• English Language Day at the UN is celebrated on [latex]23^{rd}[/latex] April, the date traditionally observed as both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare.


• The Day is the result of a 2010 initiative by the Department of Public Information, establishing language days for each of the Organization's six official languages.


• The purpose of the UN's language days is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization.

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• Every year on [latex]23^{rd}[/latex] April World Book and Copyright Day is celebrated to promote the enjoyment of books and reading.


• It is necessary to recognise the magical powers of books because they generate a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures.

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• Indian intelligence agencies forewarned Sri Lanka about impending attacks on churches and the Indian mission in Colombo.


• According to a memo issued by a high-ranking Sri Lankan police official to the country’s Ministerial Security Division, Diplomatic Security Division, Judicial Security Division, and Security Divisions of Retired Presidents, a suicide attack being was planned in Sri Lanka by Mohammed Zaharan, leader of the National “Thawhith Jamaan.”

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• Myanmar’s Supreme Court rejected the final appeal of two Reuters journalists and upheld seven-year prison sentences for their reporting on the military’s brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.


• Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo earlier this month shared with their colleagues the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, one of journalism’s highest honors.

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• Egyptians are voting for a third and final day on constitutional amendments that would allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to remain in office until 2030.


• The referendum is virtually guaranteed to be approved, as the government pushes for high turnout to grant it legitimacy.

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• This attack specifically was coordinated from abroad. There a lot of confusing aspects to it — target selection, attack type, etc.— that doesn’t really fit the style of local groups”.


• As Sri Lankan security agencies zero in on members of a little-known Islamist radical group National Towheed Jamaath, international terror experts say the choice of targets, level of sophistication, size of explosives and coordination of the attacks indicate a much larger foreign conspiracy in the deadly blasts that killed nearly 300 people, and even suggest that the attacks were directed from outside Sri Lanka, and therefore escaped detection by security agencies.

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• Telangana Parents Association (TPA) demanded the state government to conduct a judicial enquiry into scam in Intermediate results. They questioned the State government for releasing the marks along with grades.


• TPA members alleged by colluding with the corporate companies the state government are playing with the lives and future of 10 lakh students in the state.


• They demanded the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Minister K T Rama Rao to immediately respond on the serious issue and to take action against the culprits to save the higher education in the state.

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• Voting for the third phase of the 17th Lok Sabha elections has begun today. It's the biggest phase out of the seven phases, covering 117 Lok Sabha constituencies across 13 states and two Union Territories.


• Over 2.10 lakh polling booths are in place for smooth conduct of polls, while 18.85 crore registered voters will decide the fate of 1,640 candidates.

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• Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) chief KN Vyas has said that India will soon have 12 more nuclear plants to improve the power situation and ensure there's a free flow of uninterrupted power supply for both industries and residential use.


• Nuclear technology's an "irreplaceable source of clean, pollution-free energy". He said it's also useful for doctors and scientists.

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• Budget carrier SpiceJet said it has inked an initial pact with Gulf-based Emirates for code-share partnership, a move that will give wider connectivity to its passengers on the latter's network across the US, Europe, Africa and Middle East.


• In turn, Emirates' passengers will enjoy unhindered access to SpiceJet's 51 domestic destinations 10 through direct connectivity and rest 41 through connecting flights.

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• The Congress released six out of seven candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, a day before the last date of nominations.


• Former three-term Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will be the party’s candidate from North East Delhi while former Union Minister Ajay Maken will be the candidate from the prestigious New Delhi seat. Ex-MPs J.P. Agarwal and Mahabal Mishra has been named from the Chandni Chowk and West Delhi constituencies.


• Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia will be the party’s candidate from the reserved seat of North-West Delhi and former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely will contest from East Delhi.


• The Congress has not announced its candidate from the South Delhi seat. Party sources said Ramesh Kumar, brother of 1984 anti-Sikh-riot accused Sajjan Kumar, was being considered for the seat but several Sikh communities protested against the proposal of his candidature and the party is yet to take a call.

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• An advocate filed a plea in the Supreme Court claiming he was offered up to ₹1.5 crore by a man identified as ‘Ajay’ to frame a “false case of sexual harassment” against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.


• Supreme Court lawyer Utsav Bains said the man, claiming to represent the former employee who has levelled allegations against Chief Justice Gogoi, had also asked him to arrange a press conference at the Press Club of India to ‘frame’ the CJI.


• Mr. Bains said he had rejected the offer from the man, who became evasive when asked how he was related to the woman. He said there was a larger ‘conspiracy’ playing out to compel the CJI to resign.


• He said a judicial inquiry was required into the alleged plot to affect the independence of the judiciary.

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• With an uncertain future of the over 22,000 employees of the grounded Jet Airways, bank unions on suggested that lenders must come forward to offer special loans to them to tide over related-party transactions (RPT) over the financial crisis arising from non-payment of salaries.


• Last week, the unions had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a take over of the carrier by the government so as to ensure job security to the employees. In a letter to the Indian Banks Association, the union had requested the banking lobby to “ask member banks to device a special loan scheme to the Jet staff to help them tide over their present financial problems”.


• The unions also suggested that banks can extend special and exclusive loans to the airline to pay the salary dues or some subsistence payments to them against proper collateral. Vinay Dube, chief executive, Jet Airways, said on Saturday that around ₹170 crore would be needed to clear at least a month’s salary. Flying for 25 years, last week, Jet announced grounding after its lenders declined an interim funding of ₹400 crore.

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• Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) said The Bimal Jalan committee formed to study the RBI's capital structure is likely to identify excess reserves of up to ₹3 lakh crore.


• Capping overall reserves at 20% from 25.5% will release ₹1.96 lakh crore. There's no restriction which prevents RBI from transferring the money to government.

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• Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (HZL), the ninth-largest silver producer in the world plans to become the world’s second-largest global silver producer, after Fresnillo plc. by more than doubling its production in the next five years.


• HZL, the only integrated silver producer in India, produces about 95% of India’s primary silver and 100% of the India’s integrated silver.

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• With the five medals on Day 2, India's medal tally at the Asian Championships in Doha stands at 2 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze. India had won 2 silver and 3 bronze on the first day.


• Shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Gomathi Marimuthu clinched a gold medal each to take India’s medal count to five on Day 2.


• Gomathi Marimuthu won the women’s 800m race to bag the first gold medal for India at the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships. She achieved the feat with a timing of 2:02.70, a personal best, in a close finish with China’s Chunyu Wang (2:02.96). Toor also recorded a personal best of 20.22m to secure the yellow metal.


• Toor was a strong contender for the gold medal as the season leader among the Asians and he lived up to the billing. National record holder Toor’s first round throw of 20.22m was enough to fetch him a gold in the men’s shot put final at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha.


• Shivpal Singh then won the silver in men’s javelin throw by sending the spear to a distance of 86.23m, his personal best. He thus crossed the qualifying mark of 83m for the World Championships to be held at the same venue in September-October.


• Earlier, Jabir Madari Palliyalil and Sarita Gayakwad secured the bronze medals in men’s and women’s 400m hurdles respectively.


• Gayakwad began India’s medal rush on Day 2 as she won the bronze medal in the women’s 400m hurdles with a timing of 57.22, behind Vietnam’s Quach The Lan (56.10) and Bahrain’s Aminat Yusuf Jamal (56.39).

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• Rishabh Pant made 78 not out of just 36 balls as Delhi Capitals achieved the 192-run target with four balls to spare.


• To chase down 192 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Delhi Capitals needed Shikhar Dhawan to set the tempo upfront. The opener made a blazing 54 off 27 balls and set up his team’s six-wicket victory.


• Rajasthan Royals’ bowling line-up has an overload of bowlers who serves freebies. That apart, their poor catching and fielding has at times borders on the comical. Dhawan feasted on the loose deliveries.


• The likes of Dhawal Kulkarni offered him length and the left-hander accepted the favour gleefully. Royals also made a mistake by bringing on leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal inside Powerplay, with the opener on the rampage.


• The latter welcomed the leggie with a slog-swept six followed by two boundaries. Gopal eventually dismissed Dhawan but by then the visitors had seized control.

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• Afghanistan named fast bowler Hamid Hassan, who last played for the side in July 2016, in their 15-man squad for the Cricket World Cup.


• Hassan, 31, has played 32 one-day internationals for the war-torn nation and was also part of Afghanistan's maiden appearance at the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand four years back.


• Afghanistan chief selector Dawlat Ahmadzai said, comeback of senior fast bowler Hamid Hassan is a good news.


• Earlier this month, Afghanistan replaced long-serving ODI captain Asghar Afghan with Gulbadin Naib as part of wholesale changes to the team's leadership structure across formats.

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• Sunil Kumar Gautam, Special Commissioner of Police (Operations) was honoured with ‘Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Award‘ for his book titled ‘Samvidhan Kavya‘.


• He was awarded by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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• The Intellectual Property Rights Cell (IPR Cell) of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has been selected for the National Intellectual Property Award 2019.


• The award, comprising prize money of INR 1 lakh, citation, and memento, will be presented at a function to be held in New Delhi on World IP Day.

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• American food major Kraft Heinz announced the company's CEO Bernardo Hees will step down in June. Hees had been with the HJ Heinz Company since 2013, after which it merged with Kraft Foods Group in 2015.


• He will be replaced by Miguel Patricio, who served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Belgium-based brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev till 2018.

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• Former Network 18 Digital CEO, Manish Maheshwari has been appointed as Managing Director of Twitter as India’s Head with effect from [latex]29^{th}[/latex] April 2019.He will succeed BalajiKrish who is the current interim Head took charge after Taranjeet Singh had stepped down as the India Country Director.


• Maheshwari will be responsible for managing an integrated business strategy to stimulate Twitter’s audience and revenue growth in the country, overseeing Twitter India’s teams in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.


• He has also served on Flipkart, txtWeb, Intuit, McKinsey and P&G.

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• MIT researchers have developed a new particle learning system to improve robots' abilities to mould materials into target shapes.


• The team said it may have "fun applications" in personal robotics, such as rolling sticky rice for sushi. They also demonstrated the system with a two-fingered robot, RiceGrip, that reshaped deformable foam into the desired shape, similar to sushi.

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• Lucknow Door Darshan Kendra Director Ms.KismatSagar has passed away at the age of 47 during her treatment in a hospital in Mumbai. She was suffering from cancer.


• She was 1998 Batch Indian Information Service Officer.


• She also worked in several media units like DAVP, DFP, PRO Defence in Lucknow under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

A. 79 B. 88 C. 91 D. 117 Answer: D

A. Rahul Gandhi B. Navjot Singh Sidhu C. Yogi Adityanath D. Azam Khan Answer: A

A. INC B. SP C. BJP D. BSP Answer: C

A. Six B. Seven C. Ten D. Eight Answer: C

A. South Delhi B. East Delhi C. North-West Delhi D. Chandi Chowk Answer: B

A. Mary Kom B. Sachin Tendulkar C. Sushil Kumar D. Vijender Singh Answer: D

A. 22nd April B. 23rd April C. 24th April D. 25th April Answer: B

A. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research B. NITI Aayog C. Department of Health & Family Welfare D. National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation Answer: A

A. India B. Japan C. China D. Russia Answer: C

A. Rs 10 B. Rs 20 C. Rs 50 D. Rs 100 Answer: C

A. 2030 B. 2035 C. 2031 D. 2025 Answer: C

A. Dubai B. Abu Dhabi C. Umm Al Quawain D. Masdar City Answer: B

A. HDFC Bank B. Kotak Mahindra Bank C. Punjab National Bank D. SBI Answer: B

A. Tata AIG General Insurance B. Reliance General Insurance C. SBI General Insurance D. New India Assurance Answer: C

A. Ten B. Three C. Five D. Seven Answer: C

A. Indrajit Gupta B. Ashok Krishna Dutt C. Biren Roy D. Sunil Kumar Gautam Answer: D

A. Manish Maheshwari B. Ashish Chauhan C. Sandeep Srivastava D. Gaurav Bhushan Answer: A

A. Ukraine B. Bhutan C. Peru D. Slovakia Answer: A

A. VVS Lakshman B. Saurav Ganguly C. Ravi Sastri D. Sachin Tendulkar Answer: C

A. 21 B. 19 C. 23 D. 52 Answer: B

A. TCS B. Wipro C. Tech Mahindra D. Capgemini Answer: A

A. INS Vikramaditya, INS Vikrant B. INS Arihant, INS Viraat C. INS Kolkata, INS Shakti D. INS Arihant, INS Shakti Answer: C

A. 15th position B. 17th position C. 16th position D. 18th position Answer: B

A. Shringaar B. Siddha C. Sarvgun D. Sampann Answer: B

A. Rafael Nadal B. Roger Federer C. Fabio Fognini D. Andy Murray Answer: C

A. Indian Overseas Bank B. Bank of Baroda C. Union Bank of India D. Canara Bank Answer: D

A. Fincare Small Finance Bank B. Janalakshmi Small Finance Bank C. Capital Lab Small Finance Bank. D. Disha Small Finance Bank. Answer: A

A. Mithali Raj B. Jhulan Goswami C. Harmanpreet Kaur D. Smriti Mandhana Answer: A

A. Vijay Shankar & Dinesh Karthik B. Dinesh Karthik & Ravindra Jadeja C. Hardik Pandya & K L Rahul D. Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli Answer: C

A. Goa B. West Bengal C. Uttar Pradesh D. Services Answer: D

A. State Bank of India B. Punjab National Bank C. ICICI Bank D. Kotak Mahindra Bank Answer: D