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