Current Affairs 18th February 2015

Current Affairs 18th February 2015 - Important Points

• Which cyclist has announced to retire from Cycling after 2016 season - Cyclist Alberto Contador of Spain

• Name the veteran cartoonist who has passed away - Rajinder Puri

• Who has been sworned in as Chief Information Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh - Jawed Usmani

• Where did the 5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee held - Nay Pyi Taw

• Name the 3 Indians shortlisted for the one-way trip to Mars - Shradha Prasad, Ritika Singh and Taranjeet Singh Bhatia

• For what Reliance Communications and Twitter had partnered - ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

• Who has sworned in as the President of Croatia - Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

Current Affairs 18th February 2015 - Details

Which cyclist has announced to retire from Cycling after 2016 season - Cyclist Alberto Contador of Spain

On 16th February 2015, Alberto Contador, the two-time Tour de France winner, announced that he will retire from professional cycling after the 2016 season. He has won six Grand Tours in his cycling career. He won the Vuelta a Espana in 2008, 2012 and 2014, Tour de France in 2009 and 2007 and the Giro d’Italia in 2008.

Name the veteran cartoonist who has passed away - Rajinder Puri

On 15th February 2015, Veteran cartoonist, political activist and columnist Rajinder Puri passed away at the age of 80. He was associated with various newspapers including The Hindustan Times and The Statesman as a cartoonist and writer and was known for his cartoons that critiqued and assessed political events through amazing perception.

Who has been sworned in as Chief Information Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh - Jawed Usmani

On 17th February 2015, Former IAS officer Jawed Usmani sworned-in as Chief Information Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh. UP Governor Ram Naik at Raj Bhavan, Lucknow, will administer the oath of office and secrecy. He is a 1978 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and had served asJoint Secretary to several Prime Ministers including IK Gujral, Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and HD Deve Gowda and also served as Secretary in Union Coal Ministry.

Where did the 5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee held - Nay Pyi Taw

On 17th February 2015, The 5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting was held in Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar. The meet was chaired jointly by Myanmar’s Union Minister of Commerce U Win Myint. and India’s Minister of State for Commerce & Industry (Independent Charge) Nirmala Sitharaman.

Highlights of the Meeting

• Agreed to work together to remove the congestion that hampers the investment and bilateral trade. The congestion identified were lack of banking arrangement both for regular and border trade and lack of good connectivity.
• Agreed to inaugurate jointly the land custom station in Zawkhatar, Mizoram at a mutually convenient date.
• India offered to support Myanmar to upgrade trade training institutes in Yangon, provide training to Myanmar officials on World Trade Organisation (WTO) and international trade related issues and to develop infrastructure at the border trade points.

Name the 3 Indians shortlisted for the one-way trip to Mars - Shradha Prasad, Ritika Singh and Taranjeet Singh Bhatia

In February 2015, Three Indian, Shradha Prasad, Ritika Singh and Taranjeet Singh Bhatia were among the shortlisted 100 applicants who were chosen for one-way trip to Mars under Mars One mission. Taranjeet Singh Bhatia is studying Doctorate in Computer Science at the University of Central Florida, 19-year-old Shradha Prasad is from Palakkad, Kerala and 29-year-old Ritika Singh is an adventure sports lover who lives in Dubai. From a pool of 202586 candidates who were looking for a one-way trip to Mars in 2024 only 100 applicants (fifty men and fifty women) were selected. These finalists will now appear in the next and third round of the Mars One Astronaut Selection Process. The third round will focus on composing team that can endure all the hardships of the permanent settlement on Mars.

About Mars One Project

The objective of Mars One Project is to set up a human colony on Mars and under the plan around 40 selected people will be sent to the red plant on a permanent basis. The finalists will have to go through a training for seven years before being sent on the planet.

For what Reliance Communications and Twitter had partnered - ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

On 17th February 2015, Micro blogging site Twitter and Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications (RCom) had partnered to allow its subscribers to access free and stay connected and engaged during the six-week ICC World Cup 2015. This deal will allow customers without twitter accounts to access cricket-related tweets by signing-in to www.rcom.co.in/cricket on their mobile phones throughout the duration of this global event. RCom has also launched an exclusive Cricket Portal, ICCCWC2015.rcom.co.in. which will enable customers to download content related to the event like behind the scene images, match highlights and commentary from the portal.

Who has sworned in as the President of Croatia - Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

On 15th February 2015, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic sworn in as the President of Croatia. She is the first female President of Croatia and overall fourth President since Croatia gained independence. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic defeated her left-wing predecessor Ivo Josipovic in January 2015 election. She was also the Croatia’s Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011 and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia from 2005 to 2008.