• International Firefighters' Day takes place on [latex]4^{th} May[/latex] 2019. It was instituted after proposal emailed out across the world on [latex]4^{th} May[/latex] 1999 due to the deaths of five firefighters in tragic circumstances in a wildfire in Australia.


• [latex]4^{th} May[/latex] 2019 used to be a traditional Firefighters' Day in many European countries, because it is the day of Saint Florian, patron saint of firefighters.


• One of the most significant symbols of International Fire Fighters Day is the red and blue ribbon.

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• U.S. President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the possibility of a new accord limiting nuclear arms that could eventually include China in what would be a major deal between the globe’s top three atomic powers.


• Trump, speaking to reporters as he met in the Oval Office with Peter Pellegrini, prime minister of the Slovak Republic, also said he and Putin discussed efforts to persuade North Korea to give up nuclear weapons, the political discord in Venezuela, and Ukraine during a call that stretched over an hour.


• The 2011 New START treaty, the only U.S.- Russia arms control pact limiting deployed strategic nuclear weapons, expires in February 2021 but can be extended for five years if both sides agree. Without the agreement, it could be harder to gauge each other’s intentions.

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• The United States had another giant month of job creation in April, confirming the strength of the world’s largest economy as President Donald Trump prepares to fend off challengers in next year’s election.


• Government data showed continued vigor in the vast services sector, with unemployment falling to a level not seen since 1969, helping allay fears of a slowdown -- although the labor force shrank.


• As the second quarter began, employers scooped up workers in construction, health care, computer systems design, administrative support and other service industries, adding a total of 263,000 net new positions for the month, the data showed.

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• Pakistan continues to sponsor terror outfits that launched deadly attacks in India because Islamabad has “paid no price for its perfidy”, a prominent think-tank expert has told American lawmakers.


• Pakistan continues to sponsor terrorist groups that launched deadly attacks in India. “It has paid no price for its perfidy,” Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing early this week.


• We must continue to combat state sponsors of terror and make hard decisions about countries such as Pakistan.

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• A 35-year-old Pakistani-American national has been arrested by the FBI on his arrival from Pakistan for being in contact with two UN-proscribed terror groups the Islamic State and the JeM.


• Waqar Ul-Hassan, a naturalised US citizen who moved to America at the age of 15, was arrested at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.


• Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was designated as a global terrorist by the UN on [latex]1^{st}[/latex] May 2019.


• Hassan was arrested on two counts of making false statements in 2015 about his contacts with terrorist groups.

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• A Rights body, comprising a retired Supreme Court judge and a former Assam police chief, has said the apex court’s remark on the detention of ‘foreigners’ in Assam was unfortunate and “flies in the face of India’s constitutional and international obligations”.


• One of the reasons, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has pointed out, is that accounts from Assam indicate “arbitrariness and not rule of law” is often used to define those who came post 1971 from Bangladesh — of whatever religious denomination — and those who are Indian nationals.


• “Lakhs are in limbo and now fear that they may become “stateless” because of a process that is mired in a mix of complexity, confusion, lack of precision and prejudice”.

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• Cyclonic storm Fani made landfall in Odisha’s Puri district wreaking havoc. Despite extensive damage caused by near 200 kmph winds and heavy rainfall, no loss of life has been reported so far.


• Damaging houses, thousands of trees and electricity poles, uprooting trees, the eye of Fani almost 25 km in diametre is sending off wind velocity of 150 to 175 kmph and even above at some places touching 180 or more, said the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).


• The government has evacuated more than a million people from districts affected by India’s strongest summertime cyclone in the last 43 years and asked people to remain indoors.


• “More than one million people have been evacuated from vulnerable districts in the last 24 hours in Odisha. In Ganjam and Puri, more than 3 lakh and 1.3 lakh people were evacuated respectively to safe shelters. About 5,000 kitchens started operating to serve people in the shelters”.

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• A radio-tagged female Amur falcon, which flew non-stop for five days covering thousands of kilometers to reach Somalia in November last year, has returned to the Indian sub-continent on her way to her breeding area in northern China, a Wildlife Institute of India (WII).


• “After the long open ocean journey, the bird skirted the coastline of Diu and flew straight over to Surat instead of Mumbai,” scientist R Suresh Kumar, who is currently monitoring the route of the migratory bird.


• Longleng, a female Amur falcon named after Nagaland’s district was radio-tagged and arrived in Somalia on April 18 from her winter sojourn in South Africa and started her four day return passage to India on April 29 flying at a speed of 45 km per hour.

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• A Congress delegation met the Election Commission of India demanding further checks and balances in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) including provision to void a poll if discrepancies were found in auto-checks.


• The delegation consisted of Rajya Sabha members Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ahmed Patel. “What will be the action if there are discrepancies found in the auto check of the VVPAT? At present there is no provision for any action. We have asked the EC to look into the issue”.

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• The National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) Under Graduate (UG) 2019 exam has been postponed in Odisha following the havoc unleashed by Cyclone Fani. The exam was scheduled to be held on Sunday, May 5. New dates will be announced soon.


• The state government had requested to postpone the medical entrance test to carry out relief and rehabilitation work in the wake of the Cyclone Fani, the most powerful tropical storm to hit India in 20 years.

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• The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) signed an MoU in New Delhi for setting up a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Waste to Wealth Technologies for implementation of sustainable, scientific and technological solutions for waste management.


• The waste to wealth mission project has been approved under the recently constituted Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).

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• France welcomed the two-part Varuna bilateral exercise with India, calling it a “swift development” of bilateral relations in the maritime security.


• The first phase of the exercise, namely Varuna 19.1, began off Goa’s coast on May 1 and is scheduled to culminate on May 10.


• Varuna 19.2, on the other hand, is slated to be held in May-end near Djibouti.

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• In order to commemorate the 750th birth anniversary of Sri Vedanta Desikan, Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu unveiled a postage stamp in New Delhi on May 2, 2019. The stamp has been released by Indian postal department.


• The releasing of commemorative postage stamps inspire the younger generation to practice humanism, peace and compassion propagated by the great saint and spiritual icon.
Born in 1268 CE, he was Sri Vaishnava philosopher and one of the most brilliant stalwarts of Sri Vaishnavism in the post-Ramanuja period.

• He was an awardee of Vedanta Desika (supreme teacher of the conclusion of all knowledge).


• He also received titles such as ‘Kavitarkika-kesari’ and ‘Kavitarkika-simham’ (lion amongst poets); and ‘Ramanuja-daya-patram’.


• The most essential feature of his philosophy is the ‘aspect of inclusion’ which means anyone, irrespective of any caste or creed could join Sri Vaishnava fold.


• The basis of his spiritual teachings was peace and humanity.

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• Huawei Technologies Co overtook Apple Inc to claim the No. 2 spot in smartphones making in the first quarter, moving a step closer to its avowed ambition of displacing Samsung at the top of the market.


• Huawei’s been steadily gaining on Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. with an increasingly high-end line-up of devices.

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• The Asia-Pacific region is expected to power ahead growing at 5.7% this year but escalating trade tensions are a source of worry, according to Takehiko Nakao, President and Chairperson, Asian Development Bank.


• Addressing the opening session of the Board of Governors at ADB’s 52nd Annual Meeting here, Mr. Nakao said that consumer and investor behaviour could be undermined by trade tensions between countries.

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• The Reserve Bank of India has slapped monetary penalty on five pre-paid payment instrument issuers including Vodafone m-pesa and Phonepe, for violating regulatory guidelines.


• A penalty of 3.05 crore has been imposed on Vodafone m-pesa and Rs. 1 crore each on Mobile Payments, PhonePe and G.I. Technology Private Ltd.


• Also, a penalty of Rs. 5 lakh has been imposed on Y-Cash Software Solutions.

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• SBI General Insurance will consider an initial public offering “at the right time”, its Managing Director and CEO Pushan Mahapatra said, but indicated that there is no definite timeline for it.


• “The IPO will happen at the right time. There is no decision as of now,” he said on the sidelines of an insurance conference organised by FICCI.


• SBI Life Insurance had listed on the bourses in 2017, and there has been expectation of a similar exercise by the general insurer as well, possibly this fiscal.

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• A group of 25 influential American lawmakers has urged the US Trade Representative not to terminate the GSP programme with India after the expiry of the 60-day notice, saying the country’s companies seeking to expand their exports to India could be affected.


• The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

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• Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by seven wickets to keep their playoffs hopes alive. Chasing a target of 184, KKR openers Shubman Gill and Chris Lynn got off to a solid start. Lynn fell in the last over of the powerplay but not before scoring at over 200 strike rate. His 46 came off just 22 balls.


• Thereafter, Robin Uthappa took responsibility and kept hitting boundaries. They both played smart cricket and kept the required run rate under check.


• Uthappa was undone by R Aswin in the 11th over. After him Andre Russell came to the crease but could not emulate his last match performance and fell cheaply for 24. Shubman Gill kept his end well and timed his innings to perfection and scored some crucial boundaries.

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• 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.


• Till now seven edition of this event had been held and all the seven time South Korea became victorious.


• The 7th edition was held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2017 and South Korea was the champion while Japan and China had finished second and third place respectively.

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• A 25-year old, Bajrang Punia won a gold medal at Ali Aliev Tournament, held at Kaspiysk in Dagestan, Russia. He defeated Russian wrestler Viktor Rassadin in 65-kg category by 13-8.


• This was his second gold medal in the last 10 days. Last week, Punia won a gold medal in the 65-kg category at the Asian Championship in Xi’an, China.


• Bajrang Punia won prize money of around USD 7,700. He currently holds the world No. 1 rank in the 65kg freestyle category.

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• Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar was conferred with France's highest civilian honour, Chevalier de l'Ordre national de la Legion d'Honneur, for his contribution to India-France space cooperation.


• Kumar was conferred with the prestigious honour by France’s Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler on behalf of the French President.

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• Actresses Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Deepika Padukone and Sara Ali Khan have won Instagrammers of the Year 2019, which acknowledges Instagram’s most engaging community members across the country. The winners represent individuals who have best embraced Instagram, by using its Stickers, Stories, Feed, Live and IGTV.


• With 39 million followers, a global fan base, and many international projects, Bollywood diva, Priyanka emerged as the ‘Most Followed Account’ this year. Star cricketer Virat Kohli has emerged as the most ‘Engaged Account of the Year’. He provides a sneak peak to the locker room drama, to his gruelling training sessions or an off-field selfie with his wife.

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• Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn was formally crowned as a divine monarch.


• The king donned the 7.3 kg (16 lb) Great Crown of Victory as part of the elaborate coronation ceremonies mixing Buddhist and Hindu Brahmin traditions.


• King Vajiralongkorn, 66, became constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016 after 70 years on the throne. The coronation follows a period of mourning.

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• The Rajasthan Royals reappointed Ajinkya Rahane as the side's captain after Steve Smith returned to Australia.


• Earlier, Smith had been appointed as the side's captain after the team managed to win just two of their opening eight matches. Under Smith, the Royals won three of their five matches with one producing no result.

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• Tod D. Wolters, the former pilot, who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been declared as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe during the ceremony at NATO‘s (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) military headquarters in Mons, southern Belgium. This is one of the most challenging and extremely important military positions in the world.


• US Air Force General Tod D. Wolters who is supposed to run for a tenure of 2 to 3 years, was preceded by U.S. Army General, Curtis M. Scaparrotti.


• Wolters will also be the commander of U.S. forces in Europe across more than 19 million square miles. This area includes 104 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the Arctic, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, contains more than a quarter of the world’s population, and generates more than a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).


• An American military officer always holds the NATO post of SACEUR (The Supreme Allied Commander Europe).
  
• Wolters will supervise NATO’s biggest reinforcement of its collective defences since the Cold War in Eastern Europe.

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• Indian Space Research Organization is planning to send a probe to study the sun early next year. Talking to reporters in Nagercoil, ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan said, currently scientists are exploring possibilities to study more about Sun and the probe named Aditya-L1 will be sent to observe the solar corona, the outer layers of the Sun.


• He said, the satellite would be ed in a halo orbit around the L1 (Lagrangian point 1) of the Sun-Earth system so that it has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. The L1 is 1.5 million kms from the Earth. Mr Sivan said, the mission to send Indian astronauts to space by 2022 is well on stream.

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• Actor Peter Mayhew, well known for portraying Chewbacca the Wookiee in the Star Wars films, has died at the age of 74 at his home in North Texas, U.S. He was born on 19 May 1944 in Barnes, London.


• He starred in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, episode 3 of the prequels, later he reprised his famous role in 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens in 2015, even though he has some health complications.


• He also wrote two books titled “Growing Up Giant” and “My Favorite Giant”.

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• Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former finance minister, V Viswanatha Menon Passed away at the age of 92 in Kochi, Kerala. He was popularly known as “Ambadi Viswam”. He was born in Ernakulam, Kerala.


• He served as the Finance Minister in 1987 during the Left Democratic Front government led by E.K. Nayanar.


• He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967 and was also a member of Rajya Sabha from 1974 to 1980. He was elected to Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1987 from Thrippunithura constituency.


• He has presented five state budgets and also holds the record for delivering the longest budget speech of two hours and 35 minutes.

A. Madras Stock Exchange B. National Stock Exchange(NSE) C. Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) D. Calcutta Stock Exchange Answer: B

A. Singapore B. Mauritius C. US D. Netherlands Answer: D

A. Udupi Ramachandra Rao B. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan C. A S Kiran Kumar D. G.Madhavan Nair Answer: C

A. Tod D. Wolters B. Jens Stoltenberg C. Stuart Peach D. Général André Lanata Answer: A

A. 101955 Bennu B. 4179 Toutatis C. 99942 Apophis D. 2062 Aten Answer: C

A. Chennai, Tamil Nadu B. Mumbai, Maharashtra C. Kolkata, WestBengal D. Jaipur, Rajasthan Answer: D

A. Sushil Kumar B. Bajrang Punia C. Yogeshwar Dutt D. Jeet Rama Answer: B

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

A. Paul Walker B. Cory Monteith C. Ryan Dunn D. Corey Haim Answer: A

A. Actor B. Politician C. Director D. Producer Answer: B

A. May 3rd B. May 1st C. April 30th D. May 2nd Answer: A

A. Theme – “Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law” B. Theme – “The Media and Armed Conflict” C. Theme – “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation” D. Theme – “Celebrating the fundamental principles of press freedom” Answer: C

A. May 2nd B. May 1st C. April 30th D. May 3rd Answer: D

A. Chinglensana Singh Kangujam B. PR Sreejesh C. Akashdeep Singh D. Romesh Pathania Answer: B

A. Tamil Nadu B. Karnataka C. Goa D. Kerala Answer: C

A. Sri Lanka B. Afghanistan C. India D. Pakistan Answer: D

A. Sachin Tendulkar B. Kumar Sangakkara C. MichaelClarke D. SteveWaugh Answer: B

A. NewDelhi B. Dehradun C. Shimla D. Chandigarh Answer: B

A. Kanpur B. Indore C.NewDelhi D. Jaipur Answer: A

A. Iraq B. SaudiArabia C. Iran D. UAE Answer: D

A. Meghalaya B. Arunachal Pradesh C. Nagaland D. Mizoram Answer: A

A. BSE B. NASDAQ C. NSE D. London StockExchange Answer: A

A. India B. Australia C. NewZealand D. Canada Answer: C