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General Awareness

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Daily G.K. - Top Stories

19 Aug 2021

DAILY G.K. TEST

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INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Taliban Delegation Meets Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai

  • Amid efforts to set up a new government in Afghanistan, a delegation of the Taliban led by Anas Haqqani met former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and other officials.
  • Anas Haqqani, who is a senior leader of the Haqqani Network militant group, held negotiations with Hamid Karzai, the old government's main peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of Afghan Senate Fazal Hadi Muslimyar and others.
  • The Haqqani Network is an important faction of the Taliban based on the border with Pakistan.
  • Hamid Karzai had announced the formation of a coordination council along with Gulbudeen Hekmatyar and Abdullah Abdullah to look at affairs and smooth transition of power to the Taliban.
  • Afghanistan is currently without a government after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country leading to the Taliban taking over Kabul.

US Freezes Taliban Access to $9.5 Billion Afghan Monetary Reserves

  • The US has frozen nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank and stopped shipments of cash to the nation as it tries to keep a Taliban-led government from accessing the money. As per reports, any central bank assets that the Afghan government has in the US will not be available to the Taliban, which remains on the Treasury Department's sanctions designation list.
  • US sanctions on the Taliban mean that they cannot access any funds. The vast majority of DAB's assets are not currently held in Afghanistan. Most of the rest is in other international accounts and at the Bank for International Settlements, a bank for central banks based in Switzerland, and not physically in DAB vaults, leaving about 0.2 per cent or less of the total accessible to the Taliban.

Nepal's Opposition Party Splits

  • After months of intraparty rift, Nepal's opposition party CPN-UML has formally split as an opposition faction led by Madhav Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal registered a new party named CPN-UML Samajbadi. The new party under Madhav Nepal's chairmanship has 95 central committee members out of which 58 are from CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) led by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
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ENVIRONMENT

China Approves Biggest State-backed Renewable Project for Green Hydrogen

  • The Chinese region of Inner Mongolia has approved a massive power project that will use solar and wind to produce green hydrogen.
  • Inner Mongolia's Energy Administration has given the go ahead to a cluster of plants in the cities of Ordos and Baotou that will use 1.85 gigawatts of solar and 370 megawatts of wind to produce 66,900 tons of green hydrogen a year, the Hydrogen Energy Industry Promotion Association said in a report. Development will begin in October and the projects will be operational in mid-2023.
  • The project, which would produce enough hydrogen output to displace about 180 million gallons of gasoline a year if it were used for fuel cell vehicles, is the biggest yet to be spearheaded by the government.
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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

RBI Issues New Guidelines for Locker in Banks

  • The Reserve Bank came out with revised guidelines for the hiring of lockers under which the liability of banks will be limited to 100 times its annual rent in case of fire, theft, building collapse or frauds by bank employees.
  • As per the revised guidelines, which shall come into effect from January 1, 2022, banks will be required to incorporate a clause in the locker agreement prohibiting the hirer from keeping anything illegal or hazardous in lockers.
  • The revised instructions will be applicable to both new and existing safe deposit lockers and the safe custody of articles facility with the banks.

Tata Steel Commissions its First Steel Recycling Unit in Rohtak

  • Tata Steel has commissioned its new 0.5 MnTPA Steel Recycling Plant at Rohtak, Haryana. The plant has been set up in collaboration with Aarti Green Tech, as a 'Build, Own, Operate' (BOO) partner. It is the first such facility in India, equipped with modern & mechanised equipment such as Shredder, Baler, Material Handler etc. The scrap would be procured from various market segments such as end-of-life vehicles, obsolete households, construction & demolition, industrial etc., through an App FerroHaat.
  • The scrap would then be processed through mechanised equipment and the high-quality processed scrap would be supplied for downstream steel making. Steel produced through the recycled route entails lower carbon emissions, resource consumption & energy utilisation.
  • Simultaneously, Tata Steel has also launched two new brands - Tata FerroBaled and Tata FerroShred for the baled & shredded ferrous scrap produced in its new facility.

TCS: 2nd Indian Company to Cross M-cap of Rs 13 lakh crore

  • Tata Consultancy Services crossed the Rs. 13-lakh crore mark in market capitalisation, recording fresh highs. It recorded a fresh 52-week high of Rs. 3,530.00. The company's M-cap stood at Rs. 13,03,083.32 crore.
  • TCS became the second listed company in India after Reliance Industries and the first information technology (IT) company to cross the Rs. 13 trillion market capitalisation (market-cap) milestone.
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Indian Tops Global Cyber Attacks on Education Sector

  • According to a new report, the education sector in India was attacked significantly more compared to other industries in the month of July globally, experiencing 5,196 attacks per week on average.
  • According to Check Point Research (CPR), by region, organisations in education sector in South Asia experienced the highest volume of attacks. The most targeted countries were India, Italy, Israel, Australia and Turkey.
  • In India, schools, universities and research centres make for attractive targets to cyber criminals because they are often under resourced from a security perspective. The short-notice, on-and-off shift to remote learning exacerbates the security risk.
  • The UK region experienced a 142 per cent increase in weekly cyber attacks on its education sector, while the East Asia region marked a 79 per cent increase.
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SPORTS

U-20 World Athletics Championships: Indian Mixed 4x400m Relay Team Wins Bronze

  • The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team won a bronze to clinch the country's fifth medal in the history of the U-20 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • The Indian quartet of Bharat S, Priya Mohan, Summy and Kapil clocked 3:20.60 seconds to finish third in the final.
  • Nigeria and Poland won the gold and silver medals with timings of 3:19.70 seconds and 3:19.80 seconds, respectively.
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NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Aligarh to be Renamed Harigarh

  • Uttar Pradesh city Aligarh may soon have a new name if a proposal of the district panchayat is accepted by the Uttar Pradesh government. The Zila Panchayat during a meeting unanimously passed a proposal to rename the city to Harigarh.
  • The president of the district unit of Uttar Pradesh Kshatriya Mahasabha, Shailendra Pal Singh, had presented the resolution demanding Aligarh's name change.

Envoys of 4 Nations Present Credentials to President Kovind

  • President Ram Nath Kovind received credentials from four envoys, including those of Austria and the Republic of Korea, in a virtual ceremony.
  • Speaking on the occasion, the President congratulated the envoys on their appointment and conveyed his good wishes to them for a successful tenure in India.
  • Those who presented their credentials were Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See, Ahmed Sule, High Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Katharina Wieser, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria, and Chang Jae-bok, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea.
  • President Kovind noted that India enjoyed close ties with all of them and shared a common vision of peace and prosperity.
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DEFENCE

India and Vietnam Carry Out Bilateral Maritime Drill

  • India and Vietnam navies have carried out bilateral maritime exercise in the South China Sea.
  • Accordingly, Indian Naval Ships INS Ranvijay and INS Kora undertook bilateral maritime exercise with the Vietnam People's Navy frigate VPNS Ly Thai To (HQ-012).
  • The bilateral interaction aimed to consolidate the strong bond shared by the two navies and would be another step towards strengthening India-Vietnam defence relations.
  • The Indian naval ships arrived at Cam Ranh, Vietnam for harbour phase, which included professional interactions with the Vietnam People's Navy, maintaining all Covid-19 protocols.
  • The sea phase included surface warfare exercises, weapon firing drills and helicopter operations.

Navies of India, Australia Ink Document for Boosting Cooperation in Indo-Pacific

  • The Indian and Australian navies signed a document that provides for consolidating shared commitment to promote peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
  • The defence ministry said that the document, 'Joint Guidance for Australia-India Navy to Navy Relationship', is aimed at ensuring a shared approach to regional and global security challenges.
  • The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) allows militaries of the two countries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies, besides facilitating scaling up of overall defence cooperation.
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PERSONS IN NEWS

Samsung Ropes in Alia Bhatt to Endorse Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, Flip3 5G

  • Samsung has signed Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt as the face for its newly announced Galaxy Z series of foldable smartphones for India.
  • Samsung will bring its ultra-premium Galaxy Z Fold3 5G and Galaxy Z Flip3 5G smartphones in India from September.
  • The South Korean tech giant - which competes with Apple in the premium smartphone category - had unveiled the two high-end foldable smartphones at its Galaxy unpacked event last week.
  • Bhatt will be involved in a robust campaign that entails digital and outdoor activations.

Journalist Joe Galloway, Chronicler of Vietnam War Passes Away

  • Longtime American foreign correspondent Joseph L Galloway, best known for his book recounting a pivotal battle in the Vietnam War that was made into a Hollywood movie, has died. He was 79.
  • A native of Refugio, Texas, Galloway spent 22 years as a war correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International, including serving four tours in Vietnam. He then worked for US News & World Report magazine and Knight Ridder newspapers in a series of overseas roles, including reporting from the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
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DAYS AND EVENTS

World Humanitarian Day

  • World Humanitarian Day is marked on August 19 annually to honour humanitarians across the world. The day is observed to pay tribute to people who sacrificed their lives despite the odds and continue to provide protection and life-saving support to people in need. Every year, the United National General Assembly marks the event with a new theme.
  • This day was observed in the memory of the 2003 bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, that claimed 22 lives, including the chief humanitarian in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. World Humanitarian Day is a result of the works of a foundation laid by de Mello along with his family working with co-humanitarians such as France, Switzerland, Japan, and Brazil in Geneva and New York.
  • With 'The Human Race' as a theme this year (2021), the United Nations aims to highlight the global challenges of climate action to stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable population of the world.
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AWARDS AND HONOURS

Mohammad Azam Honoured with National Youth Award

  • Mohammad Azam from Karimnagar district in Telangana has been awarded the National Youth Award by the Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur in Delhi for displaying exemplary leadership qualities. He has conducted several awareness programmes related to blood donation, organ donation and plantation programmes under the Haritha Haram project. The award carries an appreciation certificate and Rs. 50,000 cash.
  • Apart from these, he has also worked on water conservation, construction of soaking pits, works related to the Swachh Bharat mission and government welfare schemes, for the benefit of the people in various villages. He received the 'Indira Gandhi NSS Award' from then President of India Pranab Mukherjee. He was also awarded the Pratibha Puraskar award by the State government in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and the Rashtriya Gaurav Samman Award.

Saket's Amity International School Bags this Year's F1 in Schools Title

  • The fourth edition of F1 in Schools India National Finals 2021 presented by STEM Club India and Time of Sports concluded in August 2021.
  • An official release was shared in this regard, which stated that the National Championships, the team from Amity International School, Saket, titled Team Quantum Racing won the challenge.
  • The first runners-up were Team Helios Racing, Jodhamal Public School from Jammu followed by Team Visionario Ferrari, Gurukul The School from Ghaziabad. The top three teams will represent India in the upcoming World Finals where teams from over 51 countries will participate for the title.
  • F1 in Schools is a Global Educational Initiative by Formula1 for students aged 9-19 who work in teams of 3-6 to design and manufacture a miniature car out of an official F1 model block using CAD/CAM design tools. F1 in Schools is the World's Largest STEM Challenge .
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GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION

Ravi Dahiya Bal Vidyalaya: Tokyo Olympic Silver Medallist's School Renamed

  • To honour the Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, the Delhi Government has renamed Ravi Dahiya's school in the national capital, announced Manish Sisodia. The wrestler's school 'Rajkiya Bal Vidyalaya', which is situated in Adarsh Nagar, has been renamed as 'Ravi Dahiya Bal Vidyalaya'.
  • "A large portrait of Ravi Dahiya will also be installed in this school so that young children are inspired and motivated to have an Olympic dream and bring glory to our great nation," Sisodia added.
  • Ravi Dahiya said that the Delhi government consistently supported him to help him win the Olympic medal.

Supreme Court Allows Women to Appear for NDA Exam

  • The Supreme Court allowed women candidates to appear for National Defence Academy (NDA) entrance exam scheduled on September 5, saying debarring them amounted to gender discrimination.
  • In an interim order, a Bench led by Justice SK Kaul, however, clarified that the results will be subject to the final outcome of the petition.
  • It also directed the Union Public Service Commission to issue an appropriate notification taking into account its order and give it due publicity.
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BOOKS AND AUTHORS

A Book on "OPERATION KHUKRI" Released by CDS Gen Rawat

  • CDS General Bipin Rawat was presented a book "OPERATION KHUKRI" by authors Major General Rajpal Punia & Ms Damini Punia. The book highlights the Indian Army's successful rescue mission in Sierra Leone as part of the United Nations. The year was 2000, Sierra Leone, in West Africa, had been ravaged by years of civil strife. With the intervention of the United Nations, two companies of the Indian Army were deployed in Kailahun as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
  • Operation Khukri was one of the Indian Army's most successful international missions, and this book is a first-hand account by Major Rajpal Punia, who, after three months of impasse and failed diplomacy, orchestrated the operation, surviving the ambush of the RUF in prolonged jungle warfare twice, and returning with all 233 soldiers standing tall.
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TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS

Tourism Ministry Signs Pact with MakeMyTrip, Ibibo to Boost Hospitality Industry

  • The Ministry of Tourism has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MakeMyTrip (India) Private Limited and Ibibo Group Private Limited as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen the hospitality and tourism industry in the aftermath of the coronavisrus pandemic.
  • The Ministry of Tourism has already signed MoUs with EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip and Yatra.com.
  • The primary objective of this MoU is to provide an extensive visibility to accommodation units, which have self-certified themselves on SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness and Training for the Hospitality Industry) on the OTA platform. The MoU also outlines both parties to encourage units to register on NIDHI and thereby on SAATHI and encourage local tourism industry with appropriate safeguards for curbing spread of COVID-19.
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ART AND CULTURE

Monastery of Powerful Anglo Saxon Queen Discovered

  • The site of a lost Anglo Saxon monastery, which may hold the grave of the powerful queen who founded it, has been rediscovered in the heart of the Berkshire village of Cookham. Its most famous resident was the artist Stanley Spencer, who celebrated his native village as a literal paradise on earth in his work—and unknowingly included the site of the lost monastery in the grounds of Holy Trinity church in many paintings.
  • The monastery was one of many established along the banks of the Thames, at the time a major trading route, and a contested boundary between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. Written sources documented its existence and rule by Queen Cynethryth, wife of the Mercian King Offa (of Offa's Dyke fame), a powerful woman ruler and uniquely portrayed on a silver coin in her own right, but the site had been lost. The excavation proves that it was built like the present medieval parish church on a gravel island raising it above the frequent floods on this stretch of the river.
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