Today's Event – 14TH January 2022

• 1952 – NBC's long-running morning news program Today debuts, with host Dave Garroway. 

• 1953 – Josip Broz Tito is elected the first President of Yugoslavia. 

• 1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation. 

• 1957 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars. 

• 1960 – The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank and banknote issuing authority authorized by the 1959 Reserve Bank Act, is established

• 1972 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.

• 1973 – Elvis Presley's concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.

• 1993 – In Poland's worst peacetime maritime disaster, ferry MS Jan Heweliusz sinks off the coast of Rügen, drowning 55 passengers and crew; nine crew-members are saved.

• 2004 – The national flag of the Republic of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.

• 2010 – Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda.

• 2011 – President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia seeks refuge in Saudi Arabia after a series of demonstrations against his regime, considered to be the birth of the Arab Spring.

National Events-

• Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the Modi government alleging it first surrendered its own land to China and is now jeopardising country’s neighbours by not pushing it back.

• With almost all its MLAs part of the ruling alliance, Sikkim is not really known for political flare-ups. Since former chief minister Pawan Chamling returned to the state from Delhi on December 30 though, after three months in Delhi, the streets of the state have been marked by arson, clashes and stone-pelting.

• An unexpected change in weather that disoriented the pilot who then probably hit the aircraft at a surface had led to the December 8, 2021, crash of the Mi-17 V5 with India’s first chief of defence staff, General Bipin Rawat, the tri-services’ Court of Inquiry has found.

• Following the Supreme Court’s observation that the decision to suspend 12 BJP MLAs from the Maharashtra Assembly for one year is prima facie unconstitutional as there is a constitutional bar to it operating beyond six months, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is likely to tread cautiously on this issue.

• Indian aviation regulator DGCA has asked its UAE counterpart to share the report of the probe into the near collision of two India-bound Emirates passenger jets on January 9 at the Dubai airport.

International Events-

• Pope Francis has long lamented that he can’t walk around town unnoticed like he used to before becoming pope. But he seems to have nevertheless kept his sense of humour after he was caught on camera making an unannounced visit to a Rome record shop this week.

• Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday launched Pakistan’s first-ever National Security Policy based on a citizen-centric framework and focusing more on boosting the country’s flagging economy and its standing in the world, unlike the previous one-dimensional security policy deeply rooted in the development of military capabilities.

• North Korea defended its missile tests and said the United States is intentionally escalating the situation by imposing sanctions, North Korean state media reported on Friday.

• In Afghanistan’s heavily patriarchal, male-dominated society, where women and girls are usually relegated to the home, bacha posh, Dari for “dressed as a boy,” is the one tradition allowing girls access to the freer male world.

• Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday launched the country’s first-ever National Security Policy, which articulates a citizen-centric framework, placing economic security at its core, unlike the previous one-dimensional security policy where the focus was on the military.

Job alerts-

• Indian Oil Corporation Limited Jobs for Apprentice and other posts. Last date 15 February 2022

• Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission Jobs for Clerk and other posts. Last date 15 February 2022

• Sports Authority of India Jobs for Junior Consultant and other posts. Last date 20 January 2022

• Zilla Swastya Samithi (ZSS Kandhamal) Jobs for Yoga Teacher, Physiotherapist and other posts. Last date 25 January 2022

• CSIR – Central Electrochemical Research Institute Jobs for Secretariat Assistant, Stenographer, Receptionist and other posts. Last date 14 February 2022

Sports-

• Unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic on Friday asked an Australian court to block his deportation ahead of the Australian Open after the government cancelled his visa for the second time over COVID-19 entry regulations.

• Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and world championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen registered contrasting wins to advance to the women’s and men’s singles semifinals, respectively, at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton on Friday.

• Bayern Munich left back Alphonso Davies has been sidelined with evidence of heart muscle inflammation after being infected with the coronavirus, coach Julian Nagelsmann said Friday.

• Former India bowling coach Bharat Arun has now taken up the same role at Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL franchise announced on Friday. Making the announcement of his appointment, Venky Mysore, CEO & MD of KKR said

• Malvika Bansod knows she’s not exactly moved mountains by showing a barely exerting and unfit Saina Nehwal the exit door at the India Open Super 500. At best, she sent a pebble skimming to skip on still waters, with a nice leftie side-arm action. Playing a mostly steady game of badminton, the 20-year-old, ranked 111 in the world, created those surface ripples, which look spectacular when bouncing twice or thrice gleefully before they disappear to the water bed. A 21-17, 21-9 win in the second week of January, beating an opponent she grew up idolising, is happy tidings.

Technology-

• Jabra has announced that Jabra Elite 4 Active, Elite 7 Active, Elite 3, Elite 2, Elite 85t, Elite 75t, and Elite Active 75t will be offered with a discount during the Republic Day sales that will kick off this weekend on Amazon, Flipkart, and other online stores. The true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones will be available with a discount on other e-commerce platforms as well. Most of the Jabra TWS earphones were launched in India recently, with the latest one being Jabra Elite 4 Active that was launched in India on December 31.

• PUBG developer Krafton has filed a lawsuit against Garena, Apple, and Google. Krafton alleged that Garena – which released battle royale games Free Fire and Free Fire Max – has copied PUBG: Battlegrounds and is suing Apple and Google for distributing the games on their respective app stores. Krafton also accused Google of hosting videos on YouTube that show the gameplay of Garena's Free Fire and Free Fire Max. Krafton has also allegedly taken a few actions against battle royale games in question.

• A number of government websites in Ukraine were down on Friday after a huge hacking attack, Ukrainian officials said.

• Tech giant Google has spent $1 billion (roughly Rs. 7,410 crore) to buy a central London building where it is currently a tenant, showing its confidence in the future of the office as a place to work, the company said on Friday.

• The year of 2021 witnessed global crypto expansion, but along came several cases of crypto-related crimes that dragged the sector under bad light. The criminal usage of cryptocurrencies will drop around the world, as more governments learn to take advantage of the uncensored transparency that blockchain offers, a new report claims. Blockchain is the underlying technology that supports cryptocurrencies. In its study, research firm Chainalysis has said that the growth of legitimate usage of cryptocurrencies is “far outpacing the growth of its criminal usage”.

Economy –

• The 2022 budget session of the Parliament will be commencing on Monday, January 31, 2022, with President Ram Nath Kovind addressing both the houses

• The Budget Session of Parliament will commence on January 31 with the address of the president to both the Houses, and conclude on April 8, sources said on Friday citing recommendation of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.

• The wholesale price index (WPI) grew 14.23 per cent during the month of November, while the WPI for October was revised to 13.83 per cent from 12.54 per cent, the data showed. The WPI in December 2020 was at 1.95 per cent.

• The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 12.27 points (0.02 per cent) to end at 61,223.03 while the Nifty 50 dipped 2.05 points (0.01 per cent) to settle at 18,255.75.

• Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament John Brittas has written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asking her to stop the sale of Central Electronics Limited (CEL),alleging that the central public sector unit was being sold to a private organisation which neither had the competence in the field, nor the managerial or technological expertise.

Local –

• The Friday namaz prayers were not offered at any public place in Gurgaon as Muslim community leaders appealed to people to refrain from gathering in large congregations amid the surge in Covid cases in the district.

• The railway ministry’s commissioner of metro railway safety will inspect the Navi Mumabi Metro on January 17 in what officials say will be the final stage of approval for the public transport system.

• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday visited West Bengal Jalpaiguri district, where the Bikaner-Guwahati Express met with an accident a day ago, and said that preliminary reports suggested there was “some issue” with the equipment of the locomotive.

• Tamil Nadu recorded 23,459 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Friday, taking the overall tally to 28,91,959. With 26 casualities, the toll reached 36,956. As many as 9,026 people recovered in the past 24 hours, leaving 1,18,017 active infections. The positive cases included 21 returnees from other states and countries. The positivity rate stood at 15.32 per cent.

• Karnataka on Friday reported 28,723 new Covid-19 cases and 14 deaths, with Bengaluru alone accounting for 20,121 new infections and seven deaths. With today’s addition of fresh cases, the state positivity rate stood at 12.98 per cent. The total number of active cases in the state is currently at 1,41,337.

GK –

Darvaza gas crater, also known as the ‘Gateway to Hell’, is located in which country?

[A] USA
[B] Russia
[C] Indonesia
[D] Turkmenistan

Western disturbance, which was seen in the news recently, is associated with?

[A] Culture
[B] Meteorology
[C] Economy
[D] Politics

The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is an autonomous body under which Union Ministry?

[A] Ministry of Culture
[B] Ministry of External Affairs
[C] Ministry of Education
[D] Ministry of Tourism

What species is ‘Red Sanders’, seen in the news recently?

[A] Bird
[B] Tree
[C] Mammal
[D] Amphibian

‘Ibonia’, which was seen in the news recently, is a similar version of Ramayana found in which country?

[A] Nepal
[B] Madagascar
[C] Sri Lanka
[D] Mauritius