Today's Event – 13th November 2021

• 1623 – The Plymouth Colony establishes the system of trial by 12-men jury in the American colonies.-

• 1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians, a date now considered the founding of the National Guard of the United States.

• 1642 – Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand

• 1758 – The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 people

• 1769 – Dartmouth College is founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with a royal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth

• 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking: The city of Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre, in which Japanese troops rape and slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians.

• 1938 – The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.

• 1939 – The Battle of the River Plate is fought off the coast of Uruguay; the first naval battle of World War II. The Kriegsmarine's Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with three Royal Navy cruisers: HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles and HMS Exeter

• 1949 – The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

• 1959 – Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.

• 1960 – While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.

• 1962 – NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.

• 1967 – Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels.

• 1968 – Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva issues AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5),enabling government by decree and suspending habeas corpus.

• 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

• 1974 – Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.

• 1974 – In the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese forces launch their 1975 Spring Offensive (to 30 April 1975),which results in the final capitulation of South Vietnam.

• 1977 – Air Indiana Flight 216 crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff, and boosters of the team.

• 1981 – General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely due to the actions by Solidarity.

• 1982 – The 6.0 Ms  North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe),killing 2,800, and injuring 1,500.

• 1988 – PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat gives a speech at a UN General Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, after United States authorities refused to grant him a visa to visit UN headquarters in New York.

• 1989 – The Troubles: Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches an attack on a British Army temporary vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and two others are wounded.

• 1994 – Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 crashes in Morrisville, North Carolina, near Raleigh–Durham International Airport, killing 15.

• 2001 – Sansad Bhavan, the building housing the Indian Parliament, is attacked by terrorists. Twelve people are killed, including the terrorists.

• 2002 – European Union enlargement: The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members on May 1, 2004.

• 2003 – Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.

• 2007 – The Treaty of Lisbon is signed by the EU member states to amend both the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty which together form the constitutional basis of the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon is effective from 1 December 2009

National Events- 

•  The Kerala High Court on Monday questioned a petitioner who objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph on the Covid-19 vaccination certificate.

•  Rights activist Irom Sharmila, who was on a 16-year hunger strike against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA),feels the recent killing of civilians in firing by security forces in Nagaland should be an eye-opener to repeal the controversial security law from the northeast.

•  Remarks by former Supreme Court Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi in a recent interview to the NDTV have led to the filing of a privilege motion against him by Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mausam Noor. At least 10 other parliamentarians, from different parties, are expected to move similar motions.

•  The Supreme Court Monday directed the Centre to file reply on a plea seeking to revive the vaccine public sector units and utilise their full production capabilities by placement of purchase orders.

• Malayalam film director and Sangh Parivar fellow traveller Ali Akbar has announced that he and his wife were giving up Islam in protest against a section of social media users allegedly indulging in jubilation over the tragic death of Chief Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and his wife in a helicopter crash.

International Events- 

•  The Group of Seven (G7) wealthiest liberal democracies on Sunday issued dual warnings to Russia and Iran as they sought to present a strong, united front against global threats.

•  The largest of the tornadoes that ripped through six states and killed at least 90 people will, according to Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, “ultimately be the longest tornado in certainly U.S. history, from the point where it touched down to when it finally picked back up.”

•  Two lions were shot with a tranquilliser gun and sedated on Sunday at Singapore’s Changi Airport after they got out of their freight container, triggering a mild scare in the vicinity, a media report said here

•  Britain faces a “tidal wave” of the Omicron variant of coronavirus and two vaccine doses will not be enough to contain it, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday, as he accelerated the booster rollout programme.

• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is receiving treatment for mild COVID-19 symptoms after testing positive for the viral infection, his office said on Sunday.

Job alerts-

• Neyveli Lignite Corporation India Limited (NLC ) Jobs for Junior Engineer Trainee and other posts. Last date 5th January 2022

• Odisha Police Recruitment Board (Odisha Police) Jobs for Assistant Sub Inspector and other posts. Last date 2nd January 2022

• Directorate of Ayush Assam (Ayush Assam) Jobs for Grade-III & IV and other posts. Last date 31st December 2021

• Kerala Public Service Commission (Kerala PSC) Jobs for Sub Engineer (Electrical) and other posts. Last date 5th January 2022

• Women Development & Child Welfare Department Ananthapuramu (WCD Ananthapuramu) Jobs for Anganwadi Worker, Anganwadi Helper and other posts. Last date 16th December 2021

Sports-

•  The racing gods smiled upon Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as a safety car incident in the 53rd lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix allowed the Dutchman to beat race leader Lewis Hamilton in the final lap of the final race of the season to win his first World Championship. The safety car incident effectively erased a 11 second gap that Hamilton had amassed over the course of the race and was filled with its own share of twists and turns.

•  Kidambi Srikanth announced his arrival on the world stage beating Lin Dan at the China Open in 2014. He will run into a mini-Lin Dan in his Round 2 at the Huelva World Championships, as Chinesei Li Shifeng, the reigning Youth Olympics gold medallist, has broken through into the senior ranks in a way only the Chinese can: scalping big names and hitting the ground running.

• In between packing off B Sai Praneeth from the Olympics in August and from the World Championships in December, Mark Caljouw (pr: Cal-eow) steadied his fast-beating heart. Literally. 

• Australia opener David Warner and West Indies all-rounder Hayley Matthews were on Monday adjudged the men’s and women’s ICC Players of the Month of November after their superlative performances. 

• Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi reckons the upcoming home series against India can set the “ball rolling” in the right direction for South African cricket, which has gone through a transition phase over the past few years while enduring upheavals.

Technology-

•  Bitcoin mining's biggest critics have always listed energy consumption as the bane of mining digital assets and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen thinks he might have a solution to the problem in his most recent blog. Larsen, who's also the executive chairman of Ripple Labs proposes Bitcoin miners move away from the existing, energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm to the more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol. He added that these miners should view his plan as "a net positive for their longevity" while also adding his take on how the switch could benefit mining firms.

•  Asus Chromebook CX1101 has been launched in India on Monday. The latest Chromebook from the company features an 11.6-inch anti-glare HD display and comes with a rugged design which is MIL-STD 810H certified. Asus Chromebook CX1101 is powered by a dual-core Intel Celeron N4020 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage. It is equipped with a 720p webcam and comes with support for dual-band 5GHz Wi-Fi connectivity. The laptop weighs 1.24kg and comes with a 42Whr battery that charges with a 45W adapter over a USB Type-C port.

•  Space mining is an idea that began taking hold at the turn of the century, and 10 years ago, it was passionately discussed. Many argued that space mining could revolutionise the commercial space economy by employing robots and private astronauts to explore and mine near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for precious metals and even rare earth metals. Since then, however, there has been little noticeable progress. This idea again made its way into public discourse this weekend as an NEA — called 4660 Nereus — passed the Earth. Scientists believe the egg-shaped asteroid with a diameter of 330m holds precious metals worth an estimated $5 billion (roughly Rs. 3.78 lakh crore).

•  Lava Probuds N2 neckband-style wireless earphones were launched in India on Monday. The in-ear Bluetooth earphones are offered in two colour options and feature 10mm dynamic drivers that are claimed to deliver superior bass. Lava Probuds N2 come with a dual connectivity feature that allows users to connect the earphones with two devices at the same time. The wireless earphones have magnetic locks and they come with a 110mAh battery capacity. They are IPX4 rated for sweat and water resistance as well.

• WhatsApp is reportedly bringing new privacy measures to make it harder for people to know your last seen status and online presence on the platform. The update may not yet be in place for all users but is said to be available to some people on Android and iOS. It would help you stay private and restrict third-party apps from allowing people to stalk WhatsApp users. In addition to the privacy-focussed update, WhatsApp has brought a new animated sticker pack called Encanto which is available for download through the official WhatsApp Sticker Store within the app.

Economy – 

•  Three Shriram group companies on Monday announced their merger to create the country’s largest retail finance NBFC in Shriram Finance Ltd, according to a release. The boards of three companies, Shriram Transport Finance (STFC),Shriram City Union Finance ( SCUF) and their promoter Shriram Capital ( SCL) have approved the merger of SCL and SCUF with STFC, the release said.

•  The initial public offering (IPO) of pharmacy retail chain MedPlus Health Services opened for subscription on Monday, December 13, 2021. The offer got 50 per cent subscribed so far till 3:30 pm on the first day of bidding. It received total bids for 63,40,050 shares across both the stock exchanges against 1,25,75,154 shares on offer, data from BSE showed.

•  Digital payments and financial services firm Paytm on Monday reported over two-fold rise in its gross merchandise value to about Rs 1,66,600 crore in the first two months of the third quarter of this fiscal, driven by sharp uptick in loan disbursals.

• Shares of Tega Industries debuted on a strong note and got listed at a premium of over 67.77 per cent above their issue price in the stock exchanges today. 

• The S&P BSE Sensex crashed 503.25 points (0.86 per cent) to end at 58,283.42 while the Nifty 50 fell 143.05 points (0.82 per cent) to settle at 17,368.25. Both the indices had opened around 0.5 per cent higher and traded positive through most of the morning before giving up their gains and turning negative in the afternoon session

Local –

• A group of Delhi government school students received an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh for their startup creating water-soluble and decomposable plastic on Sunday’s Business Blasters TV programme. 

•  The Thane unit of the state Excise Department has issued a show-cause notice to the bar owned by NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede in Vashi area of Navi Mumbai.

•  West Bengal reported 583 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths attributed to the virus in the last 24 hours. According to the state heath bulletin issued on Sunday, the state has so far reported 19,600 Covid-19 deaths and 16,23,191 cases. It has 7,548 active cases. As many as 591 Covid patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the total to15,96,043 with a recovery rate of 98.33 per cent.

•  Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader S Ramadoss on Sunday claimed that the party’s alliance partners didn’t adhere to coalition dharma which led to their defeat in the Assembly elections earlier this year.

• The skin bank at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) located within the Victoria Hospital has sent skin graft to the Air Force Command Hospital here, where Group Captain Varun Singh is undergoing treatment for serious burn injuries. Singh is the lone survivor in the December 8 helicopter crash in which the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and 12 others lost their lives.

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

What is the rank of India in Organ Donation, as per Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT)?

[A] First
[B] Third
[C] Fifth
[D] Seventh

‘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

‘Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojna’ is a scheme implemented by which Indian state/UT?

[A] Uttarakhand
[B] Delhi
[C] Karnataka
[D] Gujarat

As per the National Health Accounts (NHA) estimates, what was the share of government health expenditure in the GDP of India in 2017-18?

[A] 1.2%
[B] 1.35%
[C] 1.75%
[D] 2.5%