Correct Answer :   Barbara Kingsolver and Hernan Diaz

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Barbara Kingsolver (American Novelist) and Hernan Diaz (Argentina Writer) were awarded the Pulitzer Prize 2023 in the fiction category.

Barbara Kingsolver was awarded for her novel 'Demon Copperhead' and Hernan Diaz won for his novel 'Trust'.

Other categories :

Drama : English, by Sanaz Toossi

Biography : G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, by Beverly Gage (Viking)

Memoir or Autobiography : Stay True, by Hua Hsu (Doubleday).

Source : Pulitzer

Correct Answer :   Jeremy Lalrinnunga

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On Sunday (7th May 2023), weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga managed to bag a silver medal in the snatch section of the men’s 67kg category despite failing to log a valid clean & jerk attempt for an overall ranking.

The 20-year-old Lalrinnunga won the silver medal in the snatch event by lifting 141 kg in the 67 kg weight category.

In the World Boxing Championships, India's Mohammad Hasamuddin defeated Russia's Savin Eduard 5-0 to enter the 57kg quarter-finals.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation is the national governing body for the sport of weightlifting in India.

Correct Answer :   Praveen Chitravel

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Indian athlete Praveen Chithravel won the men’s triple jump event at an athletics meet in Havana, Cuba , on Saturday (6th May 2023) with a national record-breaking mark of 17.37m.

* The previous men’s triple jump national record of 17.30m was set by Renjith Maheswary at the third Indian Grand Prix in Bangalore in 2016.

* Praveen Chithravel achieved his record-breaking mark with his fifth jump at the Prueba de confrontacion 2023 with a headwind reading of -1.5m/s. The permissible wind assistance for official records is +2.0m/s

* All national records, however, are subject to ratification by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

* The jump also qualifies Praveen Chithravel for the World Athletics Championships 2023, scheduled in Budapest from August 19 to 27. The men’s triple jump qualifying standard for Budapest23 is set at 17.20m.

* The 21-year-old Tamil Nadu athlete also comprehensively beat the Asian Games 2023 qualifying standard of 16.60m set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Praveen, however, had already breached the mark March with a 17.17m leap at the second Indian Open Jumps Competition in Bellary.

* Before Saturday (6th May 2023), Praveen Chithravel’s personal best in the triple jump was 17.18m, recorded in Chennai last year (2022)..

Source : Olympics

Correct Answer :   Virat Kohli

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Royal Challengers Bangalore's star batsman Virat Kohli has become the first cricketer in IPL history to score 7,000 runs.

Virat Kohli achieved this feat in the match (6th May 2023) against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023 and also completed his 50th half-century of IPL.

Virat has achieved the feat of 7,000 runs in 225 innings. The number of Shikhar Dhawan (6,535), David Warner (6,211) and Rohit Sharma (6,063) comes after him.

Correct Answer :   Rocket Lab

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Rocket Lab has launched (7th May 2023) NASA's two satellites to study tropical storms and hurricanes.

* The two cubesats, the founding members of the agency's TROPICS network, launched today (May 7, 2023) atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, which lifted off from the company's New Zealand site at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT and 1 p.m. on May 8 local New Zealand time).

* About 33 minutes after liftoff, the Electron deployed the shoebox-sized TROPICS cubesats into low Earth orbit, about 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth.

* The TROPICS constellation (short for "Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats") will consist of four cubesats in low Earth orbit.

* Rocket Lab will launch the other two satellites about two weeks from now, if all goes according to plan. (For the constellation to function properly, all four TROPICS satellites must be deployed within a same 60-day period.)

* The TROPICS cubesats will measure the hour-by-hour formation and progression of tropical cyclones and hurricanes with enhanced specificity..

Source : Space

Correct Answer :   Carlos Alcaraz

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World number two Carlos Alcaraz continued his good work from the Barcelona Open and successfully defended his title at Madrid Open 2023 on Sunday, 7th May 2023.

Alcaraz beat lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 3-6 6-3 and win his fourth ATP Tour trophy of the year and his tenth overall.

The 20-year-old Spaniard had an injury-plagued start to the season but came back in top form last month to win the Barcelona Open for the second consecutive year.

The victory was the fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy for Alcaraz, who became the youngest world number one last September when he won the US Open and held that spot for 20 weeks until Novak Djokovic took it back in January.

He could reclaim the world number one spot from Djokovic if he shows up to play in Rome later this week, as he has no points to defend and the Serbian would be defending his crown and 1000 points in Italy.

In Madrid, the 20-year-old Spaniard had to play his best tennis to beat a relentless Struff in three sets in a packed Caja Magica.

While Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus has clinched the Women's singles title at Madrid Open 2023.

Other winners :

Men's doubles : Karen Khachanov /  Andrey Rublev
Women's doubles : Victoria Azarenka / Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Source : India Today

Correct Answer :   Bindyarani Devi

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India’s Bindyarani Devi clinched a silver medal in the women’s 55kg category at the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2023 in Jinju, South Korea on Saturday (6th May 2023).

* Sorokhaibam Bindyarani Devi registered a combined lift of 194kg (83kg in snatch and 111kg in clean & jerk) to finish second on the podium.

* The Commonwealth Games 2022 medallist began with a snatch of 80kg. In the second attempt she registered a lift of 83kg. In the final attempt she lifted 85kg but it was declared a no lift.

* In the clean & jerk, the 24-year-old Bindyarani Devi started with a successful lift of 109kg and then went for 111kg in her second attempt. Her third attempt of 115kg was declared a no lift.

* The lift of 111kg was enough for Bindyarani Devi to bag the silver medal in the clean & jerk section as well. At the Asian and world championships, medals are awarded for total lifts as well as the snatch and clean and jerk sections.

* Bindyarani Devi, who competed in the 59kg division at the 2022 World Championships, moved back to the non-Olympic 55kg division for the Asian meet.              

* China’s Chen Guan Ling won the gold medal with a combined lift of 204kg (snatch 90kg + clean & jerk 114kg) while the bronze went to Vietnam’s Vo Thi Quynh Nhu, who logged a total lift of 192kg (snatch 88kg + clean & jerk 104kg)

* Meanwhile in the men’s 61kg category Group B, Shubham Todkar lifted a combined weight of 263kg (snatch 116kg and clean & jerk 147kg) to finish sixth among nine competitors..

Source : Olympics

Correct Answer :   INSV Tarini

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Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini is currently on her return passage to India after a six-month-long transoceanic intercontinental expedition that commenced at Goa on November 17, 2022 and is scheduled to complete at the same venue on 24th May 2023.

During the expedition, Tarini sailed to Rio de Janerio, Brazil via Cape Town, South Africa, participating in Cape to Rio Race 2023, and she will complete an arduous 17,000 nautical miles passage when she touches the Indian shores again, a senior Navy official said.

Indian naval ship Tarini had set sail to Cape Town to participate in an ocean sailing voyage from the South African city to Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.

The 50th edition of the race was to be flagged off from Cape Town on January 2 and culminate at the Brazilian city, according to the Indian Navy.

INSV Tarini is known for circumnavigating the globe with an all-women officer crew in the historic expedition titled Navika Sagar Parikrama that began in 2017.

The six members of Navika Sagar Parikrama during their 254-day expedition had covered 22,000 nautical miles, facing rough seas, scorching sun, biting cold and freezing winds with an unrelenting spirit.

Source : The Print

Correct Answer :   Madhya Pradesh

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Archaeologists have stumbled on a 1,500-year-old rock painting and numerous 1,800-2,000-year-old man-made waterbodies in Bandhavgarh National Park (Madhya Pradesh).

* The tiger zone of today (5th May 2023) was most likely part of an old trade route, ASI says, with passing traders using rock-cut caves as shelters.

* "The presence of the waterbodies built at a height and used for collecting rainwater suggests the habitation had a modern society. The waterbodies could be 1,800-2,000 years old, but evidence suggests there was some renovation 1,000 years ago," an ASI official told Amarjeet Singh.

* More and more archaeological treasures are being unearthed in Bandhavgarh. For the first time, a rock painting roughly 1,500 years old has been found in the famed tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh's Umaria district, along with a 2,000-year-old waterbody and evidence of a "modern society".

* The area that we call Bandhavgarh now was most likely part of a trade route, and traders passing this way would take shelter here, Superintending archaeologist, ASI Jabalpur circle, Shivakant Bajpai, who is supervising the explorations.

* The presence of numerous (man-made) waterbodies suggests a modern society. The waterbodies found this time were made at a height and used for collecting rainwater. They could be roughly 1,800-2,000 years old. Evidence suggests some sort of renovation around 1,000 years ago.

* What's unique about the rock art is that it was found in a rock-cut cave, Bajpai said. Usually, such rock art is found in natural caves or overhangs. "Rock painting has been found for the first time in the area. It is not a historic-era painting but could be roughly 1,500 years old. The painting is still being studied. It possibly depicts an animal," Bajpai said.

* Eleven rock-cut caves have surfaced during the second phase of exploration in the Tala range of Bandhavgarh. The survey started on April 1 and will continue till June 30.

* Last year (2022), ASI had carried out extensive explorations in the same range between May 20 and June 27, discovering 26 ancient temples/relics, 26 rock-cut caves, two monasteries, two stupas, 24 inscriptions, 46 statues, 20 scattered remains and 19 water structures..

Source : Times of India

Correct Answer :   INS Magar

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Indian Naval Ship (INS) Magar, Landing Ship Tank (Large) amphibious assault ship of the Indian Navy decommissioned after 36 years of exceptional service to the nation. The Decommissioning ceremony was held at Southern Naval Command, Kochi on Saturday (6th May 2023).

* The ship was indigenously built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, Kolkata. She was launched on 16 November 1984 and commissioned into the Indian Navy on 18 July 1987 by Admiral R H Tahiliani, then Chief of the Naval Staff.

* Commander D.B Roy was the first Commanding Officer. The ship has a displacement of 5,600 tonnes, a length of 125 metres, a beam of 17 metres.

* INS Magar is the lead ship of the Magar class amphibious warfare vessels of the Indian Navy.

* The ship has been a vital asset of the Indian Navy for over 30 years and participated in various naval operations ranging from amphibious operations, Fleet deployments and HADR missions.

* The major operations undertaken by the ship include Op Pawan, wherein she played a pivotal role in movement of logistics supplies to the area of operation, in support of the forces on ground. The ship has also played a key role in a number of HADR operations, the most noteworthy being during the December 2004 Tsunami wherein it was instrumental in evacuation of over 1,300 civilians from the affected areas.

* 'Magar’ has been named after a species of crocodile. The crest design depicts a Brown coloured crocodile with its mouth open swimming over White and Blue ocean waves. The aft portion of the crest shows a cut out of the thick and impenetrable armour like skin of the crocodile. The design has been taken from a Mathura sculpture of 1st Century AD, preserved in original in the Lucknow museum..

Source : AIR