Today's Event – 19th October 2021

• 1386 – The Universität Heidelberg holds its first lecture, making it the oldest German university.

• 1512 – Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology.

• 1579 – James VI of Scotland is celebrated as an adult ruler by a festival in Edinburgh.

• 1596 – The Spanish ship San Felipe runs aground on the coast of Japan and its cargo is confiscated by local authorities

• 1789 – John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.

• 1812 – The French invasion of Russia fails when Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow.

• 1900 – Max Planck discovers Planck's law of black-body radiation.

• 1921 – The Portuguese Prime Minister and several officials are murdered in the Bloody Night coup.

• 1922 – British Conservative MPs vote to terminate the coalition government with the Liberal Party.

• 1935 – The League of Nations places economic sanctions on Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.

• 1943 – The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Crete and sunk. 2,098 Italian prisoners of war drown with it.

• 1943 – Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.

• 1944 – United States forces land in the Philippines.

• 1950 – Iran becomes the first country to accept technical assistance from the United States under the Point Four Program.

• 1955 – The General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union approves the staging of the first Eurovision Song Contest.

• 1960 – The United States imposes a near-total trade embargo against Cuba.

• 1973 – President Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.

• 1974 – Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand.

• 1986 – The president of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, along with 33 others, die when their aircraft crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.

• 1987 – The United States Navy conducts Operation Nimble Archer, an attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

• 1989 – The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.

• 2001 – SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 migrants, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.

• 2003 – Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.

• 2005 – Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

National Events- 

•  The term 1 Class 10 and Class 12 board exams conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will take place in November-December, 2021. While exams for Class 10 students would begin on November 30 and continue till December 11, the class 12 students, papers will be held from December 1 to December 22. From the academic year 2021-2022 onwards, CBSE has shifted to the two-term board-exam pattern, following which many state boards are also deciding the same.

•  BJP-backed Samajwadi Party rebel Nitin Agarwal was on Monday elected Deputy Speaker in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, defeating his party's official candidate Narendra Verma by 244 votes. Agarwal got 304 votes compared to Verma's 60 in the polling held through ballot papers at a special one-day Assembly session here.

•  Quarrying, deforestation and improper development activities along the Western Ghats are being seen as the reason behind the frequent landslides and deluge haunting Kerala, say environmental scientists and activists.

•  External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid on Monday agreed on the mutual recognition of the Covid-19 vaccination certificates. Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to the West Asian country has been holding meetings with government officials, business leaders, and the Indian Jewish community there.

• Infants, children and adolescents are equally capable of carrying high levels of life and replicating SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, in their respiratory secretions, researchers have confirmed in a new study, emphasising that kids are an essential component of beating the pandemic.

International Events- 

•  Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday will highlight the problems caused by Western drought as she visits Lake Mead in Nevada and makes the case for the Biden administration’s infrastructure and climate change proposals that have stalled in Congress.

•  A country-wide polio vaccination drive will begin in Afghanistan on November 8 for the first time since the Taliban took over the country in August, the Unicef announced on Monday.

•  China on Monday said it has tested a hypersonic “vehicle” and not a nuclear-capable hypersonic “missile” as reported by a leading British newspaper which had claimed that the advanced space capability caught US intelligence by surprise.

•  China’s ruling Communist Party will hold its key conclave in November ahead of next year’s Congress which will pave the way for major leadership changes and a possible unprecedented third term for President Xi Jinping.

• The man known as the last Jew of Kabul could soon be heading to Israel, after agreeing to grant his estranged wife a religious divorce in a Zoom call — a precondition for smooth entry to the Holy Land. Zebulon Simentov, who fled Afghanistan last month after the Taliban takeover, landed Sunday in Turkey on what his rescuers say is a final stop before traveling to Israel, perhaps as soon as this week. It caps a weekslong odyssey that included an escape from his homeland as well as a videoconference divorce procedure meant to ensure he will not run into trouble with Israeli authorities.

Job alerts-

• State Health Society, National Health Mission, Goa (NHM Goa) Jobs for ANM, Staff Nurse, Gynecologist, Pediatrician, Radiologist and other posts. Last date 25-11-2021

• Neyveli Lignite Corporation India Limited (NLC) Jobs for Industrial Trainee (Finance) and other posts. Last date 22nd November 2021

• Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) Jobs for Apprentice and other posts. Last date 26 October 2021 / 30 October 2021

• Spices Board Jobs for Spices Extension Trainees and other posts. Last date 29th October 2021

• Staff Selection Commission Jobs for Junior Engineer, Junior Hindi translator (JHT),Junior translator, Senior Hindi translator (SHT),Hindi pradhyapak and other posts. Last date 30.10.2022 (23:30)

Sports-

•   India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will lead a strong 20-member Mumbai squad that will take part in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament with the flamboyant Prithvi Shaw being his deputy.

•  Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who recently underwent an elbow surgery, on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with her family.

•  Gamers from India, Nepal and Pakistan will compete in the inaugural World Esports Cup starting November 25, the organisers announced on Monday.

•  Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom will not compete in the upcoming National Women’s Boxing Championships in Hisar. The 38-year-old, who reached the pre-quarters of Tokyo Olympics before bowing out with a hard-fought loss, is, however, training for the world championships in December.

• Fencer Bhavani Devi, who made history at the Tokyo Olympics by becoming the first Indian to compete in the sport at the Games, has won the Charlellville National Competition in France in the individual women’s sabre event.

Technology-

•  Social media giant Facebook is testing a feature that would allow users on its platform to cross-post their posts including photos or videos over to their Instagram.

•  Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it has developed a processor that will be used to power servers in its data centres.

•  Earlier this month, Twitter announced that it will roll out a feature that will warn users if the discussion was likely to heat up or get intense. 

•  The challenges offer a new way for Snapchat to incentivise users to make videos for Spotlight — and it does so in a way that offers the company a lot of control.

• Reportedly called the Global Voice Message Player, it will allow users to listen to the voice messages when they leave a chat.

Economy – 

•  Extending its record-setting run, the 30-share index soared nearly 400 points to touch an all-time high of 62,159.78 in opening deals. It, however, pared early gains in the morning session, as it traded 137.33 points or 0.22 per cent higher at 61,902.92. Similarly, the Nifty was quoting 20.75 points or 0.11 per cent at 18,497.80. It touched a new intra-day record of 18,604.45 in early deals.

• The rupee ended 9 paise lower at 75.35 against the US dollar on Monday, tracking a stronger greenback against key rivals overseas and rising global crude oil prices.

• Equity indices darted up for the seventh straight session on Monday to close at fresh lifetime highs as investors remained in risk-on mode despite a bearish trend overseas.  IT, bank and metal stocks witnessed hectic buying, while profit-taking in pharma and auto counters capped the gains. 

•  China’s GDP grew by 4.9 per cent in the third quarter, down from 7.9 per cent in the second, confirming the slowdown of the world’s second-largest economy which was under pressure from the crisis-hit property sector, curbs on energy and tardy recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

•  The country’s exports rose by 40.5 per cent to USD 15.13 billion during October 1-14 on account of healthy performance by key sectors such as petroleum products, engineering and chemicals, according to preliminary data of the commerce ministry.

Environment –

•  Fresh low-pressure area to cause torrential rainfall in West Bengal

Local –

•  Rape and molestation on the rise in Madhya Pradesh

•  Traffic cops fills potholes at Mysuru Road in Karnataka

•  Kolkata Municipal Corporation cancels employees’ leave applications to continue vaccine jabs

•  Central prisons in Chennai to be made open air jails

• Punjab to provide free power to rural water supply scheme

GK – 

Which country was recently hit by the tropical storm Kompasu?

[A] Philippines
[B] USA
[C] Indonesia
[D] Germany

Actor William Shatner, who became the oldest person ever in space, travelled aboard the rocket-ship of which agency?

[A] Virgin Galactic
[B] Blue Origin
[C] SpaceX
[D] United Launch Alliance

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Prerana Sthal’ was inaugurated at Naval Science & Technological Laboratory, located in which city?

[A] Kochi
[B] Visakhapatnam
[C] Chennai
[D] Bhubaneshwar

What is the theme of ‘World Sight Day 2021’?

[A] Love Your Eyes
[B] Donate Eyes; Donate Life
[C] Eye Health matters
[D] Sight First

“Our Future is at Hand – Let’s Move Forward Together.” Is the theme of which special day observed on October 15?

[A] Global Handwashing Day
[B] World zoonotic diseases Day
[C] World Malnourishment Day
[D] World Hygiene Day