The Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, France almost burned down in a devastating fire that began on April 15, 2019. The fire completely destroyed the spire of the iconic structure and two-thirds of its largely medieval roof. UNESCO experts have agreed to help in rebuilding the structure.

The 8th edition Asian Youth Women Handball Championship 2019 will be held in Jaipur from August 21 to 30. This is the first time Jaipur will host this prestigious tournament. Earlier in 2015, Delhi hosted the event and finished at seventh place. This event will be organised by Asian Handball Federation (AHF). In this event, total 10 teams will participate including defending champion South Korea.

The Indian Badminton Tournament 2019 was held at K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi from 26 to 31 March 2019 and had a total purse of $350,000. Champions of Indian Open Badminton 2019: Men's Singles: Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) Women's Singles: Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) Men's Doubles: Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin (Chinese Taipei) Women's Doubles: Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu (Indonesia) Mixed Doubles: Wang Yilu and Huang Dongping (China) India's Srikanth Kidambi lost to Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 7-21, 20-22 in the men's singles summit clash.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo inaugurated the country's first mass rapid transit (MRT) system on 24th March. The aim is to ease the traffic congestion in the capital Jakarta. He also presided over a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the second phase which is planned for completion by 2024. Passengers can ride for free until the end of the month. Jakarta is one of the top three traffic-congested cities in the world, according to a traffic index developed by the navigation systems company TomTom.

A music and poetry festival titled 'Jashn-e-Ittihaad' was held at the Jamia Milia Islamia central university in New Delhi to spread awareness about unity amongst the youth. The festival was organized by Delhi-based entertainment company Question Associates Pvt Ltd.In this event, people enjoyed the soulful Hindi and Urdu poetry, music and performances that made them feel good as well as spread awareness about unity and integrity.Some great poets like Irshad Kamil and Waseem Barelvi participated in this festival.