Art of Living 'destroyed' Yamuna floodplains, 10 years needed to restore
Art of Living Foundation's (AOLF) World Cultural Festival, held in March 2016, has "not just damaged", but "completely destroyed" the Yamuna floodplains, a seven-member expert committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has said. The panel has submitted a report, stating that the festival caused irreversible losses to the biodiversity and soil quality of the floodplains. Read more here.
"Most of the ecosystem functions of natural wetlands have been completely lost," the report states, adding that at least 10 years of monitoring will be required to fully restore the floodplains.
Rio 2016: Indian Shuttler PV Sindhu enters semifinals
PV Sindhu became only the second women shuttler from India to reach an Olympic semifinal since Saina Nehwal back in London in 2012. On Tuesday, 16 August, ninth-seeded Indian shuttler PV Sindhu stunned former world champion and second-seed Chinese Wang Yihan, in straight games to reach the semifinals of the Rio Olympics. The scorecard read 22-20, 21-19, in what was a stunning match that lasted 55 minutes. With this victory, Sindhu is just one win away from an assured medal.
In other Rio news, Omar McLeod wins first gold for Jamaica men's 110m Olympic history.
Former head of Amnesty International's head slams charges
Gita Sahgal - Nehru kin & former head of Amnesty International's gender unit, on Tuesday slammed it's India chapter for continuing support to Kashmiri terror groups. She, however, denied the sedition charges. On Monday, an FIR was registered against Amnesty International India in connection with alleged raising of "independence" slogans by "pro-freedom" Kashmiris who entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing Indian Army.
J&K firing: 2 Soldiers, one Cop killed after terrorists attack army convoy
Two army men and a policeman were killed while three other security personnel were injured today in terrorist attack in Baramulla district of Kashmir, police said. Terrorists ambushed an army convoy at Khwaja Bagh in Baramulla at 2.30 am, a police official said. He said two soldiers were killed and two others were injured.
This is the third time in last 36 hours, whereby militants launched deadly attacks on the security forces in Kashmir.
Hike Messenger raises $175 mn from investors
Hike Messenger has raised $175 million (about Rs 1,169 crore) in a new round of funding, led by Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings and Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group. The current valuation of the company is about $1.4 billion. This is the fourth and the biggest venture capital round for Hike till date, taking the total investments to over $250 million so far. Existing investors are Tiger, Bharti and SoftBank Group.
Yemen rocket kills seven civilians in Saudi
A rocket fired by rebels in Yemen killed seven civilians in Saudi Arabia's Najran city on Tuesday, reported the AFP.
Saudi Arabia suffered its highest reported number of non-combatant civilian casualties in the kingdom's south since the Arab coalition began operations to support Yemen's government against Huthi rebels.
It has been 17 months since the coalition intervened in Yemen, and more than 100 civilians and soldiers have been killed in southern Saudi Arabia by retaliatory rocket strikes or skirmishes so far.
"It (the rocket strike) killed four citizens and three residents," the civil defence spokesperson told the official Saudi Press Agency.
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