1) Country's 1st bio refinery plant inaugurated in Pune
•Union Minister for Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the country's first bio-refinery plant which produces ethanol from the variety of biomass.
•The project is situated at Rahu in Pune district. Mr. Gadkari stated that Plant can produce one million litre of ethanol per annum by processing a variety of agro-residue like rice and wheat straw, cotton stalk, cane trash, corn cobs with superior product yields.
2) PM Modi addresses Indian heads of mission meet in New Delhi
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an Indian heads of mission meet in New Delhi, which is brainstorming key foreign policy issues and challenges including India’s engagement with major powers as well as strain in ties with Pakistan and China.
•The four-day conference, was formally inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. India’s ties with the resource-rich African continent as well as with the Gulf countries and the situation in the West Asia were also discussed during the meet.
3) World Red Cross Day: 8th May
•World Red Cross Day is observed on May 8 every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross as well as the founder of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The theme for this year (2017) is “Less Known Red Cross Stories”.
•He was the most famous person and became the recipient of 1st Nobel Peace Prize. World Red Cross Day 2017 will be celebrated all across the world by the National Societies affiliated to the ICRC on 8th of May.
4) Emmanuel Macron elected as President of France
•Pro-European centrist leader Emmanuel Macron has been elected as President of France. 39-year-old former investment banker, who has never held elected office, becomes the youngest President and occupant of the Élysée Palace (official residence of the President of France).
•Mr. Macron will also become the first President from outside the two traditional main parties since the modern republic’s foundation in 1958. The French Interior Ministry said with 93 percent of the votes counted, Mr. Macron had about 19.3 million votes, while Ms. Marine Le Pen secured about 10.4 million was the close rival in elections.
5) India organized festival in Egypt to mark Tagore’s birth anniversary
•India has organized a cultural festival in Egypt to mark the 156th birth anniversary of the famous Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore. The Tagore festival is being organized by the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture, the cultural wing of the Indian Embassy in Cairo, from today.
•The festival will conclude on May 12 with ‘Rituranga -Play of Seasons’ which will be performed by members of the Indian community at the Hanager Theatre. Rabindranath Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He was the first non-European to win this prestigious award, in recognition for his collection of poems, ‘Gitanjali’.
6) Facebook Launches ‘Express Wi-Fi’ in India
•Facebook has launched its 'Express Wi-Fi' commercially in India and the service is now available via 700 hotspots across four states of Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Meghalaya.
•For the expansion of service, Facebook has announced a partnership with Bharti Airtel for setting up an additional 20,000 hotspots covering millions of Indians over the next few months. Apart from India, 'Express Wi-Fi' services are currently active in Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Express Wi-Fi is a part of Facebook’s global initiative to expand internet connectivity.
