(Current Affairs questions are from the period January 16th to 31st. Questions 11 to 20 pertain to Chennai and Tamil Nadu.)

1. Name the new National Security Adviser.

2. NASA has offered which two space shuttles for sale, at $28.8 million apiece, once they quit flying?

3. How was the former Iraqi minister Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam Hussein’s cousin, who was recently executed, better known?

4. The man who shot Pope John Paul II in May 1981 was released from a Turkish prison after almost 30 years behind bars. Name him.

5. According to new research, oceans of liquid diamond topped with solid “icebergs” of the precious gems could be found on which of the solar system’s planets?

6. Which globally famous confectionery company was recently taken over by American company Kraft Foods for £11.5 billion?

7. Which recent flick becomes the highest-grossing film of all time (not accounting for inflation), surpassing Titanic?

8. Name the author of the ‘cult’ novel The Catcher in the Rye, who passed away recently.

9. Which country became African Cup of Nations champion for a record third consecutive title?

10. The much-anticipated tablet PC from Apple that was unveiled by Steve Jobs recently is called….?

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11. Which Bharat Ratna’s memorial can be found at 27, Arcot Mudali Street in T. Nagar?

12. What first did Letika Saran recently achieve as regards the Tamil Nadu Police?

13. Name the Government of Tamil Nadu’s ‘community-driven development-based project with the shift in focus from Group Formation and Social Empowerment of Mahalir Thittam to Poverty Reduction through Livelihood Promotion and Economic Empowerment’.

14. What ‘academic’ first can Chirupitty Wairawanathar Thamotharampillai claim as regards the educational system in Madras?

15. Who wrote this tribute to Subramanya Bharati in The Hindu in 1921: “… So long, however as the Tamil language lives, and there is a spark of patriotism in Tamil India, Subramanya Bharati’s songs will live…”?

16. Name the stately bungalow, with a staircase built to resemble the stings of a scorpion, located behind the Quaid-e-Millath college.

17. Which Chennai cinema theatre’s name has its genesis in a brand of writing instruments from a company started by P.A. Sanjeevi before World War II.

18. Which self-taught scholar considered the ‘Father of Tamil Puritanism’ was born C. Vedachalam Pillai?

19. Name the school in Chennai run by the Alumni Association of Women’s Christian College at Nawab Ghulam Abbas Ali Khan Road.

20. Who is the author of the Tirumandiram?