Olympic chiefs on Dec 8  gave the green light to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals, outside of team events as long as they did not actively support the war on Ukraine.

The International Olympic Committee added that there were currently only eight athletes from Russia and three from Belarus who had qualified as neutral athletes.

In comparison, more than 60 Ukrainian athletes have qualified for next year's Paris Olympics.

One of the greatest Indian goalkeepers Subrata Paul (36) on Dec 8  decided to call it quits, bringing curtains on a glittering career spanning 16 years.

Paul, who made his debut against Lebanon in the World Cup qualifiers in 2007, had 65 appearances for India.

He earned the sobriquet "Spiderman" for his heroics under the bar against heavyweights South Korea in the 2011 Asian Cup in Doha when India had qualified after a gap of 27 years.

Paul captained the Indian team under coach Stephen Constantine in the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.

Q1)  Name the Trinamool Congress MP  who has been voted out by the Lok Sabha for 'unethical conduct' in relation to the cash-for-query matter.

1. Mahua Moitra
2. Abhishek Banerjee
3. Dr. Kakali Ghosh Dastidar
4. C.M. Jatua
5. None of These

Q2) The  Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) stalwart  who was on Dec 8  sworn in as the chief minister of

1. Manipur
2. Nagaland
3. Mizoram
4. Meghalaya
5. None of These

Q3) Name the character actor who is known for his roles in Caravan, Haathi Mere Saathi, and Mera Naam Joker and who died following a battle with cancer.

1. Mehmood
2. Junior Mehmood
3. Johnny Walker
4. Johnny Lever
5. None of These

Q4) Name the President of the International Olympic Committee who on Dec 8  gave the green light to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals, outside of team events as long as they did not actively support the war on Ukraine.

1. Jacques Rogge
2. Juan Antonio Samaranch
3. Lord Killanin
4. Thomas Bach
5. None of These

Q5) Name one of the greatest Indian goalkeepers who on Dec 8  decided to call it quits, bringing curtains on a glittering career spanning 16 years.

1. Subrata Paul
2. Kalyan Chaubey
3. Peter Thangaraj
4. Atanu Bhattacharya
5. None of These

Answers                                                                                              

1----------------------------1  Mahua Moitra

2----------------------------3  Mizoram

3---------------------------2   Junior Mehmood

4-----------------------------4   Thomas Bach

5----------------------------1    Subrata Paul

Anumala Revanth Reddy was sworn in as the second Chief Minister of Telangana at a public ceremony in front of a large number of people and Congress activists at a glittering ceremony at LB Stadium in Hyderabad on Dec 7. He is the first Chief Minister of Congress.  He took the oath in the name of god. 

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath of office and secrecy by Revanth Reddy.

Besides Revath Reddy, 11 members of his cabinet took the oath of office.They are: Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu (Deputy Chief Minister), N Uttam Kumar Reddy, C Damodar Rajanarasimha, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Duddilla Sridhar Babu, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Konda Surekha, D Anasuya Seethakka, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Jupally Krishna Rao.

The total strength of the Cabinet is 18 including Chief Minister. The remaining six Ministers would be inducted into the Cabinet in due course.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy signed two files relating to new Abhaya Hastham Act, for implementing the six guarantees given by the Congress in the manifesto, and also another file providing job to dwarf woman Rajani.

While, in his brief speech, Revanth Reddy said that Pragathi Bhavan, former CM's official residence, Pragahi Bhavan will be named after Jyotirao Phule.

Gaddam Prasad Kumar will be sworn in as Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly.

BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri  has expressed regret for his objectionable remarks against BSP's Danish Ali in a meeting of the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee, which heard both leaders separately.

Sources said Bidhuri in his deposition before the committee noted that senior BJP leader and Union minister Rajnath Singh had conveyed his regret in the House for his comments on September 21 when he was making a speech during a discussion on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

As many as 293 people lost their lives in tiger attacks between 2018-2022 and 2,657 died in elephant attacks between 2018-19 and 2022-23, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Dec 7

Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey shared the data in a written reply in the Upper House.

He said 31 people died in tiger attacks in 2018, 49 in 2019, 51 in 2020, 59 in 2021 and 103 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the number of human deaths in elephant attacks stood at 457 in 2018-19, 586 in 2019-20, 464 in 2020-21 and 545 in 2021-22.

Choubey said the Centre provides financial assistance to state and union territory governments under the centrally sponsored schemes -- Development of Wildlife Habitats, Project Tiger and Project Elephant -- for management of wildlife and its habitat in the country.

The activities supported under the schemes include construction of physical barriers such as barbed wire fences, solar-powered electric fences, bio-fencing using cactus and boundary walls, etc. to prevent the entry of wild animals into crop field

Italy has formally withdrawn from China's vast Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, more than four years after becoming the only G7 nation to sign up.

Before coming to power last year, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the decision by a previous government to join in 2019 was a "serious mistake".

Critics have denounced the trillion-dollar investment scheme as a predatory "Trojan horse" aimed at buying political influence.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in September that membership "has not produced the results we were hoping for".

The deal was due to automatically renew in March 2024 unless Italy opts out by the end of this year.

But Rome has been wary of provoking Beijing and risking retaliation against Italian companies.

China has become the first country to confer diplomatic status to a Taliban-nominated official as Afghanistan's Ambassador to Beijing, thereby formally recognising the Taliban-run administration as a legitimate government in Kabul.

Earlier reports from Kabul said China has given Bilal Karimi, a Taliban nominee the status of Ambassador and he has submitted his credentials to the foreign ministry .

China along with Pakistan and Russia maintained its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of American troops from the war-ravaged country.

No other country has formally recognised the Taliban government, which has been criticised over human rights violations and crushing women's rights.

China, which shares borders with Afghanistan, also has serious concerns over the regrouping of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a banned outfit comprising Uighur militants from the volatile Xinjiang province, and pressing the Taliban administration to crack down on the outfit.