Today's Event – 12th December 2021

• 1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the 2nd state to ratify the US Constitution.

• 1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman

• 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter "S" [***] in Morse Code),at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.

• 1915 – Yuan Shikai declares the establishment of the Empire of China and proclaims himself Emperor.

• 1917 – Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.

• 1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

• 1945 – The People's Republic of Korea is outlawed in the South, by order of the United States Army Military Government in Korea

• 1946 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam (now Thailand) to the United Nations is adopted

• 1956 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 121 relating to acceptance of Japan to the United Nations is adopted.

• 1963 – Kenya declares independence from Great Britain

• 1969 – The Piazza Fontana bombing; a bomb explodes at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs are detonated in Rome and Milan, and another is found unexploded.

• 1979 – The 8.2 Mw  Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent),killing 300–600, and generating a large tsunami

• 1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.

• 1988 – The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains—one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.

• 2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore

• 2001 – Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps.

• 2012 – North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2.

• 2015 – The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted.

National Events- 

• National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah on Sunday condemned Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s remarks that offering ‘Namaz’ in open spaces will not be tolerated, saying the decision was wrong and it clearly meant that one particular religion was being targeted. 

•  States that have withdrawn general consent to the CBI to investigate cases are selectively giving consent in cases that they want probed by the agency, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said Sunday. Singh was speaking at the central investigative agency’s investiture ceremony where he presented police medals for meritorious service to 47 CBI officials.

•  Public health groups, along with economists and doctors, have urged the government to increase excise duty on all tobacco products in the Union Budget of 2022-23 to generate additional revenue.

•  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the people on Monday the ambitious Kashi Vishwanath Corridor at the heart of Varanasi, a mega project that is expected to boost tourism in the ancient city in a big way.

• Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday said the state government does not want to take away the powers of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan as chancellor of universities.

International Events- 

•  Firefighters in Sicily were digging through the rubble of a collapsed apartment building Sunday in the search for six missing people after an explosion apparently caused by a gas leak killed at least three, authorities said.

•  Britain’s health authorities said on Sunday that bookings for the COVID booster vaccines for everyone aged 30 and over in England will be open from Monday, as one of the key actions aimed at tackling the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the country.

•  Four persons were killed and seven others went missing when a cargo ship they were travelling in sank on Sunday off the coast of Yantai City in east China’s Shandong Province.

•  A major storm is headed toward Northern California, promising to drop up to 10 feet (3 meters) of snow on Sierra Nevada mountain peaks and bring much-needed rain throughout the region.

• US President Joe Biden on Saturday said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia would pay “a terrible price” and face devastating economic consequences if it invaded Ukraine. Biden told reporters the possibility of sending US ground combat troops to Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion was “never on the table,” although the United States and NATO would be required to send in more forces to eastern flank NATO countries to beef up their defenses.

Job alerts-

• AIIMS Patna Jobs for Group A and B and other posts. Last date 20 December 2021

• National Innovation Foundation Jobs for Project Associate, Senior Project Associate, Principal Project Associate and other posts. Last date 22 December 2021

• Haryana Public Service Commission Jobs for Lecturer, Foreman Instructor and other posts. Last date 06 January 2022

Sports-

•  As tart as those constant reminders are, of phantom contenders and injured invisible challengers missing from competing for the World Championship crowns, PV Sindhu can be proud of what she achieved at Basel in 2019: a gold. Staying fit, turning up day in-day out, scything through a future Olympic champion Chen Yufei and former World Champion Nozomi Okuhara with (three times out of four) incredulous 21-7 margin scorelines, is nothing short of impetuous dominance over a title. There’s no asterisk, visible to the human eye, to that achievement.

•  This World Championship was pretty similar. Magnus spoke well, when he was asked at the press conference about what did he do better in the match. His reply was about keeping things simple: ‘I think I played simple positions better and made less mistakes’. When positions were very messy and complicated, both players were making mistakes.

•  India’s new white ball captain Rohit Sharma wants a “strong bond” among players and expects head coach Rahul Dravid to act as an enabler in establishing that in the team’s pursuit of excellence.

• Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Formula One world championship for Red Bull on Sunday after passing the Mercedes of title rival Lewis Hamilton on the last lap. 

• Defending champions Real Kashmir FC beat Gokulam Kerala FC 2-1 to enter the final of the IFA Shield football tournament here on Sunday.

Technology-

• Sony's gaming division said on Friday it had agreed to buy "God of War" developer Valkyrie Entertainment for an undisclosed amount, as it seeks to add more muscle to its PlayStation Studios. 

•  US officials are considering discussing a Defence Department proposal this month to close regulatory loopholes that have allowed Chinese chipmaker SMIC to buy critical US technology, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

•  A few days after reports surfaced that Tesla allows drivers to play video games on dashboard touch screens while vehicles are moving, Mercedes-Benz has issued a US recall for a similar issue.

•  Masayuki Uemura, the lead architect for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Super NES, has died, local media reported.

Economy – 

• Stressing on the significance of the e-Shram portal to gather data of unorganised workers for evidence-based policy making, Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav said the government is committed towards achieving universalisation of social security. 

•  Ahead of the three-year term of the outgoing Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) KV Subramanian coming to an end next week, three names have been shortlisted for the position. Two women candidates — Pami Dua, Professor, Delhi School of Economics, and Poonam Gupta, Director General, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) — along with Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal have been shortlisted by the government for the position, sources said.

•  Private sector power distribution companies (discoms) improved efficiency levels faster than state-owned counterparts under the Centre’s Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme between FY16 and FY20, despite already being more efficient at the beginning of the period, according to government data.

•  India’s real gross domestic product (GDP),which grew 8.4 per cent in the September quarter and even exceeded the pre-pandemic output level, will likely gain further traction in the remaining quarters of this fiscal, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.

• Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das on Sunday advised depositors to be mindful while chasing high returns, saying that they always come with greater risk.

Local –

•  Referring to the ongoing investigation into a multi-crore theft case in Gurgaon by the Special Task Force (STF),in which an IPS officer has also been suspended, a local court observed the actual theft may be bigger than what was initially reported.

•  On December 10, a 49-year old from Dharavi was found to be infected with Omicron. The patient had arrived from Tanzania and his RT-PCR result was positive, but he was asymptomatic. His sample was then sent for genome sequencing to check for Omicron. As a precautionary measure, he was admitted to Seven Hills Hospital.

• A ROYAL Bengal Tiger has been spotted in Buxa tiger reserve in Alipurduar, North Bengal, after at least 23 years, the West Bengal government said on Saturday. State Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mullick said a team of four officials was sent to north Bengal after the news surfaced.

• The Madras High Court on Saturday stayed the operation of an order of the Tamil Nadu government debarring the of use over eight-year old vehicles by driving schools in the state. 

•  Alleging forced religious conversion, right-wing groups in Karnataka have reportedly attacked four members of the Christian community and set their religious books on fire. The incident at Srinivasapura in Kolar district on Saturday, which is the latest in a series of communal attacks on Christians in the state, came just a day ahead of the commencement of the Winter Session of the Karnataka Assembly where an anti-conversion Bill is expected to be tabled.

GK – 

Which Indian state has recently reported bird flu cases and culled over 12000 ducks?

[A] Bihar
[B] Assam
[C] Kerala
[D] Tamil Nadu

Which South American country recently approved a law allowing same-sex marriage?

[A] Argentina
[B] Chile
[C] Peru
[D] Bolivia

Who was Google’s most searched-for personality in India in 2021?

[A] Neeraj Chopra
[B] Elon Musk
[C] P V Sindhu
[D] Mirabai Chanu

The NIPER (Amendment) Bill recently passed in the Parliament, seeks to accord ‘institute of national importance’ status to ………….

[A] Institutes of pharmaceutical education and research
[B] Institutes of petroleum research
[C] Institutes of physical education
[D] Institutes of philosophical research

NITI Aayog announced that it is set to establish will be establishing 1,000 Atal Tinkering Laboratories in which state/UT?

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