Notes:
Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ordered experts to find a method to extinguish a fire in the Darvaza gas crater.
Also known as the ‘Gateway to Hell’, it is a huge natural gas crater. It is located in the Karakum desert, 260 kilometres away from Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat. The Gas Crater has been burning for the last 50 years.

Notes:
A western disturbance is an extra-tropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region. It is said to bring winter rain to the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted an intense Western Disturbance to affect Northwest India, triggering rainfall. Later, it also predicted two western disturbances would bring rain across northwest India and the western Himalayan region for a few days.

Notes:
The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Education.
Professor Raghuvendra Tanwar has been recently appointed as Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), for a period of three years or until further order. The aim of the council is to give directions to historical research and to encourage objective and scientific writing of history.

Notes:
Red Sanders (Red Sandalwood) is a tree species endemic to the Eastern Ghats mountain range of South India.
The tree (Pterocarpus santalinus) has recently classified back into the ‘endangered’ category in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. The species found in Chittoor, Kadapa, Nandhyal, Nellore, Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh has been assessed as ‘endangered’.

Notes:
Indian Poet and Diplomat Abhay K has found that the ‘Ibonia’ of Madagascar resembles the Indian epic ‘Ramayana’ in its grand plot.
Ibonia is an epic poem of Madagascar, which narrates the story of birth, betrothal, struggle and death of its hero Ibonia. His betrothed wife Rampela was abducted by Ravato in similar lines with Ramayana. There are over 300 similar words between Sanskrit and the Malagasy Language.