Give industry clearance on time or pay penalty, Telangana tells officers

In a bid to attract investment to the state, Telangana government entitles industry promoters to the ‘Right to Clearance’

NASA’s Hubble detects ‘sunscreen’ layer on remote planet

The discovery is important as a stratosphere provides clues about how a planet is formed and its composition

Liberia is now Ebola-free, says UN

Altogether, 10,564 people were infected and 4,716 lost their lives in the West African countr

Three million need humanitarian assistance in Somalia

The internal conflict has left about one million displaced in the country, says UN official

Earthquake aftermath: survivors tweet images and updates from the ground

As authorities assess damage and loss of life in Kathmandu, details trickle in from areas surrounding Mount Everest

‘Kathmandu is enveloped in a cloud of dust’

Senior journalist based in Kathmandu, Rajesh Ghimire, reports the extent of damage sustained by the capital following the earthquake

Cook stoves: the politics and the quest for solutions

What should be the approach to deal with local health impacts of cooking fuels that would also inform India's national and global policy?

Short-lived pollutants: the other part of climate agenda

CO2 mitigation has to be conjoined with methane and black carbon mitigation to keep temperature rise below 2°C

Cause of worry for developing nations

Focus on black carbon may lead to developed nations shifting burden of tackling climate change to the less affluent

NASA planning trip to Jupiter’s moon to search for alien life

A blast of water vapour from Jupiter’s moon Europa in 2012 indicated it may have life

Australia asks UN not to put Great Barrier Reef in endangered list

Country’s foreign minister says the government is acting with “renewed vigour” to save the reef that has lost half of its coral …

India denies Gilead patent for hepatitis C drug, sofosbuvir

Companies that have not signed any licence agreement with US pharma giant are now free to produce generic versions of the drug

Centre proposes National Health Right Act

Draft national health policy which proposes making health a fundamental right also envisages increased role of community in planning and …

Over 36,000 screened for Ebola in India

Of the 700 passengers being tracked, most are in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi

NGT bans cutting of trees in forests without requisite clearance

Complaint says felling of trees for charcoal production affects a forest area of 20,000 sq km annually

Denmark considering complete coal phase-out by 2025

In spite of high performance in carbon reduction, country’s dependence on coal is still high

Amazon deforestation up by 190 per cent

Satellite data shows 402 square km of the forest—an area more than two times the area of Kolkata—was cleared in September alone

Fourth starvation death in a family in Jharkhand

Supreme Court had directed state to ensure proper care to the surviving family members 11 years ago

Reduction in premature deaths should be an SDG goal, says study

Impressive reduction in deaths among children in the past decade, but gains are low in countries engaged in war or suffering from HIV epidemic

Mangalyaan is now in orbit of Mars

ISRO spacecraft joins three other orbiters of European Space Agency and NASA; ISRO scientists eagerly await information on the levels of methane …

Aerial survey to count elephants in Africa

More than 18 countries will be covered in the project that aims to help in checking the decline in elephant population

Nagoya Protocol: landmark treaty on genetic resources to enter into force in October

Treaty mandates sharing of benefits from utilization of genetic resources and traditional knowledge with local communities

80% chance of drought in north-west, 75% in central India, says Skymet

El Nino the biggest factor contributing to the weak monsoon, said the private weather forecaster

Hemkund: then and now

Senior journalist Suman Dubey points out Hemkund, which houses a popular Sikh shrine, has become overcrowded over the years

New dams to burden Uttarakhand, heighten disaster risk

Districts worst hit by the floods are also the ones with maximum hydropower projects in the pipeline