VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF DECEMBER 1^st , 2018

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF DECEMBER 1^st , 2018

1.      (1st December) is World AIDS Day.

a.       This day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection, and mourning those who have died of the disease. 

b.       According to a report by the UN International Children's Emergency Fund, Indians make up over 90% HIV-infected kids and teens in South Asia. An estimated 1,20,000 children and adolescents aged 0-19 were living with HIV in India in 2017, followed by Pakistan's 5,800, Nepal's 1600 and Bangladesh's less than 1000. 

c.       Globally, 3 million children and adolescents are living with HIV. 

d.       Theme of World Aids Day 2018 :  “Know Your Status”

e.       Importance of this year's Theme : UNAIDS estimates that more than 9.4 million people living with HIV still do not know their status.

f.        Important Note :

i)       World AIDS Day is one of the eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO).

ii)     Remaining are,

(1)  World Health Day,

(2)  World Blood Donor Day,

(3)  World Immunization Week,

(4)  World Tuberculosis Day,

(5)  World No Tobacco Day,

(6)  World Malaria Day and

(7)  World Hepatitis Day.

2.      Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for the RIC (Russia-India-China) Trilateral Summit at the leaders' level after 12 years. 

a.       The meeting took place on sidelines of the G20 Summit. 

b.       During this summit, the three leaders discussed a wide range of subjects that would cement the friendship between the nations.

c.       After the meet, PM Modi termed Japan, America and India as 'JAI'. In Hindi, which means success.

3.      The UK government has confirmed an amendment to a new weapons bill going through the Parliament to ensure that it does not impact the right of the British Sikh community to possess and supply kirpans, or religious swords. 

a.       The Offensive Weapons Bill 2018 has now been sent to the House of Lords for approval.

4.      Australia has become the 1st country in the world to recognise 'Orphanage Trafficking' as a form of Modern Slavery. 

a.       Children from smaller countries are recruited in orphanages in the West for the purpose of profit through foreign aid. 

b.       As per estimates, 80% of children living in the world's orphanages have at least one living parent.

5.      4 Indian-origin women have been named in Forbes 'America's Top 50 Women In Tech' list. They are :

a.       Padmasree Warrior - Former Cisco Chief Technology Officer (CTO) 

b.       Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan - Founder, CEO of identity-management company Drawbridge 

c.       Neha Narkhede - Co-founder, CTO of streaming platform Confluent 

d.       Komal Mangtani - Senior Director at Uber.

6.      American multinational technology company  Microsoft dethroned Apple as the world's most valuable company after its market value was above Apple's at the close of trading at $851.2 billion, compared to Apple's $847.4 billion. 

7.      US President Donald Trump, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau signed the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

a.       This will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 

b.       USMCA will govern over a trillion dollars worth of trade between the three countries. 

8.      India's Olympic gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra became the 1st Indian to be honoured with the Blue Cross by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) for his contribution to the sport of shooting. 

a.       Note : The Blue Cross is the highest laurel for shooters given by the ISSF. 

9.      The city of Paris will strip Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi of her Freedom of Paris Award over her failure to speak out against a crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.

a.       With this, Suu Kyi would be the 1st person to lose the freedom of Paris award. 

b.       Note : Earlier, Amnesty International stripped Suu Kyi of human rights award.

10.  The 41st President of the US, George HW Bush (94) passed away.

a.       Bush, the last veteran of World War II to serve as President, was officially the longest living President in US history. 

b.       He had also served as the US Vice President for eight years.

11.  British World War II veteran and political activist Harry Leslie Smith (95). 

a.       Smith was an outspoken human rights activist and worked as an advocate of National Health Service to protect refugees.

12.  David Tait has been appointed as the next Chef Executive Officer (CEO) of the World Gold Council. 

a.       He is going to replace Aram Shishmanian, who served as CEO over the last 10 years.

13.  Norway’s Magnus Carlsen retained his title as World Chess Champion beating US opponent Fabiano Caruana in a tie-breaker event at the World Chess Championship held in London. 

a.       Magnus Carlsen has won the Chess Championship thrice earlier. 

14.  Varsha Varman of Madhya Pradesh, has won the Women’s Trap Gold at the ongoing 62nd National Championship for Shotgun events in New Delhi.