5th Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Media Summit on Climate Action and Disaster Preparedness was held in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal with a theme of "Media Solutions for Sustainable Future: Saving Lives, Building Resilient Communities". The aim of this two day summit was to address the key issue of utilizing media's full potential of accelerating climate action and disaster preparedness and connect different stakeholders to media professionals for collaboration and joint practical projects. A two-day event marked the fourth anniversary of the Gorkha earthquake in which over 9,000 people were lost their life, around 22,000 people were injured and hundreds of thousands of people became homeless and one-third of the Nepalese economy wiped out. This summit was hosted by the Nepal government and organized by Radio Nepal, Nepal TV and ABU, led by Nepal's Communication and Information Technology ministry.

Island Protection Zone (IPZ) 2019 for Andaman and Nicobar has been notified by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The purpose of these changes in the IPZ is aligned with the Niti Aayog's proposal for holistic development in the Islands.The government is planning to open the blue economy and sustainable utilizing of ocean resources.In this new notification, eco-tourism projects are allowed at 20 meters from the high tide line (HTL) in smaller islands like Baratang, Havelock, and Car Nicobar and at 50 meters for larger islands from the HTL.It permits the eco-tourism activities like mangrove walks, tree huts and nature trails in island coastal regulation zone (ICRZ) IA.This new notification replaces IPZ notification of 2011.

London (capital city of the UK) is the first city in the world to implement a 24-hour, seven day a week Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), inside which vehicles will have to meet tough emissions standards or face a charge. Introduction of the ULEZ aims to reduce toxic air pollution and protect public health, according to a press release from the office of Sadiq Khan, mayor of London. Vehicles are responsible for around half of harmful nitrogen oxide air emissions in the British capital.

A hyper-local connectivity app called "Bhonga" developed by Mumbai-based Company Linkus Infratech, to connect users to their neighborhood people in the city even without an Internet connection. "Bhonga" is a Marathi word which means megaphone or loudspeaker. This app automatically provides the lists the user living within the radius of one kilometre. The app supports voice notes as well as photos. Anyone can open their phone and send a message that is delivered to other users in the neighborhood.

Japan-based Daiki Aluminium Industry Co. Ltd., through its Indian subsidiary, is to set up an aluminium alloy plant at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. Daiki Aluminium Industry India Pvt. Ltd. would make an initial investment of Rs.250 crore. To be built on a 20-acre plot in the domestic tariff zone, the plant is expected to go on stream by February 2020. The plant will produce aluminium alloy ingots. It will have an annual capacity of 84,000 tonnes. The products will be exported to automobile companies in ASEAN and Japan. The plant is expected to generate direct employment for about 600 people with 80% of them being women. Daiki plans to capture the demand requirements of aluminium alloy in the country and expand the market in stages.

International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI), a two-day workshop organised by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), and in partnership with the Global Commission on Adaptation, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank was held at New Delhi. The objectives of the workshop were to: Identify good practices of disaster risk management in key infrastructure sectors. Identify specific areas and pathways for collaborative research on DRI (Transport, Energy, Telecom and Water). Discuss and co-create the broad contours of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) as well as a notional roll-out plan for the next three years. The first IWDRI was held in January 2018 and IWDRI 2019 built upon some of the ideas generated at the IWDRI 2018 as a crucial milestone towards the establishment of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

The 21st ASEAN-India Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) was held at New Delhi to improve the connectivity and strengthen the cooperation in the maritime sector between Indian and the ASEAN countries. It was co-chaired by Smt. Vijay Thakur Singh, SOM Leader and Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India and H.E. Mrs. Busaya Mathelin, SOM Leader and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand. India welcomed Thailand for its role as Country Coordinator of the ASEAN-India dialogue partnership for the period 2018-2021 and also praised Thailand for the Chairmanship of ASEAN for 2019. In this Meeting, the senior officials were decided to enhance the cooperation in Renewable Energy and hold an ASEAN-India Conference on Renewable Energy in 2019. In this project, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) will be the co-partners. This partnership was implemented through the 'Plan of Action (2016-20) to execute the ASEAN-India Partnership for Peace, Progress and Shared Prosperity'.

An asteroid 200 feet wide just plowed into a simulated New York City, sent there by NASA as part of an exercise to study what might happen if astronomers found a giant space rock heading toward Earth. NASA scientists have revealed the outcomes of its asteroid impact drill where they simulated an asteroid heading towards Denver, US. The world's space powers collaborated to hit and deflect the 180-meter-wide asteroid. However, a 60-metre chunk broke off and hit New York City at 69,000 kmph destroying everything in a 15-km radius as political disagreements failed in nuking the rock.

The 4th Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific Congress 2019 organised by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and co-hosted by South Delhi Municipal Corporation started in New Delhi. It will conclude on 17th April 2019. It offers a lot of innovative solutions that build resilience to climate change at the sub-national level. Local governments in the Asia Pacific region is the main target of the event. The RCAP 2019 is a platform for discussing the opportunities and mechanisms of executing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The two-day Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation began in New Delhi on May 13, 2019. The meeting will conclude on May 14. The participants include ministers from 16 developing nations and six least developed nations.