Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2020

Notes:
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar recently virtually addressed the first India -Nordic – Baltic Conclave.
The Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) co-operation framework includes eight countries namely Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.

Notes:
The One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme was launched to provide uniform pensions for Armed Forces Veterans, who are retiring in the same rank with the same length of service.
The Prime Minister has recently highlighted that the One Rank One Pension scheme has completed five years since its implementation. The pension is provided irrespective of the time they retire.

Notes:
Vidisha Maitra, an Indian Diplomat has been elected to the UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).
She won the election contesting for the only post in Asia-Pacific group, with 126 UN members supporting her candidature. She is a 2008 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer.

Notes:
Leading technology company Apple is would be organizing a virtual event named ‘One More Thing’.
It is expected that the company would launch new MacBook models that would work on the in-house processors instead of Intel processors. Apple fans can watch the event live through the Apple Events website or the Apple TV app.

Notes:
The 20th Summit of SCO Council of Heads of State was held in Video Conference Format. The Meeting was chaired by the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Indian delegation to the summit. Other SCO Member States were represented by their Presidents, while India and Pakistan were represented by their respective Prime Ministers.

Notes:
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is set to acquire 100% of the shares of Postbank Systems AG, which provides IT services to Deutsche Bank.
Postbank Systems AG is a German based IT firm. By this acquisition, around 1500 employees of Postbank System would become a part of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will co-chair the virtual 17th India-ASEAN summit, along with the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
The leaders are expected to note the adoption of ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2021-2025). The Prime Minister attended the 16th ASEAN-India Summit in Bangkok in November last year.

Notes:
Typhoon Vamco is expected to hit the eastern coasts of Philippines. Hence, the state authorities have ordered thousands of residents in eastern coastal communities to evacuate the area and move to safe shelters.
This cyclone is the 21st tropical cyclone of this year in Philippines.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Armenian has announced that a peace agreement has been signed with Russia and Azerbaijan. The agreement aims to end the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Under the agreement, all military operations in the disputed area have been stopped and Russia has deployed peacekeeping forces in the Armenia – Azerbaijan border.

Notes:
COVISHIELD, the Covid-19 potential vaccine candidate has recently completed the enrolment of Phase III clinical trials.
COVISHIELD has been developed by the Serum Institute of India with a master seed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca. SII has already manufactured 40 million doses of the vaccine and will make the vaccine available by joining hands with ICMR.