EU lawmakers on  Dec 12 present a top rights prize to Mahsa Amini, whose death in Iranian custody sparked mass protests, but her family won't attend after being blocked by Tehran.

The award -- also for the broader "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement -- is the latest international recognition for the women challenging Iran's religious government after jailed activist Narges Mohammadi was given the Nobel Peace Prize.

Amini's mother, father and brother will miss the ceremony at the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg as Iran's authorities confiscated their passports and barred them from flying to collect the EU's Sakharov Prize.

Iranian Kurd Amini died on September 16, 2022 at the age of 22 while being held by Iran's religious police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

Her death triggered major protests in Iran and a global movement known as "Woman, Life, Freedom", calling for the end of the Muslim cleric-led government in Tehran and its imposition of headscarves on women.

Iranian security forces have cracked down on the protests domestically, killing hundreds, and have executed dozens for allegedly participating in what officials have called "riots".

The refusal by Iran's government to let Amini's family attend has caused outrage among EU lawmakers, who said Tehran is seeking to stifle her supporters.

Amini's family will instead be represented by their Iranian lawyer Saleh Nikbakht at the ceremony.

Two prominent activists living in exile outside Iran -- Afsoon Najafi and Mersedeh Shahinkar -- will also pick up the award in the name of the broader movement.

Najafi's sister died during the anti-government protests that swept Iran in the wake of Amini's death. Shahinkar was shot in the eye by security forces.

Nobel peace prize winner Mohammadi -- who has been detained since 2021 in Tehran's Evin prison -- was also unable to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

The United Nations mission in Mali officially ended a 10-year deployment in the country on  Dec 11 , its spokesperson Fatoumata Kaba  said, in a pullout ordered by Mali's military leaders.

The mission, known as MINUSMA, lowered the UN flag at its headquarters in the capital Bamako.

Mali's ruling junta, which seized power in 2020, in June demanded the departure of the mission, despite being in the grip of jihadist violence and other crises.

The withdrawal of the UN stabilisation mission, in place since 2013, has ignited fears that fighting will intensify between troops and armed factions for territorial control.

MINUSMA has for the past decade maintained around 15,000 soldiers and police in Mali.

About 180 members have been killed in hostile circumstances, mostly blamed on armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group.

After seizing power, Mali's junta ditched the country's alliance with former colonial power France, preferring rapprochement with Moscow.

That followed months of deteriorating relations.

The junta has also distanced itself from Mali's hitherto close European partners, notably France, and drawn closer to Niger and Burkina Faso -- both now also run by military regimes with deepening ties to Russia after recent coups.

The Reserve Bank of India on  Dec 12  increased the limit for automatic payments through UPI to Rs 1 lakh per transaction from the existing Rs 15,000 for certain categories, including subscription to mutual funds.

As of now, relaxation in Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) is permitted while processing e-mandates/standing instructions on cards, prepaid payment instruments and UPI (Unified Payments Interface), for subsequent recurring transactions with values up to Rs 15,000.

UPI has emerged as a preferred mode of payment for a large section of the population with over 11.23 billion transactions recorded in November.

An announcement in this regard was made by Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, while unveiling the December bi-monthly monetary policy last week.

The Reserve Bank on Dec 11 cautioned the public not to fall prey to misleading advertisements related to loan waiver offers in print media as well as on social media platforms.

In a statement, the RBI said it has noticed certain misleading advertisements enticing borrowers by offering loan waivers. These entities, it said, seem to be actively promoting many such campaigns across the print media as well as social media platforms.

There are also reports of such entities charging a service/legal fee for issuing 'debt waiver certificates' without any authority.

The central bank further said that in certain locations, campaigns related to debt waiver offers are being run by a few persons, which undermines the efforts of banks to enforce their rights.

RBI cautioned that associating with such entities can result in direct financial losses.

Members of the public are cautioned not to fall prey to such false and misleading campaigns and report such incidents to law enforcement agencies, the central bank said.

Q1. Vishnu Deo Sai is the  second tribal chief minister of Chhattisgarh after late Ajit Jogi, who was the first Congress CM of the state in

1. 1996
2. 2000
3. 2004
4. 2014
5. None of These

Q2. Name the  United Nations Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan who has  condemned the lack of accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and human rights violations ?

1. Cherif Bassiouni
2. John Knox
3. Richard Bennett
4. Mary Lawlor
5. None of These

Q3. Name the University of Pennsylvania’s president who  has resigned amid pressure from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy ?

1. Ivy League
2. Scott Bok
3. Liz Magill
4. Radhika Coomaraswamy
5. None of These

Q4. India's coal imports in the April-October period of the ongoing financial year has been  dropped 4.2 per cent to

1. 148.13 Million Tonnes (MT)
2. 168.14 Million Tonnes (MT)
3. 178.15 Million Tonnes (MT)
4. 185 .17 Million Tonnes (MT)
5. None of These

Q5.  Who has been appointed  as the new chief minister of Rajasthan ?

1. Vasundhara Raje
2. Diya Kumari
3. Prem Chand Bairwa
4. Bhajanlal Sharma
5. None of These

Answers

1----------------------------2   2000

2----------------------------3    Richard Bennett

3----------------------------3  Liz Magill

4----------------------------1   148.13 Million Tonnes (MT)

5----------------------------4     Bhajanlal Sharma

Vishnu Deo Sai, 59, a senior tribal leader and former Union minister, will be the next chief minister of Chhattisgarh after he was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in Raipur on Dec 10 

Former chief minister Raman Singh proposed Sai’s name, which was seconded by state BJP president Arun Sao and senior MLA Brijmohan Agrawal at the party state office.

After getting elected unopposed as CM-designate, Sai met Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan at the Rajbhavan to stake claim to form the government with 54 members in the newly elected House in Chhattisgarh.

Sai will be the second tribal chief minister of Chhattisgarh after late Ajit Jogi, who was the first Congress CM of the state in November 2000.

Sai hails from Bagiya village in Sarguja division, where the BJP snatched all 14 seats from the Congress.

In an open endorsement to ‘dynastic politics’, BSP chief Mayawati  has declared her nephew Akash Anand as her political heir. Twenty-seven-year-old Akash, an MBA from London, has been active in the party since 2017 and, at present, he is a national coordinator. He is the son of Mayawati’s younger brother Anand Kumar. 

The first giraffe born in Assam has finally got a name. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma christened the calf as “Parijat”. It was born at the Assam State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden, widely known as Guwahati Zoo, in mid-November.

The calf is the offspring of Vijay and Vijaya. Vijay was brought from Mysore in 2019 and Vijaya from Patna in 2022 under an animal exchange programme.