Roger Federer returns to clay after three years. Federer said that he was glad he made the decision to return to clay courts. He will be playing his first match since 2016, after break due to knee and back issues.
At the Madrid open, that starts on Monday, the world number four will be playing his first competitive clay outing since the Italian Open in 2016.
Federer said, “I’m happy that the decision I took last December, when I started feeling like I definitely want to play on the clay, was the right one”.
“I haven’t looked back yet during the clay court build-up, thinking, ‘Ah, maybe I shouldn’t have.’ I’m happy I’m here, I’m happy I am on the surface. It takes some time getting used to how to construct the points a little bit more because there is more baseline (play), a possibility to play with more angles and height. It’s been interesting and fun, but not so challenging”, added Federer.
After winning his most recent title in Miami, Federer said, “I’m very excited. It’s a good challenge, a good test. Confidence, I don’t know, it’s in no-man’s land. I have to start from scratch”.
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Pope Francis has started a three day visit to the countries Bulgaria and North Macedonia. His visits aimed at improving relations with the Orthodox Church.
On arriving, Pope was greeted by Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov. Borissov said about Pope’s visit as, “it reflects his interest in the peaceful economic development of the Balkans”.
During his visit, Pope urged the Bulgarians to change their attitude towards migrants. The Orthodox leaders said they would not take part in joint services or prayers with the Pope.
Pope said, “To all Bulgarians, who are familiar with the drama of emigration, I respectfully suggest that you not close your eyes, your hearts or your hands — in accordance with your best tradition — to those who knock at your door”.
“Bulgaria faces the effects of the emigration in recent decades of over two million of her citizens in search of new opportunities for employment,” he said, adding that this had “led to the depopulation and abandonment of many villages and cities”, he added.
The Vatican has been trying for the unity between the two branches of Christianity, which split in 1054. During his three day tour, Pope is also visiting a refugee camp on the outskirts of Sofia and a commemoration of Mother Teresa, the most famous native of the Macedonian capital Skopje.
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During emergency landing of a Russian plane at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, 41 people were killed on board. Reports said that at least 2 children were included in the attack.
Videos were released in several social media and it showed passengers using emergency exit slides to escape the burning Aeroflot aircraft. The plane Aeroflot flight SU 1492, burst into flames on impact and bouncing down the runway.
Reports said that the plane was carrying 73 passengers and five crew on board. Yelena Markovskaya, an investigative committee official said, “There are 37 survivors – 33 passengers and four members of the crew”. 5 people are admitted in the hospital.
Interfax news agency of Russia reported that a “loss of communication” caused by a “lightning strike” had led to the decision to return to Sheremetyevo. Reports said that an American citizen was also killed in the crash. The cause of the accident has not yet been officially declared.
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German police have shut down one of the major illegal websites of online market. The police have arrested 3 men on this case, who were illegally running this ‘dark web’.
The website named ‘Wall Street Market’ (WSM) was dealing with the trade in cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines as well as stolen data, fake documents and malicious software.
Over 5,000 registered sellers and more than 60,000 sales offers were found on the website platform with more than 1m customer accounts.
US prosecutors said, “WSM operated like a conventional e-commerce website, such as eBay and Amazon. However, its sole existence was geared to the trafficking of contraband”.
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Jacinda Arder (38), the Prime Minister of New Zealand gets engaged to Clarke Gayford (41), her long time partner. Her spokesman, on Friday said that the couple got engaged after a proposal over the Easter holidays.
Clarke Gayford is the host of a TV fishing show. The couple have a ten-month-old daughter named Neve Te Aroha. The pregnancy of Arder was announced in early 2018, and it was considered as a motivation symbol of progress for women in leadership roles.
The couple were widely congratulated on social media after the news of their engagement was out. New Zealand National Party leader Simon Bridges wrote, “Natalie and I extend our congratulations to the PM and Clarke on their engagement”.
Natalie and I extend our congratulations to the PM and Clarke on their engagement.
After Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Ardern is only the second elected leader to give birth while in office. Jacinda Arder was a noted personality in the New Zealand Mosque attack issue, for showing extreme compassion for the victims.
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In the May Day demonstrations in Paris, the French police have fired tear gas on masked protesters. The clash caused several damages like burning bins, smashing property and hurling projectiles in the rally.
The shop windows were ruined and some threw projectiles at the officers deployed, who were a number of more than 7,000. Around 380 were arrested by the police. The police were forced to use the tear gas and water cannon at the protesters.
Police said that several people were lightly wounded. As per reports, around 38 people, including 14 officers were wounded. The hard-left CGT union, in a statement said, “This current scenario, scandalous and unprecedented, is unacceptable in our democracy”.
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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had revealed some changes to the portfolio of FB’s social platforms. The changes includes Instagram and WhatsApp also.
Facebook had been facing criticisms over the leakage of user’s privacy issues. The new designs and features for its apps are providing a direct solution for this widespread privacy criticisms.
Zuckerberg said that the company is aiming to make the users privacy concerns on top priority. The Facebook boss also acknowledged that there was much to do to rebuild trust.
Zuckerberg, in a speech said that Facebook’s new features focus on privacy as “a major shift” in how the company is run.
“The future is private. I know we don’t have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, to put it lightly”, said Mark Zuckerberg.
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Spain’s ruling Socialists wins the election by collecting most of the votes. They failed to win a majority amid historic gains by the far-right. This was one among the crucial elections in decades.
29% of the votes were polled by PM Pedro Sánchez’s party. In order to form a government, they will need the help of either left-wing Podemos and regional parties, or the centre right, to form a government.
Since military rule ended in the 1970s, it is for the first time a far-right party is set to enter parliament. The Popular Party (PP) faced a collapse in support. The Popular Party had governed Spain until it was dumped from power in May 2018 in a no-confidence vote.
In this election, the Popular Party could just win 66 seats, down from 137 in the previous parliament.
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Finally, the Sparkling crown of Miss Glam World 2019 fits on the head of Ms. Rachel Leigh Stacy, from USA. Miss Glam World 2019, the prestigious event was presented by Manappuram Finance Ltd and Mahindra, and organised by Pegasus, at Gokulam Convention Centre, India, Kerala.
Ms. Reshma RK Nambiar from India and Ms. Daria Shapovalova from Tatarstan were the first and second runners up respectively. Previous year winner Ms. Estefania Chavez Garcia crowned the Miss Glam World 2019 winner. Mr. V P Nandakumar, MD & CEO of Manappuram Finance Ltd and Mr. Suresh Kumar, Regional Sales Manager Mahindra and Mahindra crowned the first and second runners up.
Manappuram Finance Limited and Mahindra are the prime partners of the event in which 37 beautiful ladies from different countries of the world competed for the title. Saj Earth Resorts & Convention center, Medimix and DQUE Watches are the powered by partners of the event.
The grooming session for this competition had the prime rounds such as National costume round, Red cocktail round and White gown round,and was commenced from April 20th in SAJ Earth Resort & convention centre, Kochi. The session, which was handled by prominent personalities in the modelling sector, and which aimed to impart knowledge in yoga, meditation, personality development, beauty care, catwalk, photo shoot and talent search to the contestants, helped the ladies to gain more confidence.
Eminent personalities from the film and fashion sectors were present in the judging panel of the event for judging and guiding the contestants. The Judges were, Hari Anand, Christine Huang, Anjali Raut Gill, S. Sreesanth and Estefania Chavez Garcia.
Miss Glam World along with Miss South India, Mrs South India, Miss Queen of India, Miss Asia and Miss Asia Global are also conducted by Pegasus and are the only beauty pageants which does not judge a women’s beauty with a bikini round, said Dr. Ajit Ravi, Chairman of Pegasus.
The winners were crowned with the golden crown designed by Parakkat Jewellers. Apart from the winners, the judging panel also selected the sub-title winners.
The Sub-title winners are:
Miss Beautiful Hair: Ratih Ayu Syafriza (Indonesia) Miss Beautiful Smile: Rachel Leigh Stacy (USA) Miss Beautiful Skin: Erin Chapman (Canada) Miss Beautiful Face: Depaepe Charlotte (France) Miss Beautiful Eyes:Welikatiyage Sarangi Sangeetha (Sri Lanka Miss Congeniality: Erin Chapman (Canada) Miss Personality: Kaddy Samateh (Gambia) Miss Catwalk: Rachel Leigh Stacy (USA) Miss Perfect Ten: Enanga Ndolo Mbesa (Cameroon) Miss Talent: Daria Shapovalova (Tatarstan) Miss Photogenic: Gluščević Natalija (Montenegro) Miss Viewers’ Choice: Karina Serazetdinova (Russia) Miss Social Media: Ratih Ayu Syafriza (Indonesia) Miss Fitness: Daria Shapovalova (Tatarstan) Gourmet Queen: Erin Chapman (Canada) Miss National Costume: Ma Han Thu San (Myanmar)
Only invited guests were permitted access to the venue where the program took place. Those received the invitation have been advised to wear black or red coloured dress.
Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank have abandoned the merger talks. They said that the deal could not be approved since it appeared to be too risky. The banks unanimously said that the deal would not have generated “sufficient benefits” to offset the costs of the deal.
Two biggest listed lenders of Germany had said there were too many problems to justify pursuing a complex deal that would have formed the Euro-zone’s second-largest lender with €1.8tn in assets and 140,000 employees.
The formal merger talks between the banks started last month only. The government of Germany had been supporting the tie-ups. Olaf Sholz, the Finance Minister wanted a national champion in the banking industry, says media reports.
15.5% of stake is still owned by the government in Commerzbank, acquired after the bank was bailed out following the financial crisis.
The shares of Deutsche Bank fell by 1.5% to €7.48 each. The Commerzbank shares dropped 2.5% to €7.60.
If united, these banks would have controlled one fifth of Germany’s High Street banking business with €1.8 trillion ($2tn; £1.6tn) of assets, such as loans and investments.
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