Today's Event – 14th December 2021

• 1751 – The Theresian Military Academy is founded in Wiener Neustadt, Austria

• 1780 – Founding Father Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York

• 1782 – The Montgolfier brothers first test fly an unmanned hot air balloon in France; it floats nearly 2.5 km (1.6 mi)

• 1812 – The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia

• 1819 – Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.

• 1836 – The Toledo War unofficially ends as the "Frostbitten Convention" votes to accept Congress' terms for admitting Michigan as a U.S. state

• 1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.

• 1900 – Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law (quantum theory) at the Physic Society in Berlin

• 1902 – The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu.

• 1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

• 1907 – The Thomas W. Lawson, the largest ever ship without a heat engine, runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Isles of Scilly in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.

• 1909 – New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signs the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909, formally completing the transfer of State land to the Commonwealth to create the Australian Capital Territory.

• 1911 – Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.

• 1913 – Haruna, the fourth and last Kongō-class ship, launches, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during World War I and World War II.

• 1914 – Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressive Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista, PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

• 1918 – Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounces the Finnish throne.

• 1918 – Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.

• 1918 – The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurs, the first where women were permitted to vote.

• 1939 – Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.

• 1940 – Plutonium (specifically Pu-238) is first isolated at Berkeley, California.

• 1948 – Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann are granted a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the earliest known interactive electronic game.

• 1955 – Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations through United Nations Security Council Resolution 109.

• 1958 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.

• 1960 – Convention against Discrimination in Education of UNESCO is adopted.

• 1962 – NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.

• 1963 – The dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir bursts, killing five people and damaging hundreds of homes in Los Angeles, California.

• 1964 – American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.

• 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies. (The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.)

• 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extravehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission.

• 1981 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights.

• 1985 – Wilma Mankiller takes office as the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

• 1992 – War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli: A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children. The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia.

• 1994 – Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river.

• 1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by the leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• 1998 – Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.

• 1999 – Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure.

• 2003 – Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.

• 2004 – The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is formally inaugurated near Millau, France.

• 2012 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

• 2013 – A reported coup attempt in South Sudan leads to continued fighting and hundreds of casualties.

• 2017 – The Walt Disney Company announces that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox movie studio, for $52.4 billion.

• 2020 – A total solar eclipse is visible from parts of the South Pacific Ocean, southern South America, and the South Atlantic Ocean

National Events- 

• In view of the Omicron threat, the Centre has made it mandatory for passengers coming in from ‘at-risk’ countries to pre-book their RT-PCR tests which they need to undergo on arrival. However, passengers who have not pre-booked their tests will be allowed to board their flight. It is will be the responsibility of the concerned airlines to book tests for such passengers. 

•  At the Trinamool Congress (TMC) rally Monday at Benaulim in South Goa during which he was inducted into the TMC in the presence of party supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Churchill Alemao, local NCP MLA, said it was the people of Benaulim, who made him a leader and not any party.

•  Terming the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, that claimed eight lives, as a “pre-planned conspiracy causing death,” the SIT, probing the case, has urged the chief judicial magistrate to replace lesser charges in the case like causing death by negligence with attempt to murder.

•  The Election Commission (EC) will be visiting the poll-bound state of Punjab on Wednesday to review poll preparedness in the state. According to EC officials, the dates for visiting other poll-bound states are yet to be finalised.

• A Mumbai airport cargo loader “fell asleep” in the belly cargo area of an IndiGo aircraft that flew to Abu Dhabi, according to sources.

International Events- 

•  Canadian political and military leaders delivered an apology to victims of military sexual misconduct on Monday. Streamed online from National Defence Headquarters, the apology followed the federal government’s $600-million Canadian ($468 million) settlement with tens of thousands of current and former Armed Forces members who experienced such behaviour while serving. It also came as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government and military leadership face questions and criticism over their perceived failure to address allegations of inappropriate and criminal sexual misconduct among some of the military’s top leaders.

•  Russia on Monday blocked a United Nations Security Council draft resolution, under negotiation for many months, that for the first time would have defined climate change as a threat to peace.

•  Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida suggested to parliament on Tuesday that he was willing to consider new guidelines for corporate share buybacks, while stressing the need for care regarding blanket regulations on such corporate activity.

• Hong Kong officials distanced themselves from the screening of a 1937 Nanking massacre video in a primary school that left some children in tears, saying schools are not required to screen such graphic footage. 

• A Muslim teacher in Canada was transferred from her job for wearing a hijab in the classroom, sparking outrage against a provincial law that forbids public servants from wearing religious symbols, according to media reports. Fatemeh Anvari, an elementary school teacher in Chelsea Elementary School, was removed from her post and reassigned to work on a diversity and literacy project at the same school after her dress code violated Quebec’s “secularism” law named Bill 21, reported Quebec-based daily Montreal Gazette.

Job alerts-

• CDAC Jobs for Project Engineers and other posts. Last date 21/12/2021

• Indian Army Jobs for Technical Graduate Course and other posts. Last date 04/01/2022

• MECON Limited Jobs for Assistant Managers / Deputy Managers / Manager / GM / AGM / DGM / Senior Manager and other posts. Last date 25/12/2021

• Central Bank of India Jobs for Credit Officer Scale III, Risk Manager and other posts. Last date 17/12/2021

• MP High Court Jobs for Stenographer, Assistants and other posts. Last date 30/12/2021

Sports-

• Lahore’s Government College had five hockey players at the 1948 London Olympics — two from the newly-born Pakistan, three representing freshly-partitioned India. Classmates till a few months ago; they had parted with heavy hearts and scars that would never heal. 

•  The UEFA Champions League 2021-22 Round of 16 draw had to be redone again after the initial draw was shrouded with controversy when Manchester United were briefly excluded.

•  The BCCI press advisory mentioned Rohit Sharma’s left hamstring injury and his subsequent withdrawal from the upcoming three-Test tour of South Africa, but it didn’t name a stop-gap vice-captain. Only last week, Rohit had replaced Ajinkya Rahane as Virat Kohli’s deputy in Tests. With the former now ruled out, the position has fallen vacant for an overseas tour.

•  Kidambi Srikanth gets ready to take on young upstart Li Shifeng of China in Round 2 of the Huelva World Championships

• Autumn has arrived late at Huelva in December, and the Badminton World Championships is shedding seeded players like carotene leaves, tired after a draining season. India’s HS Prannoy accounted for No. 8 Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, winning 13-21, 21-18, 21-19 in a stunning come-from-behind win in 71 minutes.

Technology-

• Flipkart India and Walmart on Monday said they have invested $145 million (roughly Rs. 1100.58335 crore) in fresh produce supply chain company Ninjacart. In October last year, Walmart and Flipkart Group had pumped in an undisclosed amount of funding in the Bengaluru-based company. 

• Google, Facebook and other online services should be held legally accountable for advertisements on their platforms to prevent fraudsters scamming millions of consumers, a cross-party group of British lawmakers has said. Britain has proposed a landmark online safety law to punish abuses such as child pornography, racism and violence against women, but a joint committee of lawmakers drawn from both houses of parliament said on Tuesday it should go a step further to cover paid-for adverts. 

•  Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creator Yuga Labs has announced that it is working with The Sandbox maker Animoca Brands on a play-to-earn blockchain-based game that is set to launch in Q2 2022. Specifics have not been detailed yet but the game will utilise Bored Ape non-fungible token (NFTs) which features a collection of 10,000 NFT images that have become well-established in popular culture, gaining widespread attention, and even setting a $26 million (roughly Rs. 196.32 crore) sale record for crypto art sold on fine arts auction house Sotheby's.

•  Oppo Air Glass assisted reality smart glass and MariSilicon X dedicated imaging neural processing unit (NPU) have been launched on the first day of Oppo Inno Day annual event in China. The glass is lightweight and features a single-glass design. It is fitted with a custom projector and has a Sapphire Crystal Glass protection on top. Meanwhile, MariSilicon X is aimed at revolutionising photography with Oppo smartphones. Oppo says that the NPU is power efficient, and its highlight is the ability to capture 4K videos at night. Reports also suggest that the Chinese company is also expected to launch a foldable smartphone.

• Assassin's Creed Valhalla's developer Ubisoft has announced the next major expansion for the game. The downloadable content (DLC) expansion pack — Dawn of Ragnarök — will be available to purchase separately. The latest DLC marks the second year of the game's post-launch support. Additionally, Ubisoft has also announced Assassin's Creed Crossover Stories featuring characters Eivor and Kassandra. The Crossover Stories will be available as two stories and it is the first cross-game project in the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Economy – 

•  The wholesale inflation across the country rose to 14.23 per cent in November, data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed.

•  Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd., along with a partner, are among those bidding to take over bankrupt Indian textile firm Sintex Industries Ltd., according to a stock-exchange filing, as the billionaire attempts to diversify from an oil empire and into telecommunications, green energy and fashion.

•  Israel’s spyware company NSO Group is considering shutting down its controversial unit Pegasus or even selling the company itself after facing possible debt defaults, according to a report from Bloomberg.

•  The initial public offering (IPO) of Rategain Travel Technologies was subscribed 17.41 times over the 1.73 crore shares that were on offer during the subscription period from December 7-9, 2021. The price band was fixed at Rs 405-425 per share.

• The S&P BSE Sensex fell 166.33 points (0.29 per cent) to end at 58,117.09 while the Nifty 50 declined 43.35 points (0.25 per cent) to settle at 17,324.90. Both indices had opened over 0.5 per cent lower and traded in the negative territory for the most part of the session.

Local –

• Four more people in Delhi have tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. This takes the total number of patients in Delhi to six. One of the six has now recovered and has been discharged from hospital.

•  Two fresh cases of Omicron were reported in Maharashtra on Monday, taking the state’s tally of those affected with the new Covid-19 variant to 20. Both the patients, fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, had a travel history to Dubai. Across the state, there are five cases in Mumbai, 10 in Pimpri-Chinchwad, one in Kalyan Dombivali, two in Pune Municipal Corporation and one each in Nagpur and Latur.

•  CANDIDATES WHO claimed to have cleared State Level Selection Test (SLST) in 2016 protested outside the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) office on Monday demanding immediate recruitment in teaching positions. According to the protesters, they have been seeking teaching jobs from classes 9 to 12 in state-run schools

•  Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian launched five specialty units, including one for internet de-addiction, at the Omandurar Government Medical College Hospital on Monday as promised in the Assembly a few months ago.

• Though the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has submitted before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that it would put an end to sewage entering the Bellandur and Varthur lakes after the commissioning of sewage treatment plants (STP),activists point out that it is yet to be materialised. Channels carrying sewage are yet to be connected to the plants, they say as the lakes continue to froth.

GK – 

Catherine Russell, who has been seen in the news recently, is the new head of which global institution?

[A] World Bank
[B] World Economic Forum
[C] UNICEF
[D] IMF

Marmosa (mouse opossums) are endemic to which region?

[A] America
[B] Antarctica
[C] Europe
[D] Asia

Which Indian state has witnessed cases of Covidengue, a combination of both COVID-19 and Dengue?

[A] Kerala
[B] Telangana
[C] Madhya Pradesh
[D] Gujarat

What is the status of “Bryde’s whale”, seen in the news recently?

[A] Extinct
[B] Endangered
[C]  Least Concern
[D]  Near Threatened

Jhilli Dalabehera, who won a gold medal in Commonwealth championship, is associated with which sports?

[A] Archery
[B] Shooting
[C] Weight-Lifting
[D] Boxing