1. What is the name of the official external broadcast institution of the United States government that provides programming for broadcast on radio, TV, and the Internet outside USA, to “serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news”?
2. If Gonsalo Garcia was the first man to achieve this status, who was the first woman?
3. What comes in these types: bob, corkscrew, docked, odd, saber, sickle, squirrel and wheel?
4. Every year, September 15 is celebrated as what day in India, celebrating the birth anniversary of Sir M Visveswaraya?
5. What is the motto of the state of California because of the discovery of gold and the subsequent Gold Rush?
6. The upper limit to define what is given by the World Bank as $1.25 per day, and by the Asian Development Bank as $1.35 per day?
7. Which is the only Summer Olympics sport that does not include events for women?
8. Which epic did Emperor Akbar have translated into Persian and titled Razmnama (The Book of War)?
9. Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, formerly Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters is the place of training of which group of people?
10. Scratch player is a golfer whose handicap is ____?
11. ‘Knol’ is the name that Google has given for what unit?
12. What is the name of the luxury train introduced in Karnataka on the lines of the 'Palace on Wheels'?
13. Which 16th century Spanish Bishop of Segura wrote a book Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del Axendrez? It is one of the first fundamental books in Europe relating to this game written by one considered by many to be its first unofficial world champion.
14. In Indian politics what two-word term means ‘Council of States’ and may be found in New Delhi?
15. Salman Rushdie is coming out with a 250-page work entitled Two Years Eight Months and 28 days. It is his first novel for adults in six years. What is it based on?
Answers
1. The Voice of America (VOA)
2. Sister Alphonsa, a Roman Catholic saint from India. Garcia is the patron saint of Mumbai, crucified in Nagasaki in 1597 and declared a saint in 1862.
3. Dogs' tails
4. Engineers' Day
5. Eureka
6. Poverty
7. Boxing.
8. Mahabharata
9. X-Men
10. Zero!
11. Information. Knol stands for knowledge
12. Golden Chariot. It is named after the famous stone chariot at the Vitthala Temple in Hampi.
13. Ruy (Rodrigo) Lopez after whom the famous Ruy Lopez chess move is named
14. Rajya Sabha
15. Arabian Nights