1. Japan’s X-2 stealth jet completes test flight
(i) Japan has successfully completed the test flight of its
first radar-evading aircraft, a stealth jet called the X-2.
(ii) The X-2 integrates an airframe, engines, and other high-tech
systems and equipment that are adaptable to future fighters.
(iii) In most radar-evading stealth technology, surfaces of planes
are designed to absorb radar signals or to deflect radar signals — making the
aircraft nearly invisible to electronics. Exterior surfaces are treated with special
coatings to make the planes even less detectable by devices.
(iv) However, the development of a stealth fighter jet will add
to the Asian nation’s already complicated security environment as it may lead
to tensions in the Korean peninsula and territorial disputes in the sea lanes
running south from northern Asia.
2. Centre modifies SC/ST
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act
(i) The Union government has modified the provision of the SC/ST
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act in order to ensure speedy justice to victims of atrocities.
(ii) Some of the salient modifications made stipulate the following:
Completion of investigation and filing of charge sheet in the court within 60
days.
(iii) For the first time, there is provision of relief for
rape and gang rape. Further, the amendments delinks requirement of medical
examination for getting relief amount for non-invasive kind of offences against
women like sexual harassment, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty
of women.
(iv) Provision of admissible relief in cash or in kind or
both within seven days to the victims of atrocity, their family members and
dependents.
3. Garcia-Mladenovic
win Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
(i) French pair Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic
defeated Indo-Swiss duo Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis 6-2, 1-6, 6-10 to win
the win Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at Stuttgart, Germany.
(ii) The French duo hit 25 winners vis-a-vis the 16 by Mirza
and Hingis.
(iii) Meanwhile, German ace Angelique Kerber won her second
consecutive Porsche Teniis Grand Prix title with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over
qualifier Laura Siegemund. This is her ninth career title.
4. Rafael Nadal wins
Barcelona Open; equals record of 49 clay court titles
(i) Tennis ace Rafael Nadal has won the Barcelona Open for
the ninth time by defeating two-time defending champion Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-5.
The Spaniard also equalled Guillermo Vilas’ men’s tennis record of 49 career
clay-court titles.
(ii) The 14-time Grand Slam winner recently bagged the Monte
Carlo Rolex Masters title.
(iii) Meanwhile, Bob and Mike Bryan won the tournament’s doubles
title for the third time in Barcelona defeating Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas and the
Spaniard Marcel Granollers 7-5, 7-5. This is their second title in 2016, after
they won the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas.
5. Russia win gold at
World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship
(i) Russian pair Anastasia Bryzgalova and Alexander
Krushelnitskiy bagged gold at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship by
defeating China’s Wang Rui and Ba Dexin 7-5.
(ii) The US clinched a 9-7 win over Scotland and took home bronze
medals.
6. Mairaj Ahmed Khan bags
India’s first skeet medal at ISSF World Cup
(i) India’s Mairaj Ahmad Khan won the silver medal in the
men’s skeet event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World
Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun), which ended at the Olympic Shooting Centre.
(ii) He lost to Sweden’s Marcus Svennson 2-1 in the
shoot-off tiebreaker in the gold medal match after both were tied on 14 targets
after the regulation 16 shots. Tamarro Casandro of Italy won the bronze.
(iii) China topped the medal count with a total of two gold,
two silver and three bronze medals. The Russian Federation finished second in
the competition, winning two golds, two silvers and a bronze. Ukraine took the
third place with two golds and a bronze.
7. Wrestler Sandeep
Tomar secures Olympic quota
(i) Wrestler Sandeep Tomar secured a quota in the Rio Olympics
by winning a bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 57kg category at the World
Qualifying Tournament.
(ii) He defeated Ukraine’s Andriy Yatsenko 11-0 in the
play-offs to become the fourth Indian wrestler to save a quota in the Olympics.
(iii) London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt (men’s
65kg freestyle), Narsingh Pancham Yadav (men’s 74kg freestyle) and Hardeep
Singh (Greco-Roman 98kg) have earlier clinched Olympic quotas for the Rio
Games, which will be held from August 5-21.
8. Govt. institutes
panel to plan for doubling farmer incomes
(i) The Centre has formed a panel to suggest ways to double
farmer incomes by 2022.
(ii) Headed by Ashok Dalwai, additional secretary at the
agriculture ministry, the inter-ministerial committee is tasked with drawing specific
plans to change farm policies from being production-oriented to be based on
incomes or value addition.
(iii) It has to identify segments with larger potential for
growth. The guideline for the committee would be to diversify risks in farming
and devise ways through which integrated farming-foodgrains, horticulture and
allied activities like livestock and fisheries-can increase farm incomes.
(iv) The panel also comprises experts from the Delhi-based
National Council of Applied Economic Research and National Institute of Agricultural
Economics and Policy Research.
9. World Book and
Copyright Day observed
(i) World Book and Copyright Day was observed on April 23.
It is a symbolic date for world literature as on this date in 1616 Cervantes,
Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died.
(ii) UNESCO created this day to honour authors on this date,
encouraging people, especially youngsters, to experience the pleasures of
reading and develop respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who
have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.
(iii) The city of Wroclaw, Poland has been chosen in this
year as the World Book Capital for its commitment to spreading the message of
the power of books to nurture creativity and advance dialogue between women and
men of all cultures.
10. Clement Mouamba named
PM of Congo
(i) Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso has named former
finance minister Clement Mouamba as prime minister of the nation, bringing a
one-time opposition leader into the government.
(ii) The appointment has been made a month after Sassou
Nguesso was elected President for a five-year term. Nguesso led Congo between
1979 and 1992 and returned to power after a civil war in 1997.
(iii) Mouamba was a senior member of the Pan-African Union
for Social Democracy (UPADS) but was ousted from the opposition party for
participating in consultations that preceded a referendum in October 2015 on
changing the constitution to allow Sassou Nguesso to serve a third term.
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