Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
U.S announced USD 5 billion to be made available under the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
It aims to build a national electric vehicle charging network. The money will be used over five years to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations.

Notes:
The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) is a government printing and minting agency. It functions under the Ministry of Finance.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the first colour souvenir coin on ‘Panchtantra’ on the occasion of 17th foundation day of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

Notes:
India and Australia have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tourism cooperation in New Delhi.
The Memorandum of Understanding in the field of tourism will enhance cooperation and encourage Expansion of bilateral relations in tourism. It will facilitate Exchange of information and data related to tourism, Cooperation between tourism stakeholders.

Notes:
French president Emmanuel Macron hosted the high-level session of the One Ocean summit in the city of Brest.
Nearly 27 EU states and 16 others agreed to pursue a global agreement by the end of year, to regulate sustainable use of oceans all across the globe. Many countries joined the “High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People” and “the High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction”.

Notes:
Mount Etna is an active strato-volcano located on the east coast of Sicily in Italy. Recently, the volcano has erupted causing a volcanic storm.
Volcanic storms can happen in particularly violent eruptions or with volcanoes located near the sea. Volcanologists observed volcanic lightning over the Mount Etna in 2021, after the one witnessed in 2015.

Notes:
Veteran Nobel-winning virologist Luc Montagnier died in Paris recently. He won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS, along with his colleague Francoise Barr-Sinoussi.
He had also shared half of the Nobel with German scientist Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of Human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer.

Notes:
India signed an agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for the distribution of 50,000 MT of wheat.
India has committed to send relief to Afghanistan as part of a humanitarian assistance, to be sent in truck convoys through Pakistan by road. Rome-headquartered WFP thanked India for the agreement to support Afghans who are facing humanitarian crisis.

Notes:
The birth anniversary of Tilka Manjhi, a revolutionary freedom fighter and tribal leader was observed recently.
He organized Adivasis into an army and led the famous Santhal Hool in 1784, to loot the treasury of the East India Company and distributed it among the poor and needy during severe famine. It is referred to as Santhal Hool, the revolt of the Santhals.

Notes:
Digital services company Jio Platforms has formed a joint-venture with Luxembourg-based SES to deliver satellite broadband services across India.
SES is a satellite-linked content connectivity solutions provider SES to deliver satellite broadband services across India. The joint venture will provide SES’s satellite data and connectivity services in India.

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Astronomers have recently discovered a third moon orbiting the main-belt asteroid (130) Elektra, making it the first ‘Quadruple Asteroid’ ever found.
(130) Elektra is a large main-belt asteroid, first discovered in 1873 by Litchfield Observatory astronomers.  It has an effective diameter of 199 km. The discovery of first quadruple asteroid system will help in understanding the mechanisms of the formation of these satellites.