27 JULY 2014: Apurvi Chandela brings 4th Gold medal for India

Ø  India and Nepal agreed to review and update the Treaty of Peace and Friendship 1950, implement the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) and finalise the text of a Power Trade Agreement at the earliest, a joint statement issued after a marathon meeting between the two sides said.

Ø  Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an online platform mygov.nic.in to engage citizens in the task of “good governance” ( surajya ) as he completed 60 days in office. MyGov is a technology-driven platform that would provide people with the opportunity to contribute towards good governance. The platform has been divided into various groups namely Clean Ganga, Girl Child Education, Clean India, Skilled India, Digital India, Job Creation.

Ø  Apurvi Chandela won India its fourth gold at the Commonw-ealth Games in Glasgow after clinching the women’s 10m air rifle event with a score of 206.7 on Saturday. Compatriot Ayonika Paul shot 204.9 to take the silver. 

Ø  The danger is lurking near us. Scientists now warn that the persistent loss and decline of biodiversity is leading humanity to early days of the planet’s sixth mass biological extinction event. Since 1500, more than 320 terrestrial vertebrates have become extinct. Populations of the remaining species show a 25 per cent average decline in abundance. The situation is similarly dire for invertebrate animal life. While previous extinctions have been driven by natural planetary transformations or catastrophic asteroid strikes, the current die-off can be associated with human activity, leading to an era of ‘Anthropocene defaunation’ Across vertebrates, 16-33 per cent of all species are estimated to be globally threatened or endangered. Large animals — described as megafauna and including elephants, rhinoceroses, polar bears and countless other species worldwide — face the highest rate of decline, a trend that matches previous extinction events.