Today's Event – 16th November 2021

• 1797 – The Prussian heir apparent, Frederick William, becomes King of Prussia as Frederick William III.

• 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Schöngrabern: Russian forces under Pyotr Bagration delay the pursuit by French troops under Joachim Murat.

• 1822 – American Old West: Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

• 1828 – Greek War of Independence: The London Protocol entails the creation of an autonomous Greek state under Ottoman suzerainty, encompassing the Morea and the Cyclades.

• 1849 – A Russian court sentences writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his sentence is later commuted to hard labor.

• 1855 – David Livingstone becomes the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now Zambia-Zimbabwe.

• 1857 – Second relief of Lucknow: Twenty-four Victoria Crosses are awarded, the most in a single day.

• 1863 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Campbell's Station, Confederate troops unsuccessfully attack Union forces which allows General Ambrose Burnside to secure Knoxville, Tennessee.

• 1871 – The National Rifle Association receives its charter from New York State.

• 1885 – Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and "Father of Manitoba" Louis Riel is executed for treason.

• 1904 – English engineer John Ambrose Fleming receives a patent for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube).

• 1907 – Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory join to form Oklahoma, which is admitted as the 46th U.S. state.

• 1914 – The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens.

• 1920 – Qantas, Australia's national airline, is founded as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited.

• 1933 – The United States and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations.

• 1938 – LSD is first synthesized by Albert Hofmann from ergotamine at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel.

• 1945 – UNESCO is founded

• 1965 – Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe toward Venus, which will be the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

• 1973 – Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.

• 1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline

• 1974 – The Arecibo message is broadcast from Puerto Rico.

• 1979 – The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semănătoarea in Bucharest, Romania.

• 1988 – The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence.

• 1988 – In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.

• 1989 – El Salvadoran army troops kills six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.

• 1990 – Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It's True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.

• 1992 – The Hoxne Hoard is discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes in Hoxne, Suffolk.

• 1997 – After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People's Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.

• 2002 – The first cases of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak are traced to Foshan, Guangdong Province, China

• 2005 – Following a 31-year wait, Australia defeats Uruguay in a penalty shootout to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

National Events- 

•  "Today we are making such a system in which the thinking of 'Sarkar Sarvam', the interference of the government is also decreasing, and your work is also getting easier. Minimum government, maximum governance," PM Modi asserted.

•  The ministry said the daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 39 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 142 consecutive days now.

•  The Mahasabha activists installed the statues of Godse and Apte at 'Balidhan Dham' in Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) on Monday, he said.

•  The Yamuna Expressway connects Noida to Agra while the Lucknow-Agra Expressway goes up to the state capital. The Purvanchal Expressway will end about 18 km from the UP-Bihar border.

• Manu Bhandari, on whose stories popular films Rajnigandha (1974) and Swami (1977) were based, passed away on Monday in Gurgaon. She was 90.

International Events- 

•  Pro-Palestine organisations have called on Lalela Mswane, crowned Miss South Africa in October, and pageant organiser Miss SA to boycott the December event to condemn Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people.

•  In rapidly aging Japan, more diapers are used by older, incontinent people than by babies. As the country groans under the weight of ever-rising mountains of this waste, the town of Houki has become a pioneer in trying to reduce it. By recycling the diapers, which represent about one-tenth of the town’s trash, it has diverted garbage that would otherwise be dumped in incinerators and add emissions to the atmosphere.

•  Artillery shells fired by Russian-backed separatists shrieked into this small town deep in the flatlands of eastern Ukraine, shearing branches from trees, scooping out craters, blowing up six houses and killing one Ukrainian soldier.

•  Jose Martinez, A former Army gunner whose right arm and both legs were blown off by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, has a new calling: He has become one of the most effective lobbyists in a campaign to legalize the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs across the country.

• Global wealth tripled over the last two decades, with China leading the way and overtaking the U.S. for the top spot worldwide.

Job alerts-

• South Eastern Railway Jobs 2021 Jobs for Apprentice and other posts. Last date 14 December 2021

• Bandhan Bank Jobs for Back Office Assistant and other posts. Last date 24 December 2021

• Indian Oil Corporation Limited Jobs 2021 Jobs for Apprentice and other posts. Last date 4 December 2021

• Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University Jobs for Visiting/ Emeritus Professor, Research Associate and other posts. Last date 30 November 2021

• Amar Shahid Jodha Singh Ataiya Thakur Dariyav Singh Medical College Jobs for Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor and other posts. Last date 30 November 2021

Sports-

•  Australia lifted their maiden T20 World Cup trophy with a commanding eight-wicket win over New Zealand in the title clash which was rendered one-sided by Mitchell Marsh with his blistering 77-run knock, on Sunday.

•  The ministry of youth affairs and sports announced the National Sports Awards on 2 November. National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports. As many as 12 sportspersons, including Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya, received National Sports Awards 2021 on Saturday.

• Australia's Marcus Stoinis, holding helmet, and Matthew Wade celebrate after winning the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup semi-final match between Pakistan and Australia in Dubai, UAE, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.  

• England qualifies for 2022 Qatar World Cup 

• Cristiano Ronaldo states that World Cup 2022 is still alive for Portugal

Technology-

• WhatsApp recently rolled out a beta update with the multi-device feature for more users. 

• Bitcoin went through a major upgrade that enables its blockchain to execute more complex transactions, potentially widening the virtual currency's use cases 

•  A new Wi-Fi tech is being developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance

•  A group of U.S. states led by Texas have filed an amended complaint against Alphabet Inc's Google accusing the tech giant of using coercive tactics

• According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Tesla in 2014 sold warrants to JPMorgan that would pay off if their "strike price" were below Tesla's share price

Economy – 

•  Bitcoin, the largest digital token, was down 4% at about $61,400 as of 1:32 p.m. in Singapore. Second-ranked Ether slid as much as 6.8%.

•  Tarsons Products IPO: The Rs 1,023.84 crore initial public offering (IPO) of Tarsons Products is available from November 15-17, 2021. It has a price band of Rs 635-662 per share.

•  The 30-share index was trading 122.35 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 60,596.36 in initial deals. Similarly, the Nifty fell 45.45 points or 0.25 per cent to 18,064.

•  Inflation, based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI),has remained in double digits for the seventh straight month in October. WPI inflation in September was at 10.66 per cent, while in October 2020 it was at 1.31 per cent.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said states would be given Rs 95,082 crore in November, as tax devolution by advancing one instalment, which would have been paid in March, other than the amount due in devolution.

Local –

• On November 4, at Pazhaiyur in Pappanaickenpalayam near Coimbatore, three people died after consuming alcohol. The accused committed the act out of personal enmity. 

•  Light-to-moderate rain is also likely to occur at many places in the rest of Tamil Nadu.

•  The opposition Congress in Karnataka has questioned the BJP government over the alleged bitcoin scam case and its investigation.

•  Officials said Sunny Parmar has more than 35 cases registered against him and in majority of the cases, he posed as a police official to blackmail and extort money from businessmen or politicians.

• West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said school and higher education and tourism departments of her government have secured gold at the Skoch award.

GK – 

Which Union Ministry is set to launch “Nutrition Smart Village” initiative?

[A] Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
[B] Ministry of Rural Development
[C] Ministry of Women and Child Development
[D] Ministry of Food Processing industries

Which country formed a Parliamentary Friendship Association with India recently?

[A] Sri Lanka
[B] Nepal
[C] Bangladesh
[D] Japan

The UN Peacekeeping Chief warned about crisis in Sahel region, located in which continent?

[A] Africa
[B] Asia
[C] Europe
[D] Australia

When is the ‘World Pneumonia Day’ observed across the world?

[A] November 12
[B] November 14
[C] November 16
[D] November 18

Which company has launched new smaller dish to connect with satellites in low Earth orbit?

[A] Blue Origin
[B] SpaceX
[C] Virgin Galactic
[D] NASA