World Haemophilia Day observed on April 17. The theme of 2019 WHD is;

An international research team including Dr. Surhud More and Dr. Anupreeta More from Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune has ruled out the possibility of primordial black holes being a major constituent of dark matter using Subaru telescope. This finding disproves a theoretical claim of Prof Stephen Hawking. In the solar system, Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, takes just 88 days to make one revolution around the sun, while Neptune, the farthest one, takes 165 years to make one round. In like manner, laws of gravity expect us to see stars closer to the centre of galaxies rotating faster than the stars on the edge.

As per RBI notification, IDBI Bank has been categorized as a private sector lender following the acquisition of majority stake by Life Insurance Corporation. IDBI Bank has been under the prompt corrective action framework of RBI that bans it from corporate lending and branch expansions, salary hikes and other regular activities. In January 2019, LIC completed the process of picking up a controlling 51% stake in the nearly crippled IDBI Bank. IDBI Bank has been categorized as a 'private sector bank' with effect from January 21, 2019.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) searches in Madhya Pradesh by Delhi Directorate of Income Tax have detected widespread and well-organised racket for the collection of unaccounted cash of about 281 crore rupees through various persons. The department has also detected a trail of 20 crore rupees suspect cash allegedly being moved to the headquarters of a major political party in Delhi from the house of an important person. The CBDT identified the political party nor the senior functionary. It added that records of collection and disbursement of cash in the form of handwritten diaries, computer files and excel sheets were found and seized and it corroborates the above findings. The several unaccounted and benami properties at posh locations in Delhi have also been detected.

Assam State government has launched initiatives to educate voters. Folk song competitions, quiz programmes and appeals by celebrities are some of the initiatives being undertaken by the election office in Assam for attracting women, first-time voters, people with physical disabilities and senior citizens to cast their votes. Sprinter Hima Das, Whitley Awardee and environmentalist Purnima Devi Barman, singer Tarali Sarma, body builder Golap Rabha and actor Kopil Bora have been roped in as State icons to create awareness about the election process. District election officers have been directed to reach out to the maximum number of voters in the constituencies under their jurisdiction. Polling stations with low female voter turn-out have been identified and 'mahila voter rallies' are being held.

J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the '4th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit' in New Delhi, in the presence of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Union Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology and Health Ministers from several countries. The global intergovernmental meeting on digital health is being hosted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP).

In accordance with the International Energy Agency (IEA)'s Global Energy & CO2 status report, India's energy demand has surpassed the global demand growth in 2018. India's primary demand increased 4% in 2018 in comparison to energy consumption worldwide grew by 2.3%. This accounts for 11 per cent of global demand growth.The growth in India was led by coal for power generation and oil for transport.

Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners has been increased from 9% to 12% with effect from January 1, 2019. This move will benefit 48.41 lakh central government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 9,168.12 crore per annum and Rs 10,696.14 crore in 2019-20 (for a period of 14 months from January 2019 to February 2020). Previously, the Cabinet had increased dearness allowance in March 2018, from 5% to 7% in accordance with the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC).

Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected Nigeria's President, results showed, after a delayed poll that angered voters and led to claims of rigging and collusion. Buhari, 76, took an unassailable lead of more than four million votes as the last states were yet to be declared, making it impossible for his nearest rival, Atiku Abubakar, to win.

India evacuated its entire contingent of 15 CRPF personnel from Tripoli after the situation suddenly worsened in Libya. The CRPF contingent was deployed as a peacekeeping force in Tripoli. The military conflict in Libya escalated after forces of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar launched an air strike yesterday in an area in Tripoli and the government vowed a major counteroffensive. The United Nations called for a two-hour truce to allow evacuations of civilians and the wounded. Rivalries between Haftar and the government threaten to plunge the country into a civil war. Indian Ambassador in Tunisia has the concurrent charge of Libya.

India ranked at the 54th Position with a score of 47.93 out of 100 among the world's most innovative countries according to the Bloomberg 2019 Innovative Index. South Korea retained its top spot with a score of 87.38, Germany ranked second with a score of 87.30 whereas Finland has been ranked at the third spot with a score of 85.70. The Annual Bloomberg Innovation Index ranks countries by analyzing their performances using seven metrics including Research and Development spending, Manufacturing Categories and Concentration of high-tech public computers.