Social democrat Bernardo Arevalo swept to victory in Guatemala's presidential election on Aug 20, with his anti-corruption message firing up weary voters.

The 64-year-old sociologist is the son of an ex-president but his win is still a massive upset, defying opinion polls, court battles and attempts to have his party disqualified.

Arevalo  has said that the outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei had called to congratulate him and together they had agreed "to draw up a timetable for the transition plan."

His rival, former first lady Sandra Torres -- who enjoyed the backing of the incumbent as well as the elite -- came second with 36 per cent of the vote.

The crash landing on the Moon of Russia's Luna-25 probe is the latest twist in an international push to return to the Earth's natural satellite that has drawn in the world's top powers and new players.

Technology, science and politics are all essential factors in the Moon race.

Here is the latest on various missions:

Russia's Luna

The launch of Luna-25 on August 11 was the first such Russian mission in almost 50 years and marked the beginning of Moscow's new lunar project.

On August 16 the lander was successfully placed in the Moon's orbit but on Aug 20 , space agency Roscomos announced it had "ceased to exist following a collision with the Moon's surface".

China's great leap

China is pursuing plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 and build a base there.

NASA's Artemis

NASA's Artemis 3 mission is set to return humans to the Moon in 2025, including its first woman and first non-white astronaut.

Elon Musk's firm SpaceX won the contract for a landing system based on a version of its prototype Starship rocket, which remains far from ready.

New players

India's latest, Chandrayaan-3, entered the Moon's orbit earlier in August. It will carry out India's second attempted lunar landing later this month.

Israeli non-profit organisation SpaceIL launched its Beresheet lunar lander in 2019 but it crashed.

In April this year Japan's ispace was the latest company to try, and fail, at the historic bid to put a private lunar lander on the Moon.

Two US companies, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, are set to try later in the year.

Q1. Name the wife of the jailed Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik who has appointed  as a special advisor to the Pakistan  newly appointed caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar?

1. Alizeh Iqbal Haider
2. Sharmila Farooqi
3. Mushaal Hussain Malik
4. Sumaira Malik
5. None of These

Q2. Name the veteran industrialist  who has been conferred the first ever 'Udyog Ratna' award instituted by the Maharashtra government ?

1. Azim Premji
2. Gautam Adani
3. Mukesh Ambani
4. Ratan Tata
5. None of These

Q3. In a bid to keep onion prices from flying over the roof, the Centre has imposed export  duty  of

1. 20 per cent
2. 30 per cent
3. 40 per cent
4. 50 per cent
5. None of These

Q4. The number of Jan Dhan accounts, which aims to expand access to financial services in the country, has crossed the 50 crore mark of

1. 20 crore
2. 50 crore
3. 70 crore
4. 90 crore
5. None of These

Q5. Name the country which has won the Women's World Cup for the first time in their history with skipper Olga Carmona sweeping in the only goal for a deserved 1-0 victory over England in  the  final ?

1. Spain
2. Germany
3. France
4. Brazil
5. None of These

Answers

1-----------------3   Mushaal Hussain Malik

2--------------------4    Ratan Tata

3--------------------3   40 per cent

4--------------------2   50 crore

5--------------------1  Spain

Q1.  India’s first post office building using 3D printing technology was declared open by Communications and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Aug 18 at Cambridge Layout in

1. Chennai
2. Bengaluru
3. New Delhi
4. Mumbai
5. None of These

Q2. In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the Country, Chief Minister Hemant Soren  has launched a free residential coaching center for the particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) at Padma Shree Dr. Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Research Center in

1. Ranchi
2. Jamshedpur
3. Dhanbad
4. Bokaro Steel City
5. 5 None of These

Q3. Name the country which on Aug 18   has closed two of its six border checkpoints with Belarus in a move it announced earlier this month citing the security risk posed by Russia's Wagner mercenary group ?

1. Estonia
2. Latvia
3. Lithuania
4. Chechnya
5. None of These 

Q4. Name the prominent Indian-American lawyer  who has been named by the US President Joe Biden as the senior counsel for ballot access for the Biden-Harris 2024 re-election campaign as the senior counsel for ballot access for the Biden-Harris 2024 re-election campaign ?

1. Indranil “Indy” Mukerji
2. Sarang Vijay Damle
3. Kannon Shanmugam
4. Varoon Modak
5. None of These

Q5. Name the country’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer  which will invest `1 lakh crore in low-carbon energy opportunities, including renewables and green hydrogen by the end of this decade ?

1. HPCL
2. GAIL
3. ONGC
4. Oil India
5. None of These

Answers

1--------------------------2 Bengaluru

2----------------------------1   Ranchi

3-----------------------------3 Lithuania

4----------------------------4   Varoon Modak

5--------------------------3 ONGC

Q1. Name the city in which ISSF World Championship was held recently ?

1. Baku
2. Ashgabat
3. Tashkent
4. Astana
5. None of These

Q2.  Which of the following has become the latest country to sign for IndiaStack -- a set of technologies such as UPI -- to help with the digital transformation of the Caribbean nation ?

1. Papua New Guinea
2. Suriname
3. Antigua & Barbuda
4. Trinidad and Tobago
5. None of These

Q3. Name the IT major  which has announced the launch of a new Centre of Excellence on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi ?

1. HCL
2. TCS
3. Wipro 
4. Infosys
5. None of These

Q4. Name the American aerospace major  which has said it is starting production of the Apache choppers to be delivered to the Indian Army ?

1. Boeing
2. Lockheed Martin
3. Northrop Grumman
4. General Electric
5. None of These

Q5.  Name the country which has clinched  largest-ever defense deal with Germany for USD 3.5 billion after US approval ?

1. China
2. Israel
3. Russia
4. France
5. None of These

Answers

1---------------------1   Baku

2---------------------4   Trinidad and Tobago

3---------------------3    Wipro 

4----------------------1  Boeing

5----------------------2   Israel

Q1. On the eve of India's 77th Independence Day, three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej  has released a rendition of the country's National Anthem recorded with the largest orchestra ever at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in

1. Paris
2. New York
3. London
4. Munich
5. None of These

Q2. Name the last village on LoC in Machhal Sector, Kupwara District, of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which has been linked by the Indian Army with 115 Feet Long Bridge ?

1. Danna
2. Avantipur
3. Bomai
4. Aru
5. None of These

Q3. On the occasion of 77th Independence Day on Aug 15 ,  name the state government which has  announced ‘Abua Awas Yojna’ at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore under which, three-room houses will be made available to the needy in the next two years ?

1. Chhattisgarh
2. Jharkhand
3. Madhya Pradesh
4. Uttar Pradesh
5. None of These

Q4. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Aug 15  that the Centre is working to increase the number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras  - subsidised medicine shops  - from 10,000 to

1. 15,000
2. 20,000
3. 25,000
4. 30,000
5. None of These

Q5. What amount Centre has so far spent on its national public health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat ?

1. Rs 20,000 crore
2. Rs 35,000 crore
3. Rs 60,000 crore
4. Rs 70,000 crore
5. None of These

Answers

1------------------------3  London

2-------------------------1   Danna

3-------------------------2 Jharkhand

4--------------------------3 25,000

5--------------------------4 Rs 70,000 crore

The CBI is set to investigate nine more cases related to Manipur violence, which will take the total number of cases probed by the agency to 17.

The probe by the central agency would not be limited to these 17 cases.

The CBI has so far registered eight cases which include two related to alleged sexual assault on women in Manipur. It is in the process of taking over nine more cases.

The probe agency is likely to take over one more case of alleged sexual assault in the state's Churachandpur district.

With the society divided on ethnic lines, the CBI is facing the critical task of avoiding allegations of bias during the Manipur operation as any involvement of people from one community will result in fingers pointed from the other side.

The CBI has also mobilised women officers in the state for investigation of cases related to crimes against women which is a mandatory requirement for recording statements and questioning purposes.

Seven new laws, including the one related to the control of services matter in Delhi, passed by Parliament this week came into force on  Aug 12 after they received the assent of President Droupadi Murmu.

An official gazette notification was also issued by the government.

The legislations that become operational are: The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023; The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023; The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023; The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023; The Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Act, 2023; The National Dental Commission Act, 2023 and The Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023.

Last week too, as many as seven new laws became effective after the President gave her assent following their passage by Parliament.

These were - The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023; The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023; The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2023; The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2023; The Multi State Cooperative Societies Amendment Act 2023 and The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023.