Iran and Pakistan have agreed to set up a joint border "reaction force" following a spate of deadly attacks by militant groups on their frontier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced

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Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelensky has scored a landslide victory in the country's presidential election. He took 73% of the vote and won by a majority.

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Earth Day is observed in support of environmental protection across the globe.

The Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) recently recommended that government procurement agencies should take necessary steps in the tendering process to include the regional language, along with English, on the label of iron tablets and polio drops in government programmes. The decision is taken in order to counter fake, sub­standard and expired drugs, the Union Health Ministry has said Hindi and regional language will be used in the tendering process.

MHA(Ministry of Home Affairs) distributes special kits to States and Union Territories to probe sexual assault cases. The Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits (SAECK) or 'rape investigation kits' are designed to carry out an immediate investigation into Sexual assault cases. The kit has a set of test tubes and bottles, which mention contents and specifications. These kits also contain instructions on the collection of evidence from the crime scene. The kits are expected to help law enforcement agencies to ensure e%uFB00ective probe in a timely manner for better prosecution and conviction in sexual assault cases, the o%uFB03cial said.

Mr. Iwamoto, a 52 year old blind Japanese sailor and San Diego resident, sailed from the U.S. city to Japan on February 24 in a non-stop Pacific voyage.

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Historic foundation stone-laying ceremony of the first traditional Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, UAE has been performed. Mahant Swami Maharaj, spiritual head of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), which is constructing the temple, presided over the ceremony, following which sancti%uFB01ed bricks were placed at the place of worship.

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Historic foundation stone-laying ceremony of the first traditional Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, UAE has been performed. Mahant Swami Maharaj, spiritual head of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), which is constructing the temple, presided over the ceremony, following which sancti%uFB01ed bricks were placed at the place of worship.

A fire that broke out in Paris's Notre-Dame cathedral on April 15, caused enormous damage to the over eight-centuries-old church, which is known for its religious and historical signifcance. The cause of the fire is unknown, the fire raged through the cathedral's lattice of huge wooden beams (known as "the forest") and roof and brought down its famous spire. The President has assured its citizens to rebuild the Cathedral within five years. The complete construction of Notre-dame took 182 years and the construction was started by Paris Bishop Maurice de Sully as a dedication to the Virgin Mary in 1163. It has huge historical significance and had priceless artifacts in its possession.

Adani Defence Systems and Technologies has acquired Bengaluru based company Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Sairee Chahal the founder and CEO of SHEROES - a community platform for women is appointed to Paytm Payments Bank Ltd. as its board of directors.

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Egyptians cast their vote on a three-day referendum to give more powers to their President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. This amendment will extend his current 4 years term to 6 years and allow him to run again for a third six year term in 2024. He will also gain control over appointing head judges and the public prosecutor from a pool of candidates. This amendment vote confirms his seat as a President till 2030 in Egypt. His supporters believe that this amendment is necessary for the development of Egypt by giving Mr. Sisi complete power.

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A statue of the ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great was on 17th April installed on the corner of Amalias and Vasilissis Olgas avenues in central Athens.
The statue, which was officially unveiled on 19th April and, is a work by prominent 20th-century sculptor Yiannis Pappas (1913-2005).
The decision to place a statue of the Macedonian king in the center of the capital was taken by the municipal council of Athens.

The Asian Tea Alliance(ATA), a union of five tea-growing and consuming countries, was launched on Friday in Guizhou in China. This union is formed by associations like Indian Tea Association (ITA), China Tea Marketing Association, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Indonesia Tea Marketing Association and the Centre Tea Association of Japan from the countries like India, China, Sri Lanka, Japan, and Indonesia.

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Ex-Nissan executive Jose Munoz appointed as Hyundai chief operating officer. Mr. Munoz will be based in California and will be responsible for the company%u2019s global operations and strategy, with the aim of increasing its profitability. He will also be president of its America region, with responsibility for both North and South America.

There has been long-standing demand regarding the use of words chemists and druggists in Medical Industry. The word Druggist was considered more on the negative side. A senior officer said, %u201Cthe term %u2018chemists and druggists%u2019 was coined in 1945 and is quite old and has lost relevance and also, at present, the word %u2018drug%u2019 is looked upon as more clandestine and as addiction for chemicals, hence, not suitable to refer a professional pharmacist.%u201D. So, the Drug and Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) has approved changing the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules by amending the Rule 65(15)(b) and Rule 65(15)(c) so that medical shops can be called a %u2018pharmacy%u2019 and there could be uniformity.

Scientists for the first time have finally detected in space the first molecular bond that would have formed in the early Universe after the Big Bang almost 14 billion years ago. Helium hydride ion (HeH ) was the first molecule that was formed during Big Bang.

Brief information could be found on this link:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/17/world/earliest-molecule-in-the-universe-scn/index.html

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Scientist, businessman and, chairman of pharmaceutical major Cipla Yusuf Hamied is among a list of Indian­ origin experts honoured in the 2019 list of new fellows of the U.K.%u2019s Royal Society.

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Scientist, businessman and, chairman of pharmaceutical major Cipla Yusuf Hamied is among a list of Indian­ origin experts honoured in the 2019 list of new fellows of the U.K.%u2019s Royal Society.

Former Oil Secretary Vivek Rae was on Thursday appointed as chairman of Hindustan Oil Exploration Company(HOEC) Ltd from 18th April.

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Botswana%u2019s state-owned Okavango Diamond Company displayed a 20-carat gemstone on Wednesday that it said was the largest blue diamond ever discovered in the country, one of the world%u2019s top producers of natural stones. The unique gemstone was discovered at Botswana%u2019s Orapa mine as a 41.11-carat rough stone and the polished stone is Oval Brilliant Cut, 20.46 carats, Fancy Deep Blue color, VVS2 clarity. The polished stone is named %u2018The Okavango Blue%u2019 in recognition of Botswana%u2019s own environmental natural treasure and World Heritage site the Okavango Delta

Today the 18th of April is observed as World Heritage Day or International Day For Monuments and Sites.

Vasanthotsavam, an annual seva to celebrate the arrival of the spring season, started on Wednesday 17th January at Vasantha Mandapam at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh. Vasanthotsavam is a festival performed in Tirumala on the auspicious days of Trayodasi, Chaturdasi, and Pournami in the month of Chaitra (March/April) every year. Vasantotsavam is derived from a combination of 2 words - "Vasantha"(Spring season in Sanskrit) and "Utsavam"(festival in Sanskrit).

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After suspending International flights a few days ago, Jet Airways has now suspended all flights after banks refuse to release funds. Jet Airways which has been struggling long for its survival finally had to shut all of its operations leaving over 16000 employees jobless.

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Scientists in Israel unveiled a 3D print of a heart with human tissue and vessels, calling it a first and a "major medical break-through" that advances possibilities for transplants. "This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart complete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers," project leader Tal Dvir said in a statement from the university. "The biocompatibility of engineered materials is crucial to eliminating the risk of implant rejection, which jeopardizes the success of such treatments," Professor Dvir said.

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India on 15th April 2019 successfully test-fired its first indigenously designed and developed long range sub-sonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay' from a test range in Odisha.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have won Pulitzer Prizes for their separate investigations on U.S. President Donald Trump and his family.

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'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame' shoots to the top of Amazon's best-sellers list in France soon after the fire broke out in the Notre-Dame Cathedral, all other versions of the book and movie were on the top list. The fire has caused massive damage to the Cathedral, President promised to rebuild it within five years.

Haryana is all set with centres that will be exclusively run by women and is named as 'Sakhi Matdan Kendras' in each Assembly segment. This step is taken to disseminate the message of women empowerment. There would be no male personnel present.

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A Hawaiian language professor of University of Hawaii-Hilo Larry Kimura has given a Hawaiian name %u2014 Powehi %u2014 to the black hole image that is emerged from an experiment and is the first-ever image of the black hole. Powehi is an Hawaiian word meaning embellished dark source of unending creation. The word "Powehi" is sourced from the Hawaiian word "Kumulipo", a chant describing the creation of the universe. The Hawaiian name Powehi is observed as a justified name to the Black hole because two of the telescopes involved in this project of 8 telescopes from around the world are located in Hawaii.

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The credit for this first-ever image has been given to a 29-year-old woman Computer Scientist Katie Bouman for developing an Algorithm that successfully photographed the Black Hole with the help of EHT project. Katie Bouman. She started making the algorithm three years ago while she was a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

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Earlier this week on Wednesday, Space scientists unveiled the first-ever photograph of a black hole that is located at Messier 87 (M87) galaxy. It is captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project and is said to be approximately 55 million light-years away. The EHT is a network of eight radio telescopes on four continents that collectively operate like a single instrument nearly the size of the Earth.

The credit for this first-ever image has been given to a 29-year-old woman Computer Scientist Katie Bouman for developing an Algorithm that successfully photographed the Black Hole.

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"100 years of Chrysostom" is an upcoming Indian Malayalam biographical documentary film, the film is about Rev. Dr. Philipose Mar Chrysostom Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan who has been awarded India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan in 2018.