Janusz Urbanski, a Polish miner and ironworker, has a one of a kind chessboard he never plays, a personalised guitar he does not strum and a boat he cannot sail. Why? They are all made from tens of thousands of matches.
In many must-win battleground states, Indian Americans comprise a substantial and potentially decisive share of the electorate: 190,000 potential voters in Florida, 120,000 in Michigan, 170,000 in Pennsylvania, 150,000 in Georgia, 110,000 in North Carolina, 165,000 in Virginia, and nearly 470,000 in Texas.
The Congress' move to checkmate rebel Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's yatra does not seem to have had the desired effect.
Both the BJP and the JD-U abetted the LJP split but interestingly, independently. And there hangs a tale of conflicting interests, gamesmanship, subterfuge, and retribution, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
In a concerted attempt to checkmate the Non-Resident Indians and overseas Indians deserting their wives after marriage, the Centre has decided to enforce compulsory registration of their marriages and help women fight their cases in India and abroad. The Law Ministry will be sending a proforma to state governments for uniform and compulsory registration of all marriages solemnised in India.
'Maybe the BJP believes, in the post-poll scenario, it will have the might to foist, anybody endorsed by the RSS, upon Bihar,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Change was very much needed for the Congress to win the 2022 assembly elections.'
'Our defence services are in a position to checkmate any Chinese adventurism.'
Nandigram, 126 km south of Kolkata, is Suvendu Adhikari's bastion, where he has vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee by 50,000 votes or quit politics.
It's possible that to counter the onslaught of the saffron aggression in the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, both Congress and NCP will checkmate Narendra Modi by pitting Sharad Pawar as the chief ministerial candidate. However, the Congress wants the NCP to merge first, and only then it will be ready to nominate Pawar. Sheela Bhatt reports.
Freebies galore and populist schemes under the popular 'Amma' brand became the hallmark of late Jayalalithaa's tenure as Chief Minister, helping her steamroll arch-rival M Karunanidhi's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in this year's assembly polls.
Finally, Moser Baer may have found the formula to checkmate video piracy, which has been the bane of the Indian movie industry for a long time
The Indian world junior champion beat Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the second round of the Crown group of Essent chess tournament.
'The timing of the current episode involving Ajit Pawar is important. The episode has elements of deceit, betrayal and falsehood intertwined'
Some senior Congress leaders including Kapil Sibal have called for introspection after the party's dismal performance in the recently held Bihar assembly polls, after which the ruling National Democratic Alliance returned to power in the state despite the main member of the grand opposition alliance, Rashtriya Janata Dal, putting up a strong show and emerging as the single largest party.
According to the RBI's April 6 circular, cash loading companies, which take cash around the country, are supposed to increase their net worth to Rs 1 billion within 90 days.
Lesser-fancied Indians again stole limelight in the LIC World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Friday. Nandhidhaa PV created a sensation in the fifth round, upsetting IM Meri Arabidze of Georgia, who is rated and titled higher than her, while 15-year-old Maria Ivana Furtado shocked Nguyen Thi Mai Hung to emerge joint leaders.
'If he goes ahead with his plan, it might work.'
World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand continued his fine run in the faster version of the game and annexed the Tal Memorial rapid chess title in Moscow after an easy final round draw against Boris Gelfand of Israel.
Chances are any such disruption will not occur on the major shipping lanes but on some edge of the ocean between India and China. Even if there is no actual disruption, the costs of averting one can be punitive. The setting for this is provided by the energy shortage both countries face, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
The investor has now put together a fund of $3.75 billion to back private companies.
'By causing military humiliation of India it intends to send a signal to other Asian countries to toe the Chinese line,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Given the pressure from India Inc and the banking fraternity, it is surmised that the portfolio rejig will take place before April.
A Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will be in place in Maharashtra before athe end of the week, a top party functionary told rediff.com on Tuesday.
The onus today is on China, but it also requires a little diplomatic finesse from India, backed by a modernised armed force, argues BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in this excerpt from his new book, Himalayan Challenge: India, China And The Quest For Peace.
In her weekly column, mental health guru Anu Krishna offers advice on how to take charge of your life.
Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa will be up against Geetha Shivrajkumar, the daughter-in-law of actor Dr Rajkumar and daughter of former chief minister S Bangarappa. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika staged a great comeback in the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran, winning the second game against Tan Zhongyi of China to take the semi-final into a tie-breaker.
'All the vaccines that are available in most countries, right now, are all highly effective and safe.'
The PDP has 28 MLAs, followed by NC with 15 and Congress with 12 which will make up for a clear majority.
After being checkmated by the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal-United-Congress alliance in the Bihar bypoll, Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the 'Mahayuti' needs to pull up its socks and refrain from gloating over the 'Modi wave' to fight the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
'The party dropped me as a spokesperson for showing a roadmap. It shows that the party either has a high level of arrogance or they are completely detached from ground realities.'
Shiv Sena has named Eknath Shinde as its candidate for leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, signalling a complete breakdown of talks with the BJP. Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore reports
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand continued his fine form to outwit Anish Giri of Holland and move into the sole lead after the end of the second round of Zurich Chess Challenge, in Zurich, on Sunday.
'Already, the BJP treats the Constitution like the unpopular old uncle at the party, whom everyone pays lip service to and then proceeds to ignore,' says Mitali Saran.
'Even if such a thing happens, it will not prolong for many days like Doklam did.' 'That is because both the leaders do not want it.'
The coming together of SP and BSP leaders on one platform is being seen as the emergence of a new phase of politics in the state after a dismal show of all anti-BJP parties in the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 assembly polls.
