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