Today's Event – 11th January 2022

• 1569 – First recorded lottery in England 

• 1759 – The first American life insurance company, the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers (now part of Unum Group),is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

• 1779 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.

• 1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.

• 1805 – The Michigan Territory is create

• 1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.

• 1912 – Immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, go on strike when wages are reduced in response to a mandated shortening of the work week. 

• 1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.

• 1922 – Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to be injected with insulin

• 1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.

• 1943 – Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City.

• 1946 – Enver Hoxha, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.

• 1949 – The first "networked" television broadcasts took place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming.

• 1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal.

• 1961 – Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River, linking New York City's boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, opens to road traffic.

• 1964 – Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.

• 1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.

• 1973 – Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.

• 1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is officially opened.

• 1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.

• 2003 – Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois's death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.

• 2013 – One French soldier and 17 militants are killed in a failed attempt to free a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia.

• 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei: Municipal health officials in Wuhan announce the first recorded death from COVID-19.

National Events-

• After calling for action against Tamil actor Siddharth over his controversial tweet on ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Tuesday cognisance of another tweet by the actor against a prominent television news channel anchor. The Commission has now written to Tamil Nadu DGP seeking “intervention and appropriate action”.

• A day after Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan criticised the “language and style” of the letter he received from Kerala University vice-chancellor V P Mahadevan Pillai last month, the V-C on Tuesday said he is “extremely vigilant to ensure that spelling and grammar of life do not go wrong”.

• The Supreme Court on Tuesday expanded the meaning of vulnerable witnesses to also include among others sexual assault victims, those with mental illness and people with speech or hearing impairment.

• The CBI has told the Supreme Court that there appears to be an “attempt to meddle…and jeorpardise” its investigation into allegations of corruption against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

• The case against Malayalam actor Dileep after allegations he had planned to kill investigators in the abduction and sexual assault of an actress, for which he is already facing trial, got a new twist on Tuesday. Film director Balachandrakumar, who had made the allegations, has alleged that one the five others accused in the alleged conspiracy case is “very close” to a Kerala minister.

International Events-

• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell vowed to fight inflation in testimony on Tuesday before U.S. lawmakers who are expected to focus on the recent surge in prices as they consider him for a second term as head of the central bank.

• Afghanistan‘s ambassador to China, Javid Ahmad Qaem, left his post earlier in January after months without pay from Kabul, following the Taliban’s seizure of power, he said on Twitter.

• The Hong Kong government is expanding its use of a long-dormant sedition law in what some lawyers and democracy advocates say is intensifying a squeeze on press freedom.

• A third Chinese city has locked down its residents because of a COVID-19 outbreak, raising the number confined to their homes in China to about 20 million people

• Afghan farmer Abdul Qaher cannot remember a worse drought. Unable to feed his four children after losing his harvest, he took the drastic decision to sell his possessions and move to the western city of Herat to look for work.

Job alerts-

• CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute Jobs for Project Associate, Project Assistant and other posts. Last date 21 January 2022

• Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited Jobs for Management Trainee and other posts. Last date  10 February 2022

• Indira Gandhi Medical College Jobs for Senior Resident, Specialist and other posts. Last date 20 January 2022

• Delhi Skill and Entrepreneurship University Jobs for Lecturer, Professor and other posts. Last date 25 January 2022

• Maulana Azad National Urdu University Jobs for Teaching, Non-Teaching and other posts. Last date 02 February 2022

Sports-

• Novak Djokovic on Tuesday warmed up for his bid to win a record 21st tennis major at next week’s Australian Open, hitting practice shots at Melbourne Park, but he still faces the threat of deportation from the country.

• The fire, finally, was back in Kagiso Rabada’s eyes. A fire so raging, and unstoppable that not even India’s finest batsman of this generation, the strong-willed Virat Kohli, could extinguish.

• Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom and Asian Games gold-medallist Amit Panghal were among six Indian boxers who were on Tuesday included in the ongoing national camps for women and men in Delhi and Patiala respectively.

• Former Turkey national soccer team defender Ahmet Calik died Tuesday in a traffic accident near Ankara, his current club said.

• Host nation India on Tuesday named its 23-member squad for the upcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup, including four youngsters from the team that finished runners-up in the U-19 SAFF Championships in Dhaka last month. While the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has not named a captain yet, the experienced Ashalata Devi is likely to lead the side in the continental tournament, which will be held in three venues across Maharasthra from January 20 to February 6.

Technology-

• The federal investigation agency (FIA) of Pakistan has sent an official notice to crypto exchange Binance that is being named in a major scam. The FIA will be investigating the complaints of Binance users who have alleged that the crypto exchange made them transfer funds into unfamiliar third-party wallets. The scam is estimated to have costed people a collective total of around $100 million (roughly Rs. 739 crore). A notice has also been sent to Binance headquarters located in the British oversees territory of Cayman Islands for answers.

• Apple paid out around $60 billion (roughly Rs. 4,43,300 crore) to developers in 2021, the company revealed in its latest App Store figures. The new figures show an increase in money paid to developers compared to previous years, which comes after Apple's decision to reduce the commission collected from smaller developers. The company also revealed that customers had spent “more than ever” on the App Store between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, without revealing the total spending by all customers during this period.

• WhatsApp is testing a global voice message feature on Android that would let users continue to listen to voice messages even when they switch from one chat to another. The instant messaging app at present stops playing a voice message when a user leaves the chat in which that particular message is available. The update seems to allow voice message playback in the background. For the last few months, WhatsApp has been enhancing the voice message experience to convince its users to exchange more voice messages on the platform.

• Vi (Vodafone Idea) has expanded its Wi-Fi calling facility to Haryana. All Vi prepaid and postpaid customers in the state can now access the Wi-Fi calling service by Vi and make and receive voice calls over the Wi-Fi network when their cellular network in unreliable. The telecom operator started rolling out Wi-Fi calling in the country back in 2020. Initially, it was limited to a couple of circles. Vi's Wi-Fi calling service is now available in twelve regions.

• Cybersecurity and space are emerging risks to the global economy, adding to existing challenges posed by climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, the World Economic Forum said in a report Tuesday.

Economy –

• After Vodafone Idea, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) on Tuesday said it will opt for conversion of the interest amount on AGR dues into equity and post conversion, the government’s holding in the company is expected to be around 9.5 per cent.

• Former RBI governor Urjit Patel was on Tuesday appointed as vice president for investment operations in South Asia at the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),replacing former bureaucrat from Gujarat, D J Pandian.

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday extended the deadline of income tax return (ITR) filing for Assessment Year 2021-22 till March 15, 2022, for specific taxpayers who are eligible for audit, a statement by the Ministry of Finance informed.

• The Indian economy is likely to register a growth of 9.5 per cent in this financial year, former chief economic adviser Arvind Virmani said on Tuesday.

• After early hiccups, the 30-share benchmark remained poised throughout the session and went on to hit the day’s high of 60,689.25. It finally ended 221.26 points or 0.37 per cent higher at 60,616.89.

Local –

• The Delhi High Court Tuesday observed that the nature of a relationship cannot put it on a different pedestal when it comes to dealing with cases of marital rape.

• After receiving lukewarm response in the last nine days when it comes to vaccinating teens against Covid-19, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to hold vaccination camps at the premises of educational institutions with the help of NGO Project India.

• A day after West Bengal registered its highest single-day tally of Covid-19 cases, the state recorded fewer infections Monday at19,286, while the test-positivity rate jumped by almost four percentage points to 37.32 per cent.

• Tamil Nadu on Tuesday recorded 15,379 fresh Covid-19 cases, pushing the caseload to 28,29, 655. The total number of cases included 49 returnees from other countries and states. With 20 deaths, the toll reached 36,886. As many as 3,043 people recovered in the past 24 hours leaving 75,083 active infections. The positivity rate stood at 11.33 per cent.

• Karnataka on Tuesday registered 14,473 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths. The positivity rate is now at 10.30 per cent. The state has 73,260 active cases.

GK –

The Special Protection Group Act, 1988 was passed to provide security to……….

[A] Nuclear Power Plants
[B] Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers
[C] India’s land borders
[D] India’s water borders

‘’Abilympics” are the competitions held for Persons with Disabilities, in which field?

[A] Sports
[B] Coding
[C] Skill Demonstration
[D] Business Administration

‘Hyderabad declaration’, which was seen in the news, is associated with?

[A] Climate Change
[B] E-Governance
[C] Women Empowerment
[D] Covid-19 Protocol

Sanjay Lake is a wetland located in which state/UT?

[A] Karnataka
[B] New Delhi
[C] Himachal Pradesh
[D] Andhra Pradesh

Which group of countries participate in ‘Sea Dragon 22’ Military Exercise?

[A] Indo-Pacific countries
[B] QUAD Group
[C] Indian Ocean Rim Countries
[D] Balkan Countries