Wednesday, October 8, 2025
LinkedPrime

News from October 6, 2025

585 articles found

Harish Rao hails KCR’s vision as Telangana Gurukul students secure MBBS seats
Technology

Harish Rao hails KCR’s vision as Telangana Gurukul students secure MBBS seats

Hyderabad: Former Minister and senior BRS MLA T. Harish Rao on Monday lauded the success of Telangana's Gurukul education system, calling it as one of the greatest achievements of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's rule. Citing the story of Firdous, a student from the Telangana Minority Residential Educational Institution Society (TMREIS) at Bhuchanalli, Zaheerabad, Harish Rao said she had once declared she would become a doctor and has now fulfilled that promise by securing an MBBS seat. Along with Firdous, eight other students from the same institution and seven more from Algol Minority Gurukulam have also secured medical seats this year. "This is the true success of KCR's vision," he said, adding that thousands of Gurukul students across Telangana are now emerging as doctors, engineers, and government officers. The former Minister pointed out that before the formation of Telangana, there were only 290 Gurukuls in the State. "KCR increased them to 1,020, including 204 minority Gurukuls, providing free residential education, food, and accommodation to over 6.5 lakh students," he said. Calling the expansion of Gurukul education a revolution in social empowerment, Harish Rao reminded that Chandrashekhar Rao even introduced intermediate, degree, and law residential colleges, enabling poor and rural students, especially girls, to pursue higher studies. "An entire generation has changed because of his foresight. Investing in the education of the poor is the truest form of development," he said, urging students to give back to society and uphold the Gurukul legacy.

Telangana Today
Lanka Premier League 2025 to feature longest season, Indian cricketers to join T20 action
Technology

Lanka Premier League 2025 to feature longest season, Indian cricketers to join T20 action

Hyderabad: The sixth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) will run from December 1 to 23, 2025, featuring 24 days of action-packed T20 cricket — the longest season in the tournament’s history. For the very first time, Indian cricketers are expected to join the action, their names will be revelled soon, adding a whole new level of excitement for fans across the region. The extended schedule is set to heighten competition among the five franchises and provide players with valuable match exposure ahead of a major cricketing year. Positioned as a key lead-up to the 2026 Cricket World Cup, this edition marks an important milestone in the league’s evolution since its inception. This edition will feature 24 matches in total, including 20 league fixtures and 4 knockout games, spread across three premier venues – R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Colombo; Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy; and Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium, Dambulla. Mr. Samantha Dodanwela, Tournament Director, LPL, said, “The timing of this edition has been carefully chosen to ensure that players gain maximum exposure and high-quality match practice in the lead-up to a global cricketing year. Over the seasons, the LPL has emerged as a breeding ground for fresh talent, with several youngsters making their mark alongside international stars. This year too, we believe the league will throw up exciting new names who can go on to spring surprises on the world stage ahead of the World Cup.” The tournament format will see all five franchises compete against each other twice during the league phase. At the end of the round-robin stage, the top four teams will move into the playoffs. The opening playoff, Qualifier 1, will be contested by the top two sides, with the winner earning a straight passage to the final. The teams placed third and fourth will face off in the Eliminator, and the victor of that clash will then take on the loser of Qualifier 1 in Qualifier 2, which will determine the second finalist. Mr. Anil Mohan Sankhdhar, Founder and CEO of IPG Group – the official rights holder of the LPL, added, “The Lanka Premier League has rapidly grown into one of Asia’s most thrilling T20 spectacles, and the overwhelming response to last year’s season is proof of that. With over 780 million viewers tuning in on television and fans packing stadiums to witness top-class performances, the league has struck a chord not only in Sri Lanka but across key markets including India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Building on that momentum, we are confident that the 2025 edition will raise the bar even higher, bringing fans an even bigger celebration of cricket globally.” With actions unfolding just months ahead of the mega global cricketing extravaganza, the LPL 2025 promises to be a high-intensity showcase of international and Sri Lankan talent, adding excitement for fans across the subcontinent in the build-up to the World Cup year.

Telangana Today
Telangana State Archives building deteriorates, 43 million historical records at risk
Technology

Telangana State Archives building deteriorates, 43 million historical records at risk

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Archives and Research Institute building that houses the country’s second-oldest document is crumbling, raising concerns about the archives’ safety and preservation. Located on the Osmania University campus, along Tarnaka main-road, the building has been neglected for several years. Cracks have appeared at several places in the building. In fact, the ceiling peeled off, exposing iron support beams in many places. Water seepage is clearly visible along several walls, and there is vegetation growth through the cracked walls both outside and inside the building. The building, which was constructed with limestone and iron beams, launched by former Prime Minister late Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1965 has a separate block of a large stack area in two floors. Currently, approximately 43 million rare and historical records, including the country’s second oldest record-a farman of Firoz Shah Bahmani of the Bahmani Sultanate in the 14th century, are being preserved. The Farman, dating way back to May 14, 1406 AD, was handwritten in Persian language and was for granting land as ‘inam’ to Moulana Muhammad Qazi. The records dating from 1406 -1950 are in classical Persian and Urdu, while the Hyderabad records from 1950 to 1956 are in English. There are some records, which are in Marathi script etc. Besides, a rare collection of 672 Manuscript books in Persian, Arabic and Urdu (classical languages) are being preserved. While there are 43 million records, only 30 percent of them are being preserved in the compactors that prevent the records from fire, dust and theft. The remaining records, which are stored in steel almirahs and steel racks. According to Archives department official sources, records in steel almirah and rack have high risk of getting damaged due to vehicular pollution as the Institute stands on the main road. Further, the sources said construction of a new building with ground and two floors at an estimated cost of Rs.50 crore had been proposed long ago. “Although State government in principle agreed for a new building, which will come up behind the existing one, there has been no headway for a long time,” sources added.

Telangana Today
SC dismisses plea against 42 per cent BC reservation in Telangana local body polls
Technology

SC dismisses plea against 42 per cent BC reservation in Telangana local body polls

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the writ petition challenging the Telangana government's decision to allocate 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes (BCs) in the upcoming local body elections, granting the petitioner liberty to approach the High Court for relief. A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta observed that the petitioner could not directly invoke Article 32 of the Constitution when two similar writ petitions on the same issue were already pending before the Telangana High Court. When the petitioner's counsel argued that the Supreme Court had earlier entertained similar pleas, Justice Vikram Nath pointedly remarked, "In similar circumstances, we have also dismissed." The bench asked why the petitioners had not pursued their case before the High Court, to which counsel responded that the matter was listed on October 8 but no interim stay had been granted. Rejecting the plea for a stay, the Supreme Court made it clear that the High Court was the proper forum to adjudicate the matter. With this dismissal, the Telangana High Court's hearing on October 8 will now be crucial in determining the fate of the enhanced BC quota in local body elections.

Telangana Today
Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats
Technology

Birds all over the world use the same sound to warn of threats

Melbourne: Language enables us to connect with each other and coordinate to achieve incredible feats. Our ability to communicate abstract concepts is often seen as a defining feature of our species, and one that separates us from the rest of life on Earth. This is because while the ability to pair an arbitrary sound with a specific meaning is widespread in human language, it is rarely seen in other animal communication systems. Several recent studies have shown that birds, chimpanzees, dolphins, and elephants also do it. But how such a capacity emerges remains a mystery. While language is characterised by the widespread use of sounds that have a learned association with the item they refer to, humans and animals also produce instinctive sounds. For example, a scream made in response to pain. Over 150 years ago, naturalist Charles Darwin suggested the use of these instinctive sounds in a new context could be an important step in the development of language-like communication. In our new study, published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we describe the first example of an animal vocalisation that contains both instinctive and learned features – similar to the stepping stone Darwin envisioned. A unique call towards a unique threat Birds have a variety of enemies, but brood parasites are unique. Brood parasites, such as cuckoos, are birds that reproduce by laying their egg in the nest of another species and manipulating the unsuspecting host to incubate their egg and raise their offspring. The first thing a baby cuckoo does after it hatches is heave the other baby birds out of the nest, claiming the effort of its unsuspecting foster parents all to itself. The high cost of brood parasitism makes it an excellent study system to explore how evolution works in the wild. For example, our past work has shown that in Australia, the superb fairy-wren has evolved a unique call it makes when it sees a cuckoo. When other fairy-wrens hear this alarm call, they quickly come in and attack the cuckoo. During these earlier experiments, we couldn't help but notice other species were responding to this call and making a very similar call themselves. What's more, discussions with collaborators who were working in countries as far away as China, India and Sweden suggested the birds there were also making a very similar call – and also only towards cuckoos. All birds use the same call First, we explored online wildlife media databases to see if there were other examples of this call towards brood parasites. We found 21 species that produce this call towards their brood parasites, including cuckoos and parasitic finches. Some of these birds were closely related and lived nearby each other, but others shared a last common ancestor over 50 million years ago and live on different continents. As vocalisations exist to communicate information, we suspected this call either functioned to attract the attention of their own or other species. To compare these possibilities, we used a known database of the world's brood parasites and hosts. If this call exists to communicate information within a species, we expected the species that produce it should be more cooperative, because more birds are better at defending their nest. We did not find this. Instead, we found that species that produce this call exist in areas with more brood parasites and hosts, suggesting it exists to enable cooperation across different species that are targeted by brood parasites. Communicating across species to defend against a common threat To test whether these calls were produced uniquely towards cuckoos in multiple species, we conducted experiments in Australia. When we presented superb fairy-wrens or white-browed scrubwrens with a taxidermied cuckoo, they made this call and tried to attack it. By contrast, when they were presented with other taxidermied models, such as a predator, this call was very rarely produced. When we presented the fairy-wrens and scrubwrens with recordings of the call, they responded strongly. This suggests both species produce the call almost exclusively towards cuckoos, and when they hear it they respond predictably. If this call is something like a “universal word” for a brood parasite across birds, we should expect different species to respond equally to hearing it – even when it is produced by a species they have never seen before. We found exactly this: when we played calls from Australia to birds in China (and vice-versa) they responded the same. This suggests different species from all around the world use this call because it provides specific information about the presence of a brood parasite. Insights into the origins of language Our study suggests that over 20 species of birds from all around the world that are separated by over 50 million years of evolution use the same call when they see their respective brood parasite species. This is fascinating in and of itself. But while these birds know how to respond to the call, our past work has shown that birds that have never seen a cuckoo do not produce this call, but they do after watching others produce it when there is a cuckoo nearby. In other words, while the response to the call is instinctive, producing the call itself is learned. Whereas vocalisations are normally either instinctive or learned, this is the first example of an animal vocalisation across species that has both instinctive and learned components. This is important, because it appears to represent a midpoint between the types of vocalisations that are common in animal communication systems and human language. So, Darwin may have been right about language all along.

Agencies
“One of the greatest social conquests since WWII has been the tourism relationship between Spain and the UK”
Technology

“One of the greatest social conquests since WWII has been the tourism relationship between Spain and the UK”

The director of the Spanish Tourist Office UK, Manuel Butler, is extremely proud of the fact that ABTA has decided to celebrate its 75th anniversary by holding its annual convention in Calvia, setting a record for the number of times the travel association has held the event in a single destination - Mallorca. “It’s the perfect location for the British travel industry to mark this milestone for ABTA. Tourism is in Mallorca’s DNA, it’s a flagship for the global industry and, along with the rest of Spain, it’s the champion destination by far. “The British dominate the market by miles, it nearly doubles its closest rivals and testimony to that is ABTA holding its fourth convention in Mallorca,” he said before going to make the bold statement: “One of the greatest social conquests since the Second World War has been the relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom when it comes to tourism. The two countries have been champions in the field since the 50s and 60s and I see no reason for that changing.” It has been another strong season for the British market and Butler is deeply encouraged to see high demand during September and October and through the low season shoulder months into next year. “These are increasingly important months, not just for the tourist industry but for social sustainability in destinations dependent on tourism like Mallorca and other parts of Spain. In fact it’s a global problem and one we’ve been working on for a while now. It’s just that over the past few years it has come to the forefront through protests in a number of key destinations from Mallorca to Mexico City. So we need to look at the impact tourism is having. “I think that the key is putting the positive impacts of tourism at the centre of the debate for people. “We also have to think of tourism as a social phenomenon and that’s something that we’ve forgotten. “Today, as globalisation is receding, tourism is more needed than ever as a force for good,” he said. “So we need to be thinking and planning long term. We have not seen the protests have a negative impact in bookings to Mallorca but they are being carefully watched. We know that and we have to be careful that they don’t damage the image of destinations. These are not anti-tourism demonstrations but events can get exaggerated, so we need more social sustainable communication. “Especially when demand for holidays is continuing to grow, so we need to have an economic and social balance to maintain a healthy status quo. It is important to distinguish between specific local tensions and the broader national picture. The vast majority of Spain remains enthusiastic in welcoming tourists. “Where protests have occurred – in cities such as Barcelona, Palma and Santa Cruz – concerns stem from broader societal issues: housing pressures, rising costs of living, and environmental strain in high-density areas. We need to be aware of the fact that we need to find a solution, develop a new model to prevent problems further down the road because the number of flights and travellers is only going to rise,” he said. “That said, while demand goes up, so too do prices and that’s down to numerous factors from global inflation to geopolitics. And that does have a knock-on effect in destinations, so the industry has to be careful with its pricing from flights to accommodation and all along the food chain. It’s always the middle class, which accounts for the majority of tourism, which feels the squeeze the most, so the industry has to be price sensitive. “But there are other factors which we have and are taking into account, such as climate change. It is playing a large part in reshaping the industry from how and when people travel, where they travel to, how the airline and hotel industries operate in a more eco-friendly and sustainable world. This is why the ABTA convention in Mallorca is so important because all of these are not only going to be on the table but the captains of the UK travel industry, tour operators like Jet2 and TUI, will be present. “And being hosted in Calvia, the delegates and the British travel industry as a whole will be able to see what can be done, how these problems can be addressed and overcome. Calvia is a perfect example of how Mallorca’s tourist industry is moving forward and in the right direction, as is most of Spain. “Calvia is one of the eight municipalities in Spain which hosts the highest number of visitors, some 20 percent of the international demand. So Calvia is one of the keys in the cog and we can’t let this positive circle break,” Butler stressed. “There is growing competition, especially in the Mediterranean with the likes of Turkey, Greece, Egypt and Morocco pushing hard with long-term strategies. Turkey, for example, has devalued its currency at least four times against the pound to attract more British tourists. But does that lead to better social welfare for the local population? This is an important question we all need to ask and is it a sustainable model for a well-developed, long-established and solid tourist industry like Spain? Spain is well known for its quality service, high standards, world-leading professionalism, value for money, security and safety. All these form and shape peoples’ image and perspective of a holiday destination while making it extremely attractive and popular. Hence why some 20 million Britons come to Spain every year. It’s the UK’s number one destination. “The majority of Britons feel at home in Spain, they know they can relax and they are safe,” he added. “And a clear demonstration in Spain’s strength as a world leading tourist destination is that it will not be bossed about by airlines like Ryanair because, as we’ve seen, all available slots will simply be filled by other airlines, while new routes are constantly opening up like to the United States and Abu Dhabi. “But destinations like Mallorca and the Balearics can’t afford to take their eye off the ball when it comes to promotion. “The competing countries I mentioned are all running major publicity campaigns in the UK media so one can’t afford to be too much out of the public eye. Nothing can ever be taken for granted. “The Spanish islands have even got tough competition from domestic markets. We’ve seen significant increases in the number of Britons going to holiday to northern Spain during the summer to avoid the extreme heat during the peak months, so there are lots of factors which have to be taken into account and addressed at the ABTA convention.”

Humphrey Carter
Previous 24 25 26 27 28 Next