Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2023

Notes:
A military court in Myanmar sentenced the country’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to a further seven years in prison on charges of corruption.
This has increased her total jail term to 33 years. The court ruling found Suu Kyi guilty of corruption in relation to purchase, repair and rental of a helicopter for use during natural disasters and state affairs

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission (StartupTN) has rolled out special packages of assistance for Green Tech, Rural Impact and Women-led startups.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin launched the initiative, which included funds earmarked under StartupTN’s flagship grant scheme, Tamil Nadu Startup Seed Grant Fund (TANSEED). It also announced a 50 per cent increase in grants for startups falling under special categories.  He also launched a MentorTN portal, under which budding startups can approach successful entrepreneurs, professionals and trusted subject matter experts.

Notes:
The ‘Dhanu Yatra’ festival, considered to be the world’s largest open-air theatre, began in the Western Odisha town of Bargarh.
The ‘Dhanu Yatra’ came into existence in Bargarh in 1947-48 as part of the celebration of the country’s Independence. It is celebrated annually and episodes related to Hindu God Krishna is presented through folk art forms.

Notes:
A recent study by scientists of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) have discovered that butterflies warn, fool, and escape their predators using traits such as wing colour patterns and even flight behaviour.
The study investigated the butterfly mimetic communities of the Western Ghats over five years. The female Common Mormon mimics the toxic Common Rose. In mimicry, a palatable organism resembles an unpalatable organism to deceive predators.

Notes:
A new species of confuciusornithid bird being named ‘Confuciusornis shifan’ has been identified from a complete skeleton found in northeastern China.
The bird lived in present-day China during the Early Cretaceous epoch, some 119 million years ago. Confuciusornithidae is a clade of Early Cretaceous pygostylian birds and represents the earliest known toothless, beaked birds.

Notes:
The Assam Cabinet decided to merge four districts with existing ones and redraw boundaries in 14 places.
The decision was taken a day ahead of the Election Commission’s (EC) deadline on starting the delimitation exercise for assembly and parliamentary seats. EC earlier announced fresh delimitation of 126 assembly and 14 parliamentary seats and banned creation of new administrative units.

Notes:
The Union government spent more than Rs 13,000 crore on cleaning the Ganga since 2014. The Ganga Council recently met in Kolkata and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the meeting through video conference.
Uttar Pradesh received the largest outlay among states at 4,205 crore. Bihar is in second place at 3,516 crores. Bengal (1,302 crore), Delhi (1,253) and Uttarakhand (1,117) are the other regions in the top five states.

Notes:
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that XBB.1.5 has more than doubled its share of the Covid-19 figures each week.
In the Northeast region of the country, XBB.1.5 is causing 75% of new cases. The XBB.1.5 strain is a relative of the Omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants.

Notes:
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office for a third term as Brazil’s President, after the divisive election in October.
The outgoing leader of the Latin America’s biggest economy is Jair Bolsonaro. The 77-year-old ex-metalworker Lula da Silva previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

Notes:
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation designed and manufactured by SpaceX to provide high-speed internet to people living in remote locations. SpaceX launched the first batch of a new generation of 54 Starlink satellites into orbit aboard the Falcon 9 rocket.
The The touchdown of the Falcon 9 first stage marked a successful end to SpaceX’s 60th launch of SpaceX in 2022, nearly doubling the record of 31 launches made in 2021.