• National

Indo-Pacific Wing Set up in the Foreign Office

• The Ministry of External Affairs has set up an Indo-Pacific Wing in the foreign office.
• This new division is intended to give a coherent architecture to the policy, which was articulated by the PM Modi at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2018.
• Currently, this division will be headed by joint secretary Vikram Doraiswam
• The Indo-Pacific division is intended to give a coherent architecture to the Indo-Pacific policy articulated by PM Narendra Modi at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2018.

• National

Mukesh Ambani Among TIME’s List Of 100 Most Influential People

• The Time 100 Most Influential People 2019 list has been released, naming the world’s most influential pioneers, leaders, titans, artists, and icons of the year.
• Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and public-interest litigators Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy, who spearheaded a historic legal battle for LGBTQ rights in India, are the Indian names that appeared in the list.
• The famous names in the list include Indian-American comedian and TV host Hasan Minhaj, US President Donald Trump, Pope Francis, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan PM Imran Khan, and iconic golfer Tiger Woods.

• International

Google Opens its First African AI lab in Ghana

• Google has opened its first African artificial intelligence (AI) centre in Accra, Ghana.
• The research laboratory will host software engineers and research scientists to work on projects dedicated to next-generation technology.
• The centre engages directly with African universities by providing grants and PhD scholarships to students interested in AI.
• Google also supports graduate programs in machine intelligence at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Rwanda.

• International

Saudi Arabia To Host G20 Summit In 2020

• Saudi Arabia announced that it will be hosting the G20 summit in November 2020 in its capital Riyadh.
• This would be the first G20 summit in the Arab world.
• Last year’s G20 meeting was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had represented the Kingdom.
• He held several engagements with world leaders, including meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Economy and Business

Canara Bank becomes the first public sector bank in India to meet RBI’s EMV mandate

• ACI Worldwide announced that Canara Bank has successfully rolled out major new functionality to support EMV card acquiring across its ATM network and Aadhaar Authentication.
• Canara Bank is the first public sector bank to shift to EMV chip and PIN for card present transactions across the country’s vast ATM network.
• Canara Bank has nearly 6,300 branches and a network of more than 10,000 ATMs.
• ACI has played a central role in driving EMV rollouts across numerous countries over the years.

• Awards

Indian Peacekeepers Awarded UN Medal of Honour

• A total of 150 Indian peacekeepers serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have received medals of honour for their dedicated service and sacrifice.
• Under the UNMISS, the Indian Horizontal Mobility Engineering Company had completed the renovation of 145 km of roadway connecting Bentiu and Leer in South Sudan, easing the way for the delivery humanitarian aid, trade, and inter-communal dialogue.

• Resignation

Mali’s PM Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga Resigns

• Mali’s Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga has resigned along with his whole government, following a motion of no confidence over its failure to handle violence in the West African country.
• President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s office stated that the President accepts the resignation of the prime minister and that of the members of the government.

• Appointments

Gagandeep Kang Becomes First Indian Female FRS

• Professor Gagandeep Kang has become the first Indian female scientist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in the UK fellowship’s 358-year-history.
• The 56-year-old is the Executive Director of Translational Health Science and Technology Institute at Faridabad. Other notable FRS inducted in 2019 include Fields Medal-winning mathematicians Akshay Venkatesh and Manjul Bhargava.

• Important Days

World Liver Day being observed today

• The World Liver day is observed on the 19th April every year to spread awareness about the second largest organ ‘liver’ in the body.
• The theme of World Liver Day 2019 is ‘Love Your Liver and Live Longer’.
• Liver diseases can be caused by hepatitis A, B, C, alcohol, and drugs.
• According to WHO (World Health Organization), liver diseases are the 10th most common cause of death in India.

• Science and Tech

220 million yr. old dinosaur fossils found

• A site containing the 220-million-year-old fossilized remains of nearly a dozen dinosaurs has been discovered in western Argentina.
• There are almost ten different individuals, it’s a mass of bones, there’s practically no sediment.
• This discovery is doubly important because there are at least seven or eight individuals of dicynodonts, the ancestors of mammals, the size of an ox.

• States

20 states joined helpline number 112

• 20 states and UTs have so far joined a pan-India network of single emergency helpline number ‘112’ on which immediate assistance can be sought by anyone in distress.
• The ‘112’ helpline is an integration of police (100), fire (101) and women (1090) helpline numbers and the project is being implemented under the Nirbhaya Fund.
• It is similar to ‘911’ in the United States.