The Defence Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman is on a three days visit to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meet. The SCO meeting is being held in the run-up to the SCO summit, which is expected to take place in June 2019.

Spain’s ruling center-left socialist party has won the snap elections that were held on April 28, 2019. The opinion polls had predicted a victory for outgoing socialist premier Pedro Sanchez. With 99 percent of the ballots counted, the Socialists led by Prime Minister Sanchez won 29 percent of the vote, capturing 123 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies.

Cyclone Fani is expected to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm and will continue to move North West and change its path to North East. Cyclone Fani’s landfall over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is ruled out. However, the possibility of landfall in Odisha is under continuous watch.

BuyUcoin, second oldest Cryptocurrency Exchange in India, has introduced a new and unique platform for wholesale cryptocurrency trading. This platform works on ‘free trading model’ which means it charges zero fee on any trade. This wholesale platform also known as OTC (Over-the-counter) Desk allows users to trade on a large scale with low price fluctuations. This new platform will help to improve the problem of liquidity of cryptocurrency in Indian market. This will also help in quicker transactions, better prices and market stability.

Kazakhstan under the chairmanship of it’s Prime Minister, Askar Mamin has set up Coordinating Council for attracting foreign investments inclusive of investments from India. Under Askar Mamin, a decision was taken to lay down the functions of Investment Ombudsman in order to venture for new approaches to improve investment scenario in Kazakhstan by efficiently interacting with the investors and providing solutions to current issues.The requirement for such task is to increase the volume of investment in fixed assets in the medium term to 30% of (Gross Domestic Product) GDP of the nation and the primary driver should be foreign direct investment (FDI).The meeting chose the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) as a Unified Centre for the coordination of work on investment and promotion (Regional Investment Hub).

Indonesia in a landmark step on April 23, 2019 released a special stamp on the theme of Ramayana for the first time underlining strong centuries old cultural bonds. The stamp, designed by renowned Indonesian sculptor Padmashri Bapak Nyoman Nuarta, features a scene from Ramayana in which Jatayu valiantly fought to save Devi Sita symbolising the resolve of two peoples in the face of adversity.

The researchers have finally detected the most ancient type of molecule in our universe in space for the first time ever. They used NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to detect helium hydride in a planetary nebula NGC 7027 about 3,000 light-years away from Earth. Helium hydride ion (HeH+) was the first molecule that formed when, almost 14 billion years ago, falling temperatures in the young universe allowed recombination of the light elements produced in the Big Bang. At that time, ionised hydrogen and neutral helium atoms reacted to form HeH+. Despite its importance in the history of the early Universe, HeH+ has so far escaped detection in astrophysical nebulae — cloud of gas and dust in outer space. Hence, the detection of this special molecule brings a long search to a happy ending, and eliminates doubts about understanding of the underlying formation and destruction of the early universe. SOFIA is the joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to construct and maintain an airborne observatory. Being the world’s largest airborne astronomical observatory, the telescope has the ability to produce a higher resolution image, three times higher in quality than those captured by other observatories.

 Ministry of Finance has approved 8.65% interest rate on Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for 2018-19 as proposed by Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).