• International Dance Day is celebrated on the [latex]29^{th}[/latex] April of every year. The International Dance Day is otherwise called as World Dance Day or Dance Day.


• The primary purpose of Dance Day is to attract the attention of the wider public to the art of dance. Emphasis should be given to addressing a new public, people who do not follow dance events during the year.


• April 29 was selected to commemorate the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, a French dancer and ballet master and a great reformer of dance who born in 1727.

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• Israel released two prisoners, sending them back to Syria in what Damascus described as Russian-mediated reciprocation for the repatriation of the body of a long-missing Israeli soldier.


• Russia, a key Damascus ally, this month handed Israel the remains and personal effects of Zachary Baumel, who was declared missing in action along with two other Israeli soldiers following a 1982 tank battle with Syrian forces in Lebanon. A Syrian government source said Damascus then pressured Moscow to secure a prisoner release by Israel.


• The Israeli military said in a statement that two prisoners were transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Quneitra crossing on the armistice line with the Syrian Golan Heights.


• The Israeli military statement described the two men as Syrians. Israel's Prisons Service identified them as Ahmed Khamis, from a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, and Zidan Taweel, from the Syrian Druze village of Hader.

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• Martin Fayulu, who claims he was robbed of victory in the Democratic Republic of Congo's presidential election, called for people power to drive President Felix Tshisekedi from power.


• Citing popular uprisings in Algeria and Sudan, he told a meeting of several thousand supporters in Kinshasa the Congolese could achieve the same thing.


• He said This time, we have returned to call for and to obtain the resignation of Felix Tshisekedi". "He's a disgrace, he sold out the country."You, the people are stronger than any army in the world. In Sudan and in Algeria, the people got the departure of the leaders. Here we have to do the same thing against Kabila and Tshisekedi.


• Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in early April after weeks of mass protests, and several regime officials and businessmen close to him have been sacked or detained over alleged graft.

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• A statement from the President’s Media Division said covering of the face with veils, in a manner that prevents identification of a person, will be banned from today under emergency regulations.


• Meanwhile, the father and two brothers of Zahran Hashim, who is believed to have led the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, were killed in Friday’s overnight gun battle between troops and suspects in the eastern Ampara district.


• Hashim was earlier identified as one of the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo.

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• Chinese President Xi Jinping met Prime Minister Imran Khan and expressed hope that Pakistan and India can meet each other halfway to improve their strained relations following the Pulwama terror attack by a JeM suicide bomber.


• Both leaders also exchanged views on the situations in South Asia, an official Chinese statement in Beijing said about the meeting between Mr. Xi and Mr. Khan.


• The India-Pakistan relations reportedly figured prominently in the meeting. Mr. Xi expressed hope that Pakistan and India can meet each other halfway and promote the stabilisation and improvement of India-Pakistan relations.


• Mr. Khan arrived in China on [latex]25^{th}[/latex] April and attended China’s 2nd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) held on April 26-27.

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• Voting in nine states in the fourth phase of 2019 Lok Sabha elections began today.


• About 12.79 crore people are eligible for voting in the fourth of the seven-phase Lok Sabha Elections 2019.


• Some popular names contesting in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2019 are Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, S S Ahluwalia and Salman Khurshid.


• Polling is being held at five seats in Bihar, 17 in Maharashtra, 13 in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and six in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Eight seats are going for polls in West Bengal, three in Jharkhand and one in Jammu and Kashmir.

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• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath was among the early ones to cast his vote on Monday for the Lok Sabha polls in the state’s Chhindwara seat, where his son Nakul Nath is the Congress’ candidate.


• The Chief Minister along with his wife, son and daughter-in-law arrived at a polling booth in Shikapur area to exercise their franchise.


• Power supply tripped briefly when the Chief Minister and his family members were inside the polling booth.


• Polling began in the morning in six Lok Sabha seats of the state and by-election to Chhindwara Assembly constituency, where the Chief Minister is in the fray.


• The Lok Sabha constituencies of Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat and Chhindwara are going to polls in the first phase of general elections in the central state.

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• The Congress moved the Supreme Court against Prime Minister Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah related to an incident of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation.


• All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev filed a petition saying she was forced to move the apex court as the Election Commission had not acted on their representation.


• In the petition, Sushmita Dev claimed that the two leaders violated the poll code under three categories - polarisation of votes, invoking armed forces in the campaigns, taking out rallies on an election day.


• The Supreme Court agrees to hear the plea against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The hearing will take place on [latex]30^{th}[/latex] April.

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• Pilots of American Airlines, one of the biggest operators of Boeing 737 MAX, have demanded simulator training rather than a computer-based explanation for the aircraft.


• Computer training "won't provide confidence for pilots to feel comfortable flying the aircraft [and relay] that confidence to the [flyers]," they said. 737 MAX is currently preparing for regulatory approval of a software update.

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• The Delhi High Court dismissed a plea seeking to restrain the media from publishing allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by a former Supreme Court employee.


• A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon said the top court is already seized of the matter and no interference was needed.


• The plea, filed by NGO Anti Corruption Council of India, had said publication of allegations against the CJI directly hit the Indian judicial system.

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• The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) said The Intermediate Public Advanced Supplementary Examinations (IPASE) would be held from [latex]25^{th}[/latex] May to [latex]1^{st}[/latex] June.


• The tentative time table for the revised supplementary exam schedule, which was earlier scheduled from May 16 was released by the TSBIE after students and parents alleged "goof up" in the declaration of results of Intermediate examinations and there were demands that they be postponed.


• While the Intermediate first year (class 11) exams would be held in forenoon session, the second year (class 12) exams would be held in the afternoon session.

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• In a move to tackle fund diversion, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed sterner rules on opening and running of current accounts of corporate borrowers.


• Current accounts, according to a draft circular shared by the regulator with the banking industry, can “only be opened” with the lead bank in a lending consortium while other banks having collection accounts will have to transfer funds at the end of the day to the current account with the consortium leader.


• RBI has suggested that the rule would apply to accounts of corporates which have borrowed and availed credit facilities of Rs 50 crore or more from the banking system.

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• As India embarked on a journey towards digitisation of payments, mobile wallets and Unified Payments Interface might have hogged the limelight, but the good old plastic card continues to be one of the most formidable payment instruments in the country.


• Visa, which is one of the largest card schemes globally, has been bringing in innovation to help India in its cashless journey.

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• Public sector banks stand to earn as much as ₹5,000 crore due to the increasing quantum of deposits placed in Jan Dhan accounts, and can vastly monetise this resource once they start implementing advanced analytics and begin lending to these customers, according to industry players and analysts.


• Over the last three years, the number of Jan Dhan beneficiaries has risen from 22 crore to 35 crore, as of [latex]10^{th}[/latex] April, 2019. This represents a growth of nearly 60% over the three years.


• The growth in the number of accounts has been pretty steady over the last three years, with the demonetisation year of 2016-17 seeing the fastest growth of about 27%, which then subsequently slowed to a nevertheless robust 10% in 2017-18 and 12% in 2018-19.

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• Hardik Pandya played a blitzy knock of 91 (off 34 balls), but failed to take Mumbai Indians home in a massive chase of 233 runs. Mumbai managed to post 198/7 in the end, losing the contest by 34 runs.


• Kolkata Knight Riders, 10 points, jumped to fifth in the standings with this victory as the hosts broke their six-match losing streak. Mumbai remained at third in the points table with 14 points. KKR kept their playoffs hopes alive with this win.

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• After a two-year hiatus, Pooja scripted a fairy tale comeback by becoming the national champion in the 81kg category in 2018.


• Pooja stunned world champion Wang Lina in the final of the Asian championship in Bangkok to win the gold medal.


• Convincing her father to support her boxing was a task in itself.

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• The BCCI recommended cricketers Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Poonam Yadav for the Arjuna award.


• The decision was taken during a meeting of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators in New Delhi.


• 25-year-old Bumrah is currently playing in the IPL for Mumbai Indians.


• Pacer Shami has been a crucial cog in the Indian bowling set up.


• All-rounder Jadeja has also made a comeback in the limited overs team and has been named in the 15-member squad for the World Cup.


• The 27-year-old leg-spinner, Poonam, is the fourth name to be nominated for the coveted award.

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• All India Football Federation (AIFF) appointed Romanian Doru Isac as the technical director of for a three-year tenure.


• The 56-year-old Isac was one of the three candidates interviewed by the AIFF’s technical committee, headed by Thapa. The technical committee had sent its recommendations to the executive committee of the AIFF to take a final decision.


• Gaioz Darsadze of Georgia and Jorge Castelo of Portugal were the other two candidates interviewed by the technical committee.


• The post of technical director remained vacant since Australian Scott O’Donnell decided to quit in 2017. Former India player and coach Savio Medeira was looking after the post as interim TD since then.

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• Former Ethiopian president Negasso Gidada Solon passed away at the age of 75 in Germany for an unspecified illness.


• He was born on 8th September 1943 in Dembidolo, Ethiopian Empire.


• He was the president between 1995 and 2001 and was the first head of state after Ethiopia adopted a new constitution transforming country into a federal state.


• In 2015, He was elected to parliament as an independent but then joined the opposition three years later.


• Also in 2017, he was rehabilitated by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and was appointed an advisor.

A. 72 B. 89 C. 91 D. 105 Answer: A

A. Australia B. United Kingdom C. Sri Lanka D. United States Answer: C

A. Cyclone Titli B. Cyclone Ockhi C. Cyclone Maarutha D. Cyclone Fani Answer: D

A. Vinesh Phogat B. Sushil Kumar C. Sakshi Malik D. Harpreet Singh Answer: A

A. IDBI Bank B. Kotak Mahindra Bank C. IndusInd Bank D. RBL Bank Answer: C

A. SpiceJet B. IndiGo C. Air India D. Vistara Answer: C

A. Socialist Workers’ party B. Conservative People’s party C. Centre-right Citizens party D. Vox Party Answer: A

A. 14 B. 13 C. 11 D. 8 Answer: B

A. April 28th B. April 26th C. April 25th D. April 27th Answer: A

A. United Kingdom B. Russia C. China D. United States Answer: D

A. Cyril Almeida B. Khadija Ismayilova C. Mazen Darwish D. Ahmad Zeidabadi Answer: A

A. Saira Banu B. Dilip Kumar C. Salim D. Jeetendra Answer: C

A. David GrossmanHan Kang B. Philip Roth C. Olga Tokarczuk D. Raghu Karnad Answer: D

A. Air Arabia Airlines B. Etihad Airways C. Flydubai Aiwways D. Royal Jordanian Answer: B

A. Dr Vishwas Patel B. Rajni Razdan C. Alka Sirohi D. Dr Pawan Munjal Answer: D

A. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance B. Birla Sun Life Insurance C. Bharti AXA Life Insurance D. Aegon Life Insurance Answer: D

A. Harmanpreet Kaur B. Jhulan Goswami C. Smriti Mandana D. Amita Sharma Answer: B

A. Pankaj Advani B. Sourav Kothari C. Ehsan Heydari Nezhad D. Yasin Merchant Answer: A

A. Cricket B. Shooting C. Tennis D. Boxing Answer: D

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

A. Budapest, Hungary B. New Delhi, India C. Beijing, China D. Warsaw, Poland Answer: C

A. Theme – “Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future” B. Theme – “Belt and Road Cooperation: Think equal, build smart, innovate for change” C. Theme – “Belt and Road Cooperation: Wetlands and Climate Change” D. Theme – “Belt and Road Cooperation: Circular Economy for Productivity & Sustainability” Answer: A

A. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde B. Justice Ranjan Gogoi C. Justice N.V. Ramana D. Justice L Nageswara Rao Answer: D

A. Aspire Systems B. Sensiple Software Solutions C. Financial Software Services (FSS) D. ExcelaCom Technologies Private Limited Answer: C

A. Pragati B. Webassurance C. SBI Exclusif D. Cyber Insurance Answer: B