Today's Event – 31st December 2021

• 1501 – The First Battle of Cannanore commences, seeing the first use of the naval line of battle.

• 1600 – The British East India Company is chartered.

• 1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.

• 1757 – Empress Elizabeth I of Russia issues her ukase incorporating Königsberg into Russia.

• 1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.

• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.

• 1790 – Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time.

• 1796 – The incorporation of Baltimore as a city.

• 1831 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.

• 1853 – A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.

• 1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada.

• 1878 – Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.

• 1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

• 1906 – Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906 

• 1907 – The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in Manhattan.

• 1942 – USS Essex, first aircraft carrier of a 24-ship class, is commissioned.

• 1951 – Cold War: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Western Europe.

• 1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.

• 1956 – The Romanian Television network begins its first broadcast in Bucharest.

• 1961 – RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.

• 1963 – The Central African Federation officially collapses, subsequently becoming Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.

• 1965 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.

• 1968 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.

• 1968 – MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 crashes near Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing all 26 people on board

• 1981 – A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

• 1983 – The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.

• 1983 – Benjamin Ward is appointed New York City Police Department's first ever African American police commissioner.

• 1983 – In Nigeria, a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.

• 1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.

• 1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

• 1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.

• 1994 – The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.

• 1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.

• 1999 – The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.

• 1999 – The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.

• 1999 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ends after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.

• 2000 – The last day of the 20th Century and 2nd Millennium.

• 2004 – The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).

• 2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.

• 2010 – Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours. A total of 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of nine people and $113 million in damages.

• 2011 – Samoa and Tokelau skip the day of December 30, 2011 as they jump to the other side of the International Date Line, changing their time zones.[9]

• 2011 – NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.

• 2014 – A New Year's Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.

• 2015 – A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, another suffered a major injury, and fourteen others with minor injuries.

• 2018 – Thirty-nine people are killed after a ten-story building collapses in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia

• 2019 – The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• 2020 – The World Health Organization's issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.

National Events- 

•  The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Friday extended the validity of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of NGOs expiring between September 29, 2020 and March 31, 2022 till March 31, 2022. Earlier, an extension was granted only till December 31 this year.

•  Restrictions have been clamped across India on New Year celebrations. While festivities have been completely banned in states like Delhi and Karnataka, others have brought in strict restrictions, such as curfews, to control the spread of the virus. Internationally, too, celebrations in Italy, Paris and London’s Trafalgar Square have been called off, among other destinations.

•  With 16,764 fresh cases of Covid-19 recorded on Thursday, India’s active caseload has risen to 91,361. The country witnessed its sharpest single-day spike in new cases of the Omicron variant, with 309 such cases being added to the overall caseload.

•  Parts of Northwest India are in for a chilly New Year as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a cold to severe cold wave over the region from Friday, December 31 to Monday, January 3.

• The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) operative based in Germany, Jaswinder Singh Multani. He is reported to have been detained in Germany by the authorities there.

International Events- 

• In a sprawling settlement of mud brick huts in western Afghanistan housing people displaced by drought and war, a woman is fighting to save her daughter. Aziz Gul’s husband sold their 10-year-old into marriage without telling his wife, taking a down-payment so he could feed his family of five children. Otherwise, he told her, they would all starve. He had to sacrifice one to save the rest. 

•  Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was released from prison on Friday nearly five years after being convicted of corruption, fuelling debate over whether she would play any role ahead of the March presidential election.

•  Former Republican President Donald Trump’s recent comments touting Covid-19 vaccines as safe and a major achievement of his presidency have roiled extreme anti-vaxers, which include many of his ardent supporters.

•  Global coronavirus infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period. With numerous countries registering all-time highs, authorities in many places have called off celebrations to welcome in 2022, fearful that the all-conquering Omicron variant will take advantage of gatherings to spread even faster.

• China is on high alert against Covid-19 as the New Year holiday looms, with the city of Xi’an under lockdown while several New Year’s Eve events in other cities have been cancelled and some provinces urged restraint in travel during the festive season.

Job alerts-

• NHM Chandigarh Jobs for Surgeon and other posts. Last date 12 January 2022

• Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Selection Commission Jobs for Statistical Assistant, Research Officer and other posts. Last date 12 February 2022

• Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital Jobs for Junior Resident and other posts. Last date 17 January 2022

• Uttar Dinajpur District Jobs for Asha and other posts. Last date 31 January 2022

• National Technical Research Organization Jobs for Senior Aviator, Deputy Chief Aviator and other posts. Last date 23 January 2022

Sports-

•  Romelu Lukaku’s comments on being dissatisfied with life at Chelsea are “unhelpful” and will attract unnecessary attention, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said on Friday.

•  India wrapped up a memorable 2021 in style by bringing down South Africa’s citadel, the Supersport Park, as they handed the Proteas a 113-run loss in the first Test of the three-match series.

•  BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has been discharged from the hospital on Friday, where he was admitted earlier this week after his RT-PCR test came positive.

•  Former India and South Africa coach Gary Kirsten has expressed interest in coaching England’s Test side, saying it would be a “lovely project ” to revive the fortunes of Joe Root and his men.

• India’s top player Koneru Humpy finished fifth in the women’s event of the FIDE World Blitz championship while her compatriot R Vaishali, who was in second spot after nine rounds, slipped to 14th here.

Awards and honours-

Technology-

• Vi (Vodafone Idea) has reintroduced the Rs. 601 prepaid recharge plan with a reduced validity of 28 days. The plan previously used to be valid for a total of 56 days. Benefits bundled with the Rs. 601 Vi prepaid plan remain unchanged. The recharge plan offers daily 4G data allocation, unlimited voice calls, and SMS messages per day. It also offers one year of access to Disney+ Hotstar Mobile that gives online streaming of exclusive TV shows, live sports, and Hollywood movies.

•  Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro December 2021 update has been paused due to reports of call drops, the company has said. The technology giant has said that they have identified a fix that will roll out in a software update by late January. Google's newest phones have been at the centre of controversy because of various glitches on the software front. Since the phones' launch in October, various users of the newest Pixel smartphones have been complaining of issues

•  The Korean government is planning to develop a technology for Korea's first artificial sun KSTAR to maintain 100 million degrees for 300 seconds by 2026. The 300 seconds is the minimum time required for the commercialisation of nuclear fusion technology. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on December 30 that it held the 16th National Fusion Committee at the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy and finalise the '4th basic plan of nuclear fusion energy development (2022-2026)'. The science ministry sets goals and directions of its policies for nuclear fusion energy development every 5 years.

•  Samsung Galaxy S21 FE cases have been accidentally revealed by the South Korean company ahead of its official announcement. The company appears to have a total of 15 cases in plans for the Galaxy S21 FE that will be available in a variety of colour options. In addition to the traditional Silicone cases, the phone may have options such as Smart Clear View and Thin Strap. The colour options of the cases appear to be aligning with the shades of the Galaxy S21 FE.

• The price of Bitcoin hit record highs in 2021 thanks to support from traditional finance, but cryptocurrency specialists are struggling to predict next year's outcome for the volatile sector.

Economy – 

• The GST Council on Friday decided to defer the hike in the rate of goods and services tax (GST) on textiles from 5 per cent to 12 per cent, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced. 

•  The Indian stock markets have witnessed a record bull run in 2021. Not only the benchmark indices hit record highs this year, the midcap and smallcap indices too put up a stellar show during the calendar giving returns of nearly 61 per cent.

•  Shares of cash management company CMS Info Systems had a tepid start and got listed at a premium of nearly 2 per cent from their issue price in the stock exchanges today.

•  The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 364.54 points to 58,158.86 in opening deals while the Nifty 50 surged 104.05 points to 17,308.00.

• Clarifying that tax liabilities from the recent cash seizure from searches conducted at the residential and business premises of Uttar Pradesh-based businessman Peeyush Jain are yet to be determined, GST authorities on Thursday said no deposit of tax dues has been made so far.

Environment –

•  TBA

Local –

• The Delhi Government has ordered the closure of three markets in North East Delhi’s Seelampur area till December 31 or until further orders for violating Covid-19 norms. 

•  Genome sequencing at the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, Mumbai, has detected the new variant Omicron in nearly one-third samples it tested – in an indication of community transmission in the state. This comes a day after the Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) detected Omicron in 38 of its samples from Mumbai and Pune in their community surveillance

•  With a massive spike in Covid-19 cases in the state capital, elaborate arrangements have been made at and around the Park Street for regulation of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic for the New Year and New Year’s eve, Kolkata Police said on Thursday.

•  Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in Chennai over the past couple of weeks, the Centre on Thursday asked Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan to enhance testing and contact tracing and strengthen hospital-level preparedness in the state.

• Continuing to see a surge in the spread of Covid-19 infections, Bengaluru Urban logged 565 fresh cases out of 707 cases in Karnataka. The active case tally in the state stood at 8223.

Person in News – 

•  TBA

GK – 

‘Narcotics Control Bureau’ functions under the aegis of which Union Ministry?

[A] Union Finance Ministry
[B] Union Home Ministry
[C] Union External Affairs Ministry
[D] Union Defence Ministry

Which state is the first state in India to observe Sahibzada Diwas?

[A] Uttar Pradesh
[B] Madhya Pradesh
[C] Assam
[D] Nagaland

What is ‘Frozen tardigrade’, that was seen in the news?

[A] Microscopic multicellular organisms
[B] Food Processing Unit
[C] Nano Preservative
[D] Rocket Fuel

Where is Indravati Tiger Reserve located?

[A] Karnataka
[B] Chhattisgarh
[C] Bihar
[D] West Bengal

Who was Edward O Wilson, who has been in news recently?

[A] Biologist
[B] Cosmonaut
[C] Cricketer
[D] Dancer

Today's Event – 30th December 2021

• 1702 – Queen Anne's War: James Moore, Governor of the Province of Carolina, abandons the Siege of St. Augustine.

• 1813 – War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.

• 1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes is proclaimed.

• 1825 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Shawnee Nation is proclaimed.

• 1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.

• 1890 – Following the Wounded Knee Massacre, the United States Army and Lakota warriors face off in the Drexel Mission Fight

• 1896 – Filipino patriot and reform advocate José Rizal is executed by a Spanish firing squad in Manila.

• 1896 – Canadian ice hockey player Ernie McLea scores the first hat-trick in Stanley Cup play, and the Cup-winning goal as the Montreal Victorias defeat the Winnipeg Victorias 6–5.

• 1897 – The British Colony of Natal annexes Zululand.

• 1903 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois kills at least 605.

• 1905 – Former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg is assassinated at the front gate of his home in Caldwell.

• 1906 – The All-India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India (later Dhaka, Bangladesh).

• 1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Petrograd river three days later.

• 1916 – The last coronation in Hungary is performed for King Charles IV and Queen Zita.

• 1922 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is formed.

• 1927 – The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opens in Tokyo, Japan.

• 1935 – The Italian Air Force bombs a Swedish Red Cross hospital during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

• 1936 – The Flint sit-down strike hits General Motors.

• 1943 – Subhas Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair.

• 1944 – King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving the throne vacant.

• 1952 – An RAF Avro Lancaster bomber crashes in Luqa, Malta after an engine failure, killing three crew members and a civilian on the ground.[3]

• 1958 – The Guatemalan Air Force sinks several Mexican fishing boats alleged to have breached maritime borders, killing three and sparking international tension.

• 1972 – Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker II ends.

• 1993 – Israel establishes diplomatic relations with Vatican City and also upgrades to full diplomatic relations with Ireland.

• 1996 – Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu spark protests from 250,000 workers who shut down services across Israel.

• 1997 – In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people from four villages are killed.

• 2004 – A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 194.

• 2005 – Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone ever to form in the North Atlantic basin.

• 2006 – Madrid–Barajas Airport is bombed.

• 2006 – The Indonesian passenger ferry MV Senopati Nusantara sinks in a storm, resulting in at least 400 deaths.

• 2006 – Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed.

• 2009 – A segment of the Lanzhou–Zhengzhou–Changsha pipeline ruptures in Shaanxi, China, and approximately 150,000 l (40,000 US gal) of diesel oil flows down the Wei River before finally reaching the Yellow River.

• 2009 – A suicide bomber kills nine people at Forward Operating Base Chapman, a key facility of the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan.

• 2013 – More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

National Events- 

•  “As of now Covid cases are under control. We’ll review the situation in the first week of January,” Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur told. He was here to attend the Chief Ministers’ pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

•  The government is in the process of finalising a system to provide ration to all homeless people who do not have ration cards, Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said on Thursday.

•  The Union government has approved additional assistance of more than Rs 3,000 crore to six states this year to cover damages caused by natural disasters, a Home Ministry statement said Thursday.

•  Belonging to Akola in Maharashtra, Kalicharan, who is in his mid-30s, first became known in 2020 after a video of him reciting the Shiv Tandav Strotam went viral. Originally called Abhijit Dhananjay Sarang, Kalicharan reportedly changed his name after he met with an accident while in his teens that badly twisted his leg but left him with only a hairline fracture. He believed it to be the blessing of Goddess Kali, of whom he was a devotee.

• The government on Thursday said that there have been extensive deliberations on whether the precautionary (third) dose of the Covid vaccine should be the same as the first two doses, adding that a decision on the same is expected before doses are administered to healthcare and frontline workers and citizens above 60 years with comorbidities.

International Events- 

•  Tesla Inc is recalling more than 475,000 of its Model 3 and Model S electric cars to address rearview camera and trunk issues that increase the risk of crashing, the U.S. road safety regulator said on Thursday.

•  Thousands of people left messages on the social media account of the late Chinese COVID-19 whistleblower Li Wenliang on the anniversary of the day he learned of possible pneumonia-causing virus cases in Wuhan and shared the information with fellow doctors

• Chinese bishops and religious leaders briefed senior Hong Kong Catholic clergymen on President Xi Jinping’s vision of religion with “Chinese characteristics” in an unprecedented meeting organised by the mainland’s representative office in the city, according to four clerics. 

• Within weeks, the Omicron variant has fueled thousands of new Covid-19 hospitalizations among US children, raising new concerns about how the many unvaccinated Americans under the age of 18 will fare in the new surge. 

• Today is different, however. This 425th vigil will be the last. Later this month, the Brokdorf nuclear power plant will be shut down as part of Germany’s 2022 nuclear phaseout.

Job alerts-

• AIIMS Gorakhpur Jobs for Professor and other posts. Last date 31 January 2022

• AIIMS Rishikesh Jobs for Junior Resident and other posts. Last date 07 January 2022

• Raipur District Court Jobs for Stenographer, Peon and other posts. Last date 31 January 2022

• NHM Satara Jobs for  Medical Officer, Supervisor, Staff Nurse, Lab Technician, Pharmacist and other posts. Last date 10 January 2022

• Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission Jobs for Ayurveda Medical Officer and other posts. Last date 14 February 2022

Sports-

•  South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman, Quinton de Kock, announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect on Thursday. The announcement comes on the backdrop of South Africa’s defeat in the first Test match against India in Centurion, where the visitors won by 113 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

•  The U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy has been postponed due to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in India.

•  It’s not only the big-wigs of sport, or the ones who have played for India, that are a muse for biopics. There is another motion picture coming soon, based on the life of Mumbai’s leg-spinner Pravin Tambe.

•  Jammu and Kashmir-based alpine skier Arif Mohammed Khan has become the first Indian athlete to qualify for two different events of the Winter Olympics, set to be held in Beijing from February 4, next year.

• It was U Mumba who came up trumps against Jaipur Pink Panthers in the first match of the day and in the final encounter it was Pawan Sehrawat who led from the front as the Bengaluru Bulls toppled Haryana Steelers by a margin of 42-28.

Awards and honours-

• TBA 

Technology-

•  Food ordering from platforms including Swiggy and Zomato may become costlier soon as they will be required to collect and pay tax on behalf of all restaurants starting January 1, 2022. The new move comes as a result of the update issued by the finance ministry under which food aggregators are directed to pay five percent of Goods and Services Tax (GST) for cooked food orders through their platforms. Experts believe that the update will impact both end consumers and small restaurants. At the same time, platforms including Swiggy and Zomato are also expected to have additional compliance load due to the change in the tax regime.

•  Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an anonymous person pseudo-named Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity still remains a mystery. In a recent interview, Tesla CEO Elon Musk named computer scientist Nick Szabo as the anonymous creator, who could have been the brains behind the birth of the world's first ever cryptocurrency. Musk was being quizzed on Lex Fridman's podcast when he made the statement. Musk also revealed that people often suspect him to be the originator of Bitcoin, a claim which he has denied so far.

•  TikTok is the most downloaded app worldwide with 656 million downloads in 2021, as per a new report. It is followed by other social media apps like Instagram, and Facebook (now Meta) as well as instant messaging platforms WhatsApp and Telegram. Meanwhile, when it comes to category wise distribution, Netflix is the most downloaded entertainment app, Shopee tops shopping apps list kicking Amazon out of top three, Google Maps is first in travel app category, and Spotify is the most preferred music and audio app globally. The list takes into account download numbers from both Apple App Store or Google Play store.

•  Popular Japanese mobile game Elemental Knights Online is planning to release Gensokishi Online "Meta World" — the newest version of the online MMORPG which incorporates elements of play-to-earn (P2E),user-generated non-fungible tokens (NFTs),and the metaverse. Gensokishi Online's “Meta World” metaverse will allow players to purchase land and freely edit their creations, such as buildings and characters. The land, as well as in-game equipment, can be minted as NFTs and sold on different exchanges as it is built on the Polygon blockchain network.

• Polygon, an Ethereum-based network has “silently fixed” a vulnerability that had put its native MATIC tokens worth $24 billion (roughly Rs. 1,78,560) at risk. The issue came to light after a group of ethical hackers informed Immunefi, a bug bounty platform associated with decentralised finance (DeFi). Immunefi hosts the bug bounty for the Polygon network. Despite quick measures to resolve the case, notorious hacker(s) were able to steal 801,601 MATIC tokens, making up for around $2.4 million (roughly Rs. 17.8 crore)

Economy – 

• Airtel Xstream Fiber offers super-fast internet with up to 1Gbps speed, which means a reliable internet connection that allows presentations and calls to run smoothly even when there are multiple smartphones, laptops, smart TVs, etc. using the same WiFi connection. With Airtel Xstream Fiber, you do not have to worry about poor speeds, video calls freezing abruptly or file transfers taking forever, which means fewer missed deadlines and better productivity. 

•  The government has extended by two months till February 28 the deadline for businesses to file GST annual returns for 2020-21 fiscal ended March 2021.

•  The 30-share index ended 12.17 points or 0.02 per cent lower at 57,794.32. Similarly, the broader Nifty fell 9.65 points or 0.06 per cent to 17,203.95

•  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has warned of a rise in bad loans in 2022 and emerging signs of stress in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the microfinance segment, which call for close monitoring of these portfolios.

• One of the major assembling units of iPhone 12, in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, has been placed under ‘probation’ by Apple, following findings that the Foxconn-owned unit had lapses in ensuring quality of living conditions for its employees.

Environment –

•  TBA

Local –

•  With the number of Covid cases on the rise in Delhi, the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) will curtail patients visiting outpatient clinics as well as the number of routine admissions, according to the contingency plan that will come into effect on New Year’s Eve. Both old and new patients with existing appointments will receive consultations, only the numbers will be restricted, as per recommendations of the heads of the departments, according to the plan.

• Maharashtra, meanwhile, reported 5,368 fresh Covid-19 cases, 1,193 recoveries, and 22 deaths, taking active cases to 18,217. The number of Omicron cases rose to 450, with the state recording 198 cases of the variant on Thursday. 

• West Bengal on Wednesday recorded 1,089 new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours, marking a huge jump from 382 cases on Tuesday. The tally over the last 24 hours also represents the biggest single-day rise in cases over the past one week. 

•  With Covid-19 cases on an ascending graph in a few districts including Chennai, TN Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan advised the public to avoid non-emergency travels and follow safety guidelines issued by the government

• Continuing to see a surge in the spread of Covid-19 infections, Bengaluru Urban logged 565 fresh cases out of 707 cases in Karnataka. The active case tally in the state stood at 8223. The state health department reported 252 recoveries and three deaths in Bengaluru Urban. The state conducted 114,686 tests.

Person in News – 

• TBA 

GK – 

Which country has developed the world’s first ‘AI Prosecutor’?

[A] USA
[B] China
[C] Russia
[D] India

‘Graded Response Action Plan’ (GRAP) is to be implemented by which state, to tackle Covid-19?

[A] Odisha
[B] New Delhi
[C] Telangana
[D] Maharashtra

“India Out” campaign is associated with which country?

[A] Sri Lanka
[B] Myanmar
[C] Maldives
[D] Nepal

Psyche mission, which was seen in the news, is being developed by which country?

[A] USA
[B] UK
[C] Russia
[D] Israel

‘Renukaji Dam project’, seen in the news, is to come up in which Indian state?

[A] Maharashtra
[B] Himachal Pradesh
[C] Gujarat
[D] Bihar

Today's Event – 29th December 2021

• 1778 – American Revolutionary War: Three thousand British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia.

• 1812 – USS Constitution, under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three-hour battle.

• 1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

• 1845 – The United States annexes the Republic of Texas

• 1860 – The launch of HMS Warrior, with her combination of screw propeller, iron hull and iron armour, renders all previous warships obsolete.

• 1874 – The military coup of Gen. Martinez Campos in Sagunto ends the failed First Spanish Republic and the monarchy is restored as Prince Alfonso is proclaimed King of Spain.

• 1876 – The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.

• 1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota are killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment.

• 1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty, enthroning 8th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia.

• 1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.

• 1913 – Cecil B. DeMille starts filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man.

• 1916 – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, is first published as a book by American publishing house B. W. Huebschis after its serialization in The Egoist (1914–15).

• 1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.

• 1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

• 1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.

• 1940 – World War II: In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, killing almost 200 civilians.

• 1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.

• 1972 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes in the Florida Everglades on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101 of the 176 people on board.

• 1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.

• 1989 – Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-communist President of Czechoslovakia.

• 1989 – The Nikkei 225 for the Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87, serving as the apex of the Japanese asset price bubble.

• 1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.

• 1994 – Turkish Airlines Flight 278 (a Boeing 737-400) crashes on approach to Van Ferit Melen Airport in Van, Turkey, killing 57 of the 76 people on board.

• 1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.

• 1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the city's 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.

• 1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over one million lives.

• 2003 – The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.

• 2006 – The UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt.

• 2012 – A Tupolev Tu-204 airliner crashes in a ditch between the airport fence and the M3 highway after overshooting a runway at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, killing five people and leaving three others critically injured.

• 2013 – A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kills at least 18 people and wounds 40 others.

• 2013 – Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher suffers a massive head injury while skiing in the French Alps.[5]

• 2020 – A large explosion at the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden kills at least 22 people and wounds 50.

National Events- 

•  A 19-year-old man, who went to meet his friend at her house, was stabbed to death by her father in the wee hours of Wednesday here, Kerala police said. Police identified the victim as Aneesh George. He was stabbed to death at the house of Simon Lalu.

•  Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren Wednesday announced concession of Rs 25 per litre on petrol and diesel prices for two wheelers owned by the poor in the state from Republic Day next year.

•  The freedom of the press was a valuable and sacred right enshrined in the Constitution and a fearless media was essential for an efficient working of democracy, Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana said on Wednesday and maintained journalists must resist being “co-opted by an ideology or the state”.

•  Manipur minister and NPP leader Letpao Haokip on Thursday joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Bhupender Yadav.

• Days after he joined the BJP, former Congress MLA from Punjab Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi was on Wednesday granted Z category security by the Centre.

International Events- 

•  A lockdown of 13 million people in the Chinese city of Xian entered its seventh day on Wednesday, with many unable to leave their residential compounds and relying on deliveries of necessities as new COVID-19 infections persisted.

•  President Joe Biden’s new puppy, Commander, got his moment under the flashing lights of the Washington press corps — and some time frolicking on the beach — on Tuesday.

•  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Tuesday during a rare trip to Israel.

• Poland reported 794 Covid-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest number in the fourth wave of the pandemic, a deputy health minister said, adding the figure could be a result of delayed reporting due to the Christmas holidays. 

• Scientists have identified antibodies that neutralise Omicron and other variants of coronavirus by targeting areas that remain essentially unchanged as the virus mutates.

Job alerts-

• AIIMS Delhi Jobs for Junior Resident and other posts. Last date 06 January 2022

• Odisha Staff Selection Commission Jobs for Junior Clerk and other posts. Last date 20 January 2022

• National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health Jobs for Field Worker, Project Assistant and other posts. Last date 10 January 2022

•  Uttarakhand Subordinate Service Commission Jobs for Constable, Police Fireman and other posts. Last date 16 February 2022

• Employees State Insurance Corporation Jobs for UDC, MTS, Stenographer and other posts. Last date 15 February 2022

Sports-

•  Chasing a never achieved victory target of 305 at the Supersport Park, South Africa finished the day at 94 for 4 with Elgar unbeaten on 52 after Indian batters caved in on a track with uneven bounce, getting all-out for 174 in just 50.3 overs.

•  All-rounder Vijay Shankar will lead Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy matches that will be played in Ahmedabad while M S Washington Sundar will be his deputy.

•  Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar has been included in the Ranji Trophy squad for Mumbai Ranji Trophy. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) senior selection committee, led by former India pacer Salil Ankola, picked a 20-member squad for the first two Ranji Trophy games against Maharashtra and Delhi to be played from January 13 in Kolkata.

•  I-League was on Wednesday suspended for at least a week after COVID-19 breached its bio-bubble as eight players and three officials have tested positive for the dreaded virus.

• Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the ATP Cup in Australia ahead of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, organizers said Wednesday.

Awards and honours-

•  TBA

Technology-

• Oppo is yet to announce the Oppo A16K for India. The smartphone is priced at PHP 6,999 (roughly Rs. 10,350) in the Philippines, where it was launched in November. The smartphone could be offered at a similar price point in India. 

•  Realme was the fastest-growing 5G Android smartphone brand globally in Q3 2021 as its sales grew 831 percent on a year-over-year (YoY) basis, as per a new report. Furthermore, Realme's sales outgrew global 5G smartphone sales growth, which grew at 121 percent YoY. Interestingly, Realme's 5G sales grew 9,519 percent YoY in India, where 5G technology is yet to be deployed. As per Department of Telecommunications (DoT),5G telecom services are set to be rolled out in selected cities in India in 2022, a year expected to witness a higher demand for 5G devices.

•  Crypto firm MetaMask recently confirmed that it would soon airdrop its own crypto token $MASK into the wallets of its existing users. Following the development, an allegedly fake MetaMask token emerged in the crypto market, which became available for trading on the Uniswap platform. Within a small time period, this MetaMask token, built on the Ethereum blockchain, reportedly soared by 2,600 percent. As soon as the fake tokens worth $1 million (roughly Rs. 7.4 crore) were sold, the sale was locked raising a rug-pull scam suspicion

•  Israeli foodtech firm SavorEat on Tuesday launched a plant-based burger system personalized to each customer, one of the first companies to use 3D printing technology to cook food.

• Instagram Head Adam Mosseri on Tuesday announced the photo-sharing app's key priorities for 2022, which include doubling down on videos. He highlighted videos, messaging, transparency, and creators as the four key areas on which the Meta-owned platform will be focusing on in the coming year. The Instagram head also talked about major updates that landed on the application this year like sensitive content control and the feature to hide like counts. Additionally, Instagram released Limits and Hidden Words that block out the abusive direct message (DM) requests this year.

Economy – 

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on December 28, notified the ‘Faceless Appeal Scheme, 2021’ and said that the Commissioner (Appeals) shall allow the request for personal hearing via video conference and communicate the date and time of hearing to the appellant through the National Faceless Appeal Centre 

•  The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will witness some key changes heading into the new year 2022. The government had earlier notified the revisions which will come into effect from January 1, 2022.

•  Taxpayers who have not e-verified their ITRs for 2019-20 fiscal can complete the verification process by February 28, 2022, as the Income Tax department has given a one-time relaxation to assessees.

•  The S&P BSE Sensex fell 90.99 points (0.16 per cent) to end at 57,806.49 while the Nifty 50 slipped 19.65 points (0.11 per cent) to settle at 17,213.60

• Loan recovery through various channels, most notably Lok Adalats, witnessed a sizeable decline in the cases referred for resolution during 2020-21, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. While 20.35 lakh cases were reported in FY21 involving Rs 4.56 lakh crore, only Rs 64,228 crore was recovered. In 2019-20, 61.27 lakh cases involving Rs 6.94 lakh crore were reported, with Rs 1.52 lakh crore of loans recovered.

Environment –

•  TBA

Local –

• Delhi on Wednesday reported an exponential spike in Covid-19 cases with 923 fresh infections, highest since May 30, as the positivity rate also jumped to 1.29 per cent. With the new infections, the case tally has risen to 14,45,102, while the death toll stood at 25,107. 

•  Maharashtra reported 3,900 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, marking a steep rise from the  2,172 infections detected in the state a day earlier.

•  Within days of its inauguration by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, IIT Kharagpur’s Centre of Excellence for Indian Knowledge System, which aims to conduct interdisciplinary research on domains ranging from Indian history to cosmology and positional astronomy, counts among its achievements a calendar that questions the chronology of Indian history.

•  Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian along with Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan visited some of the containment zones here on Wednesday. Notably, containment zones have started to reappear in Chennai on the back of a surge in Covid-19 cases.

• In a sudden spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in a day, Karnataka Wednesday recorded 566 new cases of which, Bengaluru alone accounted for 400, pushing the total number of active cases in the state to 7,771.

Person in News – 

• TBA 

GK – 

INS Kesari has recently delivered Food aid and Defence Aid to which country?

[A] Madagascar
[B] Mozambique
[C] Maldives
[D] Myanmar

“P.N. Panicker”, whose statue was recently unveiled by the President, was associated with which movement?

[A] Women Empowerment
[B] Literacy and Library
[C] Child Development
[D] Clean Water

What is the name of the Disintegrated Neutron Star with the most intense magnetic field?

[A] Meteor
[B] Magnetar
[C] Blazar
[D] Quasar

Which Union Ministry launched the “Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities- Toolkit 2022”?

[A] Ministry of Rural Development
[B] Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
[C] Ministry of Agriculture
[D] Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change

Which country has recently launched the ‘Tsirkon hypersonic missile system’?

[A] China
[B] Russia
[C] UK
[D] Israel

Today's Event – 28th December 2021

• 1659 – The Marathas defeat the Adilshahi forces in the Battle of Kolhapur.

• 1768 – King Taksin's coronation achieved through conquest as a king of Thailand and established Thonburi as a capital.

• 1795 – Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto).

• 1832 – John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign. He resigned after being elected Senator from South Carolina.

• 1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army.

• 1836 – South Australia and Adelaide are founded.

• 1836 – Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico with the signing of the Santa María–Calatrava Treaty.

• 1846 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

• 1879 – Tay Bridge disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75.

• 1885 – Indian National Congress, a political party of India, is founded in Bombay Presidency, British India.

• 1895 – The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines.

• 1902 – The Syracuse Athletic Club defeat the New York Philadelphians, 5–0, in the first indoor professional football game, which was held at Madison Square Garden.

• 1908 – The 7.1 Mw? Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme),killing between 75,000 and 200,000.

• 1912 – The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco.

• 1918 – Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway prison, becomes the first woman to be elected Member of Parliament (MP) to the British House of Commons.

• 1944 – Maurice Richard becomes the first player to score eight points in one game of NHL ice hockey.

• 1948 – The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Miami.

• 1956 – Chin Peng, David Marshall and Tunku Abdul Rahman meet in Baling, Malaya to try and resolve the Malayan Emergency situation.

• 1958 – "Greatest Game Ever Played": Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium.

• 1967 – American businesswoman Muriel Siebert becomes the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

• 1973 – The United States Endangered Species Act is signed into law by President Richard Nixon.

• 2009 – Forty-three people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura.

• 2014 – Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashes into the Karimata Strait en route from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard.

• 2014 – Nine people die and another 19 are reported missing, when the MS Norman Atlantic catches fire in the Strait of Otranto, in the Adriatic Sea, in Italian waters.

National Events- 

•  Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday mentioned about leadership transition at his energy-to-retail conglomerate, saying he wants the process to be accelerated with seniors, including him, yielding to the younger generation.

•  WHILE the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and BJP might be a picture of bonhomie in Parliament, back home in Andhra Pradesh, the two parties continue to be at each other’s throats. At the Centre, the YSRCP has supported the NDA on various issues such as the farm laws, Article 370 and CAA, but just on Tuesday, the BJP held a massive meeting at Vijayawada to “highlight the failures” of the Y S Jagan Reddy government.

•  Taking a swipe at the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday over the seizure of Rs 150 crore from a Kanpur-based businessman recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the people of Uttar Pradesh know for a fact that the “perfume of corruption has been sprinkled” all over the state

•  While the Jammu and Kashmir administration has termed the signing of real estate MoUs worth Rs 18,900 crore a “historical transformation”, political parties across the mainstream-separatist spectrum in the Kashmir Valley are viewing it as an attempt to alter the region’s demographic identity.

• Meanwhile, India’s Omicron tally went up to 653 on Tuesday, with the highest being reported from Maharashtra at 167, followed by Delhi with 165 cases, Kerala 57, Telangana 55 and Gujarat at 49. The country also recorded 6,358 new covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours. Active cases currently stand at 75,456 while the recovery rate is at 98.90 per cent. In view of the rising Covid-19 cases following the emergence of Omicron variant, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said that restrictions under the yellow alert for Covid will be implemented in the national capital.

International Events- 

•  One Christmas Day in the 1980s, Desmond Tutu led a packed church service in Soweto, the Black Johannesburg township and fulcrum of protest against white racist rule in South Africa. An American family — mine — found standing room at the back.

•  Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday he is not opposed to a “good” nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, but voiced skepticism that such an outcome would emerge from the current negotiations.

•  Research by South African scientists suggests that Omicron could displace the Delta variant of the coronavirus because infection with the new variant boosts immunity to the older one.

• Australia recorded another record surge in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday as an outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant disrupted reopening of the economy, while state leaders argued over domestic border controls. The country reported 11,264 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous day, according to a Reuters calculation of state figures, once again surpassing its peak of a day earlier, as it grapples with a planned reopening while the new variant rages. 

• Around 11,500 flights have been cancelled around the world since Friday, according to an AFP report.

Job alerts-

• National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology Jobs for Consultant, Programmer, Specialist, System Analyst and other posts. Last date 09 January 2022

• Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission Jobs for Principal, Principal Grade-II/ Placement Officer and other posts. Last date 26 January 2022

• National Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology Jobs for Assistant Professor and other posts. Last date 20 January 2022

• Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited Jobs for Trade Apprentice and other posts. Last date 25 January 2022

• Central Industrial Security Force Jobs for Sub Inspector and other posts. Last date 05 February 2022

Sports-

•  SC East Bengal player Antonio Perosevic was on Tuesday handed a five-match ban and fined Rs 1 lakh by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Disciplinary Committee for his “violent conduct towards a match official” during an Indian Super League match.

•  India pacer Mohammed Siraj copied the famous celebration of Manchester United icon Cristiano Ronaldo, when he got the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen on Day 3 of the first Test against South Africa at Centurion on Tuesday.

•  Barcelona completed the signing of Ferran Torres from Manchester City on Tuesday for a reported fee of 55 million euros ($62.25 million),around double what the English champions paid for the Spain forward 16 months ago.

•  Three-time champions Patna Pirates beat Puneri Paltan 38-26 in a Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 match in Bengaluru on Tuesday. Sachin scored a Super 10 (10 points) and was ably supported by Patna’s defensive trio of Sunil (4 points),Mohammadreza Chiyaneh (3 points) and Sajin C (3 points).

• India will lock horns with Bangladesh in the semifinals of the U-19 Asia Cup after the group-deciding match involving the latter team and Sri Lanka was called off due to the Covid-19 infection of two officials here on Tuesday.

Awards and honours-

•  TBA

Technology-

• Crypto culture seems to be growing rapidly in India, with adoption increasing among young men and women. In its latest report, Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber claimed that out of its user-base of 14 million Indians, 15 percent are women. The findings come at a time when India is still deciding ways to regulate and potentially tax crypto activities and the income generated from trading. CoinSwitch Kuber's report also reveals that most of its users in India are youngsters. 

•  Google Pixel 6 users are complaining that features including auto-rotate and automatic horizontal photography are broken on their phones. As per user reports on the company's support forums and Reddit, a growing number of Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro phones are randomly stopping reading some sensors' data. Also, auto-rotate and automatic horizontal images are breaking at random for the users even after updating with the Android December patch. Google has recently released the December 2021 update for its Pixel phones to address some of the known bug fixes and a list of vulnerabilities.

•  Egypt has "digitally unwrapped" the mummy of famed Pharaoh Amenhotep I, revealing its secrets for the first time since it was discovered in 1881 without disturbing his funerary mask.

•  Realme 9 Pro+ and Realme C31 have reportedly been spotted on various certification websites. The Realme 9 Pro+ was spotted on the Bluetooth SIG platform, and it allegedly got Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification earlier this year. The smartphone is said to be a part of the Realme 9 series that is tipped to launch in the first quarter of 2022. Meanwhile another Realme smartphone, the Realme C31, is said to have received Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and TUV certification.

• The RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has demanded that the government should immediately withdraw permissions given to e-commerce companies Amazon and Flipkart-Walmart to operate in India as they are "blatantly contravening rules".

Economy – 

•  The time period for filing settlement applications by entities will be 60 days from the date of receipt of the show-cause notice or a supplementary notice, whichever is earlier, according to Sebi.

•  Sebi on Tuesday approved a slew of amendments to various regulations, including tightening rules for the utilisation of IPO proceeds. Changes have been cleared for regulations governing foreign portfolio investors, Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs),mutual funds, settlement proceedings, among others

•  Shares of API manufacturer Supriya Lifescience debuted on a strong note and got listed at a premium of 55 per cent from their issue price in the stock exchanges today.

•  The S&P BSE Sensex surged 477.24 points (0.83 per cent) to end at 57,897.48 while the Nifty 50 rose 147.00 points (0.86 per cent) to settle at 17,233.25.

• For the eighth consecutive session, the rupee appreciated by 3 paise on Monday to reach a near four-week high of 75 against the US dollar, on the back of a firm trend in domestic equities and rising appetite for riskier assets. However, a strong American dollar overseas and firm crude oil prices limited the domestic unit’s rise.

Environment –

• TBA 

Local –

• Delhi reported 496 fresh Covid-19 cases and one death on Tuesday. The positivity rate has now gone up to 0.89%. 

•  Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra are likely to see a sharp increase in January and February 2022, Health Minister Rajesh Tope told the Assembly on Tuesday. “The number of new Covid-19 cases recorded today was 1600. This was alarming. As on an average the state had witnessed an average of 600 to 700 cases daily,” he said.

•  STEPPING UP its efforts to check the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the West Bengal Health and Family Welfare Department on Monday directed seven private hospitals in Kolkata to ramp up their infrastructure to ensure prompt and quality treatment of international travellers who test positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in the state capital.

•  Samples of two persons returned positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Puducherry on Tuesday. The health department said that one of the patients is an 80-year-old elderly person, whereas the other is a 20-year-old woman

• Karnataka recorded 356 new cases of Covid on Tuesday of which, 269 were from Bengaluru Urban, which a day earlier had seen 172 cases.

Person in News – 

• TBA 

GK – 

“Pillar of Shame” memorial, which was seen in the news, is located in which country/region?

[A] USA
[B] Hong Kong
[C] Taiwan
[D] Russia

Which country passed the ‘Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women’?

[A] India
[B] China
[C] Russia
[D] Saudi Arabia

Which Union Ministry is associated with implementing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)?

[A] Ministry of Finance
[B] Ministry of Corporate Affairs
[C] Ministry of External Affairs
[D] Ministry of Commerce and Industry

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently extended the tokenisation rules till which date?

[A] January 1, 2022
[B] April 1, 2022
[C] June 30, 2022
[D] September 30, 2022

When is the ‘National Consumer Rights Day’ observed across India?

[A] December 20
[B] December 22
[C] December 24
[D] December 25

Today's Event – 27th December 2021

• 1655 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Cz?stochowa 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 H?sh? 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 H?sh? 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 A?ca 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

Today's Event – 26th December 2021

• 1799 – Henry Lee III's eulogy to George Washington in congress declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".

• 1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I in the Decembrist revolt, but are later suppressed. 

• 1860 – First Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world

• 1861 – American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James Murray Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and the United Kingdom

• 1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native Americans died. 

• 1871 – Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, debuts. 

• 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

• 1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.

• 1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

• 1948 – Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.

• 1948 – The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.

• 1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

• 1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

• 1968 – The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930.

• 1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, goes into service.

• 1979 – The inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally begins. 

• 1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell"

• 1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War. 

• 1994 – Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.

• 1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.

• 1999 – The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.

• 2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw? Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis, it affected coastal and partially mainland areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is estimated at 227,898.

• 2012 – China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

• 2015 – During the December 2015 North American storm complex, a Tornado Outbreak occurs in the DFW Metroplex, with the most notable tornadoes being an EF2, EF3, and an EF4. About a dozen people died due to various reasons, 10 of which due to the EF4, which did substantial damage to the suburb of Rowlett.

National Events- 

•  Reeling under recurrent defections from its ranks and the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as new contenders in Goa’s electoral battlefield, the Congress party is putting up a brave front and trying to get its act together in order to challenge the ruling BJP in the forthcoming state Assembly elections.

•  Kerala on Sunday reported 19 more Omicron cases, taking the state’s tally of infections due to the new Covid-19 variant up to 57.

•  In the course of a recent phishing attack, several employees of various central ministries received mysterious emails including one from a government domain email address (nic.in) claiming an “internal hand” in General Bipin Rawat’s death. This is part of phishing attempts against central government officials through some compromised government domain email IDs (gov.in and nic.in),which are increasingly getting more targeted and sophisticated

• Dalit students at a government school in Champawat district refused to eat mid-day meals cooked by an upper caste woman after a cook belonging to the Scheduled Castes was sacked. The district administration, however, said on Sunday that the issue has been resolved after members from both communities arrived at a consensus. 

• Amid growing demands for repealing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland, the Army on Sunday said that the court of inquiry into the incident in which 14 civilians were killed in the security ambush in the Mon district earlier this month is “progressing expeditiously”, and that it is “cooperating with the SIT probe ordered by the state government”.

International Events- 

•  The Communist Party chief in China’s far northwest Xinjiang region, where Beijing is accused of having carried out a massive crackdown on Muslim minorities, is leaving the post after some seven years, Chinese state-run media said on Sunday.

•  The bodies of more than a dozen migrants who drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe washed up on Libya’s coastline late on Saturday, its interior ministry and the local Red Crescent said.

•  Taliban authorities in Afghanistan on Sunday gave new guidance to taxi drivers, advising them against taking fares from women who do not follow a strict Islamic dress code by wearing the hijab, or Islamic headscarf.

•  Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday the country intends to double the amount of settlers living in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights with a multimillion-dollar plan meant to further consolidate Israel’s hold on the territory it captured from Syria more than five decades ago.

• The Taliban dissolved Afghanistan’s two election commissions as well as the state ministries for peace and parliamentarian affairs, an official said Sunday.

Job alerts-

• TBA

Sports-

• India opener Mayank Agarwal on Sunday said his side’s batters applied themselves as per the team plan, putting the visitors in a strong position on the opening day of the first Test against South Africa here. 

•  In a heart-warming gesture after the conclusion of local cricket tournament – Police Shield – Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav decided to give away his man of the match award to a local groundsman.

•  Crystal Palace had its request for Sunday’s game at Tottenham to be postponed because of a coronavirus outbreak at the club rejected by the Premier League.

•  A last-second blunder from experienced defender Ravinder Pahal allowed Dabang Delhi’s Naveen Kumar to secure a raid point and hold Gujarat Lions to 24-24 tie in the Pro Kabaddi League here on Sunday. In another match Bengal Warriors were defeated by Gujarat Giants.

• Shubham Arora’s unbeaten knock of 136 (131 balls; 13×4, 1×6) helped Himachal Pradesh to beat Tamil Nadu to clinch their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title in Jaipur on Sunday

Awards and honours-

• TBA 

Technology-

•  TBA

Economy – 

•  The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday asked Taiwanese electronic equipment major Foxconn to come up with a slew of measures to improve the working conditions and quality of living of contract employees attached to its operations in Chennai

•  Over 14 crore workers have registered on the e-Shram portal after registration was enabled on it four months ago, the Labour Ministry said Saturday. “e-Shram portal in just about 4 months 14 crore crossed… Kudos to all those who made it possible,” Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted.

•  Microsoft Corp said on Friday it will not participate in person at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022 in Las Vegas, joining a list of companies opting not to have a physical presence at next month’s event on concerns over the rapid spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

• Unlike 4G, 5G is a completely new technology, which should not be viewed just as extension of the old mobile telephony. Not only that, 5G is also likely to stay relevant for much longer, with 6G coming into play only after this decade, Magnus Ewerbring, chief technology officer for Asia Pacific at Ericsson, told AASHISH ARYAN in an interview. 

• Recording a fall of $160 million, the nation’s forex reserves declined to $635.667 billion during the week to December 17, according to data from the RBI.

Environment –

• TBA 

Local –

• With the Covid positivity rate crossing the 0.5 per cent mark on Sunday, the Delhi government announced a night curfew in the city. The city reported 290 cases at a positivity rate of 0.55 per cent on Sunday. One death was also reported. 

•  Mumbai on Sunday recorded 922 fresh Covid-19 cases — highest in last seven months. The daily case positivity rate has also gone up to 2.64 per cent with BMC conducting 34,819 tests across the city. According to the daily Covid report, the city recorded two death while 326 patients recovered from the disease and were discharged from the hospital.

•  Women in the city will be able to walk more safely in public spaces as Bidhannagar Police rolls out its all-women patrolling team — ‘The Winners’ — to combat and curb crimes like molestation and eve-teasing. Launched ahead of Christmas and New Year, the new unit is an extension of the Kolkata police’s women patrolling teams.

•  The AIADMK on Saturday demanded that the Tamil Nadu government take steps to immediately disburse the COVID ex gratia of Rs 50,000 to the kin of those who succumbed to Coronavirus and warned further delay could only lead to a situation coercing the affected families to agitate.

• Karnataka BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Sunday said Muslims or Christians, who have undergone religious conversion, should be brought back into the fold of Hinduism. He added that all mutts and temples should have “annual targets” for the completion of such religious re-conversions.

Person in News – 

• TBA 

GK – 

As per the recent data from Environment Ministry, which state has recorded the highest deaths of elephants due to electrocution during 2009 and 2019?

[A] Odisha
[B] Maharashtra
[C] West Bengal
[D] Gujarat

‘Shakti Criminal Laws Bill’ is associated with which state?

[A] Andhra Pradesh
[B] Maharashtra
[C] Karnataka
[D] Kerala

Paxlovid, which was seen in the news recently, is the first authorised pill against which disease?

[A] COVID-19
[B] Pneumococcal Disease
[C] Cardio-vascular Disease
[D] AIDS

Gujarat’s Chief Minister launched the Gujarati version of which micro-bloggin site?

[A] Twitter
[B] Koo
[C] Chingari
[D] Reddit

SilverLine, is a semi high-speed railway project being constructed in which state?

[A] Karnataka
[B] Kerala
[C] Gujarat
[D] Odisha

Today's Event – 25th December 2021

• 336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome

• 1100 – Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

• 1130 – Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first king of Sicily.

• 1758 – Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage. This was the first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time.

• 1809 – Dr. Ephraim McDowell performs the first ovariotomy, removing a 22-pound tumor

• 1814 – Rev. Samuel Marsden holds the first Christian service on land in New Zealand at Rangihoua Bay.

• 1815 – The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States, gives its first performance.

• 1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.

• 1831 – The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins; up to 20% of Jamaica's slaves mobilize in an ultimately unsuccessful fight for freedom.

• 1868 – Pardons for ex-Confederates: United States President Andrew Johnson grants an unconditional pardon to all Confederate veterans

• 1927 – B. R. Ambedkar and his followers burn copies of the Manusmriti in Mahad, Maharashtra, to protest its treatment of Dalit people

• 1941 – Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces

• 1946 – The first European self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within the Soviet Union's F-1 nuclear reactor.

• 1962 – The Soviet Union conducts its final above-ground nuclear weapon test, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

• 1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.

• 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit

• 1977 – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.

• 1986 – Iraqi Airways Flight 163, a Boeing 737-270C, is hijacked and crashes in Arar, Saudi Arabia, killing 63 people

• 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union

• 2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, stops transmitting shortly before its scheduled landing. 

• 2004 – The Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.

National Events- 

• The opposition RJD in Bihar should give up its demand for a caste-based census following its leader Tejashwi Yadav’s exogamous marriage, a BJP minister in the state said on Saturday. 

• The Union Health Ministry said that it will send teams to 10 states “which are either reporting an increasing number of Omicron and Covid-19 cases or has a slow vaccination pace”. According to the order issued by the ministry yesterday, these states are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Mizoram, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand and Punjab. Also on the list are Punjab and Uttar Pradesh — both are due to hold elections in two months’ time. 

•  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday paid tributes to former prime minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth anniversary.

•  Uttarakhand cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat has reportedly threatened to resign from his post, in what could be a major setback to the BJP in Uttarakhand ahead of the Assembly polls next year.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted Christmas greetings this morning as the country celebrated the festival amid restrictions in public places owing to the Covid-19 pandemic

International Events- 

•  Pakistan and Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have resolved the recent row over border fencing by agreeing that further work on the project that led to a tense situation would be done through consensus, a media report said on Saturday.

•  A US Navy warship has paused its deployment to South America because of a coronavirus outbreak, the Navy said on Friday.

•  At least 13 people died after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea late Friday, bringing to at least 27 the combined death toll from three accidents in as many days involving migrant boats in Greek waters.

•  US Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative Friday for the coronavirus following her close contact earlier this week with an aide who later tested positive, her office said.

• The revolutionary $9 billion infrared telescope, hailed by NASA as the premiere space-science observatory of the next decade, was bundled inside the cargo bay of an Ariane 5 rocket poised for blastoff at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT) from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) launch base in French Guiana

Job alerts-

• Union Public Service Commission Jobs for Assistant Commissioner, Assistant Engineer, Administrative Officer, Assistant Professor and other posts. Last date 13 January 2022

•  Punjab Public Service Commission Jobs for Functional Manager, Accountants and other posts. Last date 04 January 2022

• Jute Corporation of India Limited Jobs for Accountant, Junior Assistant, Junior Inspector and other posts. Last date 13 January 2022

• West Bengal Cooperative Service Commission Jobs for Technical Assistant, Office Assistant, Supervisor, Cashier, Lower Division Assistant and other posts. Last date 31 December 2021

• State Bank of India Jobs for Chief Manager (Company Secretary),Dy. Manager, Manager and other posts. Last date 13 January 2022

Sports-

•  For the second season running, the erstwhile top division of Indian football will be conducted in a bio-secure environment in Kolkata due to pandemic-related restrictions. In the last few years, the I-League has become truly pan-India, reaching places it never had before. The trend will continue this season, too, with a team from Rajasthan qualifying for the first time

•  Vivo Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) enters day 4 and will feature another three blockbuster matches on Christmas day. The day will begin with Patna Pirates taking on the UP Yoddha at 7:30 PM IST. Following this game, Puneri Paltan will lock horns with Telegu Titans at 8:30 PM IST.

•  “The main aim is to win the Test series. We have the World Test Championship (points) to play for as well and Virat plays a key role in taking the Test team forward. He loves Test cricket,” Dravid said.

•  All eyes would be on Brazilian star Marcelinho Leite Pereira when a spirited Rajasthan United FC make their I-League debut against RoundGlass Punjab FC in the opening day’s fixture at the Kalyani Stadium here on Sunday.

• USA Cricket says the first one-day cricket international between the Americans and Ireland scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled due a positive Covid-19 case among the umpiring team.

Awards and honours-

• TBA 

Technology-

•  Jio's Rs. 2,545 prepaid recharge plan has got a new, limited-period Happy New Year offer. The yearly prepaid plan from Jio that typically comes with a validity of 336 days is now getting 29 days of extra validity. This means the Jio Rs. 2,545 prepaid recharge plan will now last a full 365 days. It's a limited-time offer in the spirit of the New Year and can be availed by both existing and new Reliance Jio users. The plan comes with 1.5GB of high-speed data per day.

•  Russia has blocked the website of OVD-Info, a prominent human rights monitor tracking political persecution, the group said Saturday, as authorities press ahead with a crackdown on dissent.

•  Google Fit for iOS has reportedly gained the ability to track and measure heart and respiratory rate using an iPhone's camera. The fitness app can measure a user's heart rate when they apply light pressure on the rear camera lens. It can also work if the user's smartphone doesn't have an active internet connection. The front camera, on the other hand, tracks a user's breaths per minute (BPM). Google Fit's heart and respiratory rate tracking feature was first introduced for Google Pixel smartphones in February.

•  The consumer finance unit of China's Ant Group will boost the company's capital to CNY 30 billion (roughly Rs. 35,377 crores) from CNY 8 billion (roughly Rs. 9,434 crore),and introduce 4 new strategic investors, an exchange filing released on Friday said.

• The Netherlands' top competition regulator on Friday said Apple broke the country's competition laws and ordered changes to the iPhone maker's App Store payment policies.

Economy – 

•  As per latest official data released Friday, the number of ‘newly registered employees’ under ESIC in October fell to 12,19,525 from 13,57,348 in September. It was 13,47,727 in August and 13,40,944 in July

•  Continuing its winning streak for the seventh straight session, the rupee on Friday rose by 23 paise to a three-week high of 75.03 against the US dollar as risk appetite improved in view of broader weakness in the greenback.

•  Of the Rs 24,000-crore bond auction, bonds worth Rs 7,267 crore devolved on underwriters — primary dealers. The maximum devolvement of Rs 4,702.68 crore came in the 5.74 per cent government securities maturing in 2026.

•  Of the Rs 24,000-crore bond auction, bonds worth Rs 7,267 crore devolved on underwriters — primary dealers. The maximum devolvement of Rs 4,702.68 crore came in the 5.74 per cent government securities maturing in 2026.

• Mumbai-based Darwin Platform’s revised  Rs 1,814-crore bid to take over the privately-built smart city project by Lavasa Corporation near Pune was on Friday approved by the committee of creditors (CoC). The bid beat the closest competing offer of Rs 1,223.07 crore

Environment –

•  TBA

Local –

• There has been a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the capital, with new cases crossing the 200-mark for the first time since mid-June. Delhi on Saturday reported 249 new cases of the infection which is the highest since June 13 when 255 new cases were reported, as per the data. This week, over 144 cases were reported on average each day in comparison to over 70 cases last week and 51.4 cases on average the week before. 

•  Fresh lockdown would be imposed in Maharashtra if demand for medical oxygen touches 800 metric tons per day, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.

•  HOURS AFTER Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed anguish at vice-chancellors of private universities in the state not attending a meeting convened by him at Raj Bhawan here, state education minister Bratya Basu on Friday said the government was considering seeking legal opinion on nominating Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as Chancellor of all universities in the state.

•  With Christmas and New Year celebrations round the corner, Chief Minister M K Stalin Friday chaired a high-level consultative meeting with medical, public health experts and top officials at the secretariat to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the state.

• Karnataka logged 270 Covid-19 cases on Saturday, registering a significant dip in comparison to Friday’s tally of 405. The total number of active cases in the state is 7,271, of which 5,890 cases are in Bengaluru Urban alone, said the state health department. The state also reported four deaths, two from Bengaluru Urban and one each from Dharwad and Udupi.

Person in News – 

•  TBA

GK – 

Which state’s tourism department launched the STREET (Sustainable, Tangible, Responsible, Experiential, Ethnic, Tourism) project?

[A] Tamil Nadu
[B] Goa
[C] Kerala
[D] Sikkim

‘HAECHI-II’, which was seen in the news recently, is an operation undertaken by which institution?

[A] Central Bureau of Investigation
[B] INTERPOL
[C] Federal Bureau of Investigation
[D] International Monetary Fund

‘The India Young Water Professional Programme’ has been launched for the first time, in association with which country?

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

Who is appointed as the chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC)?

[A] Vivek Johri
[B] Alaknanda Dayal
[C] Ashutosh Jindal
[D] Puneet Aggarwal

Al Raisi, has been elected as the President of which international organization?

[A] United Nations
[B] International Monetary Fund
[C] Interpol
[D] UNICEF

Today's Event – 24th December 2021

• 1737 – The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.

• 1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook

• 1800 – The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.[8]

• 1814 – Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. 

• 1818 – The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria. 

• 1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

• 1846 – British acquired Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei for Great Britain. 

• 1865 – Jonathan Shank and Barry Ownby form The Ku Klux Klan. 

• 1868 – The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.

• 1871 – The opera Aida premieres in Cairo, Egypt.

• 1906 – Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech. 

• 1913 – The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire"

• 1924 – Albania becomes a republic

• 1951 – Libya becomes independent. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya

• 1952 – First flight of Britain's Handley Page Victor strategic bomber.

• 1953 – Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge is damaged by a lahar and collapses beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people

• 1968 – Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures

• 1969 – Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.

• 1971 – LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lighting and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91

• 1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

• 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia

• 1994 – Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists

• 1999 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed)

• 2018 – A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor

National Events- 

•  India has so far reported 358 cases of the Omicron variant, of which 183 were analysed and 121 of them were found to have foreign travel history, the official added. The government said the Covid-19 case positivity rate in Kerala and Mizoram is much higher than national average and a cause for concern. It said 20 districts across country were reporting a weekly positivity rate between 5 and 10 per cent and two districts over 10 per cent.

•  Once dubbed as “Majhe da Jarnail” (General of Majha region of Punjab),Brahmpura, a former MP and four-time MLA, had quit the SAD on a bitter note, questioning the functioning of Sukhbir Badal as party president and blaming him for the SAD’s debacle in the 2017 Assembly polls. The SAD was then decimated, losing even the status of the principal Opposition to the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

•  At least nine among 10 persons getting infected by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 are fully vaccinated, an analysis of 183 Omicron cases in India by the Centre showed.

•  A day after the Allahabad High Court urged the Prime Minister to postpone the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls due to the threat of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra Friday said the Election Commission would be visiting the poll-bound state next week and review the situation

• The one only person named in the FIR registered over alleged hate speeches at a Haridwar religious meeting, Waseem Rizvi, was present at the ‘Dharam Sansad’ for all three days and addressed the gathering on the third. The meeting was organised by controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand, who earlier this year “converted” Rizvi, a former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board, to Hinduism

International Events- 

• Thousands of would-be travellers received the same troubling message Thursday: a last-minute cancellation of their Christmas Eve flight because of the recent spike of coronavirus cases. 

•  Japanese and US armed forces have drawn up a draft plan for a joint operation for a possible Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Thursday, citing unnamed Japanese government sources, amid increased tensions between the island and China.

•  U.S. President Joe Biden’s steps to backstop hospitals and distribute coronavirus test kits, however welcome, are too little too late to stem a surge of Omicron-related coronavirus cases over Christmas and New Year, health experts said.

•  Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the West on Thursday to “immediately” meet Russia’s demand for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine, saying the U.S. is “on the threshold of our home.”

• Japanese cabinet Friday approved an annual budget of $940 billion, a record for a tenth straight year, putting priority on the response to battling Covid-19 and the Prime Minister’s aim of growth and wealth distribution.

Job alerts-

• Odisha Staff Selection Commission Jobs for Welfare Extension Officer (WEO) and other posts. Last date 30 January 2022

• Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Jobs for Assistant Branch Officer, Block Supply Officer, Planning Assistant and other posts. Last date 14 February 2022

• Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission Jobs for State Forest Service Exam and State Services Exam and other posts. Last date 09 February 2022

• Kerala Public Service Commission Jobs for Assistant Professor, Drilling Assistant, Junior Assistant and other posts. Last date 19 January 2022

• Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan Jobs for Principals, Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff and other posts. Last date 05 February 2022. 

Sports-

• A coronavirus outbreak at Everton has forced the postponement of the club’s match at Burnley, the Premier League said Friday. 

•  Former East Bengal coach Alejandro Menéndez took to Twitter on Monday and refuted claims that he had recommended current coach Manolo Diaz to take charge of the Bengal powerhouse.

•  Every year, there are a lot of fresh-faced youngsters who break into the collective psyche of the football world with their spellbinding skills. Very few of them make it into the superstar stratosphere like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe while a lot of them fall by the wayside and get lost in oblivion. A few names who have been all but erased from the collective consciousness are Alexandre Pato, Mario Balotelli, Ravel Morrisson and Bojan Krkic. And these are just the tip of the iceberg.

•  U Mumba return to the mat to take on Dabang Delhi K.C. in the opening match of the day at 07:30 PM IST. Both franchises started this season with a bang, as the Mumbai franchise defeated the Bengaluru Bulls (46-30),while the Delhi outfit thrashed Puneri Paltan 41-30 in their season opener. The two teams will be looking to make it two wins in a row, as the winner of this contest will get to occupy the top spot on the table.

• India Test vice captain KL Rahul said that playing in South Africa poses a unique challenge but the Indian team are up for it. Speaking at a virtual press conference, the swashbuckling opener said, ” In any foreign series, getting the team off to a good start is the most important thing. Last time when I came here, I did not have much idea about what to expect from these conditions but this time around, having played 2 Tests here, we are slightly better prepared for the conditions.”

Awards and honours-

•  TBA

Technology-

• Honor Magic V foldable smartphone may be launched on January 10, as per a claim by a tipster. The Chinese company has already confirmed that it will introduce its first foldable phone soon. A report has suggested that the flagship will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, making it the first foldable phone with the latest Snapdragon chipset. Recently, Honor's former parent company Huawei launched the P50 Pocket foldable phone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 4G SoC in China. 

•  A Moscow court said it was fining Google RUB 7.2 billion (roughly Rs. 735 crore) for what it said was a repeated failure to delete content Russia deems illegal, the first revenue-based fine of its kind in Russia.

•  Department of Telecom (DoT) has extended the duration of archiving call data and Internet usage records of subscribers to two years from one year due to security reasons. The amendments in the licences were issued on December 21 and extended to other forms of telecom permits on December 22.

•  Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange which is currently the largest in the world has decided to drop its quarterly coin burn mechanism for a better, more transparent, and predictable token auto-burn mechanism for BNB, Binance's native token. According to the announcement, the move came as a result of increased demand for a healthier blockchain system from Binance Smart Chain (BSC) users and BNB communities. Until now, Binance had two BNB burning mechanisms in place, a real-time burning of a percentage of gas fees on the BSC and the other, a quarterly burn based on Binance's Accelerated Burn Program, which the BNB auto-burn mechanism replaces.

• El Salvador is three months deep into using Bitcoin as a legal currency since September. As the crypto space is now expanding, Nayib Bukele, the pro-crypto President of the country has predicted that the days of fiat currency are gone for good. The team “fiat” refers to the existing physical currencies like the Rupees or the Dollar. Bukele tweeted that his country is the “spark” that has ignited a “real revolution” by legalising Bitcoin.

Economy – 

•  Warning that the new year will be riskier than the previous two in terms of growth, inflation and the perils of monetary policy normalisation on consumption demand in particular, along with other external risks, a Wall Street brokerage has pencilled in an 8.2 per cent GDP growth next fiscal, with more downside risks to the projection.

•  Cash management company CMS Info Systems Limited’s initial public offering was subscribed 1.95 times on the last day of subscription on Thursday. The IPO received bids for 7,32,71,721 shares against 3,75,60,975 shares on offer, according to NSE data.

•  Shares of Data Patterns (India) Ltd, which supplies electronic systems to defence and aerospace sector, on Friday listed with nearly 48 per cent gains against the issue price of Rs 585.

•  After a choppy session, the 30-share index ended 190.97 points or 0.33 per cent lower at 57,124.31. Similarly, the NSE Nifty declined 68.85 points or 0.40 per cent to 17,003.75

• In another consolidation in the mutual fund segment, L&T Finance Holdings has proposed to sell its mutual fund business, L&T Investment Management Ltd (LTIM),to HSBC Asset Management (India) Ltd for $425 million (around Rs 3,200 crore). LTIM will eventually be merged with HSBC’s asset management business in India.

Environment –

• TBA 

Local –

•  This week, Delhi recorded over 144 new cases of Covid-19 on average each day according to the data. In comparison to just over 70 cases a day on average during last week, and 51 cases the week before that.

•  The Maharashtra government on Friday said it is considering increasing the compensation for family members of farmers who have committed suicide from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh.

• West Bengal recorded 516 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths on Thursday, taking the state’s total number of infections and toll to 16,28,980 and 19,702 respectively. 

• Three persons, including the first Omicron case reported in Tamil Nadu, have tested negative and were discharged on Thursday, Tamil Nadu Minister Ma Subramanian said. 

• Karnataka on Friday witnessed a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases as it registered 405 new cases, taking the state’s total tally of infections to 3,003,969. The total number of active Covid cases in the state is 7,251.

Person in News – 

•  TBA

GK – 

Which country launched ‘National Oxygen Stewardship Programme’ to prevent wastage of Medical Oxygen?

[A] USA
[B] India
[C] UK
[D] Bangladesh

Which institution launched the ‘Vernacular Innovation Program’ in India?

[A] ISRO
[B] NITI Aayog
[C] BARC
[D] NSIL

The Annual Growth rate of production of Spices in India has followed a ………… trend from 2014 to 2020.

[A] Upward
[B] Downward
[C] Zig-zag
[D] Similar

In the process of Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixation, what is the minimum margin of profit of farmers?

[A] 20%
[B] 25%
[C] 50%
[D] 75%

Which country is the largest producer of the ‘Jade’ mineral, used in jewellery?

[A] Bangladesh
[B] Myanmar
[C] Nepal
[D] Laos

Today's Event – 23rd December 2021

• 1688 – As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees from England to Paris, France after being deposed in favor of his nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.

• 1783 – George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

• 1793 – The Battle of Savenay: A decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in War in the Vendée during the French Revolution.

• 1815 – The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published.

• 1876 – First day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.

• 1893 – The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.

• 1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System. 

• 1919 – Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom.

• 1936 – Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

• 1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

• 1948 – Seven Japanese military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed by Allied occupation authorities at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.

• 1954 – First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.

• 1955 – The first film adaptation of Väinö Linna's novel The Unknown Soldier, directed by Edvin Laine, premieres

• 1960 – Hilkka Saarinen née Pylkkänen is murdered in the so-called the "oven homicide" case in Krootila, Kokemäki, Finland. 

• 1968 – The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after eleven months of internment in North Korea.

• 1970 – The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York is topped out at 417 metres (1,368 ft),making it the tallest building in the world.

• 1970 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a one-party state.

• 1972 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.

• 1972 – The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, surviving by cannibalism.

• 1978 – Alitalia Flight 4128 crashes into the Tyrrhenian Sea while on approach to Falcone Borsellino Airport in Palermo, Italy, killing 108

• 1979 – Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

• 1984 – After experiencing an engine fire, Aeroflot Flight 3519 attempts to make an emergency landing at Krasnoyarsk International Airport but crashes, killing 110 of the 111 people on board

• 1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.

• 1990 – History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

• 2002 – A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.

• 2003 – PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.

• 2007 – An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.

• 2015 – A bomb explodes at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, killing one airport cleaner. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks claim responsibility for the attack four days later.

National Events- 

•  A 14-year-old boy was killed over a tiff allegedly by his friends who slit his throat, chopped off his hands and legs, stuffed the body in sacks and dumped it in a jungle in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district, police said on Thursday. The victim’s family filed a complaint on Wednesday, alleging that he went missing mysteriously the previous night, said Sub-Divisional Police Officer Pawan Kumar.

•  There are apprehensions that the latest bout of political violence in Kerala may raise communal temperature in the state, with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political wing, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI),being pitted against the BJP and the RSS.

•  Senior Congress leaders, including P Chidambaram and Rahul Gandhi, have started mounting pressure on the Centre to allow booster shots, even though the government has asked states to impose strict restrictions in districts reporting a high number of Omicron cases.

•  The Madhya Pradesh government has ordered a probe after revelations one panchayat block in Vidisha district had funded nearly 6,000 weddings in two years under a welfare scheme – a “high” number by all estimates.

• Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Wednesday handed over 10 lakh doses of ‘Made in India’ vaccines to the representatives of the Myanmar Red Cross Society.

International Events- 

•  Canada will temporarily expand support programs to help people and businesses hit by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, Ottawa said on Wednesday, warning people that worse was to come as the virus spreads.

•  French schoolchildren clung nervously to their parents as they entered a vast vaccine center west of Paris on Wednesday, then walked excitedly away with a decorated “vaccination diploma,” as France kicked off mass Covid-19 inoculations for children age 5 to 11.

•  Facing pressure to prevent a humanitarian and economic catastrophe in Afghanistan, the Biden administration on Wednesday took steps to allow more aid to flow into the Taliban-led country.

•  As a surge in coronavirus cases continues to batter Britain, hospitals, clinics and ambulance services say it is winnowing their staffs, especially through the highly contagious omicron variant. The wave of infections has put severe pressure on the National Health Service, already under strain from worker shortages caused by underfunding, Brexit and the exhaustion from nearly two years of battling the pandemic.

• The United States formally exempted on Wednesday US and UN officials doing permitted business with the Taliban from US sanctions to try to maintain the flow of aid to Afghanistan as it sinks deeper into a humanitarian crisis.

Job alerts-

• Bank of India Jobs for Security Officer and other posts. Last date 07 January 2022

• Bombay High Court Jobs for Clerk and other posts. Last date 06 January 2022

• Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Science Jobs for Assistant Professor and other posts. Last date 21 January 2022

• Government Institute of Medical Sciences Jobs for Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor and other posts. Last date 22 January 2022

• National Technical Research Organization Jobs for Deputy Director, Aviator, Secretariat Assistant and other posts. Last date 18 January 2022

Sports-

•  At the ’83’ premiere in Mumbai on Wednesday evening, the members of Kapil Dev’s World Cup winning cricket team relived their past. As the legendary Sunil Gavaskar said, he was blown away. “Saw the movie for the first time at the Premiere last night and was blown away by the film. It’s simply brilliant and the way every actor has got the mannerisms, the walk, the look, the style of every player was unbelievably uncanny. Full marks to Kabir Khan and his team for their efforts,” the batting maestro told 

•  Australia coach Justin Langer on Thursday hinted that he would seek an extension of his four-year contract, expiring in June 2022, saying he “loves his job”.

•  Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard revealed on Wednesday how one of his players was so anxious about COVID-19 that he didn’t want to get out of his car.

•  The report spread like wildfire. Premier League players shared the link among their peers. Some passed it to their family members and closest confidantes. A handful were sufficiently troubled by what it seemed to suggest that they presented it to their clubs’ in-house medical teams, seeking advice.

• Mauro Icardi’s stoppage-time strike helped 10-man Paris St Germain salvage a fortunate 1-1 draw at lowly Lorient in a dismal performance by the Ligue 1 leaders on Wednesday.

Awards and honours-

• TBA 

Technology-

•  Steam Winter Sale is here and gamers can get their hands on several popular PC games, with discounts on titles including Disco Elysium - The Final Cut, F1 2021, It Takes Two, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and Titanfall 2. While these games are now at their lowest-ever prices, other titles like Half-Life: Alyx, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, Doom Eternal, FIFA 22, Deathloop, and Cyberpunk 2077 have also got big discounts. Along with the Steam Winter Sale, Valve is also allowing gamers to vote for their favourite games for The Steam Awards. Readers might recall that voting began in November alongside the Steam Autumn Sale. The Steam Winter Sale began on Wednesday, December 22 and will run until Wednesday, January 5 at 11:30pm IST/ 10am PT.

•  Xiaomi 12 series is officially confirmed to debut in China on December 28. So far, its various specifications and features have either been officially teased or leaked. Now, more details have surfaced online, showing the display specifications of the Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12X, and Xiaomi 12 Pro handsets. Xiaomi has recently revealed that the Xiaomi 12 lineup will be equipped with a hole-punch selfie camera. The Chinese tech giant also announced that the base Xiaomi 12 has obtained an A+ rating from DisplayMate.

•  NASA has delayed the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which would be the successor to the Hubble. The space agency said the launch will happen a day later than the earlier stipulated time, on Christmas Day, December 25, from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, where high winds are a major factor. An Ariane 5 rocket will lift off on Saturday, carrying the next-generation space observatory. The $10-billion (roughly Rs. 75,330 crore) James Webb Space Telescope is the largest ever built and intended to help astronomers in breakthrough discoveries. It has been designed to look deeper into the universe than the Hubble and detect events from further back in time — over 13.5 billion years ago.

•  Bitcoin investors appear to have taken their foot off the pedal and book profits ahead of Christmas after a positive run over the past couple of days. A strong rally of more than 5 percent earlier this week saw Bitcoin's valuation move past the $47,500 mark (roughly Rs. 35.86 lakh) on global exchanges but failed to push past the $50,000 (roughly Rs. 37.72 lakh) mark. At the time of publishing, Bitcoin's valuation is back in the red by 0.97 percent over the past 24 hours and is priced at $51,053 (roughly Rs. 38.51 lakh) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber, while global exchanges like CoinMarketCap show a 1.71 percent dip to see Bitcoin valued at $48,523 (roughly Rs. 36.59 lakh).

• 2021 has emerged to become a milestone for meme-based coin Shiba Inu. Just ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities, Shiba Inu has been listed as a buying, selling, and trading option on Australian exchange CoinJar. Founded in 2013, CoinJar is touted as one of Australia's longest running crypto exchanges. Six more tokens, Fetch.ai, Origin Protocol, Cartesi, Orchid, Quant Network, and Audius have been added to the platform along with SHIB, as CoinJar expands its crypto offerings for people to experiment with and explore.

Economy – 

•  The Binance Futures referral code is: 77280703. New Binance users can sign up with the code to claim the Binance Futures referral bonus and enjoy unlimited perks.

•  Shares of pharmacy retail chain MedPlus Health Services debuted on a strong note and got listed at a premium of over 30 per cent from their issue price in the stock exchanges today.

•  The 30-share index jumped 305.15 points or 0.54 per cent to 57,235.71 in the opening trade. Similarly, the Nifty advanced 88.25 points or 0.52 per cent to 17,043.70.

• With thousands of stakeholders yet to onboard the tokenisation platform and “RBI regulated entities not prepared” for the new initiative, digital payment firms and merchant bodies have petitioned the Reserve Bank of India to extend the deadline for implementation of the new credit and debit card data storage norms, or card-on-file tokenisation (CoF). The RBI mandate on tokenisation kicks in from January 1. 

• In a pre-Budget consultation meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, some economists impressed upon the government not to unduly worry about the fiscal trajectory for FY23. The customary pre-Budget meetings were held with the FM virtually between December 15 and December 22

Environment –

•  TBA

Local –

• Delhi on Wednesday reported 125 new cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19),which is the highest number of infections seen in a day in the last six month since June 22 when 134 cases were recorded. This is the third time in a week the number of cases has crossed the 100-mark, showing a steady increase in infections in the city. 

•  No new case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus was reported in Maharashtra on Wednesday, the health department said. Of the new 1,201 coronavirus cases in the state, Mumbai reported 490 infections — a jump of more than 160 from a day ago. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that presently Mumbai has 14 sealed buildings (where more than five residents have tested coronavirus positive in each of them),but no containment zone in slums and ‘chawls’ (old row tenements) since the past few months.

•  The BJP has seen its vote share in areas under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) nosedive since the Assembly elections earlier this year in which the party had emerged a clear second to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the main Opposition by winning 77 seats.

•  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid the foundation of 27 projects worth Rs 2095 crore in his Varanasi parliamentary constituency. This is Modi’s second visit to his constituency in 10 days. He was here on December 13 to inaugurate the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor.

• With the detection of four new Covid cases due to Omicron at an apartment at Koramangala in Bengaluru, Karnataka’s tally of the new variant of coronavirus has risen to 23. A 26-year-old traveller from the United Kingdom and three of her family members have been tested positive for Omicron.

Person in News – 

• TBA 

GK – 

Gabriel Boric, has been selected as the youngest President of which country?

[A] Chile
[B] Argentina
[C] New Zealand
[D] Israel

What is the name of the treatment which uses viruses that are harmless to humans to kill bacteria?

[A] Phage therapy
[B] Viral therapy
[C] Antibiotic therapy
[D] Microbe therapy

Which scheme provides Community Investment Fund to Self help groups (SHGs)?

[A] PM Swachch Bharat Abhiyan
[B] Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission
[C] PM Gati Shakti Yojana
[D] PM SHG Samridhdhi Abhiyan

‘Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme’ is a scheme implemented by which state/UT?

[A] Bihar
[B] Gujarat
[C] Madhya Pradesh
[D] Uttar Pradesh

Tseminyu, Niuland and Chumukedima are the newly created districts of which state?

[A] Assam
[B] Sikkim
[C] Nagaland
[D] Arunachal Pradesh

Today's Event – 22nd December 2021

• 1769 – Sino-Burmese War: The war ends with an uneasy truce.

• 1788 – Nguy?n Hu? proclaims himself Emperor Quang Trung, in effect abolishing on his own the Lê dynasty

• 1790 – The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Alexander Suvorov and his Russian armies.

• 1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.

• 1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano).

• 1851 – India's first freight train is operated in Roorkee, to transport material for the construction of the Ganges Canal.

• 1851 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns

• 1864 – American Civil War: Savannah, Georgia, falls to the forces of General Sherman.

• 1885 – It? Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan.

• 1888 – The Christmas Meeting of 1888, considered to be the official start of the Faroese independence movement. 

• 1890 – Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kentville and Kingsport, Nova Scotia.

• 1891 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.

• 1894 – The Dreyfus affair begins in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason.

• 1920 – The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR.

• 1921 – Opening of Visva-Bharati College, also known as Santiniketan College, now Visva Bharati University, India.

• 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City

• 1939 – Indian Muslims observe a "Day of Deliverance" to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over their not having been consulted over the decision to enter World War II with the United Kingdom

• 1948 – Sjafruddin Prawiranegara established the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (Pemerintah Darurat Republik Indonesia, PDRI) in West Sumatra

• 1963 – The cruise ship Lakonia burns 290 kilometres (180 mi) north of Madeira, Portugal with the loss of 128 lives.

• 1964 – The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, United States.

• 1965 – In the United Kingdom, a 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time.

• 1968 – Cultural Revolution: People's Daily posted the instructions of Mao Zedong that "The intellectual youth must go to the country, and will be educated from living in rural poverty."

• 1971 – The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France.

• 1973 – A Royal Air Maroc Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes near Tanger-Boukhalef Airport (now Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport) in Tangier, Morocco, killing 106.

• 1974 – The house of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.

• 1978 – The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.

• 1984 – "Subway vigilante" Bernhard Goetz shoots four would-be muggers on a 2 express train in Manhattan section of New York, United States.

• 1987 – In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi. 

• 1989 – Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceau?escu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife Elena flee Bucharest in a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers

• 1989 – Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.