In December 2005, the General Assembly declared that 4 April be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. Since then, each year, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) organizes a multimedia exhibition at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to raise awareness on threats caused by mines, explosive remnants of war, and improvised explosive devices. With co-organizers, UNMAS will unveil a photo exhibition featuring the “Safe Ground” campaign, which promotes the linkage between mine action, sport and the Sustainable Development Goals by showing how replacing minefields with playing fields brings communities together and raises awareness about victims and survivors of armed conflict. The campaign will be announced by the UN Secretary-General in his message commemorating the Day.

 Mine Action programmes in several countries will hold Safe Ground events, including in the State of Palestine, where UNMAS is organizing a football tournament in Gaza; in Cyprus, where UNMAS will survey and do a final sweep over land in the buffer zone that will be used by UNMAS and UNFICYP to construct a Safe Ground sporting facility; in Somalia where a soccer match will be organized; in Iraq where a road race is planned; as well as in South Sudan, Lebanon and Colombia, to name a few.

The Government on Thursday launched a mobile app developed in public-private partnership to bring the people of India together in a resolute fight against COVID-19.

The App, called ‘AarogyaSetu’ joins Digital India for the health and well-being of every Indian. The App will enable people to assess themselves the risk for their catching the Coronavirus infection.

It will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Once installed in a smartphone through an easy and user-friendly process, the app detects other devices with Aarogya Setu installed that come in the proximity of that phone.

The app can then calculate the risk of infection based on sophisticated parameters if any of these contacts is tested positive.

The World Bank has approved USD 1 billion emergency funding for India to help it tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Bank's first set of aid projects, amounting to USD 1.9 billion, will assist 25 countries, and new operations are moving forward in over 40 nations using the fast-track process, the bank said on Thursday.

The largest chunk of the emergency financial assistance has gone to India - USD 1 billion.

"In India, USD 1 billion emergency financing will support better screening, contact tracing, and laboratory diagnostics; procure personal protective equipment; and set up new isolation wards," the World Bank said after its Board of Executive Directors approved the first set of emergency support operations for developing countries around the world, using a dedicated, fast-track facility for COVID-19 response.

New Delhi: Digital payments company PhonePe on Wednesday announced a medical insurance policy called 'Corona Care' for people who have been infected and hospitalized for Coronavirus treatment. PhonePe launched this policy in partnership with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, one of India’s largest and most trusted general insurance companies.

This Coronavirus insurance policy is priced at Rs 156 with an insurance cover of Rs 50,000 for a person aged under 55 years and the cover is applicable at any hospital providing Coronavirus treatment.

Besides, it covers 30 days of expenses related to pre-hospitalization costs and post-care medical treatment.

"Customers don’t need to undertake any medical tests before purchasing the 'Corona Care' policy. They can purchase it instantly from the convenience of their homes considering the current lockdown observed in the country," PhonePe said.

PhonePe users can purchase their Coronavirus insurance policy available under the “My Money” section on the PhonePe app. The entire policy purchase process takes less than 2 minutes and customers will be instantly issued their policy documents inside the PhonePe app.

Speaking on the launch Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO, PhonePe said, “Unfortunately, despite global efforts to contain the pandemic, COVID-19 is still spreading fast and furiously across the world. The Indian government has taken very bold steps towards containing the outbreak in India."

The 67-year-old died after a heart attack around 4 am on Thursday. Amritsar civil surgeon Prabhdeep Kaur Johal said Nirmal Singh was put on ventilator after his condition worsened on Wednesday night.

Nirmal Singh was a former hazoori raagi (Gurbaani singer) at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Singh had addressed large religious gatherings in Delhi and in some other places after his return from abroad, news agency PTI reported. He had also taken part in a kirtan along with his family members at a house in Chandigarh on 19 March.

Singh’s two daughters, wife, son, driver and six others who went with him to the kirtan have been put in quarantine at a hospital in Chandigarh and they would be tested for coronavirus.

Emmy winner Adam Schlesinger, best known as the co-founder of the 2000s pop-rock band Fountains of Wayne, has succumbed to coronavirus complications. He was 52.

The composer was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 infection and was on a ventilator.

Schlesinger passed away on Wednesday morning, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed with Schlesinger’s lawyer.

He is also known for co-writing the band’s 2003 hit “Stacy’s Mom“.

He won three Primetime Emmys: two for original music and lyrics for the 2011 and 2012 Tony Awards and, another for original music and lyrics for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” in 2015.

New Delhi: The government has set up a National Monitoring Dashboard where novel coronavirus or COVID-19 related grievances received in Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System with all ministries, departments, states and Union Territories are monitored on a priority basis by a technical team.

It aims to ensure timely redress of COVID-19 grievances. Directions have been issued to all ministries and departments to prioritize these grievances and provide redress in three days.

The grievances monitored by a technical team of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) which developed the dashboard and implemented it at https://darpg.gov.in. DARPG is the nodal agency of the Central government for administrative reforms as well as redress of public grievances relating to the states in general and those pertaining to Central Government agencies in particular.

The 2021 world athletics championships in Eugene, Oregon will be shifted to 2022 to accommodate the re-arranged Tokyo Olympics, World Athletics said.

The announcement came immediately after Olympics organisers said the 2020 Tokyo Games -- postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic -- will now take place on July 23-August 8, 2021.

That means the world athletics championships that were scheduled to take place in Eugene on August 6-15, 2021, can no longer be held on those dates.

Philip Anderson, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who expanded the world’s understanding of magnetism and superconductivity, has died at 96.

Anderson died Sunday at the Princeton Windrows retirement community in Princeton, New Jersey, his daughter said. No cause was reported.

Bogdan Andrei Bernevig, a Princeton professor of physics, said in a statement that Anderson will be known as the man who started solid state physics as a field.

Bernevig described Anderson as complex and said that “I was always in awe of his intellect. He was working on theories for regular days well into his 90s.”

During his career in academia, Anderson advised another Nobel Prize winner, F. Duncan Haldane, who won the 2016 prize in physics. Anderson inspired another winner, Brian Josephson, who won the 1973 Nobel Prize and took a class taught by Anderson at Cambridge.

The UN has postponed a critical summit meant to jumpstart global climate action until 2021 as the world reels from the coronavirus pandemic.

The UN talks, known as Cop26, had been due to take place in Glasgow from 9-20 November with the goal of spurring deep cuts in greenhouse gases in the coming decade to rein in rising temperatures.

Up to 30,000 delegates were expected from around the world in the biggest diplomatic event the UK has ever hosted.

“The world is currently facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing their efforts on saving lives and fighting Covid-19,” Alok Sharma, UK president-designate of Cop26, said in a statement. “That is why we have decided to reschedule Cop26.”

“Covid-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today, but we cannot forget that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity over the long term,” said Patricia Espinosa, head of UN Climate Change.