19th February 2018 Current Affairs in English, Today GK News
हिंदी में पढ़े! || Read in English
1. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau arrives India, visits monuments
Major Highlights:
- Trudeau is on a week-long official visit to India and is scheduled halt at Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
- Trudeau along with his family visited Taj Mahal and also listed their name in the visitor’s book of Mughal mausoleum.
- Trudeau’s visit to India is to strengthen ties between the two countries for defence and security, counter-terror cooperation, trade and investment, and tackling climate change.
- The discussion is also expected to expand on enhancing cooperation in the civil nuclear sector.
2. India, Iran ink nine pacts
Major Highlights:
- From the talks between Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi both the sides inked 9 pacts.
- The signing was done to boost cooperation in key areas of security, trade and energy, simplification on visa process and double taxation avoidance.
- Both the countries also had serious discussions over sensitive issues like terrorism.
3. Sex ratio at birth dips in 17 of 21 large States
Major Highlights:
- In the report of ‘Healthy States, Progressive India’ released by the Niti Aayog of Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) saw a decline in 17 from 21 large states.
- States which recorded substantial drop of 10 points or more, in Gujarat the SRB fell to 854 females per 1,000 males.
- Gujarat is followed by Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.
- The improvement was seen in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
4. Kosovo celebrates its 10yrs of Independence
Major Highlights:
- The Kosovo Assembly of Parliament celebrated its 10 years of independence.
- On Feb. 17, 2008, Kosovo’s Parliament unilaterally declared independence from Serbia nine years after NATO conducted a 78-day airstrike campaign against Serbia.
- Kosovo is among the poorest countries of Europe.
- Kosovo is recognized by 117 countries, including the U.S. and most Western counties except Serbia, Russia and China.
5. India beat South Africa by 28 runs in 1st T20I
Major Highlights:
- India beat South Africa by 28 runs in the first Twenty-20 International (T20I) at the New Wanderers Stadium
- India plundered 203 runs for five wickets from 20 overs where as opener Shikhar Dhawan hit a superb 72 from 39 balls.
- The second Twenty-20 clash will be played in Pretoria on Wednesday (February 21) and the final game on Saturday (February 24) in Cape Town.
Read Also: