-NDTV Hyderabad: The already-flooded regions of coastal Andhra Pradesh - districts like Vizianagaram and Srikakulam - will continue to be beaten by heavy rain over the next 24 hours, says the MeT department. More than 20 people have died in the last five days, the savage after-effect of Cyclone Nilam that hit last Wednesday. Initially, the Andhra Pradesh government had said Cyclone Nilam was in fact good news for the state because...

-Outlook  A deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, which would further intensify into a cyclonic storm, today brought heavy rains in many parts of Tamil Nadu, especially in Coastal areas, prompting the government to declare a holiday for schools. Chennai, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Villupuram received heavy rains in the morning, inconveniencing office-goers. The cyclonic storm would cross between Nagapattinam and Nellore tomorrow, Met Department said. "The deep depression over southwest Bay of...

-Al Jazeera Treaty to ban chemicals that harmed the ozone layer came about when there was consensus between science and politics. In 1974, chemists Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland published a landmark article that demonstrated the ability of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to break down the ozone layer, the atmospheric region that plays a vital role in shielding humans and other life from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It marked the opening salvo of...

-The United Nations Despite the growing number of nature reserves, national parks and other protected areas around the world, half of the globe’s richest biodiversity zones remain entirely unprotected, according to a United Nations report presented today. Amongst the report’s other main findings are that protected areas are being managed in a more equitable way, with a greater role for indigenous communities – but current investment in protected areas is only around...

-Outlook The aim of achieving food security across the globe will become increasingly elusive unless countries take into account the planet's nature-based services into agricultural and related planning, said a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme today. Safeguarding the underlying ecological foundations that support food production, including biodiversity will be central if the world is to feed the seven billion people, climbing to over nine billion by 2050, according to...