DAILY GK 17-18 FEB 2026
1. FRENCH PRESIDENT VISIT TO INDIA
·
Emmanuel
Macron, President of France undertook a 3-day
visit to India at the invitation of Narendra
Modi, Prime Minister (PM) of India.
·
He participated in the Artificial
Intelligence (AI) Impact
Summit 2026.
·
PM Modi along with French President Emmanuel
Macron, virtually inaugurated the final
assembly line of H-125
helicopters, developed
jointly by Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus at Vemagal in Karnataka.
·
6th
Annual Defence Dialogue: Union
Minister Rajnath Singh, Ministry of Defence (MoD)
along with his French counterpart Catherin
Vautrin co-chaired the 6th India-France Annual Defence
Dialogue held in Bengaluru.
·
India-France
Year of Innovation 2026: PM
Modi and French President jointly inaugurated the India-France Year of
Innovation 2026 in Mumbai.
2. INDIAN NAVY HOSTS IFR 2026, MILAN
2026 & IONS CONCLAVE OF NAVY CHIEFS
·
The Indian Navy (IN) hosted three major international engagements at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (AP): Exercise MILAN 2026, the International Fleet Review (IFR) 2026, and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Ninth Conclave of Navy Chiefs.
·
Exercise MILAN-2026 at Visakhapatnam, AP, was
conducted in the Bay of Bengal as a biennial
multilateral naval exercise hosted by IN.
·
Theme: The theme of MILAN 2026 was
“Camaraderie, Cooperation, Collaboration.”
·
International
Fleet Review (IFR) 2026: IFR
2026 was held off Visakhapatnam, AP,
under the theme “United through Oceans,” and was
presided over by President
Droupadi Murmu, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
·
Indian
Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Conclave 2026: The 9th Conclave of Chiefs of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) was held at Visakhapatnam, AP.
·
India will lead the IONS for the 2026–2028
term,
marking its second tenure as Chair
since the forum was launched in 2008 in New Delhi.
·
Chairmanship: Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the
Naval Staff (CNS) of the Indian Navy (IN), assumed the Chairmanship of IONS from the Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
3. HENLEY PASSPORT INDEX – FEBRUARY 2026
·
Partners, a British consultancy expertized in investment migration, released Henley
Passport Index (HPI) Global Ranking – February 2026.
·
India’s passport
improved its global position to 75th rank, up from 80th in January 2026 and 85th in 2025.
·
India, with visa-free or
visa-on-arrival access to 56 destinations, shares its ranking with Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon,
Madagascar, and Mauritania.
·
Singapore topped
the Henley Passport Index 2026 with visa-free
access to 192 destinations, followed by Japan and South Korea with 187 destinations each.
·
Afghanistan ranked last (101st) on the
February 2026 Index, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to only 24
countries.
4.
BBC INDIAN SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR 2025
·
The 6th edition of the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) Indian Sportswoman of the Year (ISWOTY) Awards 2025 was
held in New Delhi.
·
Star cricketer Smriti Mandhana was honoured with
the BBC ISWOTY 2025.
·
BBC Emerging Player of the Year 2025: Divya Deshmukh.
·
BBC Para-Sports woman of the Year 2025: Preethi Pal.
·
BBC Lifetime Achievement Award 2025: Anjali Bhagwat.
·
BBCHeadquarters – London.
5.
ASIAN RIFLE/PISTOL CHAMPIONSHIP
·
India topped the medal table for the second
consecutive year with a remarkable haul of 94 medals,
comprising 51 gold, 23 silver, and 20 bronze across senior and
junior events at the 17th edition of the Asian Rifle/Pistol
Championship 2026, held in New Delhi.
·
Kazakhstan secured the position of
second rank with 26 medals (3 Gold,
16 Silver, 7 Bronze), while Uzbekistan finished as the
third with 4 medals (3 Gold, 1 Silver).
·
The championship, organized by the National Rifle Association of
India (NRAI) under the supervision of the Asian Shooting
Confederation (ASC).
·
Participants Featured over 300 athletes from 20 countries.
6.
FIDE FREESTYLE CHESS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
·
Norwegian Grandmaster (GM) Magnus Carlsen won
the thefirst-ever FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 held
in Weissenhaus, Germany by defeating United States of America
(USA) GM Fabiano Caruana in the final with a score of
2.5–1.5.
·
This victory marks Magnus Carlsen’s 21st world title across
various formats (Classical, Rapid, Blitz, and Freestyle/Chess960), further
consolidating his position as one of the
greatest players in the history of the sport.
·
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) secured third place by defeating
Vincent Keymer (Germany).
7. LIBER WIN CHAMPIONS CUP 2026
·
Pankaj Advani,
Indian billiards, snooker player won the inaugural Liber Win Champions Cup 2026 by
defeating Kamal Chawla 6–3 in Bengaluru (Karnataka).
·
It is
a professional invitational snooker
tournament sponsored by Liber Win Cloth that features top cue sport players
while promoting elite competition and supporting the growth of cue sports in
India.
8.
IPC
LIFTS BAN ON RUSSIA & BELARUS FOR 2026 WINTER PARALYMPICS
·
The International
Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted
the ban on athletes
from Russia and Belarus, confirming that
they will be allowed to compete under their national flags at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
·
The decision permits the display
of national flags and the playing of national anthems if athletes win
medals.
·
Russian athletes were initially banned
in 2022 due
to the Ukraine conflict and previously competed only as neutrals.
