On 6 February, 2023 Southern Turkey and the adjoining areas in Syria were hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by several aftershocks. The tremors have flattened buildings and destroyed roads and other infrastructure. At least 35,000 casualties (UPDATE) have occurred across Turkey and Syria, with the vast majority being in the former nation. A news report cited the Turkish environment minister saying that 24,921 buildings across the region had collapsed. What...

Shashikant Warishe was mowed down allegedly by the subject of his last report on a controversial refinery - Newslaundry “He was the only journalist who covered the refinery protests…From the time the protests began until now, he covered everything…other newspapers barely gave coverage to the issue. People here liked him a lot because he was the sole journalist who cared about their issues.” That’s how Dipak Joshi remembers his friend Shashikant Warishe,...

-Moneycontrol.com A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing a batch of 58 petitions that challenged the Union Government’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes six years ago. Junking allegations of any procedural lapses by the Centre during the demonetisation in November 2016, the Reserve Bank of India told the Supreme Court on December 5 that the central bank itself had recommended the Government of India...

-Hindustan Times The World Bank should ensure “greater transparency and accountability” while factoring in subjective opinion-based indices as inputs for its World Governance Indicators (WGI) that has significant weightage in sovereign ratings, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) said in a series of tweets citing an internal working paper, and called for independent Indian think tanks to bring out similar perception-based indices for the world in order to...

-IndiaToday.in Air emergencies, heat waves, water shortages, street flooding, garbage spillovers, traffic jams and noise pollution… Delhi has become unlivable and no urban planning can fix this unsustainable Concrete jungle. It’s time we seriously looked at moving the capital out to let the city heal and live. In the last few years, winter in Delhi has become depressingly synonymous with toxic air pollution. During summers, drinking water shortages leave the city parched...