QUES: Giovanni Battista Montini was born in the village of Concesio, in the province of Brescia, Lombardy in 1897. His father Giorgio Montini was a lawyer, journalist, director of the Catholic Action and member of the Italian Parliament. His mother was Giudetta Alghisi, from a family of rural nobility. He had two brothers, Francesco Montini, who became a physician, and Lodovico Montini, who became a lawyer and politician. On 30 September 1897, he was baptized in the name of Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini. He attended Cesare Arici, a school run by the Jesuits, and in 1916, he received a diploma from Arnaldo da Brescia, a public school in Brescia. His education was often interrupted by bouts of illness.
What was Giovanni's mother descended from?

ANS: rural nobility

QUES: Since the launch of the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge", more than a dozen research teams, mainly at universities in the U.S., Europe, India, China and South Africa, have received grants to develop innovative on-site and off-site waste treatment solutions for the urban poor. The grants were in the order of 400,000 USD for their first phase, followed by typically 1-3 million USD for their second phase; many of them investigated resource recovery or processing technologies for excreta or fecal sludge.
What did many investigate

ANS: many of them investigated resource recovery or processing technologies for excreta or fecal sludge.

QUES: On December 8, 1991, at Viskuli near Brest (Belarus), the President of the Russian SFSR and the heads of Byelorussian SSR and Ukrainian SSR signed the "Agreement on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States" (known in media as Belavezha Accords). The document, consisting of a preamble and fourteen articles, stated that the Soviet Union ceased to exist as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality. However, based on the historical community of peoples, relations between them, given the bilateral treaties, the desire for a democratic rule of law, the intention to develop their relations based on mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty, the parties agreed to the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 12, the agreement was ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR by an overwhelming majority: 188 votes for, 6 against, 7 abstentions. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and recalled all Russian deputies from the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The legality of this act is the subject of discussions because, according to the 1978 Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian SFSR, the Russian Supreme Soviet had no right to do so. However, by this time the Soviet government had been rendered more or less impotent, and was in no position to object. Although the December 12 vote is sometimes reckoned as the moment that the RSFSR seceded from the collapsing Soviet Union, this is not the case. It appears that the RSFSR took the line that it was not possible to secede from an entity that no longer existed.
What is another name for the Agreement on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States?

ANS: Belavezha Accords

QUES: Paul VI revolutionized papal elections by ordering that only cardinals below the age of eighty might participate in future conclaves. In Ecclesiae Sanctae, his motu proprio of 6 August 1966, he further invited all bishops to offer their retirement to the pontiff no later than the completion of their 75th year of age. This requirement was extended to all Cardinals of the Catholic Church on 21 November 1970. With these two stipulations, the Pope filled several positions with younger bishops and cardinals, and further internationalized the Roman Curia in light of several resignations due to age.
At what age were cardinals restricted by Paul Vi from participating in conclaves?

ANS:
eighty