"Global Surge In Domestic Violence": UN Chief Amid Virus Lockdown

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Key Highlights

• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is urging governments around the world to include the protection of women in their response to the deadly novel coronavirus pandemic.


• "Violence is not confined to the battlefield," said Guterres in a statement and a video released in multiple languages, reminiscent of his call for a ceasefire in conflicts worldwide to face the COVID-19 pandemic.

Irish PM To Work For Health Service During Coronavirus Crisis

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Key Highlights

• Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has rejoined the medical register to help the health service during the coronavirus crisis, a government spokesman said.


• Dr. Varadkar "has offered his services to the Health Service Executive for one session a week in areas that are within his scope of practice", a government spokesman said in a statement.

British PM Boris Johnson Hospitalised 10 Days After Testing Positive For COVID-19

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Key Highlights

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was taken to hospital for tests, his office said, 10 days after he tested positive for coronavirus.


• Johnson, 55, announced he had mild symptoms of COVID-19 on March 27 and had been in self-isolation at his Downing Street residence for seven days.


• He had been scheduled to re-emerge after a week of recovery and working remotely but said he would remain at home because he still had a high temperature one of the symptoms.

Italy Starts To Look Ahead To 'Phase Two' As COVID-19 Death Count Slows

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Key Highlights

• Italy reported its lowest daily COVID-19 death toll for more than two weeks as authorities began to look ahead to a second phase of the battle against the new coronavirus once the lockdown imposed almost a month ago is eventually eased.


• The toll from the world's deadliest outbreak reached 15,887, almost a quarter of the global death total, but the rise of 525 from a day earlier was the smallest daily increase since March 19, while the number of patients in badly stretched intensive care units fell for a second day running.

Donald Trump Warns "Toughest Week" Ahead As Global Virus Deaths Top 60,000

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Key Highlights

• US President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a "very horrendous" number of coronavirus deaths in the coming days, ahead of a rare speech by Queen Elizabeth II aimed at rallying hard-hit Britain.


• Global deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic have soared past 60,000, with Europe continuing to bear the brunt of the virus which has left roughly half the planet confined at home.

PM Modi Greets People On Mahavir Jayanti

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Key Highlights

• Greeting people on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Lord Mahavir's life, based on truth and non-violence, will remain an inspiration for all.


• "Happy Mahavir Jayanti to all citizens. His (Lord Mahavir''s) life based on truth, non-violence, and austerity will always remain an inspiration for everyone," the prime minister tweeted in Hindi.

Greatest Emergency Since Independence": Raghuram Rajan On COVID-19

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Key Highlights

• The government should prioritise spending on the poor, and cut back on or delay less important expenditure, former RBI chief Raghuram Rajan has said, describing the coronavirus pandemic as the "greatest emergency since Independence".


• Giving his prescription for India's coronavirus response in a blog, he also says if the government insists on driving everything from the Prime Minister's Office, "with the same overworked people, it will do too little, too late".

India's COVID-19 Deaths Cross 100, 32 In A Day, Highest So Far

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Key Highlights

• 109 people have died of coronavirus in India, with 32 dying and 693 fresh cases in the last 24 hours alone, the highest so far.


• The latest figures from the Union Health Ministry take the takes the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country past the 4,000-mark, to 4,067 cases. This is for the fourth consecutive day that India has registered an increase of 500-plus cases.

Let’s make India Covid-19-free: PM Modi on BJP’s 40th foundation day

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Key Highlights

• Amid muted celebrations to mark its 40th foundation day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set itself the task of reaching out to thank health care workers, policemen, sanitation workers, who are on the frontline of the battle against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), as well as those who have been providing essential services during the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the pandemic.


• Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted his party colleagues and asked them to help those in need as the country fights to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Jadavpur University Working On Three-Layer Fabric Masks Using Low-Cost Materials

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Key Highlights

• Researchers at Jadavpur University have developed a prototype of a three-layer fabric mask using low-cost and readily available materials, amid the growing demand for such safety equipment to combat the dreaded coronavirus.


• The varsity's Centre for Appropriate Social Technologies (CAST), an idea incubation center, has prepared the preliminary version working on a "simple procedure" and with materials mostly available at home, it said in a statement.


• The two outer layers of the mask are made of polypropylene fabric, while a cotton towel forms the inner portion.

NIRF Ranking 2020 Deferred Due To COVID-19

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Key Highlights

• National Institutional Framework Ranking (NIRF) announcement for 2020 has been deferred. A notice on the NIRF website says, "The announcement of India Rankings 2020 is postponed until further notice due to COVID 19."


• NIRF rankings are announced in the first week of April. In 2019, the NIRF rankings were announced on April 8. Last year was also the first time that MHRD announced ARIIA rankings.

OJEE 2020 Application Deadline Extended

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Key Highlights

• Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) Committee has extended the last date for OJEE application. Now, students can apply for OJEE 2020 till April 25, 2020. The last date to pay application fee has been extended up to April 30, 2020.


• The Committee had extended the application date from March 20 to March 27, 2020, and online fee payment up to March 31.


• The committee had later announced that in view of the country-wide lockdown applicants would be given adequate scope and time for online application and other processes related to OJEE.

India's March services activity contracts amid COVID-19 disruptions

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Key Highlights

• India's dominant services sector, the lifeblood for economic growth and jobs, contracted in March as new business and export demand fell sharply as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc globally, a private survey showed.


• Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered India's 1.3 billion people to stay home and shut shops and businesses selling non-essential goods for 21 days from March 25 to try and contain the virus spreading, suggesting April's downturn will be more severe.

'SBI Life Insurance could turn out to be a multibagger in the next 5 years'

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Key Highlights

• I would recommend investors accumulate SBI Life Insurance in this downtrend for better than market returns in the next 5 years, VK Sharma, Head PCG & Capital Markets Strategy, HDFC Securities, said in an interview with Moneycontrol’s Kshitij Anand.


• Rising numbers of infections in the US, the fall of the US Indices, fear arising out of the super spreader event of Nizamuddin, is making the markets sulk.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Economy
What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 4 April ? In this daily round-up, we'll bring you a selection of the latest news updates on the coronavirus pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected. Today's big stories include: IMF head warns of the steepest downturn since Great Depression; How this app is helping UK health systems plan resources; Why economist Robert Shiller says we're fighting two pandemics.
What is the World Economic Forum doing about the coronavirus outbreak? A new strain of Coronavirus, COVID 19, is spreading around the world, causing deaths and major disruption to the global economy.
Responding to this crisis requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forum’s mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
The Forum has created the COVID Action Platform, a global platform to convene the business community for collective action, protect people’s livelihoods and facilitate business continuity, and mobilize support for the COVID-19 response. The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.
As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia, and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.
How COVID-19 is impacting the globe ? There are more than 1,123,000 confirmed cases of infection and more than 59,000 confirmed deaths worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 228,000 people have reportedly recovered from COVID-19. Ventilators in New York City will be redistributed to the city's hardest-hit areas. In Malaysia, meals and 3-D printed masks are sent to health workers.
The global economy is set for its sharpest reversal since the Great Depression, IMF warns ? “This is a crisis like no other,” said Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), at a conference organized by the World Health Organization yesterday.
“Never in the history of the IMF have we witnessed the world economy coming to a standstill,” she said. “It is way worse than the global financial crisis.”
Georgieva's speech followed in the wake of more startling economic data to emerge from the US, which now has more confirmed cases of COVID-19 than any other country in the world. The US economy lost 710,000 jobs in early March, ending a run of 113 months of continuous job growth. The official figures were far worse than many economists had predicted.
Earlier this week, data showed that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits hit a record high for the second week in a row. More than 6.6 million people filed jobless claims in the week ended 28 March, the Department of Labor said.

What you need to know about the Coronavirus Pandemic on 4 April

Indian PM, US President Discuss Pandemic & Impact on Economy ? PM Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation on Saturday with Donald Trump, President of United States of America. The two leaders exchanged views on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global well-being and economy.
The Prime Minister conveyed deep condolences for the loss of lives in the United States and his prayers for the early recovery of those still suffering from the disease.

Indian PM, US President Discuss Pandemic & Impact on Economy

World Games in Birmingham, Alabama postponed to 2022

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Key Highlights

• 2020, The International World Games organisers announced that 2021 World Games to be held in Birmingham, Alabama has been postponed to the year 2022 due to the conflict of rescheduled dates of the Tokyo Olympics.


• The rescheduled dates of World Games are from July 7 to 17, 2022.

World Car Awards 2020 Winners To Be Announced Online For The First Time

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Key Highlights

• The winners of the 2020 World Car Awards are all set to be announced on April 8, however owing to the coronavirus outbreak, it will happen digitally.


• Traditionally, the World Car Awards was always held at the Geneva Motor Show, however, given the dire situation, the motor show was cancelled and for the first time ever, the winners will be announced in a ceremony which will take place online.

Indian NGO ARMMAN among 4 winners to clinch Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship 2020

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Key Highlights

• ARMMAN, an India-based non-profit organization (NPO), has been awarded the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship 2020 in recognition of its exceptional work in the maternal and child health space in India, along with 4 other awardees.


• ARMMAN is the only organization from Asia and Africa, selected from 700 organizations. Following table shows the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship 2020 winners

SEBI whole time member (WTM) Madhabi Puri Buch gets 6 month extension

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Key Highlights

• The Government has extended the appointment of Madhabi Puri Bach as a whole time member (WTM) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) by a period of 6 months (till October 4, 2020).


• She was appointed as a WTM of SEBI for a period of 3 years in April 2017 whereas all the appointed members and Chairman of SEBI were only men from the public sector, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Senior Diplomat Anurag Srivastava Replaces Raveesh Kumar as MEA spokesperson

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Key Highlights

• Senior diplomat Anurag Srivastava took charge as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, succeeding Raveesh Kumar. Srivastava, a 1999-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, was serving as India's Ambassador to Ethiopia.


• "Honoured and privileged to take over as the Official Spokesperson of @MEAIndia. I look forward to working closely with all to fulfill my responsibilities in this new role.

American singer & 3 time Grammy awardee Bill Withers passed away at 81

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Key Highlights

• American songwriter, soulful singer, guitarist & 3 time Grammy award winner Bill Withers passed at 81, due to heart complications in Los Angeles.


• He was born on July 4, 1938, in the coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, United States.