Daily Current Affairs, 18th March 2018

1)  Andhra Pradesh celebrates 'Ugadi' with traditional fervour & enthusiasm

•'Ugadi', the Telugu New Year, was celebrated in Andhra Pradesh with traditional fervour and enthusiasm today across Andhra Pradesh State. The festival is celebrated with people consuming 'Ugadi pachadi' (chutney) after taking head bath in the early hours of the day. The 'pachadi' is made of neem flowers, pieces of raw mango, tamarind juice and jaggery and bananas. The Ugadi pachadi symbolises that life is a mixture of different experiences and they should be taken with equanimity. Telugu speaking people start their day with Shadruchula Ugadi Pachadi across the continents.

•People visited temples in large numbers and offered special prayers. Thousands of devotees thronged temples to pray for happiness and prosperity and the temples are seen with heavy crowds from Srikaklulam to Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh . Special prayers were held at Tirumala, Srisailam, Vijayawada and Bhadrachalam temples and Pancharamalu. PANCHANGA SRAVANAM is the main attraction of the day. People also attended special functions where pundits read out the religious almanac of the coming year. Literary discussions, poetry recitations, recognition of authors through awards and cultural programmes marked the day. 

2)  Two-day WTO ministerial meeting to begin in New Delhi tomorrow

•Representatives from 50 countries will gather in New Delhi tomorrow for a two-day informal World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting. The meeting will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues. 

•In the absence of Ministerial guidance at the Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC 11) that took place in December last year in Buenos Aires, it is hoped that the meeting in New Delhi will provide an opportunity for ministers to explore in greater detail options on different issues for re-invigorating the WTO.

3)  India should engage with key trading partners if global trade war escalates: Assocham

•Assocham today said, India should engage bilaterally with its key trading partners to promote exports if the world witnesses an escalation of a trade war.

•In a statement, the industry chamber said, the higher level of imports than exports will not provide the country much space to retaliate at the time of increasing trade war as most of the Indian imports are unavoidable.

4)  Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim Resigns Over A Financial Scandal

•Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has resigned after being embroiled in a scandal over the use of a credit card to buy luxury personal items. she will leave office on 23rd of this month.

•It has been alleged that Gurib-Fakim made personal purchases, buying jewellery and clothing using a credit card provided by London-based Planet Earth Institute. Africa's only female head of the state, Gurib-Fakim is an internationally renowned scientist and biologist. 

5)  UN Issues $951 Million Appeal For Rohingya Refugees

•The United Nations has issued an appeal for 951 million Dollars to meet the needs of nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.  

•Over the months since the most recent Rohingya influx began, it has become the world's fastest-growing refugee crisis with tens of thousands fleeing by land and sea daily from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state at the peak of the emergency. So far, the emergency response from September 2017 to February 2018 has received 321 million Dollars of the 434 million required.