Iranian officials squabble over toll as COVID-19 sweeps West Asia

Meanwhile, Chinese federal government to increase funds to local governments even as world races to develop a vaccine

India world’s 13th most water-stressed country: WRI

The World Resources Institute also notes that 12 of the world's most water-stressed countries are in the Middle East and North Africa

‘The govt’s version of history is less dependent on science, more on divine sayings’

Journalist Tony Joseph debunks the myth of India being the homeland of the Aryans and offers a scientific chronicle in his latest book. Here, he …

More toxic sludge than fresh water produced from desalination

That is the conclusion reached by the first global assessment of the desalination sector’s industrial waste

Double burden of indoor and outdoor air pollution in developing world: Report

A quarter of global deaths due to particulate air pollution occur in India. Globally air pollution is the 4th largest killer

`Indian cuisine is rediscovering itself'

Ethnic Indian food is reinventing itself, says Colleen Taylor Sen, considered to be one of the leading historians on Indian and South Asian food. …

Water shortage deepens in West Asia and North Africa

Around 1.2 billion people, almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical scarcity of water, says UN

Why control of Mosul dam in Iraq means life or death for nearly two million people

The dam had reportedly been seized by Islamic State militants on August 7

Wild relatives of crops at risk in conflict-ridden West Asia

Violence and strife have affected their conservation, threatening global food security.

Towards food security: perspectives from three continents

The Food Insecurity Report 2014, released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) last week, has revealed that one …

Wildlife trade is thriving on Internet, finds study

Survey finds wild animals and wildlife products worth US $11 million for sale online in 16 countries

For West Asia, it could soon be a battle for water

Along with scarcity induced by population pressure, use of water as a weapon of war is also draining the resources in the region

More than 12 GW of solar PV projects in the pipeline in West Asia, Africa

Reason for the surge is varied. It ranges from improving lives of the energy poor, to reducing dependency on fossil fuels

Earth has lost half of its ecosystem

Two-thirds of land-based ecosystems must be sustained to support life on the planet, says study