The President of the United States imposes stricter sanctions on this country's metal industry.

SEBI in his guidelines titled "Guidelines for Determination of Allotment and Trading Lot Size for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs)" has reduced the minimum subscription requirement as well as defined trading lots for REITs and InvITs.For determining the allotment in an initial offer and follow on public offers, REITs have to offer their units in lots worth at least Rs 50,000 and in case of InvITs, the minimum value of a single lot should be Rs 1 lakh.The allotment to any investor shall be made in the multiples of a lot.For initial listing in case of REITs and InvITs, a trading lot should be of 100 units and for follow on public offers, each lot shall consists of such number of units in its trading lot as it had at the time of initial offer. Moreover, SEBI has also increased leverage limit for InvITs from 49 percent to 70 percent.

World Thalassaemia Day 2019 was celebrated on May 8 worldwide with a theme of "Universal Access to Quality Thalassaemia Healthcare Services: Building Bridges with and for Patients". The purpose of this day is to honour all patients of thalassaemia and their wards who never gave up despite all odds and also to support researchers who are striving to create an improved quality of life for people with thalassaemia across the world. To celebrate this day, Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF) organised 3 online competitions worldwide with a certain theme. This online competition will include a video challenge, a photo contest, and a story competition.

Japan has begun testing the ALFA-X version of its fastest-ever Shinkansen bullet train that could reach 400 km per hour (249 mph). The bullet train ALFA-X (Advanced Labs for Frontline Activity in Rail Experimentation) is scheduled to start its service in 2030, when, rail company JR East would operate it at 360 kilometres per hour (224 mph). This speed will make it 10 kph faster than China's Fuxing Hao, which links Beijing and Shanghai and operates at the same top speed. This would make ALFA-X, the world's fastest bullet train. The ALFA-X's futuristic design features 10 cars and a sleek pointed nose.The bullet train will be tested (after midnight, when the line is quiet) twice a week on the line between Sendai and Aomori, 2 Japanese cities, which are 280 kilometres apart.

The Environment Ministry launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) aimed at reducing toxic particulate matter in 102 Indian cities by 2024. The NCAP will be a mid-term, five-year plan with 2019 as the first year, while 2017 will be the base year for comparison of concentration. An amount of INR300 crore has been sanctioned for this purpose.

Cricket is set for a return at the Asian Games after the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) included it in the sports programme for the 2022 edition in Hangzhou. The decision was taken at the OCA's General Assembly in Bangkok.

Each year, World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is commemorated on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The theme of World TB Day 2019 - 'It's time'. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.

Jerry Merryman, one of three people at Texas Instruments (TI) credited with inventing the world's first handheld electronic calculator in 1960s, died at the age of 86 years at Dallas, Texas. He helped to develop the calculator while he was working at TI alongside James Van Tassel and his boss Jack Kilby, the co-creator of the first integrated circuit and Nobel Prize winner. The team filed a patent for the finished prototype in 1967 for the battery-powered product known as "Cal-Tech" which could fit in the palm of the hand and was capable of addition, multiplication, subtraction and division.

UNICEF is launching a new global campaign on 24 April, called #Vaccineswork. The objective of the campaign is to emphasize the power and safety of vaccines among parents and wider social media users. The campaign will be running alongside World Immunization Week from 24 to 30 April to spread the message that together communities, including parents, can protect everyone through vaccines. #VaccinesWork has long been used to bring together immunization advocates online. This year, UNICEF is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to encourage even greater reach.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has brought relaxation in the income tax rules related to residential properties' sale and carry-forward of losses, in order to facilitate fundraising by start-ups.The relaxation laws are part of the 'Startup India Vision 2024' that's been prepared by the DPIIT.The DPIIT recommended amendments in Section 54GB of the Income Tax Act, that is, capital gain on transfer of residential property not to be charged in certain cases and Section 79 that states, carry forward and set off of losses would be done for specific companies.The DPIIT has proposed to reduce shareholding requirements of founders from 50% to 20% and compulsory tenure from 5 years to 3 years. iv. Start-up promoters need to hold 100% shares for carrying forward of losses.

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba, presided over the day long review session of largest War Game of the Indian Navy - the Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX 19) intended to examine the conduct of the exercise and to assess the operational preparedness of the Indian Navy. TROPEX 19 had commenced with Tri-services Amphibious Exercise in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands with participation of Army and Air Force and about 60 ships of the Indian Navy, 12 ships of the Indian Coast Guard and 60 aircraft were part of the exercise. It was the largest in terms of geographical spread covering the IOR and also with regard to the number of participating units.