Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 22 September 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

Facebook India said it has appointed former IAS officer Rajiv Aggarwal as the director of public policy to define and lead policy development initiatives for Facebook in India.
His role focuses on user safety, data protection and privacy, inclusion and internet governance. Aggarwal will report to Ajit Mohan, vice president and managing director, Facebook India, and will be a part of the India leadership team.
He joins Facebook from Uber, where he was the head of public policy for India and South Asia.
Aggarwal comes with 26 years of experience as an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), working from grassroots to global level, including as a district magistrate in nine districts across the state of Uttar Pradesh.
During his tenure as an administrative officer, he steered India's first ever national policy on intellectual property rights (IPRs) as joint secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (M/o Commerce), and was instrumental in the digital transformation of India’s IP offices. He has been closely associated with the India-US bilateral trade forum, besides being India’s lead negotiator on IPRs with other nations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a third term in Canada’s snap election though fell short of regaining the majority he was seeking, forcing him to rely on smaller parties in another fragmented parliament.
Trudeau’s Liberal Party was elected or leading in 158 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, with 99% of the polls reporting. That’s one more seat than he won in the last vote in 2019. The main opposition Conservatives, under Erin O’Toole, won 119 seats, two fewer than last time.
For a second straight election, though, the Liberals lost the popular vote to the Conservatives and won only because of a strong showing in Toronto, Montreal and other cities.
“This points to ongoing heavy fiscal support and some upside bias towards wider deficits in the medium term,” Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, said by email. “Of course, since it seems we will be dealing with a minority government, the specifics will remain fluid.”
Other initiatives expected to be brought forward quickly include new regulations that will compel media stream services and social platforms like Netflix Inc. and TikTok Inc. to finance and promote Canadian content. Trudeau had introduced a bill to regulate the sector in the previous parliament that never won passage through the Senate before the election was called.
In his victory speech early Tuesday morning in Montreal, Trudeau likened the election result to voters sending parliamentarians “back to work.”

The share of Zee Entertainment (ZEEL) zoomed 25% on Wednesday, after the company announced a merger with Sony Pictures India. According to Livemint, the stock jumped to its 52-week high of 319.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). At National Stock Exchange (NSE) too, ZEEL was trading at its 52-week high of 319.60.
ZEEL said on Wednesday that its board of directors has unanimously provided an in-principle approval for the merger with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI).
"The board has evaluated not only on financial parameters but also on the strategic value which the partner brings to the table. The board concluded that the merger will be in the best interest of all the shareholders and stakeholders," it said in a statement.
According to the deal that's struck between the two companies, Sony will hold a majority stake of 52.93% in the merged entity. ZEEL will be left with 47.07% of the stake.
SPNI will also infuse $1.575 billion in the entity, ZEEL said in a filing.
ZEEL and SPNI have entered into a non-binding term sheet to combine both companies' linear networks, digital assets, production operations and programme libraries.
"The merger is in line with ZEEL's strategy of achieving higher growth and profitability as a leading media and entertainment company across South Asia," according to a statement from ZEEL.

The researchers explained that this paint can be used to cover an entire roof area of nearly 1,000 square feet that would equal to the cooling power of 10 kilowatts, which is more powerful than the air conditioners used in houses.
New research done at a laboratory at Purdue University in the United States has led to the production of the whitest paint in the world. This paint due to its extreme white shade has the capability to gradually reduce or even omit the need for air conditioning, scientists said.
According to a report by South China Morning Post, the paint has now made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the whitest ever formed.
According to the South China Morning Post report, the paint reflects 98.1 per cent of solar radiation while also emitting infrared heat. As per the mechanism is concerned, the researchers explained that the paint takes in less heat from sunlight that it emits, thus allowing a surface coated with the paint underneath the surrounding temperature to cool off without consuming any power.
The researchers explained that this paint can be used to cover an entire roof area of nearly 1,000 square feet that would equal to the cooling power of 10 kilowatts. “That’s more powerful than the air conditioner used in most houses,” Ruan was quoted as saying by the Post report.

Sharath Kamal, India’s most experienced and accomplished table tennis player, says no player should have problems in setting aside certain number of days every year to attend national camps, but the federation also cannot crack the whip unless they develop a proper system for it.
The issue of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) not fielding No. 1 woman player ManikaBatra in the upcoming Asian championships after she did not attend the national camp has resulted in the player petitioning the Delhi High Court. Batra has sought a stay on the federation directive in August that made it mandatory to attend national camps for selection.