NEW DELHI: The inaugural General Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) will take place on October 2, the Ministry of External Affairs said Friday.
The ministerial level assembly will be held in Greater Noida the following day, it said.

The Founding Conference of the ISA was jointly hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in March this year.

The ISA, formation of which was initiated by India and France, aims to bring all countries together for cooperation on solar energy.

During the founding conference, PM Modi had announced India's commitment to extend nearly USD 1.4 billion worth of lines of credit (LOCs) to cover 27 projects in 15 countries, especially in Africa

Actor Anushka Sharma who has received the Smita Patil award for best actor, said it validates the choices that she has made so far in her career. Addressing the media at the 34th edition of the Priyadarshini Academy Global Awards 2018 on Wednesday, Anushka said, “It’s a special day for me because I completed 10 years in the industry on this day. So receiving this award validates the choices that I made in my career. I don’t come from a film background. I didn’t have anyone to guide me in my journey. My parents also don’t belong to this industry so they also don’t know how the industry works,” she said.

The actor, who is gearing up for the release of her film Sui Dhaaga, made her debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008. She thanked all the writers and directors for playing a key role in her success journey.

“I also want to thank all the writers who wrote amazing roles for me and the directors who envisioned me in those roles. I don’t think any actor’s career is complete without the contribution of these two people. I want to thank every supporter of mine all over the world

BHUBANESWAR: Amidst downpour, India successfully test-fired surface-to-surface short-range tactical ballistic missile Prahaar from a defence facility off Odisha coast on Thursday paving the way for its induction.

Mounted on a mobile launcher the indigenously developed missile was flight tested from the launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 1.35 pm.

“The missile blasted off from a canister travelled the desired range before zeroing on the target. All systems functioned normally. The mission achieved a copybook success,” said a defence official.

Equipped with state of the art navigation, guidance and electromechanical actuation systems with the latest onboard computer, the missile achieved the terminal accuracy of fewer than 10 meters. It went up vertically and then manoeuvred as coordinated.

NEW DELHI: The global community is celebrating the International Day of Peace today. The day is observed on 21 September every year. The International Day of Peace was first celebrated in 1982. It is recognized by United Nations. It has been declared by the United Nations General Assembly a day "devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples."
A resolution for the declaration of The International Day of Peace was moved by the United Kingdom and Costa Rica in 1981. Initially, the annual International Day of Peace was observed on every third Tuesday of September. The date was changed to September 21 in 2001.

The theme for the first International Day of Peace on 21 September 1982 was the right to peace of people.

In 2015, the United Nations Member States understood that the rights of people have to be ensured for a peaceful world in the future. The members also recognized the need to achieve economic and social development for all people everywhere for lasting peace in the world. Hence, they adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which cover a gamut of issues, including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice.

New Delhi: The BSE Sensex recovered nearly 900 points after plummeting over 1,100 points in the afternoon session on major selloff in finance stocks, despite firm global cues and rupee recovery.

The sharp downward swing was led by NBFCs and DHFL in particular as it crashed over 50% as investors pulled out fearing a liquidity crisis. 

There were wild swings on the market as both the bloodbath and the recovery were equally swift. The selloff was so intense that the Sensex crashed around 1,100 points within a matter of minutes. The recovery was fast too as the BSE benchmark immediately recovered over 900 points. 

After trading at an intra-day low of 35,993.64 points, against the previous close of 37,121.22 points, the benchmark index is currently trading at 36,512 points, down over 500 points from Thursday. The Sensex had lost 969.42 points in the previous three sessions.

NEW DELHI: 

The global community is celebrating the International Day of Peace today.  The day is observed on 21 September every year.  The International Day of Peace was first celebrated in 1982. It is recognized by United Nations. It has been declared by the United Nations General Assembly a day "devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples."

A resolution for the declaration of The International Day of Peace was moved by the United Kingdom and Costa Rica in 1981. Initially, the annual International Day of Peace was observed on every third Tuesday of September. The date was changed to September 21 in 2001.  

The theme for the first International Day of Peace on 21 September 1982 was the right to peace of people.

In 2015, the United Nations Member States understood that the rights of people have to be ensured for a peaceful world in the future. The members also recognized the need to achieve economic and social development for all people everywhere for lasting peace in the world. Hence, they adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which cover a gamut of issues, including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice.

India has contributed a whopping $1 million for the installation of solar panels on the roof of the imposing UN building at the world body’s headquarters here.

The contribution will help reduce carbon footprint and promote sustainable energy, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said in a tweet.

He said that India is the “first responder” to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for climate action.

“India funds solar project @UN Hqrs to reduce carbon footprint & promote sustainable energy,” Akbaruddin said, referring to India’s contribution of USD 1 million to the UN Headquarters’ Solar Project, in which solar panels will be installed on the roof of the imposing UN headquarters.

“I thank Ambassador @AkbaruddinIndia @IndiaUNNewYork for India’s generous contribution for the installation of solar panels on the roof of the @UN conference building. A strong message promoting #Innovation for action on #climatechange #efficiency,” Under-Secretary-General for Management Jan Beagle said in a tweet, expressing gratitude to Akbaruddin and the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.

World Bank Board has endorsed an ambitious five-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for India, which aligns with New Delhi's objectives of high, sustainable and inclusive growth.

The move is aimed at supporting India's transition to a higher middle-income country by addressing some of its key development priorities such as resource efficient and inclusive growth, job creation and building its human capital.

The framework is expected to bring between 25 and 30 billion US Dollars in financial support from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

World Bank South Asia vice president Hartwig Schafer said with a fast-growing economy, global stature, and its unique experience of lifting the highest number of poor out of poverty in the past decades, India is well-positioned to become a high middle-income country by 2030.

Soon after the World Bank endorsed the CPF for India, Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank, India, said, the Board recognises the incredible growth and development of India over the last several decades.

He said, it recognizes that India has gone from a low-income country status to a low-middle income. And now India is entering the economic

India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed surface-to-surface short-range tactical ballistic missile 'Prahaar' from the Odisha coast Thursday amid heavy rains.

'Prahar', developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is capable of filling the gap between the multi-barrel rocket system 'Pinaka' and medium-range ballistic missile 'Prithvi'. It can also engage multiple targets in different directions, official sources said.

The test launch was successful as the missile travelled a range of 200 km before zeroing in on the target, achieving all mission objectives, the sources said.

In a big push to modernise India's emergency response infrastructure, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Department of Space are collaborating together to set up an advance Integrated Control Room for Emergency Response (ICR-ER).

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the same was signed between ISRO and MHA on Wednesday which will enable setting up of a state-of-the-art Integrated Control Room for Emergency Response (ICR-ER) in Ministry of Home Affairs.

The MoU was signed by Joint Secretary (Disaster Management) Sanjeev Kumar Jindal on behalf of MHA and Dr P.V.N Rao, Deputy Director, NRSC, ISRO.

As per the memorandum, the ISRO will render its technical expertise for setting up of proposed ICR-ER whereas the project will be executed under the overall supervision of MHA. It is expected that proposed control room will be established in a time frame of