The Union Environment Ministry has constituted a committee to implement the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which aims to reduce particulate matter (PM) pollution by 20%-30% in at least 102 cities by 2024.

Wipro Consumer Care has acquired Filipino company Splash, marking its entry into the East Asian market. This is Wipro%u2019s eleventh acquisition in the consumer care space.

The Wrestling Federation of India recommended recently­ crowned Asian Champion Bajrang Punia and last year%u2019s Asian Games gold ­medallist Vinesh Phogat for the country%u2019s highest sporting honour the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.

Whereas, The National Shooting Federation has suggested the names of pistol ace Heena Sidhu and trap shooter Ankur Mittal for the Khel Ratna.

Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurates the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing in Yanqing District of Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2019. The aim of Horticultural Expos is to promote and support a more harmonious relationship between people and nature.

South African Internet firm Naspers will exit online travel company MakeMyTrip by selling its entire stake to Chinese travel major Ctrip.com International. Naspers will get a 5.6% stake in Ctrip.com for selling its stake in MakeMyTrip, Naspers said.

Intellectual Property firm Zacco has acquired Lakhshya Cybersecurity Labs

Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar is no longer under the BRI(Belt and Road Initiative) framework. The decision comes as a result of India's exit from BRF(Belt and Road Forum) over the concerns on a project China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)%u2014a flagship of the BRI%u2014which passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

HCL Technologies has launched a CyberSecurity Fusion Center (CSFC) in Texas to provide customers a single point of contact for all the needs in enterprise security.

Abhishek Verma won gold in his first ISSF(International Shooting Sport Federation) world cup. He also made his way to Olympic via Olympic Quota. The Olympic quota allocation system is a program designed to limit the number of athletes participating, and prevent a small number of countries from dominating the field of an Olympic event.

Source: Google

A rare drawing by Nelson Mandela, of his cell door in Robben Island, where he was held for 18 years will be put up for auction in early May in New York, US. Mandela drew the picture back in 2002 and kept it with him until his death in 2013. The drawing shows a few bars of the cell door and a key in the lock, sketched in purple. The drawing is said to be one of the most important out of the 20 odd paintings that he drew.

Mandela was jailed for around 27 years from 1962 to 1990 out of which he was held at Robben Island off Cape Town for 18 years from 1964 to 1982. Mandela later became South African president and served from 1994 to 1999.

Source: Google

The Supreme Court on Thursday 25 April 2019 appointed its former judge, Justice A.K. Patnaik, to probe conspiracy against CJI Ranjan Gogoi. Justice Patnaik's inquiry would focus on the material and affidavits provided by advocate Utsav Singh Bains, who claimed that a plot was on to target the judiciary honchos, including Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

Source: Google

First time in history the Army started the online registration for the recruitment of Women in the Corps of the military. It took nearly two years to implement the process after the decision was taken by Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat

Divyansh Singh Panwar missed the gold by 0.4 point in men's air rifle but made his way to 2020 Beijing Olympic by qualifing for Olympic Quota.

Kim Jong-un visits Russia for his first talks with President Vladimir Putin as he arrived in Russia

Supreme Court lawyers Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy were on the red carpet for the Time 100 gala held in New York. The two advocates featured on Time magazine%u2019s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Ghana launched a fleet of drones to carry medical supplies to remote areas, with President Nana Akufo Addo declaring it would become the "world's largest drone delivery service".

Source: Google

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.

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

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.

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.

Source: Google

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

Source: google/forbes

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.

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.

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

Source: Gulf News

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.

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.

Source: twitter

The Indian Navy on Saturday launched its third guided-missile destroyer at Mazgaon Docks as part of its Project 15B under the presence of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, which is aimed at adding state-of-the-art warships to the naval fleet.

Project 15B or Visakhapatnam class is a class of stealth guided missile destroyers and it comprises of four ships - Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal, and Porbandar. All of these ships are being built by the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) near Mumbai in India.

The first ship INS Visakhapatnam was launched on 20 April 2015
The second ship INS Mormugao was launched on 17 September 2016
The present and third ship INS Imphal was launched on 20 April 2019
The fourth and the last one under Project 15B is expected to be launched soon.

All these ships are said to be better than the ships under Project 15A(Kolkata class) and will be the largest destroyers to be operated by the Indian Navy.

Cabinet clears 10-year artificial intelligence strategy which aims at positioning the UAE as a global leader in artificial intelligence by 2031, and aims to develop an integrated system that employs artificial intelligence in vital areas in the UAE.



The cabinet, chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, adopted the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031 during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi.



The strategy comprised of eight objectives:

Reaffirming UAE's position as a global hub for AI

Increasing the competitive edge of the AI sector in the UAE

Establishing an incubator for AI innovations

Employing AI in the field of customer services to improve the quality of life

Attracting and training talents for jobs of the future

Attracting leading research capabilities

Providing a data-driven infrastructure to support AI experiments

Optimising AI governance and regulations

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.

Source: google

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.

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.

Source: Google/Ekathimerini

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 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy which killed thousands of people is among the world's "major industrial accidents" of the 20th century, a UN reported. The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident on the night of 2%u20133 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.

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

Source: Google

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.

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

Source: google

Subhash Chandra's Essel Group launches first cruise liner 'Karnika'. Karnika is a cruise ship currently owned by Zen Cruises and operated by Jalesh Cruises. It will sail from Mumbai to Goa

Source: Google

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.

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).

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

Source: google/abcnews

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

Source: google

Astronaut Christina Koch will set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman when she completes her 11-month-long mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in February 2020. Her long stay on the ISS has to do with NASA%u2019s preparation of human missions to the Moon and Mars.

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.

Source: Google

'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.

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.

Source: google

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.

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.

Source: Google

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.

Source: Google

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.

Source: google

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.

Source: BBC/Google

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).

Source: google

"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.

David R. Malpass selected as 13th President of the World Bank Group by its Board of Executive Directors on April 5, 2019. His five-year term will begin on April 9.