Notes:
The Perseverance Mars rover of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has captured the eclipse involving Mars. It captured Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon or satellite, crossing the face of the Sun.
The eclipse was captured with Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera. It lasted a little above 40 seconds, shorter than a solar eclipse involving Earth’s Moon, as Phobos is about 157 times smaller than Earth’s Moon. Deimos, Mars’ another Moon is still smaller.

Notes:
Timor-Leste, or East Timor is a Southeast Asian nation occupying half the island of Timor, with Dili as its Capital.
Nobel Prize winner José Ramos-Horta has scored a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election. The 72-year-old secured 62.09% votes against incumbent Francisco Guterres, as per the secretariat’s website.

Notes:
Dr. Suman K Bery has been appointed new Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog. He will succeed Dr. Rajiv Kumar, as per the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Dr. Suman K Bery had served as Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) a leading non-profit policy research institution. He also served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, National Statistical Commission and Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy.

Notes:
Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya clinched Asian Championship gold medal, winning the title clash at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This is his third straight gold after Delhi (2020) and Almaty (2021) tournaments.
Another top wrestler Bajrang Punia won silver in the men’s 65kg. Gourav Balian (79kg) was won silver while Naveen (70kg) and Satywart Kadiyan (97kg), bagged bronze medals as all five Indians in action had podium finishes. India has won 15 medals, including one gold and four silver medals so far.

Notes:
As per a recent study, an average farmer of Punjab borrows four times the amount than his counterparts in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and over five times his counterparts in Maharashtra.
The study was conducted by NABARD in collaboration with the Bharat Krishak Samaj on recent farm loan waivers by the three state governments. A marginal farmer in Punjab borrows Rs 3.4 lakh annually, as compared to Rs 84,000 and Rs 62,000 in UP and Maharashtra, respectively. Their dependence on non-institutional sources was also the highest.

Notes:
Palli, situated in Jammu and Kashmir’s border district of Samba became the country’s first ‘carbon neutral panchayat’.
Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi recently dedicated to the nation a 500 KV solar plant installed in a record time of nearly three weeks. Under ‘Gram Urja Swaraj’ programme, 1,500 solar panels in a total area of 6,408 square metres will provide clean electricity to 340 houses in the model panchayat.

Notes:
Ever since the Soviet Union conquered the Kuril Islands in 1945, the ownership has been challenged by Japan.
In the latest version of the 2022 Diplomatic Bluebook, which was published by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Northern Territories are “islands over which Japan has sovereignty, but now are illegally occupied by Russia.”

Notes:
Andhra Pradesh Tourism Ministry re-launched the refurbished ‘Bodhisiri’ cruise boat operated by the state Tourism Development Corporation in Krishna River, at Punnami Ghat.
The boat was originally launched by former Chief Minister the late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in 2004, and it was taken off the river in 2019 due to repairs. It is being re-introduced after refurbishing at an estimated price of Rs 30 lakh.

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and IT launched the ‘Digital India RISC-V Microprocessor (DIR-V)’ program. It aims to enable creation of Microprocessors and achieve industry-grade Silicon and Design wins by December 2023.
It also set milestones for commercial silicon of SHAKTI & VEGA and their design wins by December 2023.  DIR-V will see partnerships with Startups, Academia and Multinationals to make India, a RISC-V Talent Hub for the World as well as supplier of RISC-V SoC (System on Chips) for Servers, Mobile devices, Automotive, IoT & Microcontrollers.

Notes:
In the West Darfur province of Sudan, violent clashes left more than 200 people dead and 103 injured. At least eight men belonging to the African Masalit tribe and seven Arab men were killed in the attack.
The Kreinik town in Darfur was stormed by a large group of heavily armed individuals, who looted the houses and killed people. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Sudan to protect the population and take steps to prevent further outbreaks of communal violence.