Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 24, 2023

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: B

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: B

• Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has launched AI model named SeamlessM4T.
• SeamlessM4T is the first all-in-one multimodal and multilingual AI translation model that allows people to communicate effortlessly through speech and text across different languages.
• This single model can perform speech-to-text, speech-to-speech, text-to-speech, and text-to-text translations for up to 100 languages depending on the task.
• It supports
  • Speech recognition for nearly 100 languages
  • Speech-to-text translation for nearly 100 input and output languages
  • Speech-to-speech translation, supporting nearly 100 input languages and 36 (including English) output languages
  • Text-to-text translation for nearly 100 languages
  • Text-to-speech translation, supporting nearly 100 input languages and 35 (including English) output languages.
• Compared to approaches using separate models, SeamlessM4T’s single system approach reduces errors and delays, increasing the efficiency and quality of the translation process.

ANSWER: A

• The African Union has suspended Niger’s membership in the wake of the military coup.
• Earlier The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had also imposed sanctions on the country.

ABOUT AFRICAN UNION

• The African Union (AU) is a continental body made up of the countries of the African Continent.
• It was officially launched in 2002 in Durban, South Africa and replaced the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was founded in 1963.
• The African Union is made up of 55 member states.
• Headquarters: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Aim- To promote unity, cooperation, and development among African nations while advancing the continent’s interests on the global stage.
• The highest decision-making body is the Assembly, which consists of the heads of state and government of member countries.
• AU Member States are divided into five geographic regions which were defined by the OAU in 1976.

ANSWER: D

• Rajasthan got its fifth tiger reserve as National Tiger Conservation Authority gave its final approval to Dholpur-Karauli Reserve.
  • It will be India’s 54^th Tiger Reserve.
• The Karauli-Sarmathura-Dholpur sanctuary in Rajasthan has been officially designated areas as Dholpur-Karauli Tiger Reserve.

• The other four tiger reserves in Rajasthan: Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve, Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and Sariska Tiger Reserve.

• The new tiger reserve will span 1,058 sq km, including 368 sq km of core area and 690 sq km of buffer.
• The forest areas designated to be declared as a tiger reserve currently have nine tigers.

Note-

• Project Tiger, launched in 1973, has expanded its coverage to 53 tiger reserves across 18 of our tiger range states covering a total area of 75,796.83 sq km(2.3% of India’s geographical area).

ANSWER: A

• A positive Indian Ocean Dipole pattern has started to emerge to the northwest of Australia, increasing the likelihood of abnormally warm and dry weather over large parts of Australia.

ABOUT INDIAN OCEAN DIPOLE

• The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) refers to an index that measures sea surface temperatures across eastern and western tropical Indian Ocean.
• It is also called Indian Nino.
• A positive IOD occurs when warmer than average water builds up in the western tropical Indian Ocean, near the Horn of Africa, and unusually cold water lies in the eastern Indian Ocean, near Indonesia.
• By contrast, negative IOD events occur when abnormally cool water lies near the Horn of Africa and unusually warm water sits near Indonesia.
• The positive IOD event is known to help the South-West monsoon and rainfall in African coast and vice versa.

ANSWER: C

• International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is observed annually on August 23^rd.
• Theme of the day this year is “Fighting slavery’s legacy of racism through transformative education”
• Brief history- An uprising began in Saint Domingue, today’s Haiti, on August 23, 1791, that played a pivotal role in ending the transatlantic slave trade.

ANSWER: C

• A rare black eagle has been spotted for the first time in the lush Chail wildlife sanctuary located in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district.

ABOUT BLACK EAGLE (ICTINAETUS MALAIENSIS)

• It belongs to the family Accipitridae.
• It is the only member of the genus Ictinaetus.
• These are large and distinctive dark eagles of forested mountains and hills.
• The distinguishing feature of the majestic bird is its striking yellow beak, a vibrant contrast to its black feathers.
• They hunt mammals and birds, particularly at their nests.
• Global distribution- Found in in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South and Southeast Asia, as well as southeastern China.
  • In India, they are found in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, forests of the Eastern and Western Ghats in peninsular India.
• A Unique behaviour of the black eagle is – a preference for the treetop canopy, where it seemingly finds its perfect perch amidst the foliage.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN red list: Least concern

ABOUT CHAIL SANCTUARY

• It is home to a variety of species such as the pine pheasant, barking deer, leopard, ghoral and sambar.
• It is spread over 110 sq. km.
• The park is also home to a variety of birds. Cheer pheasant and kalij pheasant are the most popular birds that can be sighted in the sanctuary.
• Golden eagle and grey headed flycatcher can also be seen flying.