Every year on April 22, people all around the world celebrate Earth Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness and taking action to protect our planet. Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has grown into a global movement, inspiring millions to advocate for environmental conservation and sustainability.

Earth Day is a global event dedicated to raising awareness about protecting our environment. It's a day to reflect on the importance of a healthy planet and take action to ensure a sustainable future for all.

The very first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. Since then, it's grown into a massive movement, with billions of people participating in events and activities worldwide.

National Civil Service Day 2024, Date, History, Theme: To acknowledge and honour the work of civil servants engaged in public service, the backbone of the nation’s administration, the Government of India celebrates National Civil Services Day on April 21 every year in India.

This day commemorates the address given by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of Independent India, to probationary officers in 1947, where he referred to civil servants as ‘the steel frame of India,’ thereby serving as a reminder to reflect on their services and reaffirm their commitment to serving citizens.

The observance of the day entails the recognition and motivation of civil service officers, the evaluation of departmental performance, and the presentation of awards for excellence in public administration.

Two-time world champion Kento Momota said Thursday he is retiring from international badminton aged 29, ending a top-level career that never recovered from a car crash four years ago.

Momota, who had already missed out on a place at the Paris Olympics, will play for Japan for the last time at the Thomas Cup in China later this month.

The former World No. 1 will only feature in domestic competitions in Japan after that and not on badminton’s World Tour.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) has inaugurated a new engine assembly line at its Global Resource Factory in Manesar, Gurugram (Haryana). This assembly line will be used for the production of the completely knocked down (CKD) assembly of the engines used in the brand's motorcycles. This assembly line can manufacture 600 engines per day. Based on the Japanese automaker's announcement this will be capable of producing engines for various models ranging from 110 cc to 300 cc and will cater to various customers of the brand around the world.

This assembly will be capable of utilizing DC tools for critical torquing. It will also have a vision camera inspection system and traceability of parts and processes. Furthermore, the brand has also added a dedicated exhaust collection line and an acoustic chamber to inspect engine sound.

NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd. (NBBL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), in association with State Bank of India (SBI), has onboarded SBI National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) on its Bharat BillPay platform for the convenience of travellers.

The category is already live with SBI NCMC cards for Noida Metro, Nagpur Metro, MMRDA Line 2A & 7, Chennai Metro, Kanpur Metro, and Parliament Canteen via the bank’s Bharat BillPay-enabled application, SBI Unipay, and more platforms will go live with the service soon, NBBL said in a statement.

Pathogens that transmit through the air will be described by the term ’infectious respiratory particles’ or IRPs, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The world health body has thus ended the lack of a common terminology to describe the transmission of these pathogens, which was particularly challenging during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement on Thursday came following wide-ranging consultations across multiple steps in 2021-2023.

“The challenge became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as experts from various sectors were required to provide scientific and policy guidance. Varying terminologies highlighted gaps in common understanding and contributed to challenges in public communication and efforts to curb the transmission of the pathogen,” the WHO noted.

Deepak Parekh has decided to step down as the Chairman and Non-Executive Director of the HDFC Life Insurance Company with effect from April 18.

The board on Thursday unanimously approved the appointment of Keki M Mistry as the Chairman of the board. Mistry has been associated with the company since December 2000 and is currently a Non-Executive Director on the board.

“Being the founder Chairman of our company, Parekh has been instrumental in guiding and nurturing the company over the past 24 years. We thank Parekh for the immense contributions made by him,” the company said in a statement. Parekh was the Chairman of HDFC Ltd which merged with HDFC Bank a year ago.

Takshvi Vaghani, a six-year-old from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, has achieved the title of “lowest limbo skating over 25 m”, said Guinness World Records (GWR). In a video shared by the record-keeper on Instagram, we can see Takshvi nailing the challenge without breaking a sweat. For those who don’t know, this particular sport requires the person to skate beneath a horizontal pole. Takshvi achieved the feet on March 10 last year. As per GWR’s official website, Takshvi “decided to attempt for personal achievement.” The video created a buzz after Guinness World Records posted it on April 10. “Lowest limbo skating over 25 m,16 cm (6.29 in) by Takshvi Vaghani,” the side note read.

Within a few hours of being shared, the video collected 1.5 million views and several comments. A user wrote, “Kinda records that should be beaten, just wow”. Another said, “Awesome and Amazing! Congratulations.” A user commented, “Impressive”. While another said, “She has potential,” and a user lauded her feat saying, “Wow, so proud of her”.

India is set to deliver the first batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and launchers to the Philippines on Friday, two years after the two countries signed a deal worth almost $375 million to equip the Philippine Marines with three batteries of the missiles, officials aware of the matter said on Thursday.

Indian aircraft will fly the consignment to the south-east Asian country, the officials said asking not to be named.

The January 2022 deal was seen as a shot in the arm for New Delhi’s efforts to emerge as an exporter of major defence hardware.

In a remarkable stroke of cosmic luck, astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) have stumbled upon what is now considered the largest 'sleeping’ black hole in the Milky Way galaxy. This colossal entity, named Gaia BH3, was discovered inadvertently while scientists were analyzing data from the ESA’s Gaia space observatory. With a mass 33 times that of our Sun, this discovery has not only expanded our understanding of the celestial bodies within our galaxy but also challenged existing theories about the formation and growth of massive stars.

Black holes are regions in space characterized by such intense gravitational forces that even light cannot escape from them. They are usually detected by the X-ray radiation emitted when they interact with nearby stars. However, ‘sleeping’ or dormant black holes, like Gaia BH3, do not have nearby stars to feed on, making them incredibly difficult to detect as they do not emit any light. These black holes can only be identified indirectly through their gravitational effects on surrounding celestial objects.