Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Kiribati is one of the most isolated islands in the world. It is located in Oceania and is about 4,800km from Australia.
Until last week, Kiribati had recorded just two Covid cases. After the passengers on the first international flight tested positive for Covid, the country has imposed its first lock-down.

Notes:
Former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe was conferred with the Netaji Award 2022 by the Netaji Research Bureau on the 125th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.
Consul general of Japan in Kolkata, Nakamura Yutaka, received the honour on behalf of former PM Shinzo Abe.

Notes:
Facebook parent company Meta has announced that its new Artificial intelligence supercomputer will be the fastest in the world by the middle of next year.
Meta has introduced AI Research SuperCluster (RSC), which is among the fastest AI supercomputers running at present and will be the fastest in the world once fully built out in mid-2022.

Notes:
National Tourism Day is celebrated across the country on January 25 every year to spread awareness about the importance of tourism and its impact on the economy.
This year, the Ministry of Tourism is observing National Tourism Day under the aegis of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. This year’s theme for National Tourism Day is ‘Rural and Community Centric Tourism’.

Notes:
Russia has supplied the first batch of 70,000 rifles, as a part of the AK-203 Deal to manufacture the AK 203 assault rifles in India.
The first batch is likely to be used by the air force, while the rifles to be manufactured at the Amethi factory will be delivered to the army. The manufacturing will be done by Indo Russian Rifles Private Limitedm, Joint Venture between Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd (erstwhile OFB) and Russian Rosoboronexport.

Notes:
The Home Ministry announced the list of recipients of the Padma awards.128 people have been named this year for the Awards which are conferred in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri.
The third highest award, Padma Bhushan will be conferred on Global  heads of tech giants Microsoft and Google Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai; Vaccine makers – Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institue and Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech. India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat was conferred the Padma Vibhushan posthumously.

Notes:
Saudi Arabia and Thailand have ended a 30-year dispute over a scandal involving stolen jewels and a series of murders. Saudi Arabian Airlines has announced to restart direct flights to Thailand.
The resumption of full diplomatic ties came during a visit to Riyadh by Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha. Gems stolen from Saudi had a rare 50 carat blue diamond, which was never recovered. The dispute has cost a huge dip in trade and led to job losses for Thai Migrant workers.

Notes:
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) notified a ‘Drone certification scheme (DCS)’ to ensure minimum safety and quality requirements and to boost indigenous manufacturing.
The objective of this DCS, released under liberalized Drone Rules, 2021, is to provide the minimum requirements for security requirements for drones and enable their evaluation for certification. The liberalised Drone Rules, 2021,was released by the MoCA in August 2021.

Notes:
The European Union launched a case against China at the World Trade Organization over its forced practices against Lithuania and some exporters from other member states.
China, the EU’s main trade partner, started blocking Lithuanian products and some other European goods that contained Lithuanian components last December. This was done after Taiwan opened a representative office in Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) under the country’s name instead of Taipei.

Notes:
National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) is a public pharmaceutical research institution under India’s Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya launched NIPER Research Portal, to disseminate the information about all seven NIPERs and their research activities.