• National

Gagandeep Kang becomes first Indian woman Royal Society Fellow

• Professor Gagandeep Kang (56-year) 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.
• Dr Kang is known for her inter-disciplinary research studying the transmission, development and prevention of enteric infections and their sequelae in children in India.
• She 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 Bhargav.

• International

Mount Agung volcano in Bali resort Island erupted

• Mount Agung on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali has erupted again (last eruption in 1963).
• The volcano’s status remains on alert, or level three of four possible levels and authorities continue to impose a 4-kilometre exclusion zone.
• Thousands of masks have been distributed to the communities amid the fears of the ashes impacting human respiratory.
• Mount Agung is situated in Karangasem district and about 70 km from tourist hub Kuta.

• International

Iran, Pakistan declare joint border reaction

• Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran and Pakistan will create a joint ‘reaction force’ on the border between the two countries, for combatting terrorism.
• The announcement came during a two-day visit to Iran by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, the first of his tenure.
• Iran and Pakistan share a 959 km land border.

• Sports

Asian Badminton Championships began

• The Asia Badminton Championships began at Wuhan in China on 23 April 2019.
• It will continue till 28 April 2019.
• India will be represented by Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma in men’s singles and P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal in women’s singles.

• Economy and Business

LSE Names a Professorship After Economist Amartya Sen

• The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has announced the creation of the Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies, named in honour of the India-born economist, philosopher, and Nobel laureate, who was Professor of Economics at LSE from 1971-82.
• Called the “Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies,” its holder will also serve as Director of the LSE International Inequalities Institute, which facilitates interdisciplinary work on subjects related to inequality.

• Economy and Business

SBI General Insurance launches Cyber Defence Insurance

• SBI General Insurance (SBIG) has launched a product to protect businesses from financial and reputational losses due to cyber-attacks.
• In the initial phase, it will focus on small medium-sized enterprise (SME), mid-market businesses.
• The new insurance plan of SBI General Insurance comes with CyRUSS (Cyber Risk Underwriting and Solution Suite).
• CyRUSS is a cloud-based tool for commercial cyber policies including risk assessment, ongoing risk management and claim management as well.

• Awards

Sunil Kumar Gautam felicitated with Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Award for 2018-19

• Sunil Kumar Gautam (IPS-officer) has been honoured with the Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Award for the year 2018-19 for his book ‘Samvidhan Kavya’(Constitution of India in Poetic form).
• The award was presented by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
• The book depicts the Constitution of India in a very simple and poetic form to make it understandable to the common man in a very simple manner.
• In addition to this, books of four other police officers from across the country have also been rewarded.
• The selection of books was done in the meeting of the evaluation committee under the chairmanship of Sudip Lakhtakia, Director General, BPR&D.

• Appointments

Twitter appoints Manish Maheshwari as new India MD

• Manish Maheshwari (CEO of Network18 Digital) has been appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of Twitter (U.S.-based microblogging platform) for India operations.
• Maheshwari takes over from interim head Balaji Krish.
• He will be responsible for driving an integrated business strategy to accelerate Twitter’s audience and revenue growth in the country.

• Important Days

The World Book & Copyright Day being observed today

• The ‘World Book and Copyright Day’ (WBCD) is being observed every year on 23rd April to raise awareness about the importance of reading and promote publishing and the protection of copyright around the globe.
• The aim is to make books accessible to the city’s entire population, including migrants and refugees.
• It is on this date (in 1616) that Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all passed away.

• Obituaries

Noted lady Mountaineer Rama Sengupta Paul passes away

• The veteran lady mountaineer of the country Rama Sengupta Paul (66-years) has passed away following a cardiac arrest.
• She led the first successful all-women expedition to Krdarnath Dome in Garhwal Himalaya.
• Rama was a member of Indo-Japanese Women expedition to Kamet and Abi Gamin organized by Indian Mountaineering Foundation in 1976.