Current Affairs Quiz-December, 2019

Notes:
Ilisu Dam is in Turkey. It is one of the Southeastern Anatolia Project which involves 22 dams. The Ilisu Dam is located on the Tigris River. The dam is meant for water storage, flood control and also hydroelectricity generation. It is a concrete face rock filled dam.

Notes:
The recently released Global gender Gap report listed India at the 112^th position. This is lower than last year’s ranking at the 108^th position. The worst performance was by Yemen at the 153^rd position. Iraq and Pakistan took the 152^nd and the 151^st spots respectively.

Notes:
The supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was recently test fired from Odisha’s Chandipur Integrated Test Range. The land based version of the missile was launched from mobile autonomous launcher at Complex- III of the facility. The launch facility is located on the Abdul Kalam Island.

Notes:
The International Astronomical Union had recently named the extra- solar planet, HD 081b, as Santamasa. The exoplanet is in the constellation Sextans. Its name is derived from Sanskrit word ‘santamasa’ which means clouded, in reference to its clouded atmosphere. It is a Jupiter like planet.

Notes:
The exercise ‘Apharan’ was conducted at Port of Kochi. It saw the participation of Indian navy and coast guard. It is an anti- hijacking exercise of the Southern Naval Command. The Cochin Port Trust was also involved in the exercise.

Notes:
The Starliner spacecraft of Boeing is an astronaut capsule. It is being developed as a part of NASA’s commercial crew program. The capsule is intended for transferring astronauts to the International Space Station. It is capable of carrying 7 astronauts.

Notes:
As per the latest report by WADA, there is a 13.1% increase in the anti-doping rule violation (ADRV). The country that has most violation was Italy, followed by France and the US. Russia, which was earlier banned by WADA stands fifth in this list.

Notes:
The applicability of ‘pontifical secrecy’ to sexual abuse of minors was abolished by the current pope, Pope Francis. Pontifical secrecy allows the Roman Catholic Church to keep certain matters in secrecy, like communications between it and papal embassies. This is in accordance with the ‘Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church’.

Notes:
The Archaeopteris is an ancient woody tree. Its fossils were discovered in New York at a quarry site. The species was responsible for the change in oxygen concentration in the Devonian period. It became extinct in the later part of Carboniferous Period.

Notes:
India, Iran and Afghanistan have recently decided to open Mormugoa and New Mangalore Port in addition to the JNPT, Mundra, Kandla and Cochin as part of the designated route under the Chabahar agreement that connects India to strategically located Chabahar port.