• Mother Earth is a common expression for the planet earth in a number of countries and regions, which reflects the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species and the planet we all inhabit.


• The Earth and its ecosystems are our home. In order to achieve a just balance among the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations, it is necessary to promote harmony with nature and the Earth.


• International Mother Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.


• This Day also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.

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• Even as Sri Lanka comes to terms with the serial explosions in the capital city of Colombo and elsewhere, the world community is shocked and outraged in equal measure. Condolences and condemnation have come from all across the globe and the Paris' iconic Eiffel Tower too joined the world in expressing grief.


• The Eiffel Tower is known for its beautiful lights that paint the hues of the Paris night sky each day. On Sunday, at nearly midnight, the tower went completely dark with the lights turned off briefly as a mark of respect to all who died and have been wounded in the eight blasts in the island nation.

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• The death toll from attacks on churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka rose significantly to 290, and about 500 people were also wounded.


• The death toll overnight had stood at 207. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera declined to give a breakdown of those killed and wounded at each of the three churches and four hotels hit on Sunday, attacks that marked the most significant violence since a bloody civil war ended 10 years ago.

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• Ukraine entered uncharted political waters after an exit poll showed a comedian with no political experience and few detailed policies had easily won enough votes to become the next president of a country at war.


• The apparent landslide victory of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is a bitter blow for incumbent Petro Poroshenko who tried to rally Ukrainians around the flag by casting himself as a bulwark against Russian aggression and a champion of Ukrainian identity.


• The national exit poll showed Mr. Zelenskiy had won 73% of the vote with Mr. Poroshenko winning just 25%.

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• The United States is expected to announce that all importers of Iranian oil will have to end their imports shortly or be subject to U.S. sanctions, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.


• The source confirmed a report by a Washington Post columnist that the administration will terminate the sanctions waivers it had granted to some importers of Iranian oil late last year.


• U.S. President Donald Trump has been clear to his national security team over the last few weeks that he wants the waivers to end, and national security adviser John Bolton has been working the issue within the administration.

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• While Thawheed Jamaat is being suspected behind the serial blasts that rocked Sri Lanka, India has so far managed to nip such conspiracies by radicalised and Islamic State-inspired modules here at the planning or close-to-execution stage.


• The Islamic State has its share of influence among a section of Muslims of India, given that many tech-savvy and smartphone-owning youngsters are exposed in some way or the other to Islamic State propaganda online.


• Indian agencies, including some state police like Hyderabad police that has its cyber wing clued in to social media groups created and managed by IS head-hunters, started early by tracking online activities and exchanges aimed at radicalising young Muslims here.

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• At least three of the nine candidates selected for joint secretary posts through lateral entry are already working with the government or government entities. The government is yet to issue appointment orders.


• Last June, the government had invited applications for 10 posts of joint secretaries in different ministries under its "lateral entry" scheme in a bid to attract talent from public and private sectors.

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• The Congress said unemployment, farm distress and vulnerability of different sections of society continue to be the top election issues for the party as it officially unveiled the vision document on national security prepared by former chief of the Army’s Northern Command, Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda (retd).


• Former Union Ministers, P. Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, along with Lt. Gen. Hooda released a summary of the report and asserted that Congress’ approach towards national security was “not ad hoc and impulsive”.

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• The Election Commission issued notification for filing of nominations for the seventh phase of Lok Sabha election 2019 - on [latex]19^{th}[/latex] May. This is also the last phase of election before counting and result declaration on [latex]23^{rd}[/latex] May.


• The final phase of voting will be held in 59 parliamentary constituencies in eight states and union territories.


• The last date for filing nomination for the final phase of election is [latex]29^{th}[/latex] April while the scrutiny of nominations will take place a day later.

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• Sheila Dikshit, three-time Delhi Chief Minister, is among the candidates the Congress named today for six of the seven seats in Delhi for the national election, signaling that a tie-up with Aam Aadmi Party is no longer on the table.


• The party has left out just one seat, South Delhi, where its planned candidate Ramesh Kumar, the brother of 1984 anti-Sikh riots accused Sajjan Kumar, has provoked anger from Sikh groups.


• The list is out just two days before nominations end for the Delhi election on May 12.

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• According to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) report, business sentiments on country’s financial and macro economic conditions continue to decline in the second quarter of 2019 as compared to second quarter in 2019.


• D&B Composite Business Optimism Index conclude 78.4 score during Q2 2019 as compare to 85.0 during Q2 2018, a decline of 7.7%.


• According to D&B index the business sentiments were improved by 6.3% compared to the first quarter of 2019.


• The Q1 decline in the business sentiments were because of unfolding of bank frauds and the tightening norms of LoUs and LoCs which result into the liquidity reduction.


• The marginal improvement in the business sentiment in Q2 as compare to Q1 was mainly due to monetary and liquidity easing, steady inflow of foreign investments, increased forex reserves among others.

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• The total deposits in bank accounts opened under the Jan Dhan scheme, which was launched about five years ago by the Modi-government, are set to cross Rs 1 lakh crore soon.


• The total balance in the Jan Dhan accounts, which has been steadily rising, was at Rs 97,665.66 crore as on [latex]3^{rd}[/latex] April, as per the latest government data.


• The total number of Jan Dhan accounts have crossed 35.39 crore.

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• For a moment, it seemed as if M.S. Dhoni had clubbed Royal Challengers Bangalore to another impossible defeat. With 26 needed off a breathless final over, Dhoni had sent Umesh Yadav soaring over the ropes three times, leaving his side two to score off the final ball.


• It was the same old story again, it felt: Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings ambushing a side at the death. Except Umesh had other ideas.

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• Annu Rani brushed away her Jakarta Asian Games disappointment by winning the women’s javelin throw silver while Avinash Sable won a medal of the same colour in the men’s 3000m steeplechase in the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships at the Khalifa International Stadium here on Sunday night.


• Annu opened with a 60.22m throw and that was her best for the day as she finished behind China’s Asian record holder Lyu Huihui who broke the championships record with her second round effort of 65.83. The other Indian, Sharmila Kumari, was seventh with 54.48.

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• Youth Olympics gold medallist Jeremy Lalrinnunga went on a record-smashing spree, claiming three world marks in a power-packed performance, to secure second place in his group at the Asian Weightlifting Championship in Ningbo.


• In a remarkable performance, the 16-year-old Jeremy, who is competing in group B of the 67Kg men’s event, smashed the Youth World and Asian records in snatch, clean and jerk and total lift with an effort of 297kg (134kg+163kg) to be placed second in his group behind Pakistan’s Talha Talib, who lifted 304kg (140kg+164kg).


• The final standings for the men’s 67kg event will be known after group A competition today.

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• Flamboyant Italian Fabio Fognini followed up his shock victory over Rafael Nadal with a 6-3 6-4 win over Serbian Dusan Lajovic to claim his maiden Masters title in Monte Carlo.


• The 31-year-old triumphed despite suffering from an apparent muscle problem to became the lowest seeded player, at 13, to claim the title since Gustavo Kuerten in 1999.


• Five weeks before the French Open kicks off at Roland Garros, Fognini produced some brilliant tennis on Monte Carlo's red clay to snatch his ninth ATP singles title.

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• Malayalam film Bhayanakam (Fear) which was directed by Jayaraj won the best cinematography award at the Beijing International Film Festival and had also won the best cinematography award at the 65th National Film Awards.


• Nikhil S Praveen did the cinematography. The film portrayed the visits of the First World War veteran to a small village in the backwaters of Kerala’s Kuttanad as a postman during the World War-II.


• The festival also screened five Indian films which included Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali, Apur Sansar, Aparajito, Love per Square Foot, and Ittefaq.

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• Grounded carrier Jet Airways said today its non-executive and non-independent director Nasim Zaidi has quit the board citing personal reasons and time constraints.


• Before joining the Jet Airways board in August 2018, Mr Zaidi had served as civil aviation secretary and chief election commissioner.

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• First-ever General Motors female CEO Mary Barra will lead automobile industry's first majority-female board after two male directors retire later this year, Bloomberg revealed.


• GM's board will reduce to 11 members, with six female members. Barra will also become one of only two female CEOs to lead a majority-female board of an S&P 500 firm, Bloomberg added.

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• By looking out for five biomarkers, it is now possible to tell in advance if a person with oral cancer of the gum and cheek has lymph node metastasis even before surgery is undertaken, a study has found.


• The ability to correctly predict absence/presence of lymph node metastasis in oral cancer patients is 80-90% based on the five biomarkers, a team led by Partha Majumder from the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, West Bengal, has found.

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• The chronicler of Chennai history, cartographer and journalist S. Muthiah, 89, passed away in Chennai owing to age-related ailments. Muthiah was also known as “Mr. Madras” for his love for Chennai that was earlier known as Madras and for his books on the city’s history.


• In 1999, he co-founded Chennai Heritage and was one of the key persons behind the annual Madras Day celebrations.

A. April 20th B. April 18th C. April 19th D. April 17th Answer: C

A. April 18th B. April 19th C. April 20th D. April 21st Answer: D

A. World Monkey Day B. World Water Day C. World Radio Day D. World Earth Day Answer: D

A. Paytm Payments Bank B. Airtel Payments Bank C. Fino Payments Bank D. Jio Payments Bank Answer: A

A. Prachand Gupta B. Gagandeep Kang C. Jwala Singh D. Kangana Peshwar Answer: B

A. Yusuf Hamied B. Younis Hamied C. Sarfaraj Khan D. Mohamad Shazad Answer: A

A. Sree Sreenath B. Gautham Siraj C. Nitin Patwari D. Siddharth Sharma Answer: A

A. Andhra Pradesh B. Kerala C. Tamil Nadu D. Maharashtra Answer: B

A. Bhayanakam B. Veeram C. Ottal D. Thillakam Answer: A

A. India B. Sri Lanka C. Malaysia D. Qatar Answer: B

A. India B. Sri Lanka C. Nepal D. Bhutan Answer: A

A. INS Imphal B. INS Bhopal C. INS Shilong D. INS Vikram Answer: A

A. 37th B. 20th C. 17th D. 3rd Answer: A

A. Paytm Payments Bank B. Airtel Payments Bank C. Fino Payments Bank D. Jio Payments Bank Answer: A

A. Voter Turnon app B. Voter Turnout app C. Voter Turnoff app D. Voter Turnin app Answer: A

A. Chandigarh B. New Delhi C. Mumbai D. Chennai Answer: B

A. Football B. Cricket C. Badminton D. Hockey Answer: B

A. Ireland B. Netherlands C. Afghanistan D. Scotland Answer: D

A. Cricketer B. Journalist C. Mountaineer D. Actress Answer: C

A. Kuala Lumpur B. Doha C. Dubai D. New Delhi Answer: B

A. India B. Pakistan C. New Zealand D. Sri Lanka Answer: D

A. Russia B. United Kingdom C. United States D. France Answer: C

A. UAE B. Saudi Arabia C. India D. United States Answer: A

A. Volodymyr Zelensky B. Petro Poroshenko C. Dmitry Medvedev D. Oleksandr Turchynov Answer: A

A. 20th April B. 21st April C. 22nd April D. 23rd April Answer: C

A. 8th B. 19th C. 24th D. 40th Answer: B

A. Christina Koch B. Peggy Whitson C. Gagandeep Kang D. Jessica Meir Answer: A

A. Japan B. Saudi Arabia C. Russia D. South Africa Answer: B