cold War.
The country’s first new bomber in 30 years could cost about USD 700m each and can carry nuclear and conventional weapons.

Notes:
The India-UAE trade is valued at USD 72.8 billion in 2021-22, making the UAE India’s third largest trading partner after China and US.
Abu Dhabi, UAE’s capital city is seeking more investments from India. Abu Dhabi has identified priority sectors including agri-tech, tourism, healthcare, pharma and financial services, where Indian enterprises can invest.

Notes:
The archaeologists of Egypt made a strange discovery of old mummies with solid-gold tongues in their mouths.
The discovery was made in the central Nile Delta, 40 miles north of Cairo. The preserved corpses are said to be from 300 to 640 BCE. The people in those times believed that the dead will communicate with Osiris, the ancient Egyptian ‘Lord of the Underworld’.

Notes:
Three Female umpires will officiate in Ranji Trophy this season, for the first time in Indian cricket history.
Vrinda Rathi, Janani Narayan and Gayathri Venugopalan will officiate in the Ranji Trophy. It will be the first for Indian cricket when female umpires are asked to officiate in the men’s cricket matches. One of the umpires Gayathri has served as a fourth umpire in Ranji Trophy in the past.

Notes:
Vice-President of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The winter session of the Parliament commenced as the Vice president Jagdeep Dhankar officiated as the chair of Rajya Sabha, for the first time.
The Centre’s agenda for the winter session of Parliament includes introduction of 16 new bills.

Notes:
Haryana Government issues orders which prohibit dismissing an employee without a proper enquiry. The move comes after a recommendation of Punjab and Haryana high court which states that authorities have been ignoring the law regarding dismissal of an employee under Article 311 (2) (b) of the Constitution.
Article 311 empowers the competent authority to dismiss, remove or reduce in rank a government employee subject to various riders.

Notes:
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked Google to comply with its advisory to refrain from publishing advertisements of online betting platforms.
The latest guideline was issued by the Ministry in October after it noted violations of a previous advisory in June 2022, as some online offshore betting platforms started using news websites as a surrogate product to advertise betting platforms on television channels.

Notes:
Bernard Arnault & family, who own the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton group of luxury brands, were briefly placed in the top position on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was at second position for a while after a fall in his automobile company Tesla’s shares. With a net worth of USD 185.4 billion, Musk is now again followed in the Forbes list by Arnault at USD 184.7 billion

Notes:
Three medicinal plant species found in the Himalayas have been added to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Meizotropis pellita, commonly known as Patwa and endemic to Uttarakhand, has been assessed as ‘critically endangered’, Fritilloria cirrhosa as ‘vulnerable’, and Dactylorhiza hatagirea as ‘endangered’.

Notes:
‘World Soil Day’ is being observed annually on 5 December to focus on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for sustainable management of soil resources.
The theme of this year’s World Soil Day is ‘Soils: Where food begins’. An international day to celebrate soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences in 2002. The Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO Conference endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013.