QUES: Most historians[who?] consider Caliph Muawiyah (661–80) to have been the second ruler of the Umayyad dynasty, even though he was the first to assert the Umayyads' right to rule on a dynastic principle. It was really the caliphate of Uthman Ibn Affan (644–656), a member of Umayyad clan himself, that witnessed the revival and then the ascendancy of the Umayyad clan to the corridors of power. Uthman placed some of the trusted members of his clan at prominent and strong positions throughout the state. Most notable was the appointment of Marwan ibn al-Hakam, Uthman's first cousin, as his top advisor, which created a stir among the Hashimite companions of Muhammad, as Marwan along with his father Al-Hakam ibn Abi al-'As had been permanently exiled from Medina by Muhammad during his lifetime. Uthman also appointed as governor of Kufa his half-brother, Walid ibn Uqba, who was accused by Hashmites of leading prayer while under the influence of alcohol. Uthman also consolidated Muawiyah's governorship of Syria by granting him control over a larger area and appointed his foster brother Abdullah ibn Saad as the Governor of Egypt. However, since Uthman never named an heir, he cannot be considered the founder of a dynasty.
Who was the son of Al-Hakam ibn Abi al-'As?

ANS: Marwan ibn al-Hakam

QUES: It has been possible to teach a migration route to a flock of birds, for example in re-introduction schemes. After a trial with Canada geese Branta canadensis, microlight aircraft were used in the US to teach safe migration routes to reintroduced whooping cranes Grus americana.
Which birds did they reintroduce to the US?

ANS: whooping cranes

QUES: The India Gate built in 1931 was inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It is the national monument of India commemorating the 90,000 soldiers of the Indian Army who lost their lives while fighting for the British Raj in World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War.
Which Indian monument, inspired by the Arc de Triomphe, was built in 1931?

ANS: The India Gate

QUES: A global drop in sea level at the end of the Devonian reversed early in the Carboniferous; this created the widespread epicontinental seas and carbonate deposition of the Mississippian. There was also a drop in south polar temperatures; southern Gondwana was glaciated throughout the period, though it is uncertain if the ice sheets were a holdover from the Devonian or not. These conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where lush coal swamps flourished within 30 degrees of the northernmost glaciers. A mid-Carboniferous drop in sea-level precipitated a major marine extinction, one that hit crinoids and ammonites especially hard. This sea-level drop and the associated unconformity in North America separate the Mississippian Period from the Pennsylvanian period.
What region was deeply impacted by the conditions of the Carboniferous?

ANS:
unanswerable