"Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others, both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change,' said Bezos who is worth $130 billion.

Mumbai is set to get the highest grant of Rs 488 crore from the Centre’s Rs 4,400 crore fund which is earmarked exclusively for cities with more than one million population in states to improve air quality during 2020-21. Delhi may miss this assistance despite figuring among the most polluted cities in the country as the fund would only be meant for ‘million plus’ population cities in states.

As the coronavirus infects more people around the world, Congo’s Virunga National Park, home to about a third of the world’s mountain gorillas, is barring visitors until June 1, citing “advice from scientific experts indicating that primates, including mountain gorillas, are likely susceptible to complications arising from the Covid-19 virus”.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has suffered “very widespread” damage after rising sea temperatures caused the third mass coral bleaching events in five years. Its northern reaches suffered an unprecedented two successive years of severe bleaching in 2016 and 2017. Some previously untouched areas had now suffered "moderate or severe bleaching".

The COVID-19 spread has forced the UN body to postpone its flagship annual climate change conference which was scheduled to be held at Glasgow in United Kingdom (UK) in November. This crucial meet will now be held in 2021 -- the first year of the operationalisation of the the Paris Agreement.

Drone video footage released by the department of national parks shows a 30-strong herd of dugongs on Wednesday off Libong island in Trang province. They were feeding on sea grass and occasionally surfaced to breathe.

Directing officials to ensure that nobody walks back home, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said that the government was making all efforts in deploying buses and trains to bring back stranded migrant workers.

As China limps back to normalcy after COVID-19 outbreak, job prospects in the country seem to be truly bleak especially for the nine million students or so who are due to graduate in June.

China on Wednesday dared US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to show "enormous evidence" he claimed to have to prove Covid-19 originated from a lab in Wuhan. "Pompeo cannot present any evidence because he does not have any," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. "This matter should be handled by scientists..instead of politicians," Hua said.

North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un sent a personal message to Chinese President Xi Jinping praising what he described as China's success in getting its coronavirus epidemic under control. The report by North Korea's state media followed an assessment by South Korea's spy agency that the pandemic is hurting the North's economy.

Taiwan will fail in its bid to take part in a key meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) as its efforts are not based on concern for the health of Taiwan's people but are "political manipulation", China said on Friday.

Five prominent labour activists have returned to their homes more than a year after they were arrested in coordinated raids in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, according to people close to them and a Hong Kong-based rights group.

Moody's Investors Service on Friday projected India's growth at zero per cent for the current fiscal and said the negative outlook on sovereign rating reflects increasing risks that GDP growth will remain significantly lower than in the past. The outlook also partly shows weaker policy effectiveness to address economic and institutional issues.

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund on Friday issued an unconditional apology to market regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) for remarks made by its president and CEO Jennifer M Johnson that new regulatory guidelines led to shutting down of its six debt funds last month.

For Air India officials and passengers, a major cause of concern with the ongoing repatriation flights to and from different countries are the visa regulations and immigration policies of different lands. Late on Thursday night, Air India was informed by an official from an Indian ministry that US visa rules have changed to restrict passengers with student visa and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders from entering the US.

The deal will make Vista the largest shareholder of Jio after Facebook (9.99%) and parent RIL (86.54%). With this, RIL has raised a total of Rs 60,596 crore ($7.9 billion), boosting its efforts to pare debt.

The govt on Friday said it will borrow about Rs 12 lakh crore from the market in fiscal year 2020-21, an increase of Rs 4.2 lakh crore, or 54% jump over the Budget estimate of Rs 7.8 lakh crore. This, the economists said will push the fiscal deficit from 3.5% for 2020-21 to 5.5%. The decision for higher borrowing has also been prompted by severe loss of govt revenues.

Students bound for the US are the latest lot of passengers to find themselves caught in the maze of confusing guidelines that decide whether they will be allowed to travel to the US or not. In the wee hours of Saturday, Air India issued a note, listing three conditions under which students with an F or M US visa may not be allowed to fly to the US under Vande Bharat Mission.

Many have argued that while India’s lockdown has been the harshest, its stimulus package is one of the smallest — so far. To fund bigger public spending programme, the govt can either ask the RBI to print more money or raise money through borrowing. Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has explained how the two paths work and why ‘monetisation’ is a good option.

Reliance Jio has come up with new top-up plans to support extra data usage at up to 75 per cent lower rates and also made annual recharge plans 33 per cent cheaper compared to rivals by enhancing data usage limit at 4G speed to 2 GB per day.

The finance ministry on Friday announced relief to those who have been facing difficulty with the status of their residency in India under Income Tax Act, 1961 due to suspension of international flights owing to the Covid-19, as they were required to prolong their stay. Several people expressed concerns that they will have to file tax returns as Indian residents.

Cognizant Technology Solutions’ revenue in the quarter ended March rose by 3.5% in constant currency, better than TCS and Wipro, but lower than HCL and Infosys. Revenue stood at $4.2 billion, including a $23 million headwind from their decision to exit content related services.

Three promoters of Ram Dev International, recently booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly cheating a consortium of six banks to the tune of Rs 411 crore, have already fled the country before the State Bank of India (SBI) reached the agency with the complaint, officials said on Saturday.