Current Affairs: April 20th, 2018

April 20th, 2018

1. Chinese Language Day: April 20.

• The United Nations ensures celebration of language days to promote cultural diversity and the equal use of all of its six official languages throughout the organization. Chinese is one of those six languages and every year on April 20, the UN and its offices around the world observe Chinese Language Day.
• April 20 was picked as the Chinese day from Guyu (‘Rain of Millet’) which is the sixth of 24 solar terms in traditional calendars of East Asia to pay tribute to Cangjie, a personality from ancient China who was known to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and inventor of Chinese characters.
• Besides Chinese, the UN also celebrates French Language Day on March 20; English Language Day on April 23; Russian Language Day on June 6; Spanish Language Day on October 12 and Arabic Language Day on December 18.

2. TTFI recommends CWG medallist Manika Batra’s name for Arjuna Award.

• The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has recommended Manika Batra, the country’s only quadruple medallist at the 21st Commonwealth Games, for the prestigious Arjuna Award.
• Batra created history in Gold Coast, single-handedly taking India to a maiden team gold before winning a singles gold, another first.
• The 22-year-old Indian beat world number four and triple Olympic medallist, Feng Tianwei of Singapore, twice in the tournament. She also secured a women’s doubles silver alongside Mouma Das and mixed doubles bronze with G Sathiyan.
• Batra’s next assignment is the World Team Championships in Sweden from April 29.

3. Birmingham Organising Committee of CWG decides to exclude shooting from 2022 Games.

• The Birmingham Organising Committee of CWG has decided to exclude shooting from the 2022 Games, citing logistical issues.
• The Commonwealth Games Federation has awarded the 2022 CWG to Birmingham.
• Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra has said dropping of shooting from 2022 games will be a huge setback for India, especially for its young shooters.
• Mr. Bindra said, this on the sidelines of a felicitation ceremony of India’s Olympic medallists by the visiting International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach in New Delhi.
• National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh had called for India’s boycott of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. India won a bagful of shooting medals at the Games. The shooting squad, at the recently concluded Gold Coast Games, bagged as many as 16 medals, seven of them gold.

4. Veteran Journalist T V R Shenoy Passes Away.

• Veteran journalist and columnist TVR Shenoy passed away at Manipal Hospital in Karnataka. Shenoy was famous for his deeper analysis and narrative style writing in his illustrious career.
• Shenoy was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan award in 2003.

5. The King of Swaziland has changed his country’s name to eSwatini.

• Swaziland’s King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, officially changed the name of his country to the ‘Kingdom of eSwatini’. Accordingly, the country, a member of the Commonwealth, will now be known by its historic name of eSwatini.
• The announcement was made during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the King’s 50th birthday as well as the 50th anniversary of Swazi’s independence from British colonial rule.
• Static Part: Swaziland:- King- Mswati III|Capitals- Mbabane, Lobamba|eSwatini in a Swazi language stands for ‘place of the Swazi’.

6. Federation Cup junior national athletics meet from today.

• 16th Federation Cup National junior (under-20) athletics championship gets underway at the Nehru Stadium, Tamilnadu.
• Coimbatore, which is hosting it for the first time, wants to make it an extra special event for all.
• The Event is Organised by the Tamil Nadu Athletics Association (TNAA), the championship has attracted about 800 athletes from 32 states across the country.
• The three-day meet, which features athletes aged between 16 and 20, will have more significance this year as it will serve as selection trial for the third South Asian junior championship in Colombo (May 5-7), 18th Asian junior championship in Gifu, Japan (June 7-10) and the IAAF World under-20 championship in Tampere, Finland (July 10-15).

7. Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar Passes Away.

• Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar passed away. He was 94.
• Mr. Sachar has since his retirement been associated with the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, a rights group.
• He was the chairperson of a committee set up by the previous UPA government to look at the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India.

8. Standard Chartered bank ties up with Zoho.

• Standard Chartered Bank has announced an alliance with Zoho, a software products company, to offer solutions to enhance corporate banking experience.
• The bank’s business account holders can now pay their suppliers and automate reconciliation right from Zoho Books, Zoho’s cloud accounting software.

9. Chhattisgarh to Distribute Free Smartphones to Over 50 Lakh People.

• The BJP government in Chhattisgarh will start distributing smartphones to over 50 lakh people for free from May under the Sanchar Kranti Yojana (SKY), months ahead of assembly polls in the state.
• Women heads of households will be the priority recipients of the smartphones.
• The Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS) has started the preparation for the distribution of phones, as per the announcement made by the chief minister last year to reduce the digital divides.
• Static Part: Chhattisgarh:- Chief minister- Raman Singh|Governor- Balram Das Tandon.

10. Mid-size private sector lender YES Bank Gets RBI Nod to Open Offices in London and Singapore.

• Private sector lender YES Bank has received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval to open two representative offices in London and Singapore.
• YES Bank opened its first representative office in Abu Dhabi in April 2015 and also launched IFSC banking unit (IBU) at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, in the same year.
• Static Part: Yes Bank:- MD and CEO- Rana Kapoor|Head office- Mumbai|YES BANK is India’s fifth largest private sector Bank.

11. US Senate Narrowly Confirms Trump’s New NASA Chief.

• Jim Bridenstine, a congressman from Oklahoma, US Navy veteran, and former pilot, was confirmed on a 50-49 vote and will become the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seven months after Trump named him to lead the agency.
• Bridenstine, 42, has expressed an interest in returning humans back to the moon, spoken of closer ties between NASA and the commercial space industry.
• Static Part: NASA:- It’s an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States|Founded- 29th July 1958|Headquarters- Washington, D.C., USA.

12. Official Mascot of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Unveiled.

• ‘Son of Dreams’ was unveiled as official Mascot of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. The selection of Son of Dreams as China 2019’s Official Mascot was the culmination of a unique process by FIBA.
• The mascot finalists were Chinese dragon (‘Son of Dream’), a Siberian tiger (‘Speed Tiger’) and a lion (‘Qiu Qiu’). The tournament will take place in eight Chinese cities from August 31 until September 15.
• Static Part: China:- Capital- Beijing|Currency- Renminbi|President- Xi Jinping.