Under the auspices of the Madras Publicity Board Mr. Young Necker delivered an interesting lecture on the “War” in the Y.M.C.A. Hall last evening [October 8]. Mr. Justice Kumaraswamy Sastry presided. The lecturer traced the development of the German Empire down to the commencement of the present war and said …

Influenza appears to have broken out in parts of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. It is much regretted that this should have come when plague is still virulent and more or less widespread. At Bombay, it is hoped that the corner has been turned with the terrible second influenza epidemic that has …

Researchers find that education levels are an important factor in projecting a country’s population Sometime in 2017, the UN released projections on India’s population. It said that the population would peak at around 1.675 billion people in the 2056-2066 period, and then decline slowly. However, these projections may have been …

Corporates should be virtue warriors and earn the admiration of customers Though the wheels of justice moved slowly and it took more than 150 years to decriminalise homosexuality in India, the Internet dispenses instant justice, as illustrated by the case of a former employee of IT major Tech Mahindra. That …

With Brett Kavanaugh confirmed, Republicans enjoy great power to shape the U.S. agenda The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of conservative-leaning judge Brett Kavanaugh, by a vote of 50-48, and he was sworn in as a ninth justice of the Supreme Court (SCOTUS). The narrow victory of the second …

This round of polls has more than one thread; using them to spin a forecast for 2019 is risky As five States go to the polls with just months left for the Lok Sabha election, the temptation to read the results as pointers will be great. What makes the contest …

We must stop the casual use of terms like‘turning a blind eye’ and ‘paralysed economy’ In our day-to-day interactions, we come across words and phrases like ‘turning a blind eye’; ‘falling on deaf ears’; ‘a paralysed economy’; ‘institutions running on crutches’; and ‘mute leadership’. What is common among these is …

As the Kerala floods have shown, the diaspora can shape political and economic responses Between August 8 and 20, the devastating floods in Kerala claimed nearly 500 lives, displaced over a million people, and directly affected over a sixth of the State’s total population. The State government’s latest report estimates …

Proposed changes in the Electricity Act could leave the poor behind A few months before the next general election, the Central government has proposed a set of changes to the Electricity Act 2003. The amendments seek to enable a market transformation in electricity. The link between political power and electrical …

The Congress and non-NDA regional parties must forge ‘a practical accommodation to reality’ With the Election Commission having announced the schedule for elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana in November-December, the stage has been set for a ‘dress rehearsal’ of the elections to …

It learns signatures from MRI, genetics and clinical data Scientists — including one of Indian origin — have created an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can accurately predict whether a person’s cognitive decline will lead to Alzheimer’s disease in the next five years. Researchers from the University of Toronto in …

RMIT varsity developed Sans Forgetica Researchers have created a new type font, called Sans Forgetica, to help people remember more of what they read. Sans Forgetica is believed to be the world’s first typeface specifically designed to help people retain more information and remember more of typed notes, said researchers …

Next influenza outbreak ‘could kill up to 150 million people’ It was the disease to end all others, infecting a third of humanity, killing tens of millions in their beds and prompting panicked talk of the end of days across continents still reeling from war. One hundred years on from …

The Hubble space telescope, which has been in orbit since 1990, is currently out of action because of a gyroscope failure, the U.S. space agency said on Monday. NASA said Hubble went into “safe mode” on Friday because of the failure of another of the six gyroscopes used to orient …

After munching on berries that fermented due to an early frost, they get ‘typsy’ and fly into windows They fall out of trees. They fly into windows. They stumble along branches and wobble their small feathered bodies as if they’ve had one marg too many. Have the drunk birds come …

Takes Rs. 100 crore hit; disallows fresh investment in the scheme till October 31 In what could perhaps be the first such instance of a mutual fund writing off its entire exposure towards troubled IL&FS, BOI AXA Mutual Fund has decided to take a hit of a little more than …

To tap into the festive season sales The battle between retail giant Amazon and homegrown e-commerce firm Flipkart is getting intense to tap the upcoming festive season. Walmart-backed Flipkart said it had added 30,000 direct jobs in its supply chain and logistics arm. The company is expecting its seller partners …

Currency weakens for the fifth straight session; crude prices soften The rupee continued to weaken for the fifth straight session as it hit a fresh closing low on Monday amid strengthening of the dollar and in the absence of aggressive intervention by the Reserve Bank of India. The rupee opened …

Journalists say it curbs media freedom Bangladesh’s President on Monday signed a digital security act into law despite protests by journalists and rights groups that it will severely curb media freedom. “The digital security Bill has been signed by the President today,” President Abdul Hamid’s spokesman Joynal Abedin said. Top …

Brazil barrels towards uncertain presidential run-off A deeply polarised Brazil stood at political crossroads on Monday as the bruising first round of the presidential election left voters with a stark choice in the run-off between far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro and leftist Fernando Haddad. Mr. Bolsonaro, an ultraconservative former paratrooper, easily …