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The United States dollar hovered near a five week low on Friday as traders positioned themselves for a possible interest rate reduction by the Federal Reserve next week. The dollar showed particular weakness against the Japanese yen, which strengthened on expectations that the Bank of Japan will resume raising rates later in December. Investors widely expect a quarter point rate cut when the Federal Open Market Committee meets on December nine and ten. Market attention is now fixed on signals regarding future monetary easing. The dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major rivals, slipped by zero point two percent to ninety eight point nine two nine during early trading, close to Thursday’s five week low of ninety eight point seven six five. The index is on course for a we...

A major plan to improve the flow and quality of water in the Yamuna River has run into trouble as the Uttar Pradesh government has raised strong concerns linked to local farmers. The proposal aims to release around five hundred cusecs of Ganga water through western Uttar Pradesh into the Yamuna stretch in Delhi, in hopes of diluting pollution and increasing the river’s flow. Officials planned to divert water from the Upper Ganga Canal to the Eastern Yamuna Canal and then route it into the Yamuna. However, this diversion would pass through three districts in Uttar Pradesh. According to a government source, state officials fear farmers will protest if water moves through canals in their region without being made available for agricultural use, especially during winter when irrigation need...

    Two brothers from a rural village in southwestern China received an unexpected scientific surprise after learning that the stones they had used as stepping blocks for more than twenty years were actually dinosaur footprint fossils dating back almost two hundred million years. The discovery came to light following a recent study conducted on November 29 in Wuli village, located in Sichuan province. Researchers revealed that the slabs, once treated as ordinary household stones, are now confirmed to contain Early Jurassic dinosaur tracks. The unusual stones were first reported by South China Morning Post, highlighting a remarkable piece of natural history hidden in plain sight. The Ding brothers originally found the stones in 1998 while extracting material from a sto...

    About sixty million years ago, in the steaming swamps of ancient Colombia, a colossal snake dominated a world recovering from the extinction of the dinosaurs. This massive reptile, known as Titanoboa cerrejonensis, stretched an estimated forty two feet in length and weighed more than two thousand five hundred pounds. According to scientists, it was the largest snake ever discovered. Titanoboa first came to public attention in 2009 when researchers digging at the Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, Colombia, discovered an unusually large vertebra. Early assumptions suggested it belonged to a crocodile, but closer examination proved otherwise. The bone structure confirmed it had come from a snake, and not an ordinary one. By studying twenty eight individual Titanoboa fos...

    Delhi’s environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa has announced that all potholes in the Delhi National Capital Region must be repaired within seventy two hours as part of a new strategy to control rising air pollution. According to the minister, potholes create dust when vehicles pass over them and slow down traffic, which leads to extra fuel consumption. Officials believe that fixing potholes quickly will help reduce dust levels and improve traffic flow across the city. Sirsa also warned industrial units that are violating pollution rules. They have been given twenty days to meet all environmental standards. Any unit that fails to comply will face fines and may not be allowed to continue operations. At present, the Graded Response Action Plan stands at level two i...

    Coastal regions, where dense clusters of essential infrastructure are located, are facing the sharpest impacts of climate change. The threats range from paralysed transportation systems to disrupted global supply chains. To prepare effectively, a clearer picture of these vulnerabilities is needed so that governments and businesses can anticipate problems before they hit. But today, fragmented data, uneven assessment methods and the lack of a shared framework make it difficult to fully understand the scale of risk. In late October, the Caribbean was hit by Hurricane Melissa, a storm that scientists say is four times more likely because of climate change, according to research by Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute. With a reported death toll of more than fort...

Scientists working on a remote island between Tasmania and Antarctica have uncovered troubling evidence that storms in the Southern Ocean are becoming wetter and more intense, with potential consequences for weather, ocean circulation and carbon storage across the globe. Macquarie Island, a narrow and wind-lashed ridge surrounded by open ocean, has long been known for its wildlife. Elephant seals crowd its dark beaches, king penguins cross its moss-covered slopes and albatrosses soar over its treeless hills. But the landscape itself is changing. Slopes are becoming boggier and large native plants are slowly withdrawing from areas they once dominated. Researchers suspected increasing rainfall was responsible. A new study published in the journal Weather and Climate Dynamics confirms t...

    A powerful late-November cyclone that swept across South and Southeast Asia has left northern Sumatra facing one of its worst flood crises in recent memory. Torrents of water buried homes, destroyed roads and pushed thousands of residents from their villages. Rivers that once flowed steadily turned into violent walls of water, carrying debris, mud and uprooted trees. Cyclone Senyar brought intense rainfall, but researchers say this was not simply a natural weather event. The scale of destruction was made far worse by human actions that have weakened the land’s natural resilience. Decades of forest loss, mining and agricultural expansion have damaged the sensitive soil–forest–water system that once protected communities. Scientists describe healthy soil as one of n...

A rapid spread of pink waterlilies in Kerala’s Kuttanad paddy fields has created a new tourism wave and fresh sources of income for farming communities. But scientists warn that this sudden boom may be hiding long term ecological risks that could harm biodiversity and reduce paddy sustainability. Kuttanad covers 55,000 hectares across Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts, and is India’s lowest farming area, lying one to two metres below sea level. It forms part of the Vembanad Kole Ramsar wetland and is globally recognised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for its unique below sea level farming system. Since the 2018 floods, a hybrid waterlily species, Nymphaea omarana, has rapidly colonised fallow paddy fields, especially in Malarikkal, turning them in...

    Sri Lanka on Wednesday declared 22 out of its 25 administrative districts as disaster zones following massive destruction caused by Cyclone Ditwah. The announcement came as India expanded humanitarian support to the island nation under Operation Sagar Bandhu. The country has been battling severe flooding, landslides and widespread damage to essential infrastructure, leaving several regions cut off and placing enormous pressure on local disaster response systems. As of Wednesday evening, at least 479 people have been confirmed dead and 350 are missing due to extreme weather conditions that began on November 16. A special cabinet meeting, chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, approved supplementary expenditure estimates to accelerate recovery and relief wor...