-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Rising temperatures on account of checked climate change would lead longer warm spells, heat extremes by as much as one-fifth of South Asia's land mass, and a higher incidence of excess rainfall. These are no longer distant risks according to the World Bank. By 2040, unprecedented heat could affect more than 5% of South Asia's land mass. And if efforts to counter rising temperatures are not...

-The Hindustan Times If there is one defining collage of the ongoing monsoon mayhem in Uttarakhand, it's this: multi-storied concrete houses collapsing like a pack of cards into an angry, wild river and cars and lorries being tossed around in the swirling muddy waters, as if they were plastic toys. As I watched the unfolding drama on TV, I remembered what a green campaigner told me some years ago in Uttarkashi:...

-Al Jazeera   Floods triggered by rains in north of country have left 120 dead, besides stranding thousands of Hindu pilgrims. Monsoon flooding in northern India has claimed more than 120 lives, stranding thousands of people due to high water levels and landslides, officials say. Torrential rain and landslides since Sunday have stranded pilgrims at four revered Hindu shrines, washed away bridges and roads and caused other damage in Uttrakhand province. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...

-The Times of India DEHRADUN/SHIMLA: Torrential rains continued to pour in bad news from north India on Tuesday, with flash floods, cloudbursts and landslips claiming 69 more lives and taking the official death toll to 131, making for the most tragic tidings of monsoon in recent years. More than 73,000 pilgrims bound for the Himalayan shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri remained stranded in Uttarakhand and about 1,700 tourists were...

-The Telegraph At least 50 people have died in rain-triggered landslides, house collapses and flash floods in the north, mostly in Uttarakhand that has halted the popular Badrinath pilgrimage with around 30,000 pilgrims, many from Bengal, stranded. Three days of incessant rain have sent into spate Uttarakhand rivers that have burst banks and washed away houses - one of them a four-storey structure that had been vacated, apart from a temple. At least...