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Chandigarh, Updated At : 08:31 PM Oct 02, 2025 IST

Classical singer Mishra dies at 89

Pandit Chhannulal Mishra, one of the greats of Hindustani classical music who melded folk and ragas, culture and devotion, and sang to us of the joy of Holi, the yearning for 'sawan' and timeless tales from the Ramayana, died on Thursday. He was 89. The Padma Bhushan awardee, known for his rare gift of turning his performances into a conversation with the divine and his masterful command over various music styles, breathed his last around 4 am.

Though trained in the Kirana gharana's 'khayal gayaki', Mishra earned wider acclaim as a master of thumri, while also making significant contributions to other forms such as dadra, chaiti, kajri and bhajan. His deeply moving renditions include "Sawan Jhar Lagela Dheere Dheere", a soulful kajri steeped in monsoon longing, "Kaise Sajan Ghar Jaibe", a heart-wrenching thumri exploring themes of separation and devotion, and his powerful sohar renditions -- traditional folk songs that celebrate the joy of childbirth. One of his most popular perhaps is the evocative “Barsan Laagi Badriya” with Girija Devi. A purist, Mishra mostly stayed away from lending his voice to Bollywood songs.

Swiss glaciers shrank 3 per cent this year, fourth-biggest retreat on record

Switzerland's glaciers have faced “enormous” melting this year with a 3 per cent drop in total volume — the fourth-largest annual drop on record — due to the effects of global warming, top Swiss glaciologists have reported.

The shrinkage this year means that ice mass in Switzerland — home to the most glaciers in Europe — has declined by one-quarter over the last decade, the Swiss glacier monitoring group GLAMOS and the Swiss Academy of Sciences said in their report Wednesday. Switzerland is home to nearly 1,400 glaciers, the most of any country in Europe, and the ice mass and its gradual melting have implications for hydropower, tourism, farming and water resources in many European countries. More than 1,000 small glaciers in Switzerland have already disappeared, the experts said. The teams reported that a winter with little snow was followed by heat waves in June — the second-warmest June on record — which left the snow reserves depleted by early July. Ice masses began to melt earlier than ever, they said. The shrinkage is the fourth-largest after those in 2022, 2023 and back in 2003.

Chronicler of Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall dies at 91

Leading primatologist and an expert on chimpanzees, Jane Goodall, whose work was captured in more than 40 documentaries, died at the age of 91 in Los Angeles. Jane was renowned worldwide for her 65-year study of wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania. However, in the latter part of her life she expanded her focus and became a global advocate for human rights, animal welfare, species and environmental protection, and many other crucial issues, her institute said. Her research legacy laid the foundation for modern primatology: in Gombe Stream National Park, she discovered that chimpanzees can form lasting social bonds and use basic tools. Goodall also found that, like humans, primates experience emotions such as joy, fear, empathy, and grief. She was the subject of more than 40 documentaries and the 2023 film "Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope" explored her habitat restoration projects. Jane was the first scientist to explain to the world that chimpanzee mothers are capable of giving birth only once every four and a half to six years, and that only one or two babies are produced each year by the Gombe Stream troop. She found that first-time mothers generally hid their babies from the adult males, prompting frantic displays by the males -- leaping and hooting that could last five minutes. An experienced mother, however, she discovered, freely allowed males and other females to view her infant, satisfying their curiosity, in a far calmer introduction. Jane's doctoral thesis PhD in Ethology at Newnham College, Cambridge. The Behaviour of Free-living Chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream Reserve, was completed in 1965.