National Political
1. Devastating forest fires rage in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Helicopters have been pressed into service along with ground staff to spray water and chemicals to douse the flames. The forest fires are attributed to pine needles and dry grass being accidently set on fire by human carelessness. The loss in Uttarkhand is put at Rs. 2500 crores. These forest fires melt glaciers faster, deposit carbon, and pollute the rivers state experts at Nainital and Almora Science Institutes.
2. The Parliamentary standing committee on Home affairs has in its investigation into the Pathankot Airbase attack by Pakistani JEM terrorists held the role of Panjab Police as questionable and suspicious in the sordid affair.
3. The Italian Marines of a merchant vessel in Feb. 2012, had gunned down 2 Kerala fisherman on a fishing vessel in Indian waters suspecting them to be pirates and were thereafter taken into custody by the Indian Coast Guard. The UN Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague has asked India to release the Marines till the issue of jurisdiction is in India’s favour on an Italian Govt. intercession in the matter. Italy wants the case to be tried out side India as the incident happened in international waters as claimed by them.
4. A special women’s court in Mumbai has sentenced the 4 accused to life imprisonment till death for the murder of Keenan Santoz and Reuben Fernandez outside a restaurant in Mumbai on October 20, 2017 for safe guarding their women friends from these hooligans/goons. The case had carried national attention for the bravery of these two young men in fighting the goons.
5. 10 killed, 100 injured as a thunder storm strikes at the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Ujjain, M.P. as make shift structures at the Kumbh Mela site get blown away.
International News
1. US Pakistan $700 million deal for 8 nos. F-16 fighter jets has hit a rough patch with US asking Pakistan to fund the deal. The US congress members have objected to the funding of the deal with US state funds on the plea that Pakistan’s dealing with terrorism was not above board.
2. In the race for the Democratic Party nomination Hillary Clinton loses the Indiana Primary. Donald Trump the Republican Party candidate sales through the Indiana primary with his rival Ted Cruz dropping from the RepublicanParty Presidential nomination contest, thus making Trump the presumptive Republican Party nominee.
3. Nepalese government of K.P. Sharma Oli is in doldrums after 7 months in office as Communist party of Nepal (Unified Marxist – Leninist) and Maoists Unified Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN). Lead by its chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda take centre stage.
Business News
1. India rejects Apple Inc. plea to import refurbished used Iphones for sale in the Indian market. India is world’s fastest growing smartphones market and the move was seenas to spruce up their sales in the price sensitive Indian market.
2. The core sector grew at 6.4% in March this year as compared to 5.7% in February as per data released by the Government of India CSO. However the Nikkei PMI index for India declined for the month of April to 50.5 from 52.4 in March.
Science and Technology
1. US is testing unmanned surface vessel code named Sea Hunter which is 132 ft. long and is able to travel 10,000 nautical miles in one go to hunt for stealth submarines and underwater mines. It is developed by Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects agency at San Diego. It shall rely on radar, Sonar, Cameras and a GPS system.
2. A rare astronomical event shall be viewed in India on May 9 as planet mercury comes in between the sun and the earth and appears as a dot travelling across the solar disc. The event occurs 13 or 14 times in a century. The last such transit was on Nov 6, 2006.
Sports
1. IPL Cricket League Matches:
• Pune: Rising Pune Supergiants loose to Mumbai Indians.
• Rajkot: Kings XI Punjab defeat Gujarat Lions.
• Bangalore: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bangalore.
• Rajkot: Delhi Daredevils beat Gujarat Lions.
• Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab.
• New Delhi: Delhi Daredevils loose to Rising Pune Supergiants.
• Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Gujarat Lions.
2. Moto Racing.
Nico Rosberg takes the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi in a Mercedes race car.
Last year’s champion Lewis Hamilton comes second in the race.
3. Soccer
In a stunning upset, Leicester City team becomes the English Premier League Champions. They were rated as underdogs at 5000-1 at the start of the Championship. The team is owned by a Thai tycoon Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. Leicester City had a 1-1 draw with Manchester United on 1st May which delayed their title till a draw by Tottenham against Chelsea thus springing them to the top of the table in the league matches.
Spanish team Atletico Madrid reaches the final of Champion league on the basis of away goals. In their 1st leg, the score was 1-0 in favour of Atletico Madrid at Madrid. In the 2nd leg the score was 2-1 in favour of Bayern Munich at Munich. Although the total count of goals after 2 matches stood at 2-2 for both the teams it was the one away goal in Munich which decided the final entrant.
Another Spanish team Real Madridalso reaches the final of Champion League Cup for 2nd time in 3 years beating Manchester City 1-0. They beat 1-0 on aggregate of 2 semifinals. The firstsemifinal was a goalless draw in Manchester.
This year’s Champion League final shall thus be anall-Spanish affair.
