Environment

12 Nov 2019; MEMO: Turkey planted over 13 million saplings on Monday as part of a massive tree-planting campaign in hope for a breath for the future in a greener country.

The forestation campaign for a greener Turkey began with the declaration of November 11 by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as the National Forestation Day to be marked annually.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Delhi's air quality worsened again and slipped into the 'severe' category on Tuesday morning.

At 9:36 am, the air quality index (AQI) was 414. The AQI at Bawana, Wazirpur, Anand Vihar and Rohini was 445, 442, 442 and 440 respectively.

According to the government air quality monitoring service SAFAR, the city's air quality was in very poor category on Monday which turned to severe by the evening. The average AQI stood at 360 on Sunday.

11 Nov 2019; MEMO: In the presence of the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi Russian officials and contractors, Iran laid down the cornerstone of the second Bushehr Nuclear Plant, the New Khaleej reported yesterday.

Salehi had previously announced that construction of the second Bushehr Nuclear Plant would start yesterday and work on the third facility would begin soon.

Kolkata, Nov 10; GANASHAKTI: Cyclone 'Bulbul', which made landfall between Bengal and Bangladesh coasts, brought in its wake heavy rain coupled with strong winds till early Sunday, affecting normal life in several parts of the city and the coastal districts of the state.

At least four people were killed in rain-related incidents in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas since Saturday, according to official reports.

An employee of a renowned club in the city was killed when a branch of a cedar tree fell on him, police said. 

BEIJING, Nov 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday issued a joint statement reaffirming their strong support for the “irreversible” Paris Agreement on climate change, from which the U.S. announced its exit this week.

The two countries “reaffirm their strong support for the Paris Agreement, which they consider an irreversible process and a compass for strong action on the climate,” the statement said.

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari faced flak from the Supreme Court on Wednesday for failing to come up with an appropriate road map to prevent stubble burning, which is a major source of air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

Tiwari, who was summoned by the apex court, started his submissions before a bench of justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta by telling his name to the court.

Kolkata, Nov 6 (PTI) The air quality in Kolkata turned 'very poor' on Wednesday night with the pollution levels in the city breaching the 300 mark for the first time in recent months, a WBPCB official said.

Measures are being taken to bring down the pollution levels, he said.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Kolkata was recorded at 343, which falls in the 'very poor' category, at the green zone Fort William automated air monitoring station at 11 pm, according to the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) official.

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) Delhi's air quality continued to be in the "very poor" category on Wednesday as schools reopened in the national capital.

The air quality index was recorded at 324 on Tuesday morning while last night it was at 309.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany says the U.S. government’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement is “regrettable” but no surprise.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said Tuesday that the U.S. had announced its plan to withdraw from the pact two years ago and “luckily it has remained alone in doing so.”

Washington, Nov 5 (PTI) The US has formally notified the UN of its withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate accord, a landmark global agreement which brought together 188 nations, including India, to combat global warming.

The Paris Agreement, in which Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi played instrumental roles, was adopted at the UN climate conference "COP 21" held in the French capital in 2015 with an aim to reduce the hazardous greenhouse gas emissions.