Environment

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.

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) As the odd-even road rationing scheme kicked in here on Monday, the ruling AAP and the BJP accused each other of doling politics over it and not making much efforts to combat air pollution.

Senior BJP leader Vijay Goel termed the initiative "an election stunt" by the Kejriwal government and violated the rule by driving an SUV with an odd last digit in its registration number.

4 Nov 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump threatened once again Sunday to withhold federal aid from California after its Democratic governor criticized his environmental policies.

Over the past two weeks, fires have ravaged nearly 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) in the sprawling western state, where firefighters on Sunday were battling the Maria Fire, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than two years President Donald Trump has talked about pulling the United States out of the landmark Paris climate agreement . Starting Monday he finally can do something about it.

Even then, though, the withdrawal process takes a year and wouldn’t become official until at least the day after the 2020 presidential election.

New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) The Delhi government issued a health advisory on Sunday in view of the severe air pollution in the city and asked people to avoid outdoor activities as much as possible, especially during the morning and late evening hours.

In a statement, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the air pollution had reached the severe level and asked people to follow the dos and don'ts as mentioned in the advisory.

New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) The Delhi government on Sunday decided to exempt electric vehicles from the odd-even road rationing scheme starting from November 4.

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot in a statement said that the number of registered electric vehicles in the city was less than 1,000 and they are not likely to cause any congestion.

"It has, therefore, been decided to exempt the electric vehicles from the odd-even restrictions," he said.

New Delhi, Nov 3; GANASHAKTI: Thirty-two flights were diverted from Delhi airport on Sunday morning due to low visibility caused by pollution, airport officials said.

"Total 32 flights have been diverted from Delhi airport on Sunday morning due to bad weather," they said.

An Air India spokesperson said, "Due to bad weather, flight operations affected since morning 9 am in T3 airport (Delhi). Twelve flights are diverted to Jaipur, Amritsar and Lucknow."

New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) India's coal imports increased by 9.3 per cent to 126.91 million tonnes (MT) in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal, industry data showed.

The country had imported 116.04 MT of coal in April-September period of FY 2018-19, according to a provisional compilation by mjunction services, based on monitoring of vessels' positions and data received from shipping companies.