18th January 2021 Current Affairs

1. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the G7 summit this year, which is scheduled to be held in Cornwall in South West England from June 11-14, 2021. This was informed through a press release by the British High Commission on January 17, 2021.
2. Legendary Indian classical musician Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, who passed away on January 17, 2021 at the age of 89 years, was a receiver of several prestigious awards including the prestigious Padma Shri in 1991, Padma Bhushan in 2006 and Padma Vibhushan in 2018.
3. The National Road Safety Month was inaugurated on January 18, 2021 by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari at an inaugural function in New Delhi. The National Road Safety Month will be observed to spread awareness regarding road safety and reduce road accidents in India.
4. Kolam, a traditional art form from Tamil Nadu in South India, was a part of the virtual kick-off ceremony of the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris on January 16, 2021. It comprises geometric patterns consisting of dots and lines as a symbol of welcome.
5. The Brazil National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has declined to give emergency use approval to Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 vaccination in Brazil.
6. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on January 18, 2021 launched a specially developed bike ambulance ‘RAKSHITA’ to attend to urgent evacuation needs of the security force personnel in the event of a medical emergency in Naxal affected areas.
7. China’s economy showed a growth of 2.3 percent in 2020 as a rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, as per the latest data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics on January 18, 2021. This was the nation’s lowest economic growth in four decades but it was still ahead of other major economies.
8. In a shocking discovery, coronavirus was recently detected in ice cream in eastern China, leading to the sealing of the concerned company and recall of cartons from the same batch.