Today's Event – 27th December 2021

• 1655 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.[4]

• 1657 – The Flushing Remonstrance articulates for the first time in North American history that freedom of religion is a fundamental right

• 1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution 

• 1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia. 

• 1911 – "Jana Gana Mana", the national anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.

• 1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.

• 1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.

• 1927 – Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.

• 1929 – Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".

• 1932 – Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.

• 1935 – Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.

• 1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.

• 1927 – Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.

• 1929 – Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".

• 1932 – Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.

• 1935 – Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.

• 1939 – The 7.8 Mw  Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.

• 1939 – Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.

• 1945 – The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.

• 1949 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence. End of the Dutch East Indies.

• 1966 – The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

• 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.

• 1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.

• 1983 – Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.

• 1985 – Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.

• 1989 – The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country's capital, Bucharest.

• 1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.

• 1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

• 2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.

• 2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.

• 2007 – Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.

• 2007 – Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.

• 2008 – Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches three-week operation on Gaza.

• 2009 – Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.

• 2019 – Bek Air Flight 2100 crashes during takeoff from Almaty International Airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan, killing 13

National Events- 

• In view of a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country and the emergence of Omicron, the new variant of coronavirus, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked all states and union territories to impose “need-based” restrictions on public movement during the festive season and implement directions issued by the health ministry to contain the pandemic. 

•  The BJP will contest the assembly polls in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukt),and the parties will issue a joint manifesto, Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat said on Monday

• “The country has witnessed an overall decline in active cases. However, the new variant, Omicron …is reported to be at least 3 times more transmissible than the Delta VoC (variant of concern),and is posing a new challenge for the Covid containment measures. In the countries with Omicron-driven surge, the growth trajectory of cases has been very steep. In our country, 578 Omicron cases have already been reported in 19 states/UTs,” Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote in a letter sent to chief secretaries of all states.

• The first precautionary dose of the Covid vaccine will be given to those above 60 years of age who received their second dose of the vaccine nine months before registering for the third. The process of registration will be exactly the same, Dr RS Sharma, CoWIN platform Chief told ANI.  

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday addressing a rally in Mandi said that the hydropower projects inaugurated are a part of the climate-friendly new India and aim at conserving the environment. Modi also highlighted that the country’s efforts towards conserving the environment along with building developmental infrastructure is being recognized globally.

International Events- 

• Novaya Gazeta, the Russian newspaper known for its critical coverage of President Vladimir Putin’s government, was notably absent from the Russian leader’s annual press conference last week. 

•  The Chinese city of Xi’an, remained under lockdown for a fifth day on Monday, as authorities reported 150 new local symptomatic coronavirus cases for Sunday, a slight decrease from the previous day.

•  Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed said on Monday he had suspended the prime minister’s powers, escalating a destabilising dispute in the Horn of Africa country

•  A court in military-ruled Myanmar postponed its verdicts Monday on two charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in which she is accused of importing and possessing walkie-talkies without following official procedures, a legal official familiar with the case said

• Australia reported its first confirmed death from the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 on Monday amid another surge in daily infections, but the authorities refrained from imposing new restrictions saying hospitalisation rates remained low.

Job alerts-

• Assam Police Jobs for Sub Inspector and other posts. Last date  21 January 2022

• CSBC Bihar Police Jobs for Constable Prohibition and other posts. Last date 18 January 2022

• Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission Jobs for Assistant Professor (Nursing),Demonstrator (Nursing) and other posts. Last date 14 January 2022

Sports-

•  Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has honoured badminton player Lakshya Sen for his achievement at the BWF World Championships, 2021 held in Spain.

•  On an extraordinary of cricket both on and off the field, England faced an uphill battle to save the third Test against Australia and with it the Ashes.

•  Former India coach Ravi Shastri has supported the splitting of captaincy in the red and white ball formats, saying it is the right way to go. While Virat Kohli remains the Test skipper, one of the finest white-ball exponents and star opener, Rohit Sharma has been appointed as the T20 and ODI captain.

•  Daniel Sturridge, an English soccer star, has been ordered to pay $30,000 to a Los Angeles man who found the player’s missing dog in 2019 and who went to court to recoup a reward he said he had been denied for the Pomeranian’s return.

• A COVID-19 scare involving two members of England’s support staff delayed the start of Monday’s second day of the third Ashes cricket test and led to speculation that the series could be under threat if further outbreaks occur.

Awards and honours-

•  TBA

Technology-

• Telefonica has bought 5G network equipment from Swedish manufacturer Ericsson to replace some of the Huawei gear it has rolled out in Spain, a source at the Spanish firm said on Monday, confirming a report in Expansion newspaper. 

•  Shikha Goel, Hyderabad's Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes and SIT),has warned crypto investors in India to strongly refrain from transferring assets into unknown, unauthorised wallets. Goel was speaking at an awareness event hosted by Hyderabad Police when she revealed that cybercrimes are on a rise in India, where over 740 million people use the Internet, as per research firm Statista. Incidentally, India also houses a large chunk of around 100 million global crypto investors, as per research reports.

•  China's BYD and autonomous driving startup Momenta have established a CNY 100 million (roughly Rs. 120 crore) joint venture to deploy autonomous driving capabilities across certain BYD car model lines, according to a Momenta statement and a person familiar with the matter.

•  Meme-based dog coin Shiba Inu was named the most popular cryptocurrency on international market tracker CoinMarketCap, surpassing Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin, to become the most viewed coin on the plaform in 2021. With a market capitalisation of over $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,50,120 crore),Shiba Inu is the thirteenth largest cryptocurrency in terms of valuation. In October this year, the SHIB token spiked by more than 216 percent within a week, attaining a new all-time high of $0.000088 (roughly Rs. 0.0066). Presently, each SHIB token is trading for $0.00003823 (roughly Rs. 0.0029).

• WhatsApp is tipped to have a redesigned interface in the works for the Contact Info page. The instant messaging app is also said to be working on an option to let users filter nearby businesses when they are accessing the in-app business directory. The directory is, however, not yet available to all users. Additionally, WhatsApp has been spotted developing an ability to let group administrators link their groups to a community on iOS. It had previously appeared on WhatsApp for Android.

Economy – 

•  The Reserve Bank of India on Monday said that RBL Bank is well capitalised and its financial position remains “satisfactory”, amid speculations relating to the private sector lender in certain quarters in wake of recent events surrounding the bank.

•  Metros and big cities including Gurugram, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune will be the first places to get 5G services next year, an official statement by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said.

•  The rollout of mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery in 256 districts has been smooth so far and the process of expanding it to all districts of the country is now underway, according to the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

• Dubai Duty Free marked its 38th anniversary in style as it welcomed passengers travelling through Dubai International Airport (DXB) with a special 25% discount on a wide range of merchandise over three days from 18th to 20th December. The 72 hours anniversary sale, which was also extended to its Home Delivery customers and Click & Collect offer, resulted in sales of Dhs87.155 million (US$23.878 million) which is 24.51% higher than the same period last year. 

• The S&P BSE Sensex surged 295.93 points (0.52 per cent) to end at 57,420.24 while the Nifty 50 rose 82.50 points (0.49 per cent) to settle at 17,086.25.

Environment –

•  TBA

Local –

• All the government officials engaged in emergency services, health workers, advocates, judges, media persons are exempted and will be allowed to travel during the night curfew which begins today, said the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). 

•  Mumbai recorded 922 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, registering the highest daily count since June 4 this year. The city recorded a 21 per cent increase in cases over Saturday, when 757 cases were registered.

•  Four passengers, including a five-year-old girl, returning from London tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday after arriving at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Health department officials said they have been admitted to private hospitals.

•  The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday said it has initiated the preparatory work to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 15 to 18 years.

• Amid fears of a rise in the number of Omicron cases, the Karnataka government has decided to impose a night curfew beginning Tuesday, December 28. The curfew will be imposed from 10 pm to 5 am every night for a period of 10 days.

Person in News – 

•  TBA

GK – 

India is set to chair the counter-terrorism committee at UNSC in which year?

[A] 2022
[B] 2023
[C] 2024
[D] 2025

What is the expansion of ‘FFV-SHEV’, related to the recent guidelines of Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry?

[A] Flex Fibre Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles
[B] Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles
[C] Flex Fibre Substitute Hybrid Electric Vehicles
[D] Flex Fuel Substitute Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Which state/UT conducted its first-of-its-kind Real Estate Summit?

[A] Goa
[B] Jammu & Kashmir
[C] Arunachal Pradesh
[D] Sikkim

Molnupiravir, which was recently approved by India for tackling Covid, is a …………

[A] Pill (medication)
[B] Vaccine
[C] Nasal vaccine
[D] Test Kit

British consultancy CEBR predicted which country will become top economy in dollar terms in 2030?

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