Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Dec 12, 2016

ANSWER: Nana Akufo-Addo

Explanation:
Nana Afuko-Addo has won the Ghana national election, tapping into an electorate disappointed with a lack of economic growth and ready for a change.

The 72-year-old human rights law won 53.8 percent of the votes according to the country’s election agency.

President and candidate of Ghana’s ruling National Democratic Congress party John Mahama leaves after voting in the Bole district, northern region on Dec 7, 2016.

John Mahama conceded defeat after the race that saw the test of democracy in a region rife with dictators and coups.

The former British colony will now see the a change for four years after a slow economy, deteriorating currency and soaring inflation.

Mahama came to power beating Akufo-Addo in 2012.

About Ghana

• Officially Republic of Ghana.
• Sovereign unitary presidential constitutional democracy.
• Ghana means “warrior king” in the Soninke language.
• It is a member of NAM, AU, ECOWAS, G-24, Commonwealth of Nations
• Ghana has a parliamentary multiparty system.
• President: John Dramamni Mahama
• President elect: Nana Akufo-Addo
• Vice President: Kwesi Amissah-Arthur
• Capital: Accra
• Currency: Cedi

ANSWER: Paolo Gentiloni

Explanation:
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was chosen on 11th Dec to be the country’s next PM. He pledged to get to work on forming a new coalition with the same Democrat party led majority.

62-year-old Gentiloni was selected for the mandate at the Quirinal Presidential palace.

Ex- PM Matteo Renzi was the caretaker premier since he offered his resignation on Dec 7.

Renzi’s three-year-old government suffered a stinging defeat in a referendum on reforms.

The 5-Star movement and other opposition forces were interested in early election, but Italian President Sergio Matarella noted Renzi’s outgoing government still commands a majority in Parliament.

The president also noted there was wide political consensus for a rapid transformation of Italy’s electoral laws before Italians vote in the new election.

Gentolini emerged as a pick after three days of consultations.

Gentolini had also lobbied for an end to the fighting in Libya.

The 5-Star populists wanted to let Italians decide if they want to stay in the 19 nation shared euro currency; they want elections soon.

However, it is the president’s call to decide when to dissolve the Parliament and call for new election ahead of the spring 2018 date.

5-Star Movement

• Political party started by comedian Beppo Grille and web strategist Gianroberto Cassaleggio
• President: Beppo Grille
• Deputy President: Enrico Grillo
• Founded: Oct 4, 2009.
• Headquarters: Via Roccatagliata Ceccardi 1/14, Genoa
• Slogan: ”One is worth one"

ANSWER: 10^th Dec

Explanation:
Human Rights Day is commemorated every year all over the world on 10th of December.

It was first announced to be celebrated every year by the UNGA on 10th of December in 1948.

It is celebrated at this particular date annually to honour the United Nations General Assembly for declaring the human rights universally.

Human rights day was officially established in the meeting of United Nations General Assembly on 4th of December in 1950.

High Commissioner office of Human Rights won the Guinness World Record for collection, translation and distribution of the worldwide announcement of human rights in 380 different languages.

The theme for Human Rights Day 2016 is “Stand up for someone’s rights today”.

To promote awareness about human rights among people all over the world, this day emphasises the endeavours of UNGA to progress the overall human rights conditions.

To encourage and celebrate the cooperation to discuss and highlight specific issues of human rights, the day is also observed to encourage vulnerable people to take part in the decision making process.

ANSWER: Sittwe

Explanation:
A deep water port built in Myanmar’s Sittwe on the Bay of Bengal by India is ready to be commissioned.

An inauguration ceremony for this strategically important facility is expected to take place next month.

China’s SEZ further down the Rakhine coast at Kyaukphyu points to the Asian competitors attempting to expand their spheres of naval influence in the Indian ocean region as in the case of Gwadar in Pakistan and Chabahar in Iran being built by China and India, respectively.

Sittwe is the capital of Rakhine State (which has been in the news for the plight of Rohingya Muslims) in SW Myanmar.

It is located at the mouth of the Kaladan river, which flows into Mizoram in north-eastern India.

India has sought transit through Bangladesh to ship to NE states.

At present the only region through which thoroughfare is available is the Chicken’s Neck in West Bengal, sandwiched between Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Once shipments arrive at Sittwe, they will be transferred to smaller frieght carriers will sail upstream to Mizoram.

Port when unveiled will serve to make a statement in a country long dominated by China, but seen by the Myanmar historian Thant Myint-U, author of the book Where China Meets India, as a geopolitical theatre of competition between New Delhi and Beijing.

Both the government and the armed forces of Myanmar want to reduce their dependance on China.

Also on India’s anvil are 10 border haat points to facilitate local economic activity between Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Myanmar.

ANSWER: Gujarat

Explanation:
The Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad is set to become the biggest cricket stadium in the world, as far as seating capacity is concerned.

The Gujarat Cricket Association has handed the stadium’s renovation project to Larsen and Turbo (L&T).

L&T was handed a letter of acceptance by GCA vice-president Parimal Nathwani after the demolition of the old ground was complete, which had paved the way for the construction company to take over and develop the proposed stadium.

Currently, there are four Indian stadiums among the top five in the world with regards to seating capacity. These are:

• Kolkata’s Eden Gardens (66,000)
• Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Naya Raipur (65,000)
• Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi (60,000)
• Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad (60,000)

Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium


• Location: Motera, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
• Capacity: currently 54,000 people
• Expanded to: 1,10,000 people
• Double the capacity scheduled.
• Current largest seating capacity: Melbourne Cricket Ground (1,0,024 people)
• Motera stadium will meet demand for cricket fans.

ANSWER: Jets to be placed close to power plants to form updrafts and disrupt winter inversion.

Explanation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, is researchers are pursuing an idea to improve Delhi's winter air quality.

The scientists plan to pilot a project under which decommissioned jet engines will be placed close to a power plant.

The turbojets and turboprop engines will be directed upwards to form powerful updrafts (air moving upward) and disrupt "winter inversion.”

This is a phenomenon during which air temperature near the ground is less than above which traps pollutants close to the ground

ANSWER: Shandong

Explanation:
About 20,000 ancient trees on the renowned Mount Tai in east China's Shandong Province now have "digital ID cards" which will provide a range of information about the environment, condition of trees, climate, diseases and pests.

The digital ID cards hold basic information on the trees collected by a new monitoring and management system for ancient trees on the mountain, state media agency Xinhua reported.

Providing basic data and real time map of trees, it will help rangers examine the growing environment and conditions of the trees, and monitor physiology, climate, diseases and pests.

The system can calculate whether a tree is healthy, weak or dying, while recording the harm a tree has suffered and the degree of any damage.

About Mount Tai

• Home to 18,195 ancient trees.
• 1,821 are classed as first class ancient trees.
• These are more than 300 years old and of rare value.
• Mountain is home to a pine tree “Yinkesong” which means “guest welcoming pine.”
• As a popular tourist attraction on Mount Tai, the over 500-year-old pine was put on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage list.
• Mount Tai is one of China’s 5 sacred mountains.
• It holds great historical and cultural significance.
• The peak is called Jade Emperor Peak and is 1,500 m above sea level.

ANSWER: Delivery Hero

Explanation:
Berlin-based online food takeaway service Delivery Hero, one of Europe's biggest start-ups, will acquire competitor Foodpanda.

This is a sign of further consolidation to fend of new competition in Europe's sought after business of food-delivery.

Delivery Hero was valued at 2.8 billion euros ($2.96 billion) in its latest funding round in June.

It signed a definitive agreement buy Foodpanda, itself a Berlin-based start-up.

Both are backed by German eCommerce firm Rocket Internet, which has invested 800 million euros in Delivery Hero last year and 300 million euros into Foodpanda.

Food Panda focuses on deliveries in eastern Europe, west Asia and Asia.

Acquisition will be funded by issuing new shares, with major shareholder Rocket increasing its stake to 37.7%.

Foodpanda

• Foodpanda CEO: Ralf Wenzel.
• Active international player in online food takeaway business.
• Valued at: 10-15 m USD
• Location: Berlin, Germany.

ANSWER: Fengyun-4

Explanation:
China has launched new weather satellite Fengyun-4 marking an upgrade of its meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit.

The Fengyun-4 satellite is the first of China's second-generation weather satellites in geostationary orbit to have been launched.

It is also the country's first quantitative remote-sensing satellite in highest orbit.

Launched Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province on Dec 10, 2016, it was taken into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, state run Xinhua news agency.

About Fengyun-4

• One of China’s 15 weather satellites.
• 242nd mission of Long March series of rockets.
• For high time, spatial and spectral resolution observations of the atmosphere, clouds and space environment of China and surrounding regions.
• Aims at significantly improving capabilities of weather and climate forecasts.
• The China Meteorological Administration is the primary user of the satellite.

ANSWER: Ribosome

Explanation:
Scientists have identified a defect in the ribosome, the protein factory of the cell in 20-40 per cent of the patients with multiple myeloma which is a type of leukaemia.

These patients have a poorer prognosis than patients with intact ribosomes, the scientists said.

In MM patients, one part of the ribosome is produced less in 20 to 40 per cent of the patients, depending on how aggressive the cancer is.

Cells are still producing protein, but that the balance is somewhat disrupted.

One possible treatment for MM is the use of proteasome inhibitors which is the protein demolition machine in a cell. How the defects in the ribosome influence the proteasome is not quite clear yet.

Tests can now be developed to identify defects in the ribosome and thus determine which therapy will have most effect in a specific patient.

Finding that cancer is related to ribosome defects is a relatively new concept in science.

What is Multiple Myeloma?

• MM is also called Kahler’s disease.
• It is a type of Blood cancer in which bone marrow cells start increasing rapidly. It is common among older people.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
MIT researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence system that can take still images and generate short videos to simulate what happens next, similar to how humans can visually imagine how a scene will evolve.

• Humans intuitively understand how the world works.
• Objects in a still image could move and interact in a multitude of different ways, making it very hard for machines to accomplish this feat.
• The new deep-learning system is able to trick humans 20 per cent of the time when compared to real footage.
• Scientists pitted two neural networks against each other, with one attempting to distinguish real videos from machine-generated ones, and the other making an effort to create videos that were realistic enough to trick the first system.
• When the researchers asked workers on Amazon's Mechanical Turk crowd-sourcing platform to pick which videos were real, the users picked the machine-generated videos over genuine ones 20 per cent of the time.
• The approach could eventually help robots and self-driving cars navigate dynamic environments and interact with humans, or let Facebook automatically tag videos with labels describing what is happening, researchers said.

ANSWER: Only b and c

Explanation:
Government is likely to amend the Reserve Bank of India Act to extinguish the validity of INR 500 and 1000 printed before November 9 and a reference to this effect would be made in the upcoming Budget.

As part of the demonetisation process, there would be a law to make these notes invalid and it can be made effective from March 31, sources said.

In 1978, when the currency was banned, the law to annul the validity came ahead.

This time the government acted under 26 (2).

As per RBI Act Section 26 (2), the central government, on the recommendation of the Central Board of RBI, may by notification in the Gazette of India, declare that, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, any series of bank notes of any denomination shall cease to be legal tender.

Banks have received Rs. 12 lakh crore demonetised currency notes as against Rs. 15.5 lakh crore. The government expects Rs. 13 lakh crore to come back to banking system.

Higher dividend from the RBI due to cancellation of INR 500/1000 may not be applicable until the RBI law is amended.

RBI has issued currency notes worth over Rs. 4.27 lakh crore to public through banks and ATMs following the demonetisation of old high value bills.

ANSWER: Both a and c

Explanation:
Sweden has run out of garbage and the country has been forced to import rubbish from other countries to keep its state-of-the-art recycling plants going.

Sweden, which sources almost half its electricity from renewables, was one of the first countries to implement a heavy tax on fossil fuels in 1991.

Sweden's recycling system is so sophisticated that only less than 1 per cent of its household waste has been sent to landfill last year.

Sweden has implemented a cohesive national recycling policy so that even though private companies undertake most of the business of importing and burning waste, the energy goes into a national heating network to heat homes through the extremely cold winter.

Garbage is used as a substitute for fossil fuel.

Sweden's policy of importing waste to recycle from other countries like the UK was termed as a temporary situation.

There's a ban on landfill in European Union countries, so instead of paying the fine they send it to Sweden as a service.

Sweden is implementing automated vacuum systems in residential blocks that move the need for collection transport and underground container systems.

ANSWER: Switzerland

Explanation:
Regular rail service through the world's longest tunnel began on 11th Dec, carrying passengers deep under the Swiss Alps from Zurich to Lugano.

The famed Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) had a ceremonial opening in June, attracting European leaders Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande for its maiden ride.

The Swiss national rail service (SBB) had announced that 11th Dec would mark the start of normal commercial traffic through the 57-kilometre (35-mile) GBT.

This took 17 years to build, at a cost of over 12 billion Swiss francs ($11.8 billion, 11.2 billion euros).

Improving connectivity from Rotterdam to Adriatic, the tunnel was largely made possible by technical advances in tunnel-boring machines, which replaced the costly and dangerous blast-and-drill method.

The GBT has surpassed Japan's 53.9-km Seikan tunnel as the world's longest train tunnel.

The 50.5-km Channel Tunnel connecting Britain and France has been pushed into third place.

ANSWER: Bomb Disposal Unit

Explanation:
29-year-old Rafia from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first Pakistani female to join the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) in the restive province that frequently witnesses terror attacks.

Rafia Qaseem Baig, who joined police force as a constable seven years ago, will work in BDU after completing her 15-day training along with 31 other male members at Nowshera's School of Explosive Handling.

During her training, she will learn about the types of bombs, their identification and ways to defuse them.

Rafia, who belongs to a highly educated family, said a blast near a sessions court seven years ago motivated her to join the force.

Rafia chose to join police force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when extremists were overtly targeting security forces.

Rafia was also the only female member of an investigation team that rescued Lady Reading Hospital physician, Dr Intikhab Alam, 48 hours after his abduction in 2010.

More than 600 ladies are serving in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police department in different capacities from junior clerk to deputy superintendent.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
For the first time in the years -old militancy in Kashmir Valley, security forces have been targeted by a Naxal-style IED attack.

This led agencies to brace up against the menace that has claimed numerous lives and maimed several troops in Left Wing Extremism hit areas.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), mainstay for anti-Maoist operations in the country, has rushed a team of its counter-Improvised Explosive Device (IED) experts to train and sensitise its troops, those of the BSF, Jammu and Kashmir Police and others against such blasts.

These are triggered by the notorious 'command-wire' technique.

This technique till now has been used by Naxals to target security forces in the LWE affected areas.

The first of its kind command-wire IED blast was reported about a month back on the night of November 4 when militants targeted a police bullet-proof 'Rakshak' jeep under the Dadasara Police Station area in Awantipora of Pulwama district.

ANSWER: Toll free Helpline

Explanation:
Following a TV channel and a website to promote digital payments, national toll-free helpline number 14444 will soon be launched to provide support for cashless mode of transactions.

Service will be operational within a week. NASSCOM will be aiding the project.

Single nationwide helpline which has been assigned to DoT will now be set up.

Initiatives for Digital Payments

• MeiTY launched free to air Channel DigiShala on Doordarshan’s DTH platform.
• Cashless India website will educate people about digital transactions.
• Digi Dhan Abhiyan has also been launched.
• This is in line with Digital India initiatives.

About NASSCOM


• Abbreviation: NASSCOM
• Formation: 1 March 1988
• Type: NPO
• Purpose: Trade association
• Headquarters: International Youth Centre, Teen Murti Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, Delhi, India
• President: R. Chandrashekhar
• Chairman: CP Gurnani
• Vice Chairman: Raman Roy

ANSWER: 100 Million for 100 Million

Explanation:
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee marked his 81st birthday by launching a ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ Campaign organised by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (December 11, 2016).

Campaign is led by Nobel peace prize winner, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, from Rashtrapati Bhavan, an institution which symbolises the Republic’s commitment to democracy, pluralism and secularism.

This global effort to mobilise 100 million youth for shaping a better future of 100 million children who are less privileged is the beginning of a change which was long overdue.

The ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ Campaign aims to mobilise 100 million youth and children for 100 million underprivileged children across the world, to end child labour, child slavery, violence against children.

It will also promote the right of every child to be safe, free, and educated, over the next 5 years.