Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 December 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 December 2021

::NATIONAL::

Govt set to start process to appoint next CDS; Gen Naravane frontrunner

The government is set to begin the process soon to appoint the next Chief of Defence Staff with Army Chief Gen MM Naravane emerging as the front-runner for the top post that fell vacant following the demise of Gen BipinRawat in a helicopter crash.
The move by the government comes even as a number of retired military commanders said it will be prudent to appoint Gen Naravane as he is retiring as the Chief of Army Staff in five months.
People familiar with the development on Thursday said the government will draw up a small panel comprising senior commanders from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
The panel will be finalised based on recommendations from the three services in the next two to three days and then it will be sent to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for approval.
Following the approval by the defence minister, the names will be sent for consideration by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet that will take the final decision on India's next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), those familiar with the development said.
They said the Chief Of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs Of Staff Committee (CISC) is likely to coordinate the process of drawing up the panel of prospective candidates for the post of the Chief of Defence Staff.
Explaining the process, they said the government will follow the same protocol for the appointment of the CDS that is laid down for appointing the service chiefs.
The CDS is the chairman of the powerful Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) that also comprises the three service chiefs.

::INTERNATIONAL::

US officials to discuss tightening Iran sanctions in UAE as nuclear talks stall

The United States will send a senior government delegation to the United Arab Emirates next week to meet with banks over concerns about Iran sanctions compliance, a State Department spokesperson said on Thursday, as nuclear talks with Iran stall.
The move suggests Washington is looking to crank up economic pressure on Tehran amid Western doubts about Tehran's determination to salvage the 2015 nuclear accord.
It also comes as the UAE, a U.S. ally, works to improve ties with neighbour Iran in a bid to contain regional tensions.
The U.S. delegation, which will include the head of the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, Andrea Gacki, will warn banks in the UAE that have business with Iran and are not in compliance with the sanctions.
A State Department spokesperson said the United States had evidence of non-compliance, and that the banks could later be sanctioned or penalised over their dealings.
UAE authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
The UAE, which has business ties to Iran stretching back over a century, had in 2018 said it was fully complying with sanctions reimposed on Iran after then-U.S. president Donald Trump quit the nuclear agreement.
Under the pact, Iran agreed with major powers that it would curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international economic sanctions.
About a year after Washington reimposed sanctions, Iran started violating the nuclear restrictions. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

::ECONOMY::

Shaktikanta Das to start his extended 3-year tenure as RBI governor

Shaktikanta Das will start his extended three-year tenure as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor from Friday. The decision for this extension was taken by the appointments committee of the cabinet headed by Prime Minister NarendraModi.
"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the reappointment of Shaktikanta Das as Reserve Bank of India Governor for three years beyond 10.12.2021 or until further orders, whichever is earlier," according to an official statement on October 29.
During his ongoing role as the central bank's governor, Das played a crucial role in steering the Indian economy amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. Under his supervision, the RBI announced over 100 measures to maintain financial stability and push growth during the pandemic.
Das was appointed as the central bank's governor in December 2018. According to news agency PTI, this extension is longer than the norm of a two-year term in the last 20 years.
He is the fifth governor to get tenure this long as RBI governors are usually given a five-year term.
If completed, Shaktikanta Das will be the longest-serving governor of the central bank after Sir Benegal Rama Rau, who was in office for 7 years and 197 days between July 1, 1949, and January 14, 1957.
Before him, the other four governors who served office for more than five years were BimalJalan, James Taylor, BP Bhattacharya and CD Deshmukh.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Picked for Nasa’s astronaut class, Indian origin Anil Menon is with SpaceX too

Nasa-turned-SpaceX flight surgeon Anil Menon is among the 10 latest trainee astronauts who will join the 2021 class of the American space agency as it plans for the first human missions to the moon in more than 50 years.
Apart from Anil Menon, a firefighter turned Harvard professor, a former member of the national cycle team and a pilot who led the first-ever all-woman F-22 formation in combat have been picked by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for its new astronaut candidate class in four years.
They were chosen among the more than 12,000 applicants and will now report for duty in January at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, where they will undergo two years of training.
Born to Indian and Ukrainian parents and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Menon is a lieutenant colonel in the US air force and was SpaceX’s first flight surgeon.
He served Nasa as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions on the International Space Station (ISS). Menon started as a Nasa flight surgeon in 2014 and supported four long-duration crew members on ISS as the deputy crew surgeon for Soyuz missions Soyuz 39 and Soyuz 43 and prime crew surgeon for Soyuz 52.

::SPORTS::

Spurs Premier League match at Brighton postponed due to COVID-19

Tottenham Hotspur have had a second match postponed this week after the Premier League agreed to call off Sunday's game at Brighton & Hove Albion due to a number of COVID-19 cases at the London club.
Spurs had their Europa Conference League game at home to StadeRennais on Thursday called off by UEFA on Wednesday after the club said they had 13 positive coronavirus cases -- eight players and five members of staff.
"The Premier League Board has taken the decision to postpone the game following guidance from medical advisers, with the health of players and staff the priority," the league said in a statement.