-The United Nations The United Nations Disaster Management Team in India is closely monitoring the situation in the north, where torrential rains have triggered floods and landslides that have reportedly killed at least 70 people and left thousands stranded. In the state of Uttarakhand, rising river levels have resulted in the collapse of buildings and bridges. Some 45 people were reportedly killed and 50 people are missing, UN spokesperson Eduardo del Buey...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The devastation in the Garhwal Himalayas was pretty much on predicted lines and man-made. An environmental assessment of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers three years ago by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had warned of severe hazards both for natural ecology and stabilization of hill slopes along the riverbed, erosion of which has resulted in hundreds of casualties in the flash floods. The report --...

-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...

As fatal rains batter parts of the north Indian hill state of Uttarakhand, following a summer that also saw hundreds of deaths from heat waves, a new assessment out on June 19 from the World Bank warns of increasingly difficult effects of climate change on several parts of South Asia in the next 20-30 years. It argues that extreme weather events are likely to get more frequent, as temperatures rise. The...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The prices of vegetables and fruits are likely to go up in Delhi as supplies from Uttarakhand and neighbouring areas have been affected due to the recent floods. The Yamuna flood plain - a major source of vegetables and fruits in the capital - has been washed away completely. "We get 7-8 tempos of watermelons, cauliflower, spinach and bottle gourds from farmers in the Yamuna belt...