Today's Event – 18th August 2021

• 1492 – First grammar text for Spanish language (Gramática de la Lengua Castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I

• 1612 – Pendle witch trials began at Lancaster Assizes.

• 1826 – Timbuktu was visited for the first time by a non-Muslim Major Gordon Laing 

• 868 –Helium was discovered by French astronomer Pierre Janssen 

• 1945 – Sukarno becomes the first president of Indonesia

• 1958 – Brojen Das from Bangladesh swam across the English Channel in a competition, becoming the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so. He came first against 39 other competitors.

National Events- 

•  India has recorded 35k cases and 440 deaths

•  Centre allotted Rs.1.3k crores to Northeast states of India for covid management

•  CBI took the investigation into the rape and some cases against Ex-CM of Kerala Oomen Chandy

•  The BJP accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of pursuing “reckless” politics by revealing the identity of a minor rape victim’s family and that too with their consent

• 2 ISIS Operatives arrested by NIA in Kerala

International Events- 

•  Germany has stopped development aid for Afghanistan

•  Taliban orders female government employees to return to work

•  Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) congratulated the Afghan Taliban for victory over the Afghan government

•  Russia is in no hurry to recognise the Taliban government

• Statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh vandalised in Pakistan

Job alerts-

• HPNLU Shimla Jobs for Non-Teaching and other posts. Last date 30th September 2021

• Punjab Haryana High Court Jobs for stenographer and other posts. Last date 7th September 2021

• UKMSSB Jobs for technician, receptionist and other posts. Last date 15th September 2021

• Nagaland University Jobs for and other posts. Last date 14th September 2021

• TN Wakf Jobs for Junior Assistant and other posts. Last date 27th August 2021

Sports-

•  India beats England in the 2nd Test series at Lords

•  Odisha government to sponsor Indian hockey team for next 10 years

•  PM Modi encourages wrestler Vinesh Phogat to not be discouraged by defeat

•  Celebrations take a toll on Neeraj Chopra’s health, slightly down with fever

• Cristiano Ronaldo blasted rumours of returning to Real Madrid

Awards and honours-

•  PM Modi wanted to honour hockey by renaming Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna to Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna

Technology-

•  Ex-Uber exec Manik Gupta hired by Microsoft for consumer app business

•  Battlegrounds India is available now on iOS

•  1st 5G platform for drones unveiled by Qualcomm

•  JBL wave 100 launched at a price of Rs. 3499

• Google launched Pixel buds A-Series at Rs. 9,999 in India

Economy – 

•  Government to settle dues with exporters under schemes like MEIS and SEIS

•  Sensex scaled 55,854 while Nifty sets at 16,614.60

•  Rupee drops by 11 paise at 74.35 against the US dollar

•  The market cap of BSE listed companies has recorded a lifetime high of Rs. 242 lakh crores

• WhatsApp featured Payments Backgrounds in India

Environment –

•  California wildfire escalates due to heavy winds

Local –

•  Husband and grandson tested delta negative after family member tested positive

•  Odisha Bar Council identifying non-practising advocates

•  Bihar government announced 43 spinning-weaving training centres for women

•  Uttar Pradesh becomes the first state to cross 6 crore vaccines

• Goa to auction 2 million tonnes of iron ore

Person in News – 

•  Congress leader Shashi Tharoor cleared of charges related to the Sunanda Pushkar death case

GK –

In which State/UT, Narendra Singh Tomar has inaugurated the world’s second-largest refurbished state-of-the-art National Gene Bank?

[A] New Delhi
[B] Uttar Pradesh
[C] Gujarat
[D] Goa

Recently, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has resigned. He was the prime minister of which country?

[A] Afghanistan
[B] the Philippines
[C] Cambodia
[D] Malaysia

With which bank, Tata Motors has partnered with to offer car loan facilities?

[A] State Bank of India
[B] Bank of Maharashtra
[C] Bank of Baroda
[D] ICICI Bank

Recently, which organization has launched a digital onboarding for its Alternate Investment Fund (AIF),the first of its kind in the industry?

[A] SBI Mutual Fund
[B] Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund
[C] ASK Investment Managers Ltd
[D] JPMorgan Chase

Recently, which organization was given conditional permission by the Civil Aviation Ministry to use drones for various purposes?

[A] Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
[B] Coal India
[C] Steel Authority of India
[D] Rashtriya Ispat Nigam