Daily GK Updates - 18th February, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.Annadata Sukhibhava scheme 2019-20 : Annadata Sukhibhava scheme 2019-20 is announced by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.  Rs 9000 each to farmers with less than 5-acre land

2. District cooling system in India : Amravati (capital city of the Andhra Pradesh) will have India’s first District cooling system. District Cooling System. District cooling system (DCS) distributes thermal energy in the form of chilled water from a central source to multiple buildings through a network of underground pipes for use in space cooling.

3. CMD of Pawan Hans :  Govt. has appointed BP Sharma as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Pawan Hans. Pawan Hans Limited is a helicopter service company based in New Delhi, India. Pawan Hans is a Mini Ratna-I category PSU. It has cumulatively flown more than 1 million hours and has had 2.5 million landings on its fleet since its formation. The operations are based at the Juhu Aerodrome in Vile Parle, Mumbai.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ as ‘Parent 1’ and ‘Parent 2’ : France Govt. are set to replace the words ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ with ‘Parent 1’ and ‘Parent 2’. It is aimed at ending discrimination against same-sex parents.

2. Exercise Cobra Gold : Exercise Cobra Gold is one of world’s largest multinational military exercises, has started in Thailand. The 38th annual Cobra Gold exercise is co-sponsored by the Royal Thai and U.S armed forces.

3. Security Protection Agreement between India and Sweden : The Agreement is about sharing classified information between India and Sweden. It was signed during Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to the Nordic country.

4. International Human Rights Prize : Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a Sudanese refugee has won the prestigious Martin Ennals Human Rights Prize.The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, sometimes called “the Nobel Prize for human rights”, was created in 1993 to honour and protect individuals around the world who demonstrate exceptional courage in defending and promoting human rights.

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. First US Bank with Cryptocurrency : New York-based investment bank JP Morgan Chase is launching the first-ever major cryptocurrency backed by a U.S. bank.The digital token, dubbed “JPM Coin,” will be used to “instantly settle payments between clients J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in New York City. JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, and is ranked by S&P Global as the sixth largest bank in the world by total assets as of 2018, to the amount of $2.534 trillion.

SPORTS :

1. Chris Gayle announces retirement from One-day Internationals : West Indian left-hander batsman Chris Gayle (39-year) has announced that he will retire from One-day Internationals after the forthcoming World Cup. Gayle has scored 9,727 ODI runs, second only to the legendary Brian Lara among West Indians in 284 matches. Gayle has scored a Windies record of 23 ODI hundreds, including the first-ever World Cup double century against Zimbabwe. The World Cup will be held in England and Wales from 30th May till 14th July 2019.

2. Vidarbha beat Rest of India to retain Irani Cup : Vidarbha (Ranji Trophy champions) successfully defended their title and defeated Rest of India on the first-innings basis to win the tournament in Nagpur. Vidarbha has become the third team after Mumbai and Karnataka to clinch two Irani Cup titles in a row.According to Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal, the entire prize money will be donated to the families of the CRPF personnel martyred in Pulwama terror attack.