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Travellers’ difficult choices

People of different races and regions have different accents when they speak English.  | Photo Credit: Getty Images ‘Good morning.’ No response. The teacher in me was piqued. When will they learn the English etiquette? ‘Good morning’ is a simple greeting. But ‘goodnight’ is not so simple. It cannot be used just because it is … Read more

Kurt Vonnegut | Photo Credit: AP The semicolon is dying; sadly, there are no signs of grief anywhere. Perhaps because nobody really knows what to do with the punctuation mark that is a full stop on top and a comma below. It is neither; it is both. A grammarian’s Schrodinger’s cat, existing in two states … Read more

In a blow to the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), its general secretary was killed in security operations in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday. The elimination of Namballa Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, is perhaps the biggest blow to the insurgents since the death of Cherukuri Rajkumar, the then CPI (Maoist) spokesperson in 2010, also in a … Read more

Top court on ED The beauty of democracy lies in questioning. Sadly, such voices are not heard in India’s State Assemblies and in Parliament. One only has the higher judiciary coming to the rescue (“ED crossed all limits with raids on Tasmac, says SC”, May 23). The Enforcement Directorate (ED) too is not beyond questioning. … Read more

‘While the externalisation of terrorism through high-impact, war-like response is necessary, the caveat here is that it may end up distracting us from the primary goal — terrorism in J&K’  | Photo Credit: THE HINDU/IMRAN NISSAR The Pahalgam terror strike, on April 22, perpetrated by Pakistan proxies, and India’s retribution through Operation Sindoor, on May … Read more

Civic life in the United States stands on multiple, strong and independent institutions in different fields. These institutions, whether constitutionality mandated or not, have a continuity, life and standing of their own, beyond particular individuals. They enable diversity and pluralism, and provide protection against arbitrary decisions by those in power. Ironically enough, U.S. President Donald … Read more

Oxygen is a life-saving essential medicine with no substitute. Because of the complexity of the industrial production process, there are many challenges in access to medical oxygen such as availability, quality, affordability, management, supply, human resources capacity and safety. Some five billion people around the world lack access to safe, quality, and affordable medical oxygen. … Read more

At 10 a.m., I begin scanning the papers for the day’s news. Exactly 12 hours later, a colleague from the data team and I will need to deliver a 600-word piece with supporting graphs for the ‘Data Point’ section on the oped page. Like a cyclone far out at sea, the deadline feels distant and … Read more

Parallel to the recent escalation of military tensions between India and Pakistan, misinformation and disinformation surged online, making it increasingly difficult for the public to distinguish fact from fiction. Many media outlets published sensational stories riddled with unverified claims, and disseminated fake pictures and videos. Jingoism often drove the public response. Is establishing the truth … Read more