CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS –AUGUST 2013
1. Which actress topped the Forbes' list of Hollywood's Highest Paid Actresses?
Angelina Jolie.
Jolie racked up $33 million between June 2012 and June 2013.
2. Who is current Foreign Secretary of India?
Sujatha Singh.
She assumed office on 1 August, 2013 succeeding Ranjan Mathai. Prior to her appointment she was the Indian Ambassador to Germany (2012-2013).
3. Man of the match winners of Ashes Test Cricket between Australia and England held in England in August 2013:
Third Ashes Test Played at Old Trafford, Manchester from August 1-5:
Man of the match: Michael Clarke (Australia). He scored 187 in first innings. Result: Match drawn.
Fourth Ashes Test Played at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street from August 9-12:
Man of the match: Stuart Broad (England). He took 5wickets in first innings and 6 wickets in second innings.
Result: England won by 74 runs.
Fifth Ashes Test Played Kennington Oval, London from August 21-25:
Man of the match: Shane Watson (Australia). He scored 176 in first innings.
Result: Match drawn.
4. Which players won the Player of the series award of 2013 Ashes series?
Ian Bell (England) and Ryan Harris (Australia).
5. The Ashes 2013 is won by?
England.
England won the 5-match series 3-0. The 2013 Ashes series was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. England won the series 3–0, with wins at Trent Bridge, Lord's and the Riverside Ground; the matches at Old Trafford and The Oval finished as draws.
6. Bangladesh’s biggest right-wing party which was banned from contesting future polls by Bangladesh High court which cancelled its registration in a landmark ruling?
Jamaat-e-Islami.
7. Veteran Carnatic musician and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films who has set scores for the songs in over 125 films, died on August 2, 2013?
1. Which actress topped the Forbes' list of Hollywood's Highest Paid Actresses?
Angelina Jolie.
Jolie racked up $33 million between June 2012 and June 2013.
2. Who is current Foreign Secretary of India?
Sujatha Singh.
She assumed office on 1 August, 2013 succeeding Ranjan Mathai. Prior to her appointment she was the Indian Ambassador to Germany (2012-2013).
3. Man of the match winners of Ashes Test Cricket between Australia and England held in England in August 2013:
Third Ashes Test Played at Old Trafford, Manchester from August 1-5:
Man of the match: Michael Clarke (Australia). He scored 187 in first innings. Result: Match drawn.
Fourth Ashes Test Played at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street from August 9-12:
Man of the match: Stuart Broad (England). He took 5wickets in first innings and 6 wickets in second innings.
Result: England won by 74 runs.
Fifth Ashes Test Played Kennington Oval, London from August 21-25:
Man of the match: Shane Watson (Australia). He scored 176 in first innings.
Result: Match drawn.
4. Which players won the Player of the series award of 2013 Ashes series?
Ian Bell (England) and Ryan Harris (Australia).
5. The Ashes 2013 is won by?
England.
England won the 5-match series 3-0. The 2013 Ashes series was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for The Ashes. England won the series 3–0, with wins at Trent Bridge, Lord's and the Riverside Ground; the matches at Old Trafford and The Oval finished as draws.
6. Bangladesh’s biggest right-wing party which was banned from contesting future polls by Bangladesh High court which cancelled its registration in a landmark ruling?
Jamaat-e-Islami.
7. Veteran Carnatic musician and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films who has set scores for the songs in over 125 films, died on August 2, 2013?
V. Dakshinamoorthy.
He directed the music for 859 songs in 125 films, including Navalokam, Seetha, Viyarppinte Vila, Sri Guruvayoorappan, Kadamattathachan and Indulekha. He started his career in film music with the movie Nalla Thampi. The hero of the film was Augustin Joseph, father of K.J.Yesudas. The last film for which he composed music was Vasanthathintae Kanalvazhikal in 2013. He also acted in a Ranjit film Chandrotsavam. In 1971, he won the Kerala State Award for best music director. He was also a winner of the J.C. Daniel Puraskaram and Swati Puraskaram.
8. Man of the match winners of 2 ODI cricket matches played between India and Zimbabwe held in Zimbabwe in August 2013:
Fourth ODI between India and Zimbabwe held in Bulawayo on August 1, 2013:
Man of the Match: Mohit Sharma (India). He took 2 wickets conceding just 26 runs in 10 overs.
Result: India won by 9 wickets.
Fifth ODI between India and Zimbabwe held in Bulawayo on August 3, 2013:
Man of the Match: Amit Mishra (India). He took 6 wickets.
Result: India won by 7 wickets
Series India won the 5-match series 5-0.
9. Which franchise has won the 2013 World Team Tennis title?
The Washington Kastles.
This is their third consecutive World Team Tennis title. The 2013 World Team Tennis season is the 38th season of the top professional tennis league in the United States. The Washington Kastles is one of eight franchises currently competing in World Team Tennis.
10. Which team won the 2013 Audi Cup?
Bayern Munich.
They beat Manchester City 2-1 in the final.
11. Who won the 40th National Women Challengers Chess championship?
Soumya Swaminathan.
12. Who becomes the first Indian to win the gold medal in the men's singles snooker competition at the World Games 2013?
Aditya Mehta.
The men's singles snooker competition at the World Games 2013 took place from 26 to 30 July at the Unidad Deportiva Alberto Galindo in Cali, Colombia. He won the World Games by beating Liang Wenbo 3–0 in the final.
13. Who won the gold medal in the women's 200 metres breaststroke by setting a world record in the 50 metres version of the event at the Barcelona 2013 FINA World Championships,
Yuliya Efimova (Russia).
Efimova clocked a time of 29.78 seconds in the Barcelona pool to beat the previous best of 29.80 set by American Jessica Hardy in 2009. She currently holds world record in short course 50 m and 200 m breaststroke.
14. Former world shot put champion who has been stripped of four world championship medals by the IAAF for doping?
Andrei Mikhnevich.
The sport's governing body removed Mikhnevich's silver medals from the 2006 and 2010 world indoor championships as well as his bronze medals from the 2007 and 2011 outdoor worlds.
15. Which country won its first ever Bronze medal in junior women hockey World Cup held at Monchengladbac, Germany?
India.
The Indian girls take home the Bronze medal with a 3-2 shoot-out victory over England at the ERGO Hockey Junior World Cup
16. Which country won the junior women hockey World Cup-2013 held in Germany?
Netherlands.
The Netherlands defeated Argentina in the ERGO Hockey Junior World Cup final.
17. Who became the first Indian bowler to top the bowlers’ chart in the latest ICC ODI Player Rankings after former captain Anil Kumble claimed the pole position way back in 1996?
Ravindra Jadeja.
18. The former head of Turkey's armed forces who was sentenced to life in prison by an Istanbul court?
General Ilker Basbug.
The court ruled he was part of a terrorist conspiracy called Ergenekon that sought to overthrow the government.
19. Name the world's first talking robot which is sent into space by Japan in August 2013?
Kirobo.
Japan has launched the world's first talking robot into space to serve as companion to astronaut Kochi Wakata who will begin his mission in November.
20. Man of the match winners of 3 T20 cricket matches played between South Africa and Sri Lanka held in Sri Lanka in August 2013:
First T20 cricket between South Africa and Sri Lanka held in Colombo on August 2, 2013:
Man of the Match: J P Duminy (South Africa). He scored 51 runs and took 3 wickets.
Result: South Africa won by 12 runs.
Second T20 cricket between South Africa and Sri Lanka held in Hambantota on August 4, 2013:
Man of the Match: David Miller (South Africa). He scored 36runs.
Result: South Africa won by 22 runs.
Third T20 cricket between South Africa and Sri Lanka held in Hambantota on August 6, 2013:
Man of the Match: Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka). He scored 74 runs.
Result: Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets (with 11 balls remaining).
Series Result: South Africa won the 3-match series 2-1.
21. Who won the Player of the series award in the 3 T20 cricket matches played between South Africa and Sri Lanka held in Sri Lanka in August 2013?
J P Duminy (South Africa).
22. Who has been appointed as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years?
Raghuram Govind Rajan.
He will take over from D. Subbarao who demits office on September 4, 2013.
23. Which country won the gold medal at the World Youth Chess Olympiad (Under-16) held in Chongqing, China?
India.
24. Who is sworn in as the new President of Zimbabwe?
Robert Mugabe.
On 3 August 2013, the Zimbabwe Election Commission said Mugabe won his seventh term as president defeating Morgan Tsvangirai with 61 percent of the vote.
25. Indian wrestler who won a gold medal in the men`s 74 kg freestyle event at the 22nd Deaflympics held in Sofia, Bulgaria?
Virender Singh.
The 28-year-old, nicknamed Goonga Pehelwan, claimed a gold medal at 2005 Deaflympics. He then pocketed a bronze in the 2009 event.
26. Japan launched its largest warship since World War II on Aug. 6, 2013.which has a flight deck that is nearly 250 meters (820 feet) long. What is the name of that warship?
"Izumo",
The warship is unveiled in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.
27. Amazon.com founder and chief executive who formally took over as the owner of The Washington Post?
Jeffrey P. Bezos.
The Washington Post (WP) is an American daily newspaper. It is the most widely circulated newspaper published in Washington, D.C. Bezos’s $250 million purchase was completed as expected with the signing of sale documents. The signing transfers the newspaper and other assets from The Washington Post Co. to Nash Holdings, Bezos’s private investment company. The Washington Post is founded by Democrat representative Stilson Hutchins on December 6, 1877 with an initial circulation of 10,000.
28. Who becomes the first-ever Physical Education instructor to win the Dronacharya award?
K.P. Thomas.
He is among five who bagged this year’s Dronacharya award. The other Dronacharya awardees-2013 are boxing coach Mahavir Singh, archery coach Purnima Mahato, wrestling coach Raj Singh and women`s hockey coach Narendra Singh Saini. The award, instituted in 1985, comprises a bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a scroll of honour and a cash component of Rs five lakh.
29. Renowned Hindustani musician who tutored many a performer and composed music for several Malayalam films, died on August 7, 2013?
Sarathchandra Marathe.
‘Avivahitharude Swargam’ ‘Mayoora Varnangal,’ ‘Chanjattam’ and ‘Uppu’ were some of the Malayalam films for which he composed the music.
30. Which club won the inaugural Guinness International Champions Cup trophy, defeating Chelsea in the final?
Real Madrid.
31. The 2013 World Championships in Athletics were held in?
Moscow, Russia, from 10–18 August 2013.
It was the fourteenth edition of the international athletics competition. Russia won the most gold medals to top the table for the first time since 2001. The United States won the most overall medals.
32. Which cricketer has been appointed the brand ambassador to promote Barclays English Premier League football in India?
Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
33. Which club won The Football Association Community Shield-2013?
Manchester united.
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested between the champion of the previous Premier League season and the holder of the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium. If the Premier League champions also won the FA Cup then the league runners-up provide the opposition.
34. The 2013 BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Championships were held at?
Tianhe Sports Center in Guangzhou, China.
35. Who won the Men's Singles title of the 2013 World Badminton Championships?
Lin Dan (China).
Lin Dan defeated Lee Chong Wei in the final.
Other winners of 2013 World Badminton Championships:
Winner of the Women's Singles title of the 2013 World Badminton Championships: Ratchanok Inthanon (Thailand). She defeated Li Xuerui (China) in the final.
Winners of the men's doubles title of the 2013 World Badminton championship:
Hendra Setiawan and Muhammad Ahsan (Indonesia). They defeated Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen (Denmark) in the final.
Winners of the women's doubles title of the 2013 World Badminton championship:
Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang (China). They defeated Eom Hye-won and Jang Ye-na (South Korea) in the final.
Winners of the mixed doubles title of the 2013 World Badminton championship:
Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir. (Indonesia) They defeated Xu Chen and Ma Jin (China) in the final.
36. Hungarian citizen who topped the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of alleged Nazi war criminals, died on August 10, 2013?
Laszlo Csatari.
He is convicted and sentenced to death in absentia in 1948 by a Czechoslovak court. In 2012, his name was added to the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most wanted Nazi war criminals.
37. Name the indigenously developed nuclear capable missile of India, which is successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur on August 12, 2013?
Prithvi-II.
The missile has a strike range of 350 km, as part of a user trial for the defence forces.
38. Who won the Rogers Cup women's title-2013?
Serena Williams.
She won the Rogers Cup women's title for the third time. She defeated Sorana Cirstea (Romania) in the final.
39. Who won the Rogers Cup men's title-2013 defeating Milos Raonic (Canada) in the final?
Rafael Nadal.
40. Who is sworn in as the new president of Mali?
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
Previously he was Prime Minister of Mali from 1994 to 2000 and President of the National Assembly of Mali from 2002 to 2007. He founded a political party, Rally for Mali (RPM), in 2001, and he has led the party since then. He was elected as President in the July–August 2013 presidential election.
41. Name of the first domestically-produced smart phone of North Korea?
The Arirang.
The Arirang mobile phone is built with Google's Android OS.
42. Name the first indigenous aircraft carrier of India which is launched on August 12, 2013?
INS Vikrant.
43. Lt Commander of the Indian Navy who has been selected for the Kirti Chakra, the nation’s second highest peacetime gallantry medal?
Abhilash Tomy.
He is the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe solo nonstop. Tomy achieved the rare feat in his mission Sagar Parikrama II. It was during the mission Sagar Parikrama-II, flagged off from Mumbai that Tomy sailed around 23,100 nautical miles in a span of over 150 days from November 2012 to March 31, 2013.
44. What is the name of the diesel-electric submarine of the Indian Navy which suffered a major fire incident on 14 August 2013, resulted in its sinking at Mumbai's naval dockyard?
INS Sindhurakshak.
At the time of its sinking, there were reportedly 18 crew members on board and all are feared dead. INS Sindhurakshak was a Russian-made Kilo-class 877EKM which was commissioned on 24 December 1997. Sindhurakshak was deployed very close to Karachi, Pakistan during the Kargil War in 1999.
45. Professional tennis player and winner of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title who announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis on 14 August 2013 at the age of 29?
Marion Bartoli.
46. What is the name of the new species of mammal which lives in cloud forests in Ecuador and Colombia discovered by U.S. Scientists?
The olinguito.
The olinguito weighs about 2 pounds and is 2.5 feet long. The olinguito is the first mammalian carnivore species to be newly identified in the Americas in 35 years, according to Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. His research group's study on the creature is being published in the journal ZooKeys.
47. Who has been conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani Award in August 2013?
Sohan Roy.
He is the director of a 3D conceptual movie “Dam 999”. DAM999 is a tribute to the 1975 Banqiao Dam disaster in china that claimed 250,000 innocent lives. The Screenplay of the movie written by Sohan Roy was added to the permanent core collection in Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences before its release in 2011. The music was composed Ouseppachan, out of which three of the soundtracks 'Dakkanaga Dugu','DAM999 Theme song' and 'Mujhe Chodke' were officially selected for 84th Academy Awards.
48. Senior IPS officer who has been appointed as the new chief of India's largest paramilitary force CRPF?
DilipTrivedi.
49. Who won the men’s title of 2013 Western and Southern Open?
Rafael Nadal.
He defeated John Isner in the final.
50. Who won the women’s title of 2013 Western and Southern Open?
Victoria Azarenka.
She defeated Serena Williams in the final. The 2013 Western and Southern Open was a men's and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts August 12-18, 2013.
51. Anti-superstition activist and Maharashtra’s most vocal rationalist who was shot dead by two youth on a motorcycle on August 20, 2013?
Dr. Narendra Dabholkar.
He was the founder-president of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), an organization set up to eradicate superstition in 1989. Triggered by his murder on 20 August 2013, the pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in the state of Maharashtra, four days later.
52. Which country becomes the world’s third largest Internet user after China and the United States, according to the report by global digital measurement and analytics firm comScore?
India.
53. Which country won the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup held in Singapore on 25 August 2013, defeating Pakistan by nine wickets in the final match?
India.
India’s opening batsman Lokesh Rahul was awarded the man-of-the-match for his 93 not out in the final. Shaiman Anwar (UAE) was named as player of the tournament.
54. Which pair won the women’s doubles trophy at the WTA New Haven Open-2013?
Sania Mirza (India) and Jie Zheng (China).
55. Name of the bill which is passed by Rajya Sabha on August 26, 2013?
The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010.
The bill seeks to amend the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and the Special Marriages Act, 1954.
56. Who has been named head of the Tax Administration Reforms Commission (TARC) of India?
Parthasarathi Shome.
57. The legendary Brazilian goalkeeper who helped the country to win World Cup titles in 1958 and 1962, died on August 22, 2013?
Gylmar dos Santos Neves.
He is known simply as Gilmar. He played goalkeeper for Corinthians and Santos and was a member of the Brazil national team in three World Cups. He was elected the best Brazilian goalkeeper of the 20th century and one of the best in the world by the IFFHS (The International Federation of Football History & Statistics.)
58. Who becomes the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) in the 15th Lok Sabha?
Ramya.
Celebrated Kannada film star Ramya defeated C.S.Puttaraju of Janata Dal (S) in Mandya on her electoral debut.
59. Who wins International Children's Peace Prize 2013?
Malala Yousafzai.
Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt last year, was honored with the Children's Peace Prize for her work promoting education for girls in her homeland. The Children's Peace Prize is awarded each year by a Dutch foundation to honor the achievements of an inspirational child activist. The first prize was awarded posthumously in 2005 to South African youngster Nkosi Johnson for his work on behalf of children in his home country with HIV.
60. Which football club won a record 11th Spanish Super Cup as they drew 0-0 with Atletico Madrid?
Barcelona.
61. Name the first exclusive defence satellite of India which was successfully launched by European space consortium Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana on August 30, 2013?
GSAT-7.
The Rs 185-crore GSAT-7 is India’s maiden dedicated spacecraft for defence applications.
62. Ireland's first Nobel prize-winning poet since WB Yeats, who died on August 30, 2013?
Seamus Heaney.
Heaney won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995.
He won the TS Eliot Prize in 2006 for his collection “District and Circle”. In 2010 he won the Forward poetry prize for “Human Chain”. In 2012, he was awarded the Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Trust for Excellence.
63. Who won the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award-2013?
Franck Ribery.
He is a French international footballer who plays for German club Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and for the France national team.
The UEFA Best Player in Europe Award is an association football award given to the footballer playing for a football club in Europe that is considered the best in the previous season. The award, created in 2011 by UEFA, is aimed at reviving the European Footballer of the Year Award.
64. Which cricketer blasted the highest ever individual score in a Twenty20international?
Aaron Finch.
He smashed 156 of 63 balls for the highest ever T20 international score, setting up Australia’s 39 run victory over England. He struck 14 sixes and 11 fours in that stunning innings that easily surpassed the previous World Record of 123, held by New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum.
65. Which country won the Men’s Asia Cup Hockey 2013 defeating India in the final?
South Korea.
The 2013 Men's Hockey Asia Cup was the eighth tournament to date in Hockey Asia Cup for men. It was held from August 24 to September 1, 2013 in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. The winner of this tournament qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Netherlands. South Korea defeated India 4–3 in the final to win their fourth title.
