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

The National Sports Awards 2018 were officialy announced on Thursday. The full list of National Sports Awards winners was released by Press Information Bureau (PIB) on their official website.

As expected, Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu will receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award- India's highest sports honour.

Kohli will become the third Indian cricketer after legendary Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and the talismanic former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007) once the sports ministry officially accepts the committee's recommendation.

India and Morocco signed the revised Air Services Agreement between the two countries enabling greater connectivity through a modernized agreement. The delegation of the two countries have met three times in the past years wherein they have worked towards liberalization of markets between the two countries and updating of the existing Air Services Agreement. The two sides cleared the legal and technical difficulties and agreed to a modern new text for the Air Services Agreement. Thereafter, both sides took approval for the agreed text of the Air Services Agreement from the respective governments and after approval, this document has been formally signed during the visit of Shri Mohammed Sajid, Minister of Tourism, Air Transport, Handicraft and Social Economy who signed for the Moroccan side and the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh Prabhu signed for the Indian side.

This milestone is enabler for greater air connectivity between India and Morocco and will enable the airlines of each side to enter into code share with airlines of other party, as well as provide greater freedom in mounting direct flights. These developments in the Civil Aviation sector will enable the people of each country to travel to the other country leading to better economic and cultural ties

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu left for Belgrade Friday afternoon for the first phase of his 7- day tour to three central European countries, Serbia, Malta and Romania.

He is accompanied by Minister of State for (Finance) Mr. Shiv Pratap Shukla, 3 MPs from Rajya Sabha and one from Lok Sabha along with a business delegation headed by C.I.I.

The vice president will reach Serbia this evening, where he will address the Indian diaspora. Official welcome ceremony will be held on Saturday. He will hold a meeting with the President of Serbia. Various MoUs will also be signed between the two countries. Later, he will address a special session of National Assembly of Serbia.

The Vice - President will leave for Malta on 16th of September for the second phase of his visit. He is scheduled to interact with the heads of states of all the three countries and witness the signing of MoUs.

The Vice President's visit is expected to strengthen India’s bilateral relations with these three countries. The visit will help the countries to exchange expertise and share knowledge in the fields of economy, environment, trade and culture.