Current Affairs and General Knowledge Test 12

Which of the following statements is/are true about the forthcoming Academy (Oscar) Awards according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences?
I.          Will Smith and Reese Witherspoon will co-host the awards ceremony?
II.         This will be the 82^nd Academy Awards
III.        The Academy Awards will have ten nominations for the Best Picture Award

Which Judge was in news recently for his voluntary withdrawal from the three member bench hearing the Reliance gas dispute case in the Supreme Court?

Who has taken over as the Director of Operations at the Bangalore based National Cricket Academy in place of his predecessor Dave Whatmore who joined IPL team Kolkata Knight Raiders recently?

Which ship was in news recently for its detention along the Alang coast in Gujarat and its inspection by a Central technical team following allegations that it carried radioactive or hazardous waste?

Which ASEAN head of state was in news recently for appointing former Thailand Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra as his personal adviser?

In which of his one day international (ODI) matches did Sachin Tendulkar become the first cricketer to reach the milestone of 17,000 runs recently?

 The government recently ordered the sending back of over 25000 unskilled and semi-skilled Chinese labourers working on projects in India because: 

President of which country in South America was in news recently for sacking the head of the armed forces after warning of a coup against him/her?

What is the US Navy ship built with steel salvaged from the World Trade Center and put into service recently is named?

Where was the Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) organised recently and which President did not attend following his indictment by the International Criminal Court for war crimes?

Who was conferred with the �The Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film� at the BAFTA/LA Britannia awards recently?

Who won the WTA championships at Doha recently?

Cabinet of which SAARC country recently approved the Vested Property Return (Amendment) Act 2009 for restoring property seized from minority groups decades ago?

Which country in Asia has decided to shift its capital to a different yet to be identified location after warning from seismologists that it is liable to be struck by a catastrophic earthquake in the foreseeable future?

A new postage stamp was introduced on which of the following medical institutions by India Post recently?

Madhu Koda, who was in news recently for investigations into his amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, was the Chief Minister of Jharkhand during ?

Mark out the wrong combination of Ministers and their portfolios in Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's new Cabinet sworn in recently?

The Jamnalal Bajaj Awards were announced by the Jamnalal Foundation in four categories recently. Which of the following combinations of winners and categories is incorrect?

Which cricketer became the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy with a tally of 7,640 runs recently?

Which of the following awards and their winners at the 11^th Mumbai Film Festival organised recently is/are incorrect?

Who was leased land for her charity � Raising Malawi � for 99 years by the Government of African country Malawi recently?

President Pratibha Patil went on an official visit to Cyprus recently. Which of the following statements is/are true regarding Cyprus?
I.          Demetris Christofis is the President of Cyprus
II.         Cyprus has supported India's claim for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council
III.        A third of the territory of Cyprus is occupied by Greece following a military intervention by the latter in 1974.

The General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba recently. Which of the following statements about Cuba is/are correct?
I.          The resolution passed by the General Assembly is non-binding
II.         187 countries voted in support, three opposed and two abstained
III.        Barack Obama announced the lifting of US trade embargo against Cuba in 2010

Which of the following is/are true regarding the information technology product BOSS developed to promote use of computing in India recently?
I.          BOSS stands for Bharat Operating System Software
II.         It is based on Linux
III.        It was developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)

Which of the following is/are true regarding the 2009 Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize that was announced recently?
I.          India's Pramod Kumar Aggarwal and Brazil's Carlos Clemente Cerri are the co-winners of the prize
II.         Pramod Kumar Aggarwal is a scientist at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
III.        The two winners of this year's prize will share the $100,000 prize money

China was in news recently for dispatching two new naval warships to the piracy-hit Gulf of Aden to protect its merchant ships sailing in these waters. The Gulf of Aden is the gateway to which of the following?

Who was appointed first Goodwill Ambassador of the 'Smile Train,' an international charity that provides free cleft lip and palate surgery to children in need recently?

'Remembrance Day', which was on November 11, recently, is observed to commemorate the end of which of the following wars?

Who was honoured with the �Hero of Russia� Award by President Dmitry Medvedev recently?

Where in Assam has the Indian Air Force (IAF) operationalised its nuclear-capable Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets at a newly refurbished airbase recently?

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) dropped Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan from the Polit Bureau for violating the organisational principles and discipline earlier this year. Which of the following statements is/are true about the party?
I.          Prakash Karat is the Secretary-General of the party
II.         Sitaram Yechuri is Leader of the party in Lok Sabha
III.        Basudev Acharia is Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha

One of the key components of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is to provide every village in the country with a trained female community health activist - 'ASHA' who are trained to work as an interface between the community and the public health system. What does ASHA stand for?

Who became the first woman to be appointed Additional Solicitor-General to the government of India earlier this year?

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated the regional hub of the National Security Guard (NSG) that will cater to the Western India at the Police Training Academy, Mumbai recently. Which of the following statements about the NSG is/are true?
I.          The NSG consists of two divisions Special Response Group and the Special Action Group
II.         The Special Action Group looks after VVIP security
III.        'Sarvatra Sarvottam Surakhsha' is the motto of NSG

Actor Nandita Das was appointed chairperson of the Children's Films Society of India (CFSI) for a term of three years recently. Which of the following statements about her is/are true?
I.          She is the first woman chairperson of CFSI
II.         She made her debut as a Director with the film 'Bawandar' recently
III.        She was conferred the 'Chavalier des Arts et des Lettres' by the French Government recently

Actor Nandita Das was appointed chairperson of the Children's Films Society of India (CFSI) for a term of three years recently. Which of the following statements about the CFSI is/are true?
I.          The CFSI was founded in 1955
II.         Mohan Kaul was the first President of CFSI
III.        'Jaldeep', which went on to win the first prize at the 1957 Venice Film Festival for Children's Films, was the first movie produced by CFSI

Which of the following is the committee appointed by the Maharashtra government to probe the November 26, 2008 terror strikes in Mumbai that submitted its report to the state government earlier this year?

India's first nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant or the Advanced Technology Vessel was unveiled recently. Which of the following statements about INS Arihant is/are true?
I.          It was built under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam
II.         It was launched on the Birth Anniversary of former PM, Indira Gandhi
III.        Arihant in Sanskrit translates into king of the seas

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 18 July as which of the following recently?

'200 One Dollar Bills' - a painting by which artiste was sold for a record $43.8 million in an auction at New York recently?

The Central Zoo Authority in India has issued a binding directive prohibiting the keeping of which of the following animal/animals in zoos and circuses in the country?

NASA test fired its Ares I-X rocket recently as part of its program, which is slated to replace its aging space-shuttle fleet. What is this program called?

Which of the following statements is/are correct about 'Woman of Peace Award' given at the 10^th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates recently?
I.          The Summit was organised in Berlin
II.         Singer Shania Twain is the winner
III.        The winner received the award for her work in raising awareness of the HIV/AIDS impact on women and children, especially in South Africa, through her SING campaign