1. The UN Chinese Language Day is observed annually on April 20

• The UN Chinese Language Day is observed annually on April 20. This event is celebrated every year by UNESCO. 
• It was first observed in 2010 by the organisation to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six of its official working languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) through the organisation. 
• The first UN Chinese Language Day was held on November 12, 2010. In 2011, the date was moved to April 20.

Foot notes: About UNESCO
Headquarters: Paris, France
Director General: Audrey Azoulay
Founded: 16 November 1945, London, United Kingdom

2. Facebook launches third party fact checking in Bangladesh

• Facebook announced the launch of its third party fact checking system in Bangladesh to discourage the spread of fake news in the country. Facebook in partnership with Boom Fact check will review and rate the stories.
• It will debunk misinformation on topics from health and medicine to current affairs so that Facebook users in Bangladesh are able to identify factual information and news online.
• When third party fact-Checkers rate a post as false or fake, it will appear less or at the bottom of the news feed. This will reduce the spread of the post.Boom is an Indian fact checking website which is available in English, Hindi and Bengali.
• Facebook started its fact-checking programme in 2016 and now it covers 60 partners in 50 languages.

Foot Notes: About Facebook
Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA,USA
CEO: Mark Zuckerberg
Founded: February 2004, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

3. Telangana extends lockdown period till May 7

• The Telangana government has decided to extend lockdown till 7th of May. The state cabinet also decided not to give any exemption to any sector as suggested by the Central Government. 
• Night curfew and all other restrictions under implementation in the state will continue till 7th of May.
• CM also asked air travellers not to come to Telangana till 7th May as lockdown will continue.

Foot Notes: About Telangana
Capital: Hyderabad
Chief Minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao
Governor: Tamilisai Soundararajan

4. Uttar Pradesh becomes first state to geotag over 7,000 community kitchens

• Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to geotag its 7,368 community kitchens and community shelters across 75 districts which produce 12 lakh food packets a day.
• The state government has also tied up with Google to 'Geo-map' the locations of all these establishments on the Google Maps app for ease of beneficiaries.
• Out of these 7,368 community kitchens, 668 are being run by NGOs and religious institutions.
• More than two crore food packets have been distributed in Uttar Pradesh since March 25.

Foot Notes: About Uttar Pradesh
Capital: Lucknow
Governor: Anandiben Patel
Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath

5. Mohun Bagan declared I-League champions as season gets called off

• Mohun Bagan were officially crowned as the winners after the remaining 28 matches of the I-League were cancelled as coronavirus continues to rage.
• The committee recommended that the 2019-20 season be deemed to be concluded. 
• Mohun Bagan declared as the I-League champion for the 2019-20 season as they stand atop current standings in the Hero I-League until the point of suspension.

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6. Indian Navy develops air evacuation pod for COVID-19 patients

• Indian Navy’s Southern Command, Kochi has developed an air evacuation pod (AEP) to airlift COVID-19 infected patients safely from remote areas such as islands and ships in a fully sealed patient transfer capsule.
• The evacuation pod was designed under guidance of Principal Medical officer of the naval air station, INS (Indian Naval Ship) Garuda, Kochi, in consultation with specialists from the naval hospital INHS (Indian Naval Hospital Ship) Sanjivani and HeadQuarters of Southern Naval Command.
• The pod is made up of aluminium, nitrile rubber and perspex. It weighs only 32 kg and has incurred a manufacturing cost of Rs 50,000 which is only 0.1 percent of cost of an imported equivalent (Rs 59 lakh).

Foot Notes: About Indian Navy
Commander-in-Chief– President Ram Nath Kovind.
Chief of Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh    

7. Bhaichung Bhutia among 50 footballers to take part in FIFA's initiative to applaud 'humanity's heroes'

• Former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia was among the 50 footballers to take part in the FIFA's initiative to pay tribute to 'humanity's heroes' amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• FIFA expressed gratitude towards all the healthcare workers and other professionals who are giving their all to ensure society continues to function in the face of the coronavirus.
• FIFA shared a video on their official Twitter handle where footballers from present and past came been seen applauding the frontline workers.

Foot notes: About FIFA
President: Gianni Infantino
Headquarters: Zürich, Switzerland
Founded at: Paris, France
Founded in: 21 May 1904

8. Tom and Jerry director Gene Deitch dies at 95

• Gene Deitch, an American Oscar-winning illustrator, animator, film director and producer has died.
• Deitch's movie Munro won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1960. 
• Earlier, he had created the Tom Terrific series, while Sidney's Family Tree, which he co-produced, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1958.
• Working from behind the Iron Curtain, he directed 13 episodes of Tom and Jerry and also some of the Popeye the Sailor series.

9. Study says renewable energy subsidies in India dropped by 35 percent in 2016-19 period

• A new study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW) report stated that India's renewable energy subsidies fell 35% between 2016-17 and 2018-19.
• The report was titled "Mapping India's Energy Subsidies 2020" which said that the support for renewable energy was to increase again. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made it critical to stay on track. 
• Policy decisions such as the solar safeguard duty and tariff caps on auctions meant that there was a slowdown in new capacity addition and as a result of lower state subsidy outgo as well. 

10. Gujarat’s GBRC: 2nd Indian institute to decode COVID-19 genome sequence; 3 new mutations found

• Gujarat’s Gandhinagar-based Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) has become the second institute in India after the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, Maharashtra to decode the entire genome sequence of the COVID-19 virus but with three new mutations.
• GBRC has found nine mutations in its genome sequence. However, six of the mutations were already found by other research institutes globally but the three new mutations will help in developing medicines or vaccines needed to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
• The first genome sequence of the COVID-19 virus was found by Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) in Bejing, China on January 10, 2020.

Foot Notes: About GBRC
Director– Chaitanya G. Joshi