Which country recently reported the first ever case of the Monkeypox Virus?

To boost tea trade,cultural and technical exchanges as well as global promotion of tea,the Asian Tea Alliance (ATA), a union of five tea-growing and consuming countries,was opened in Guizhou,China. The alliance was constituted with Indian Tea Association,Indonesian tea Marketing Association,China tea marketing Association,Sri Lanka Tea Board and tea Association. This Alliance was formed based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Indian tea Association and China tea Marketing Association in December 2018 to promote tea consumption in India, China, U.S., Russia, Europe and West Asia.

Taiwan plans to strengthen ties with India's new government, including more official visits despite China's continuing efforts to isolate what it considers to be a wayward province. After India's general election results on May 23, the two countries will strengthen trade and cultural ties. The centre in the Indian capital operates as a de facto embassy, helping Indian and Taiwanese companies to expand business ties and easing discreet dialogue between government officials. Taiwan has opened four trade offices in India in the last few years and two-way trade has risen more than six-fold since 2000 to stand at more than $7 billion in 2018.

The Union Government on April 23, 2019 extended the ban on import of milk and its products, including chocolates, from China till laboratories at ports for testing the presence of toxic chemical melamine are upgraded. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notification that the prohibition on import of milk, milk products including chocolates, chocolate products, candies, confectionary and food preparations with milk or milk solids as an ingredient from China is extended until the capacity of all laboratories at ports of entry have been suitably upgraded for testing melamine. The extension of the ban was recommended by Food regulator FSSAI until all labs at ports are modernised to test the chemical.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump on May 8, 2019 imposed harsher sanctions on the iron, copper, steel and aluminium industry of Iran. The move is aimed at stopping Iran from pursuing its nuclear interests and acquiring nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal stating that it had failed to protect American national security interests and enabled Tehran's malign behaviour.

Nepal successfully launched its first satellite NepaliSat-1 into space. The satellite developed by the Nepalese scientists was launched from Virginia in the United States. It is a low orbit satellite which will be in the 400-km distance from the Earth's surface. Two Nepali scientists, Aabhas Maskey and Hariram Shrestha who are currently studying at Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology, developed the satellite under the BIRDS project of their institute.

The XXXVI Feliks Stamm International Boxing Tournament 2019 was held at Centre of Sport and Recreation in Warsaw, Poland from April 28 to May 5, 2019. The event was organised by the Polish Boxing Association. In this tournament, India won a total 6 medals which includes 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medal.

The second edition of Belt and Road Forum (BRF) was held in Beijing, China from April 25th to April 27th, 2019. The theme of this event was "Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future". Around 37 heads-of-state and 159 countries participated along with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Monetary Chief (IMF) Christine Lagarde. The Belt and Road Forum is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The idea of BRI was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

India and United Kingdom (UK) hold Foreign Office consultations in which both countries have agreed to strengthen their ties in the field of Indo-Pacific cooperation, climate change, disaster resilience, development in third world countries and others. Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale led the Indian delegation and Sir Simon McDonald, Permanent Under-Secretary Foreign and Commonwealth Office of British government led the UK delegation. Besides the meeting, UK representative Sir Simon McDonald formally handed the instrument of ratification of the UK joining the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to Vijay Gokhale.

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.

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India announced the appointment of Shri Subhash Chand as the next Ambassador of India to the State of Eritrea. He is presently serving as the Deputy High Commissioner in the High Commission of India, Abuja. He is going to take up this responsibility very soon.