- Sierra Leone has banned industrial fishing in its territorial waters for a month from April 1, 2019, in a move to try to shore up stocks that were applauded by environmental activists. The government also decreed a halt to exports by major fishing companies to protect its fish stock from depletion.
2. China has ordered the destruction of three lakh more maps for not mentioning Arunachal Pradesh and Taiwan as part of its territory. Last month, Chinese officials destroyed around 30,000 world maps printed in the country for incorrectly showing the borders with India and depicting Taiwan as a separate country. India and China have so far held 21 rounds of talks to resolve the border dispute covering 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control.
3. India has retained the ICC Test Championship Mace and won the purse of USD 1 million for a third successive year on April 1, 2019. India won this award after finishing at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings on the cut-off date of April 1, while New Zealand has ensured second place.
4. Estonia has emerged as a global leader in online voting with 44% of votes in the recently concluded parliamentary elections in the country. Center-Right Reform Party emerged victorious with 40% of the e-votes and nearly 30% of the total vote.
5. Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced that he will resign from his position before his mandate expires on April 28, 2019. The president will take steps to ensure state institutions continue to function during the transition period. The move follows weekly protests by the citizens of the nation who called for the 82-year-old Bouteflika to step down after almost 20 years in office.
6. The World Autism Awareness Day was observed across the world on April 2, 2019, with an aim to encourage the Member States of the United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about autism throughout the world.
7. Japan on April 1, 2019, declared ‘Reiwa’ as the name of its new imperial era that will begin on May 1, 2019, once the new Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. Crown Prince Naruhito will succeed his father Emperor Akihito, who will abdicate the empire on April 30, 2019, putting an end to three decades long ‘Heisei’ era.
8. Facebook introduced a new feature titled “Why am I seeing this post” to help users understand and control the kind of posts surfacing on their News Feed from friends, Pages, and Groups.
9. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extended the last date to link Permanent Account Number (PAN) with Aadhaar number by six months till September 30, 2019. Earlier, March 31, 2019, was the last date.
10. Kandhamal Haldi, a variety of turmeric indigenous to southern Odisha, earned the Geographical indication (GI) tag on April 1, 2019, from Intellectual Property India, an organization functioning under the Union ministry of commerce & industry.
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