Schools and university shut down in Tripura state after persistent heavy rain, and situation expected to worsen
Incessant rain across Tripura, a state in north-east India, has created what has been described as the state’s worst flood situation in the last three decades. Persistent heavy rain from Monday to Wednesday resulted in several rivers exceeding danger and extreme danger marks, leading to widespread flooding that has caused the deaths of 10 people as well as displacing more than 34,000.
The southern Tripura districts had the worst of the floods and the 34,000 displaced people were being sheltered in the north of the region. There were 24-hour rainfall totals on Wednesday of 375.8mm recorded in Bagafa and 324.4mm in Belonia. The flooding and heavy rain led schools to shut down on Wednesday and Thursday, while Tripura University suspended all regular classes on Wednesday. The heavy rain was caused by a low pressure system situated over Bangladesh that is slowly moving westwards into north-east India. The situation is therefore only expected to worsen, with a further 100-150mm falling through Thursday and Friday as rivers continue to remain at breaking point.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/23/2024 - 03:21
08/23/2024 - 02:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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08/23/2024 - 01:00
Campaigners denounce ‘pure slaughter’, which could threaten survival of entire Scandinavian population
More than 150 brown bears have been killed in the opening days of Sweden’s annual bear hunt, as controversy mounts over what conservationists have called “pure slaughter”.
The Swedish government issued 486 licences to shoot bears in this year’s hunt, equivalent to about 20% of the remaining brown bear population. This follows a record-breaking cull of 722 bears last year. By Thursday afternoon – the second day of the hunt – 152 bears had already been shot, according to Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency.
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08/23/2024 - 00:00
Firm says it had no idea proposed test site on Lib Dem peer’s land included part of Strathmore peatlands in Flow Country
A British arms company has abandoned plans to detonate fragmentation bombs in the middle of the Flow Country world heritage site, the Guardian can reveal.
The company, Overwatch, asked the Civil Aviation Authority this month for permission to carry out “live fire testing” of anti-personnel bombs dropped by drones on to land owned by the Liberal Democrat peer John Thurso.
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08/22/2024 - 23:11
Billionaire mining magnate reveals her defence and economic blueprint for Australia at News Corp’s bush summit in Townsville
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Mining magnate and pastoralist Gina Rinehart has urged the government to “drill, baby, drill and dig, baby, dig” and use the proceeds to massively upgrade defence, including with an Israeli-style “iron dome” missile deflection system.
Presenting a personal defence and economic blueprint for Australia at News Corp’s bush summit in Townsville on Friday, Rinehart called for the reintroduction of compulsory national service for “all biological men … under, say, 53” with voluntary service for “biological women”.
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08/22/2024 - 20:28
Operation to free young animal from ropes and buoys conducted ‘very carefully’
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A humpback whale has been freed after being entangled in ropes in Sydney Harbour.
Jessica Fox, the second vice-president of volunteer organisation Orrca, confirmed the rescue late on Friday morning.
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08/22/2024 - 18:01
Oil firms, petrostates, airlines and carmakers ‘doubling down’ on sector that is popular with young people
Oil companies, petrostates, airlines and carmakers are among the big polluters bombarding the esports industry with adverts, a study has found.
Esports, short for electronic sports, are competitive video games watched by spectators, with multiplayer games such as League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients 2 attracting peak viewer figures in the millions.
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08/22/2024 - 12:49
Without regulatory reforms and proper funding, the country will lack a muscular enforcer to strike fear among polluters
The organisers of the March for Clean Water – that’s Feargal Sharkey and River Action, supported by organisations that range from Surfers Against Sewage to the RSPB to the Women’s Institute – make an excellent point: while it’s nice that the government will bring a water bill to parliament, the initiatives revealed so far “are not nearly extensive enough to address the scale of the UK’s water pollution crisis”.
You bet. None of the four “initial steps” announced by the environment secretary, Steve Reed, last month are likely to cause sleepless nights in any boardroom. The first, to ensure companies’ funding for infrastructure investment is ringfenced, read like a description of how the regulatory system in England and Wales was always supposed to work. One fears that the second, to add the protection of customers and the environment to companies’ articles of association, will be cosmetic; directors can always be fuzzy about how they interpret their fiduciary duties.
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08/22/2024 - 11:15
Environment minister says severe drought is ‘aggravating’ factor as smoke engulfs Porto Velho city
The Brazilian government has deployed almost 1,500 firefighters to the Amazon as the most severe drought in decades is turning the rainforest’s usually moist vegetation into kindling and flames.
Despite a sharp decrease in deforestation since the president, Lula da Silva, took power in January 2023, there have reportedly been 59,000 fires in the forest since the start of the year, the highest number since 2008, according to satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research.
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08/22/2024 - 10:00
Pilot scheme in Amazon communities of central Peru aims to help people choose a more sustainable way of living
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“At the beginning, there was a lot of fear and disbelief,” said Ketty Marcelo. “There was a perception from the communities that this was another scam, that it was only looking to steal information or our integrity.”
Indigenous communities in the Amazon have grown weary of people coming in from outside with plans that could mean them losing their land or way of life. When a team from Cool Earth, a climate action NGO, came to the Amazon communities of central Peru in October 2022, local people were hesitant. “These fears caused some families not to participate,” Marcelo said. “And we, as an organisation, were afraid this would be another project that would seek to impose activities without respecting the autonomy of the communities.”
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