 The G7’s (Group of Seven) Environment Ministers gathered for a 2-day meeting in Metz, France to discuss on steps required to handle deforestation, plastic pollution, depletion of coral reefs and ways to build pacts between the countries in order to achieve the target. Joining the ministers were delegations from the European Union as well as Chile, Egypt, the Fiji Islands, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Niger, and Norway. |
| Source: Economic Times |
 The IBSA (India, Brazil & South Africa) Sherpas’ Meeting, following the 9th IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Meeting, was held in Cochin. Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. T.S. Tirumurti led the Indian delegation. Sherpas reviewed the progress made under IBSA, since their last meeting. The Sherpas also appreciated the work done by the IBSA Fund on Poverty and Hunger Alleviationwhich funded 31 projects spread over in 20 countries. |
| Source: MEA |
 Global card payments brand Mastercard has announced its plan of investing $1 billion in India operations over the period of next 5 years. About $350 million of the total amount would be invested in setting up a local payments processing center as per the Reserve Bank of India’s mandate to store all payments data locally. The rest of the investment will go towards existing services and expanding capacity among others. This is the first such processing center of the company outside of the US and could provide service markets such as Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific. |
| Source: Business Standard |
 ‘Gujarat Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2019’ passed by Gujarat Assembly which came into force from May 1, 2019. The Act will allow the shops and other businesses in the state to operate 24×7. The Act replaced the Gujarat Shops and Establishments Act, 1948 which prevented shops and other businesses from operating between 12 to 6 a.m. Employees will get twice the regular salary for working overtime, against the one-and-a-half-time as provided under the earlier act. |
| Source: Business Standard |
 World Asthma Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) on the first Tuesday in May to improve asthma awareness and control around the world. This year it was observed across the globe on May 7, 2019. The theme of World Asthma Day 2019 was ‘STOP for Asthma’. Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of airways of lungs. Common symptoms of asthma include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath. |
| Source: NDTV |
 A 18-year-old Nepali girl, Bandana danced continuously for 126 hours to set a Guinness World Records on ‘Longest Dancing Marathon by an Individual’, a feat previously held by an Indian. Bandana beat the record set by Kalamandalam Hemlatha, who danced continuously for 123 hours and 15 minutes in 2011. |
| Source: Business Standard |
 Ace Indian squash players Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinappa won their respective Asian Individual Squash Championship titles in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Saurav Ghoshal defeated Leo Au Chun Ming of Hong Kong. Joshna Chinappa, on the other hand, retained her title as she beat top seed Annie Au of Hong Kong in the women’s final event. Ghoshal who had become the first Indian male player to reach the top 10 of the world rankings is the finalist of the previous edition. |
| Source: News On AIR |
 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched a $5 Billion Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies for the Asia and Pacific region at the 52nd Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors in Fiji. It will expand financing and technical assistance for ocean health and marine economy projects to $5 billion from 2019 to 2024. This will support ADB’s developing member countries’ efforts for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), inclusive of the SDG 14: Life Below Water. |
| Source: ADB |
 A Japanese aerospace start-up Interstellar Technology Inc. has successfully launched a first privately developed rocket ‘Momo-3’ into space. The unmanned Momo-3 was launched from its test site in Hokkaido and reached about 110 kilometers (68 miles) in altitude before falling into the Pacific Ocean after 10 minutes of flight time. It was the company’s third launch attempt after previous tries failed in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, the operator lost contact with Momo-1 shortly after launch. In 2018, Momo-2 only made it some 20 meters off the ground before crashing and bursting into flames due to a problem with a control system. |
| Source: Japan Times |
 India will be attending the Group of 7 industrialised nations meet organised by France in Biarritz in August along with Australia, Chile, and South Africa. the French ambassador to India Alexandre Zeigler stated that one of the issues on the agenda of the G-7 meet would be fighting terrorism in cyberspace. |
| Source: Livemint |
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