Daily Current Affairs Quiz : December 20, 2023

Notes:
Sultan Haitham bin Tarik was on state visit to India from December 16, 2023. Trade between India and Oman has a history of several millenniums and archaeological excavations in Oman have unearthed evidence to show Indo-Oman trade during the Classical Age dated to circa third century BCE. Later, Oman had links with the Indians through Gujarat, and with Tamilakam along the Malabar Coast. The Sultans of Oman and Zanzibar heavily banked on Kutchi moneylenders such as Jairam Shivji. A large number of Kutchi Bhatias migrated from Kutch to Muscat and from Muscat to Zanzibar.

Notes:
The G7 nations will ban imports of rough diamonds directly from Russia starting January 1, 2024. The ban will also include Russian diamonds that have been processed in third countries starting March 1, 2024. The G7 will also implement a full traceability system by the beginning of September. The restrictions will apply to diamonds of one carat and above, expanding to half a carat or lower from September with traceability systems.

Notes:
The Houthi movement, officially named Ansar Allah or “Supporters of God,” is a Shia Islamist political and military organization originating in Yemen’s Saada Governorate in the 1990s. Belonging to a clan from Yemen’s northwestern Saada province, the Houthis adhere to the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam. Their emergence is linked, in part, to a response against increasing Saudi financial and religious influence. In November 2009, during their rebellion against Yemen’s central government, the Houthis entered Saudi Arabia. Originally led by Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, a Yemeni politician and activist of the Zaydī sect, the movement is rooted in Zaydī revivalism.

Notes:
The Essequibo region is a 159,500 KM² area west of the Essequibo River. The region is disputed by Guyana and Venezuela, and is also known as Esequibo or Guayana Esequiba in Spanish. The territory is controlled by Guyana based on the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award, but is also claimed by Venezuela. Venezuela has long maintained that the 1899 decision to award the region to the UK was unfair. The matter is currently before the International Court of Justice, although Venezuela says the court does not have authority to rule on it. In December 2023, Guyana and Venezuela agreed not to use force to settle their dispute over the oil-rich region. The meeting was brokered by neighboring Brazil, along with CELAC and CARICOM, intergovernmental organizations representing Latin America and the Caribbean nations.

Notes:
A top Chinese think tank warned of a potential “middle-technology trap” where China’s manufacturing sector gets hamstrung at low and mid-end technologies, struggling to catch up on core innovations retained by developed nations. This highlights worries that China may face economic stagnation challenges in transitioning to a high-income economy, as technological constraints persist despite industrial transfers reaping benefits from low-cost advantages so far.