Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2021

Notes:
State Bank of India (SBI) has recently executed two inter-bank money market deals with pricing linked to SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate).
SOFR is a replacement for London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which is global reference rate for unsecured short-term borrowing in the interbank market.

Notes:
NASA has recently posted a picture of Abell 370, a massive cluster of galaxies, captured through its Hubble Space Telescope.
As per the statement of NASA, the massive gravity of the cluster makes the light to bend as it passes through. This phenomenon distorts the view of the galaxies behind Abell 370, which is located at 4.9 billion light-years away from the Earth.

Notes:
Technology major Google has signed a deal with a group of French publishers which will enable the company make digital copyright payments for online news content.
France became the first country to adopt new European Union copyright rules, which aims to ensure media are paid for original content, typically news, offered online by tech giants such as Google and Facebook.

Notes:
The freight train named ‘Vasuki’ operated by South East Central Railway has created a new record for longest ever freight train. This train has been formed by amalgamation five rakes of goods trains as a single unit of around 3.5 km.
The train has covered a total distance of 224 km between Bhilai and Korba.

Notes:
A resolution titled “Promoting a culture of peace and tolerance to safeguard religious sites” has been adopted in the United Nations General Assembly recently.
The resolution calls for efforts to promote a culture of tolerance and peace at all levels. It also invites the Secretary General to convene a global conference to advance the UN’s “Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites”.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has collaborated with the American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer recently.
As per the deal, 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine will be distributed for poor and lower-middle income countries under its COVAX programme.

Notes:
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award in India.
President has approved conferment of 119 Padma awards comprising 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri awards. Former Chief minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi and former union minister Ram Vilas Paswan have been awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Notes:
Lt. Col. (Retd.) Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir and musicologist Sanjida Khatun, who belong to Bangladesh have been conferred with India’s Padma Shri award for the year 2021.
This is seen as a soft diplomatic move of the country. These awards were announced on the eve of Republic Day. This year, 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10 Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri awards have been conferred.

Notes:
The second edition of the International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE-II) is to be hosted in February, 2021, at the Gender Park Campus, Kozhikode, Kerala.
The Chief Minister is also set to inaugurate a Gender Park at Kozhikode. It was established in 2013 under the Department of Women and Child Development. It has partnerships with various global organisations like UN Women.

Notes:
Republic of Chad, a land locked country in North – Central Africa, has requested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for debt restructuring, under the new common framework. Chad’s request makes it the first country to seek debt restructuring from IMF.
Chad has been struggling with high debt burden against a backdrop of the coronavirus crisis.