Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 21, 2017

ANSWER: Britain

Explanation:
India's nominee to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Dalveer Bhandari was on Monday re-elected to the fifth and the last seat of the world court after Britain withdrew its candidate from the election.

Mr. Bhandari received 183-193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all the 15 votes in the Security Council after separate and simultaneous elections were held at the UN headquarters in New York.

The elections were held after United Kingdom, in a dramatic turn of events, withdrew out of the race for the Hague-based ICJ, thus paving the way for Mr. Bhandari's re-election to the prestigious world court.

Mr. Bhandari and Britain's Christopher Greenwood were locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election to the ICJ.

The permanent members of the Security Council - USA, Russia, France and China - were understood to have been throwing their weight behind Mr. Greenwood. The UK is the fifth permanent member of the Security Council.

Congratulating Justice Bhandari, the UK said it will continue to cooperate closely with India at the United Nations and globally.

Britain's withdrawal from the election to the prestigious world court would mean that there will not be a British judge on the UN's most powerful court for the first time in its history.

ANSWER: AC/DC

Explanation:
Malcolm Young, the rhythm guitarist and guiding force behind the hard rock band AC/DC who helped create such head-banging anthems as "Highway to Hell," "Hells Bells" and "Back in Black," has died. He was 64.

AC/DC were remarkably consistent for over 40 years with its mix of driving hard rock, lyrics and bluesy shuffles, selling over 200 million albums, surviving the loss of its first singer and creating one of the greatest rock records ever in "Back in Black," the world's second best-selling album behind Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 2003.

The Glasgow-born Young brothers who moved to Sydney, Australia, with their parents, sister and five older brothers in 1963 formed the band in 1973.

They were inspired to choose the high-energy name AC/DC from the back of a sewing machine owned by their sister, Margaret.

By 1980, the band was on a roll, known for its high energy performances and predictably hard-charging songs.

The band continued with a studio or live album every few years, blending their huge guitar riffs with rebellious and often sophomoric lyrics song titles include "Big Balls," "Beating Around the Bush," "Let Me Put My Love Into You" and "Stiff Upper Lip."

AC/DC won a Grammy Award, for best hard rock performance in 2009 for "War Machine."

ANSWER: Jana Novotna

Explanation:
Czech tennis player Jana Novotna, a Wimbledon champion in 1998 and 16-time Grand Slam winner in doubles and mixed doubles, has died at the age of 49 after a long battle with cancer, the Women's Tennis Association announced on 20^th Nov 2017.

Novotna entered the tennis Hall of Fame in 2005.

In a career spanning 14 years on the professional circuit that included 24 WTA singles titles and 76 doubles titles, Novotna finally won her only singles Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 1998 after losing in the final in 1993 and 1997.

She won the hearts of fans around the world when she burst into tears after throwing away what looked like a certain victory against Steffi Graf in the 1993 final when on the verge of winning and was consoled afterwards by a British duchess.

Novotna was a three-time Olympic medalist and a member of Czechoslovakia's 1988 Fed Cup championship team.

ANSWER: World Bank

Explanation:
The Union Government has signed a guarantee agreement for IBRD/CTF loan of US $98 million and Grant Agreement for US $2 million for Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project with World Bank.

The objective Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project is to increase solar generation capacity through establishment of large-scale parks in the country.

ANSWER: Manmohan Singh

Explanation:
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (85) was selected Indira Gandhi Prize for peace, disarmament and development for his leadership of the country between 2004 and 2014 and for enhancing India's stature globally.

He was unanimously chosen for the award by an international jury chaired by former President Pranab Mukherjee.

Manmohan Singh: Know More

• Manmohan Singh born 26 September 1932


• The first Sikh in office, Singh was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term.


• Born in Gah (now in Punjab, Pakistan), Singh's family migrated to India during its partition in 1947. After obtaining his doctorate in economics from Oxford, Singh worked for the United Nations during 1966-69.


• He subsequently began his bureaucratic career when Lalit Narayan Mishra hired him as an advisor in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.


• Over the 70s, 80s and 90s, Singh held several key posts in the Government of India, such as Chief Economic Advisor (1972-76), Reserve Bank governor (1982-85) and Planning Commission head (1985-87) besides FM and Leader of Opposition.

ANSWER: New Delhi

Explanation:
The 42nd World Congress of the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) was held in New Delhi. It was organised by Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The theme of this edition of World Congress is "Military Medicine in Transition: Looking Ahead."

The five-day event was being organised for the first time in India. It was the largest medical conference ever organised by AFMS.

It was attended by around 350-400 foreign delegates from 80 countries

ANSWER: Wastewater

Explanation:
The World Toilet Day (WTD) is observed every year across the world on 19 November to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. The theme for year 2017 is Wastewater.

World Toilet Day is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. Observance of the day seeks to draw attention of people around world to raise global awareness of the daily struggle for proper sanitation which in fact is a human right along with clean water. It is coordinated by United Nations-Water in collaboration with Governments of member countries and relevant stakeholders.

ANSWER: Nagas

Explanation:
Scientists from Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have discovered a new species of parasitic flowering plant named Gleadovia konyakianorum. The species was named in honour of Konyak tribe of Nagas.

The plant was discovered in the semi-evergreen forest at an altitude of 1,500-1,600 metres during an exploration near Tobu town of Mon district in eastern Nagaland.

Parasitic plants are often referred to as curious plants, as they steal their nutritional needs from the host.

ANSWER: Bonn, Germany

Explanation:
The UNFCCC Climate Change Conference (COP23) was held in Bonn, Germany and was presided over by Government of Fiji.

It concluded with countries putting in place a roadmap for 'Talanoa Dialogue', a year-long process to assess countries' progress on climate actions.

The Conference also made progress on framing rules for implementing 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and brought rich nations on board on their pre-2020 commitments as demanded by developing nations.

Talanoa Dialogue: Know More

• The 'Talanoa Dialogue' process would help them review their actions and discuss the way forward. Agreement on this stocktaking process is an important outcome of the Conference.


• It will discuss pre-2020 actions of rich nations apart from looking at the climate actions of all nations under the Paris Agreement.


• 'Talanoa' is a traditional approach used in Fiji and the Pacific to engage in an inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue.


• As per the COP decision, it has been structured around three questions-where are we? Where do we want to go? And how do we get there? - to arrive at answers with consensus. "The dialogue will be conducted in a manner that promotes enhanced ambition.


• The dialogue will consider, as one of its elements, the efforts of Parties (countries) on (mitigation) action and (financial and technical) support, as appropriate, in the pre-2020 period", says an approach paper, adopted by all the countries as part of the final decision.


• The group could force the rich nations to agree for discussing their pre-2020 actions under the 'Talanoa Dialogue' (2018 facilitative dialogue) and bring them on board to get their performance reviewed next year and also in 2019.

ANSWER: Switzerland

Explanation:
Paving the way for India to get instant access to details on Indians with Swiss accounts, a key parliamentary panel in Switzerland has approved an automatic information exchange pact between the two countries.

The Commission for Economic Affairs and Taxes of the Council of States-a key panel of the Swiss Parliament's Upper House-approved the proposed pact with India as also with 40 other countries, but suggested strengthening the provisions for individual legal claims.

How It Works

• The Commission for Economic Affairs and Taxes of the Council of States approved the proposed pact with India as also with 40 other countries, but suggested strengthening the provisions for individual legal claims.


• It has asked the Swiss government to submit to Parliament an amendment "to strengthen concrete individual legal protection and to ensure that no exchange of information can take place for individual cases where a violation of essential legal claims is likely".


• The pact will help provide a continuous access to details about alleged black money hoarders in once-all-secret Swiss banks.


• The information that could be exchanged under this framework would include account number, name, address, date of birth, tax identification number, interest, dividend, receipts from insurance policies, credit balance in accounts and proceeds from sale of financial assets.


• The exchange will work like this-If an Indian has a bank account in Switzerland, the bank concerned will disclose the financial account data to authorities there; the Swiss authority will forward the information to its peer in India who can then examine the person's details.