Today's Event – 26th October 2021

• 1774 – The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.

• 1825 – The Erie Canal opens, allowing direct passage from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.

• 1860 – The Expedition of the Thousand ends when Giuseppe Garibaldi presents his conquests to King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia.

• 1863 – The Football Association is founded.

• 1890 – Malleco Viaduct in Chile, at the time "the highest railroad bridge in the world", is inaugurated by President José Manuel Balmaceda. 

• 1892 – Ida B. Wells publishes Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.

• 1905 – King Oscar II recognizes the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden.

• 1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.

• 1947 – Kashmir conflict: The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu signs the Instrument of Accession with India.

• 1955 – After the last Allied troops have left the country, and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares that it will never join a military alliance.

• 1955 – Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed himself Premier of the newly created Republic of Vietnam.

• 1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.

• 1967 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran.

• 1968 – The Soyuz 3 mission achieves the first Soviet space rendezvous.

• 1977 – Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, develops a rash in Somalia. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider this date to be the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.

• 1991 – Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.

• 1994 – Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty.

• 1995 – Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shaqaqi in his hotel in Malta.

• 1999 – Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of most hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.

• 2000 – A wave of protests forces Robert Guéï to step down as president after the Ivorian presidential election.

• 2001 – The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.

National Events- 

•  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday made a surprise inspection of the offices of his Ministry at the South Block in the Raisina Hills area to check the work environment. He went around various office blocks and inspected cleanliness, work atmosphere and interacted with the employees, officials said.

•  The UN weather agency on Monday warned that the world is ‘way off the track’ on reaching targets to curb rising temperatures as greenhouse gas concentrations had hit a new record high in 2020 and increased at a faster rate than the annual average for the last decade. 

•  The southwest monsoon withdrew from the entire country on Monday, making it the seventh-most delayed retreat since 1975. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD),the southwest monsoon retreated on or after October 25 five times between 2010 and 2021.

• Ensuring safe maritime connectivity besides peace and security is a must for development and prosperity of the BIMSTEC region, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla said on Monday. He also underlined the need for seamless transportation. 

• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth about Rs 6.85 crore of Jayshree Thakur, the then Additional District Magistrate (ADM),Bhagalpur, and her family members under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act in a Disproportionate Assets Case.

International Events- 

•  South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Joe Biden are expected to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Italy or the UN climate summit in Glasgow a senior official said on Monday.

•  Florida’s top health official was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition, officials have confirmed.

•  The incident happened at the mine about 50 km (30 miles) north of the capital, Harare, police said. While villagers mourned the death of a local but had no sympathy for the Chinese nationals. It was reported that villagers from around SAS Mine in Mazowe expressed joy following the death of six Chinese nationals who were managers at the site. The villagers described the late Chinese managers as ‘stubborn’ and very dis-respectful who ill-treated locals.

• The current outbreak in China is caused by the delta variant from overseas, Wu Liangyou, an official at the National Health Commission, said at a briefing in Beijing Sunday. The wave of infections spread to 11 provinces in the week from Oct. 17, Mi Feng, spokesman for the commission, said at the briefing. Most of the people infected have cross-region travel histories, Mi said. He urged areas that have been affected by the pandemic to adopt “emergency mode.” 

• Former Facebook data scientist turned whistleblower Frances Haugen plans to answer questions Monday from lawmakers in the United Kingdom who are working on legislation to rein in the power of social media companies.

Job alerts-

• IBPS PO MT 2021 Jobs for Probationary Officers / Management Trainees and other posts. Last date 10/11/2021

• ONGC Jobs for Graduate Trainees and other posts. Last date 01/11/2021

• UPSC Jobs for Assistant Professor, Senior Scientific Officers, Assistant Directors, Medical Officers, Assistant Defence Estates Officer and other posts. Last date 11/11/2021

• IOCL Jobs for Apprentices and other posts. Last date 12/11/2021

• AIIMS Guwahati Jobs for Faculty Posts and other posts. Last date 22/11/2021

Sports-

• India captain Virat Kohli could not believe his ears when he was asked whether Rohit Sharma could be dropped for his failure in the T20 World Cup loss to Pakistan, shaking his head furiously at the suggestion before describing it as “unbelievable”. 

•  Indian cricket's new batting sensation Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead Maharashtra in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, starting November 4. Maharashtra are pooled in Elite Group A and will play their league stage matches in Lucknow.

•  The Indian football team beat Oman 2-1 in the qualifiers of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup here on Sunday night. Rahim Ali put India ahead as early as the seventh minute when he successfully converted from the spot.

•  Samhitha Chamarthi quelled a late challenge from 19-year-old Kashish Bhatia while Rishi Reddy eased past Raghav Jaisinghani to progress to the second rounds at the Fenesta Open national hard court tennis championships here on Monday.

• Afghanistan produced a dominating display of power-hitting before Mujeeb Ur Rahman ripped apart the rival batting line-up with his five-wicket haul as the strife-torn Asian nation routed Scotland by 130 runs in a Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup, here on Monday.

Technology-

•  Video conferencing app Zoom has announced that it is adding live closed captioning service from the paid version of its video conferencing software to all of its free users.

•  Video conferencing app Zoom has announced that it is adding live closed captioning service from the paid version of its video conferencing software to all of its free users.

•  Facebook Inc said it will start publishing the financial results of its augmented and virtual reality labs as a separate unit, where it is investing billions in its ambitions

•  The government on Monday amended the telecom licence norms to reduce the tax burden on telecom operators by exempting all non-telecom revenues

• KT Corp, a major South Korean telecom operator, said on Monday it detected distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on its network

Economy – 

• The 30-share index was trading 318.7 points or 0.52 per cent higher at 61,285.75 in initial deals. Similarly, the Nifty surged 93.75 points or 0.52 per cent to 18,219.15. 

•  The economy is likely to register a 9.5 per cent growth this fiscal over 7.3 per cent contraction last year, as the ongoing recovery is faster and more credible than earlier foreseen, according to a foreign brokerage report.

• The Government on Monday signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore.

•  Farmers in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh in the Terai region have found that crop diversification is an ideal way to end man-animal conflict and also enhance their income.

•  DDA continued the process of seeking suggestions/objections for the draft Master Plan for Delhi 2041 on 25.10.2021 through the ongoing Board of Enquiry and Hearing meetings that are being conducted online due to ongoing pandemic. Earlier the meetings of Board took place on 18.10.2021 and 20.10.2021 which heard the suggestions from marginalised society related to JJ colonies and solid waste management.

Local –

•  Schools of Kolkata are looking at hybrid mode for reopening

•  Tamil Nadu government planning temple tours with priority darshan

•  Telangana reported 179 cases of corona and 2 deaths

•  Residents of Ajmer (Rajasthan) demand water supply

• Man in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) gets life sentence for raping minor

GK – 

Which country has reported hundreds of cases of infection caused by the bacteria salmonella?

[A] USA
[B] China
[C] Japan
[D] Australia

What is the name of the storm that has swept across Poland, Germany, France and the Netherlands?

[A] Alisa
[B] Aurore
[C] Afro
[D] Bizarre

Which country released the ‘National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on climate’?

[A] India
[B] USA
[C] France
[D] Germany

Which city is the host of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2021?

[A] Varanasi
[B] Goa
[C] Cochin
[D] Puducherry

Which institution released the ‘Global Threat Assessment report 2021’?

[A] UNICEF
[B] WeProtect Global Alliance
[C] CRY
[D] World Economic Forum