Author: Indmedia

Linguistics has a confession to make.It is just like you. It tells you that it is as emotional, messy, dynamic, strategic, and perfectly imperfect as any human being. Whatever you are, linguistics becomes. Why? Because linguistics watches you. It watches you with the same clinical precision of a surgeon. It watches you speak and communicate, how your speech changes over time, how you chaotically mix languages, make up new words formally or for funsies, follow rules and patterns, rebel even, and at the end of it all, how these stem ardently from within you and not apart. So yes, it…

An 1847 painting made by a not-so-popular artist wouldn’t have much historical or monetary value for most. But to Jackie Sondell, whose three grandparents died in the Holocaust, it’s a priceless family heirloom. The Austrian deputy consul general in the Twin Cities, from his posting in New York, lifted the top off a cardboard box and pulled out a tiny piece of art. The 1847 watercolour miniature, about 3 inches tall and 2 inches wide, showed a nobleman who was an officer in the Austrian Empire’s army and was stolen from the house of Sondell’s relative Eduard Epstein in Vienna,…

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned airlines and insurance companies on Tuesday that the presence of Ukrainian drones had made Russian skies dangerous to use and that they were effectively closed. “Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, everyone who still uses key Russian airports: the Russian sky is becoming completely dangerous,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. Ukraine poses no threat to civil aviation, he said, “but there will be drones in Russia’s skies and due notice must be taken.” “Although Russian authorities are not properly announcing it, Russian airspace will effectively be closing. The war started by Russia is closing its own…

Mumbai: Bombay high court has frowned at BMC commissioner Ashwini Bhide for not complying with its recent order to carry out extensive examination of civic land parcels to identify lands for implementing the state government’s October 2008 policy for providing free houses to sanitation workers.Justices Girish Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale on Monday said BMC’s sanitation workers “perform the most vital public health functions touching the society at large” and “they cannot be met by systemic neglect when it comes to their entitlement under the avowed government policy to provide a permanent roof over their heads”.Hearing petitions by retired sanitation workers,…

New Delhi: A 25-year-old man was stabbed to death by his friend following an ongoing dispute at Dhobi Ghat in central Delhi late Monday night. The accused has been arrested.The deceased has been identified as Shivam Mathur, a resident of Dhobi Ghat.According to police, information was received at the IP Estate police station from LNJP Hospital that a man had been brought in with stab injuries. Police went to the hospital and found that Mathur had been declared dead on arrival.Inquiry revealed that the incident took place at 11.40pm, when Mathur met two friends, Shivam Chauhan and Shiv Kumar Gautam.…

Chief minister DK Shivakumar listens to grievances of citizens at his residence in Sadashivanagar, Bengaluru Bengaluru: With B Nagendra’s resignation as planning and statistics minister, chief minister DK Shivakumar has two vacancies in his council of ministers, but filling them could prove easier than managing expectations of those who miss out.The vacancies have come barely a month after 19 ministers were inducted on Aug 3, an exercise that left several senior aspirants disappointed despite Shivakumar’s appeal for patience. The latest opportunity has now revived claims from legislators who have waited for ministerial berths for years.Among those eyeing a place are…

NRI techie, wife, 14-yr-old son had left for yatra on Aug 13 HYDERABAD: As the death toll in the Nepal flash floods continues to rise, the family of Hyderabad-based NRI techie Sridhar Avvari is struggling to hold on to hope. Sridhar, his wife Deepti and their 14-year-old son Abhinav had travelled to Nepal with the S3 Isha group for the Kailash Mansarovar yatra. Their family in the city has been unable to contact them since the day of the calamity.“We were expecting a message from Sridhar and Deepti on Aug 26 as they were scheduled to return the next day.…

Chennai: A bill seeking to remove the requirement for district collector’s prior concurrence for development of wetlands in non-planning areas drew opposition from AIADMK and Left parties in the Assembly on Tuesday. DMK and PMK sought a detailed discussion on the bill before it could be passed.Housing and Urban Development Minister B Rajkumar, who introduced the bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971, said the existing requirement had resulted in avoidable delays in processing and disposing of planning permission applications.Under the existing law, local authorities require prior concurrence of the director of Town and Country…

Gandhinagar: Gujarat govt will organise a three-month-long ‘Reform Utsav’ from Oct 2, Gandhi Jayanti, to Dec 25, Good Governance Day, to gather citizens’ suggestions and feedback and use them to drive administrative reforms.According to an official statement issued on Tuesday, the campaign would focus on identifying, categorising and implementing suggestions received from citizens in a time-bound manner, with the aim of creating a wider impact across administrative system.Govt has already constituted the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission, which has been making recommendations for reforms aimed at making govt services more citizen-centric.A state-level committee headed by the chief secretary has been formed…

Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi Bhubaneswar: CM Mohan Charan Majhi will lead an international investment outreach with a three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates next week, reinforcing the state govt’s efforts to expand Odisha’s global investment footprint and build stronger international economic partnerships. The CM is likely to leave on Sept 8.Additional chief secretary (industries) Hemant Sharma said international investment outreach is an important part of Odisha’s strategy to strengthen its global economic partnerships. “The UAE offers significant opportunities for deeper engagement with investors and business leaders. Odisha today presents a strong combination of resources, infrastructure, policy support, connectivity…