Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
Tropical storm Kompasu hit the Philippines and left dead at least 19 people. The storm has triggered landslides and flash floods as it crossed the northern tip of the Asia-Pacific islands.
Another 14 people have been reported missing in the Philippines. Kompasu returned to tropical storm strength after making landfall on the Chinese island province of Hainan. It also crossed Hong Kong and Vietnam and caused damages.

Notes:
China has launched a 3-person manned mission to its space station, for a duration of 6 months in the spaceship named Shenzhou-13. The spaceship was launched by Long March-2F rocket. The crew members are missioned for the setting up of the orbiting structure of China’s own space station.
The activities of the crew include spacewalks and installation of key equipment.

Notes:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance of 30 member countries, of which 28 are European countries and 2 North American Countries. The NATO is headquartered at Brussels, Belgium
Recently, Russia has announced that it is suspending its missions to NATO and that NATO’s military liaison and information offices in Moscow would be closed.

Notes:
India has ranked 40th out of 43 pension systems across the world in the 2021 Mercer CFS Global Pension Index survey.
In 2020, India was placed at 34th position out of 39 pension systems. Iceland was ranked highest with an overall index value of 84.2 while Thailand had the lowest overall index value at 40.6.
The index analyses the strengths of retirement pension systems around three sub-indexes – adequacy, sustainability and integrity.

Notes:
Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and AYUSH Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated Ayush Van, a dedicated forest for Ayurvedic plants, at Gandhidham, Gujarat.
The Ayush Van was set up in 30 acres of land allotted by the Deendayal Port Trust (DPT). Tree plantation is being done to improve greenery in urban area and increase density of tree cover in the Kutch region.

Notes:
Talpiot Cemetery is seen in the news recently, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited the place as he began his five-day visit to Israel.
It is the cemetery for Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the region during the World War I, located in Talpiot, Jerusalem. About 900 Indian soldiers are buried in cemeteries across Israel in Jerusalem, Ramle and Haifa. The Indian Army commemorates September 23 every year as Haifa Day to pay its respects to the three brave Indian Cavalry Regiments.

Notes:
The ancient city of Kushinagar is the final resting place of Lord Gautama Buddha, where he attained Mahaparinirvana after his death.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Kushinagar International Airport. It is aimed at boosting tourism on the Buddhist circuit. At present, two international airports are operational in the state of Uttar Pradesh namely Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at Lucknow and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport at Varanasi.

Notes:
NASA has selected a new space telescope proposal to study the recent history of star birth, star death, and formation of chemical elements in the Milky Way.
The gamma-ray telescope, called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), is set to be launched in 2025 as NASA’s latest small astrophysics mission. COSI will study gamma rays from radioactive atoms produced when massive stars exploded. It will also probe the origin of our galaxy’s positrons, also known as antielectrons.

Notes:
Barbados has elected its first-ever president Sandra Mason to replace Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as head of state.
Barbados is a former British colony that gained independence in 1966 but had maintained ties with the British monarchy. There have been calls from across the country for full sovereignty and homegrown leadership. Sandra Mason was a former jurist who has been governor-general of the country since 2018.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved the ambitious Rs. 100 lakh crore PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan. The plan was launched by the Prime Minister on October 13, which aims to create multi modal connectivity in India and bring infrastructure under one common platform.
The master plan envisages to create a centralised portal comprising of all infra-activities in India involving 16 central ministries and departments to achieve coordinated planning and project execution.