17 February 2016 Current Affairs
Ringing Bells launched the World’s cheapest smartphone ‘Freedom 251’
Domestic handset maker Ringing Bells launched India’s most affordable smartphone for Rs 251 on 17 February 2016. The launch is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for “empowering India to the last person, transforming India’s growth story”. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikkar launched the smartphone ‘Freedom 251’. Bookings for the Freedom 251 open on 18 February 2016 at 6am and close on 21 February at 8pm. The company says deliveries will be completed by 30th June 2016.
Nepal PM Sharma Oli will visit India
India and Nepal hope to begin repairing ties as Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli makes his first official visit to India on 19 February 2016. But as Mr. Oli lands in Delhi on the six-day visit, the two sides are unlikely to dwell too much on the past few months of strain, choosing instead to focus on the earthquake reconstruction effort, Indian power projects in the pipeline and future cooperation. Oli is also likely to travel to Mumbai to have a meeting with the top business leaders.
Global teacher prize for Robin Chaurasiya
An Indian teacher who runs a not-for-profit school in Mumbai for girls from the city’s red light areas was named in the top 10 shortlist for a global prize for teachers on 19 February 2016. Robin Chaurasiya, founder of Kranti, will compete with teachers from the U.K., U.S., Nairobi, Palestine, Japan, Finland, Australia and Pakistan to win the $1 million Global Teacher Prize 2016. The top 10 have been narrowed down from 8,000 nominations and applications from 148 countries from around the world. The prize will be announced at a ceremony in Dubai on March 13.
Thirty-million-year-old fossil flowers found
Scientists have discovered the first-ever fossil specimens of an “asterid” — a family of flowering plants that gave us everything from the potato to tomatoes, tobacco, petunias and our morning cup of coffee.The two 20-30 million-year-old fossil flowers found perfectly preserved in a piece of amber came from the dark side of the asterid family — they belong to the genus Strychnos, which ultimately gave rise to some of the world’s most famous poisons, including strychnine and curare.
Sri Lanka’s North Governor Cooray takes charge
Reginold Cooray took charge as Governor of the sensitive Northern Province on 16 February 2016. Widely regarded as a moderate leader of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), progressive and “left-wing thinker” in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Mr. Cooray succeeded H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, who had held the post for a year.
Ex-UN chief Boutros Ghali dead
Former United Nations secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali died at a hospital in Cairo on 17 February 2016. He was 93. A former Egyptian foreign minister, Boutros-Ghali was the first Arab to serve as UN chief.He took office in 1992 at a time of increasing influence for the world body following its decisive role in the Gulf War, serving a five-year term.Born on November 14, 1922 into a Coptic Christian family in Cairo, he was educated at Cairo University and in Paris.He later studied international relations at Columbia University in New York and became Egypt’s foreign minister in 1977.After leaving the UN, Boutros-Ghali served from 1998 to 2002 as secretary-general of La Francophonie, a grouping of French-speaking nations.In 2004, he was named president of Egypt’s human rights council, a body created by then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Ghali resigned in 2011, the year Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising.