'It was always anticipated that the return of the Taliban would embolden armed Islamists including anti-India groups like the Lashkar and Jaish.'
The gems and jewellery industry is staring at a sales washout on Akshaya Tritiya for the second consecutive year as most of the states are under lockdowns due to the raging second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to negative consumer sentiment, say industry leaders. Akshaya Tritiya, considered as an auspicious day for buying gold and jewellery, falls on May 14 this year. India is the worst-hit among all nations with the second wave of the pandemic, which has been killing more than 3,500 daily and infecting close to 4 lakhs daily for weeks. The massive caseload has nearly paralysed the medical infrastructure.
Badhaai Do carries its audience on the wave of those little farces that come with being queer in India, a land where masculinity still has some say, observes Sreehari Nair.
'Chinese experts estimate that the new US administration is 'at the crossroads of how to re-manage and control' Sino-American differences and strategic divergences and Biden's bottom line is that the US would have 'extreme competition with China, but won't allow competition to develop into conflict',' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
What was meant to be a toast to life and its many gifts suddenly became Sushant Singh Rajput's last hurrah, a this-is-it, a tearful goodbye, feels Sukanya Verma.
'Allocate some parts of one's surplus income towards cryptocurrencies, considering the immense growth potential of this emerging asset class.'
The new fare structure which will come into effect from December 1.
Pulivaal is an unimaginative tale of two strangers brought together by fate in a ridiculous cat and mouse game, which ends up ruining the life of an innocent.
One sees a lot more of the aliens in this edition though not necessarily in a good way, wites Sukanya Verma.
'We all live very intense lives. S*** goes down all the time.' 'This 'eureka moment' doesn't really happen.' 'The discipline of writing and polishing a song is way harder,' Prateek Kuhad, the singing sensation, tells Veer Arjun Singh.
'With Prime Minister Modi's electoral victory, President Obama very quickly reached out, and we were off to the races.' 'We've seen two highly successful leader-level engagements in the past five months. We've really turned things towards a new beginning -- a new energy, a new momentum...'
'A key trend that one should expect to see is tonnes of failures.' 'Several blockchain-focused companies will fail.'
'From the Indian perspective, Trump's invitation to Imran Khan to visit the White House is a bitter pill to swallow,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A keen understanding of the way our brain functions is essential to building sustainable routines and habits that set us up for success, says Jay Kumar Hariharan.
Naiyaandi is a rural romantic comedy that lacks a good story and seems more like an amateur, half-hearted and a disappointing attempt.
A more rigorous training in core skills is required to boost the engineering talent in the country, instead of a varnish of 'soft skills', says Ajit Balakrishnan.
'All of us wear multiple faces, multiple masks. but who are we really?', J J Valaya, designer and photographer, asks K S Shekhawat.
'Since each chief single-mindedly pursues his service's interests in the competition for turf and in core matters such as budget share. The CDS, therefore, must act as an "honest broker" whose decisions serve the broader national purpose, rather than narrow service interests,' says Ajai Shukla.
'The prime minister did not think that COVID-19 was a serious challenge as late as March 20.'
'One must remember that a dragon has a forked tongue,' warns Vivek Gumaste.
'In a party run by 'two-and-a half men', Kovind fits the bill perfectly because, unlike the BJP's previous choice for the Presidency, A P J Abdul Kalam, he is unlikely to return a bill as Kalam did with the office of profit legislation,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
Ahead of Modi's two-day visit, the capital city Dhaka is having a festive look with streets adorned with life-size cutouts of Modi.
The World War I had been triggered by an assassination in then relatively unknown Serbia.
So many films have been made with Muslim characters. But how many have actually got them right?
'Jihadi outfits backed by the ISI are now prepared to attack targets not just in J&K, but also in Punjab. This signals an escalation in the range and scope of cross-border terrorism, which cannot be ignored,' says Ambassador G Parthasarthy, former high commissioner to Pakistan.
Omung Kumar plays it woefully safe and completely avoids treading on political toes except for a token representation now and then, writes Sukanya Verma.
India should adopt a pro-active strategy on Pakistan -- catalysing, facilitating and making room for a change in its anti-India posture.
If he doesn't, two things are guaranteed: Failure for him, and continued slide for his nation despite its talented people, strong nationalism, the gift of geography and a formidable army, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Uneasy calm prevailed in Ayodhya, which on Saturday looked like a fortress, with deployment of more than 10,000 cops on the 22nd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
'Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train will not begin to address any of the many problems Indian Railways faces.'
One cricketer made all the difference when the first All India cricket team toured England in 1911. Baloo Palwankar startled the English with his guile and genius.
Given a choice between Ouija and the rest of the Halloween-targeted horror releases this year, I would pick Ouija any day, says Paloma Sharma.
The kindest thing one can say about Ishqedarriyaan is that it is yawn worthy
PHOTOS from the Wimbledon Championships matches played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Saturday
RJD president Lalu Prasad on Thursday said Railway Budget has cheated people as it has nothing to offer.
Sin City 2 doesn't quite illicit the same response as the film film, says Paloma Sharma.
Modi said Nepal and India can benefit if they cooperate and work together for the promotion of five Ts: Tradition, Trade, Tourism, Technology and Transport.
'India should be more confident and let Pakistanis meet Hurriyat leaders. India's main concern is terrorism, and India should talk terrorism. If that means talking Kashmir, so be it. India can't answer terror with terror because we don't have terror factories. India can't answer terrorism with war because we both have nuclear weapons. That leaves talks as the only option,' says Shivam Vij.
The implications of the interim deal between Iran and the world's big powers go far beyond the nuclear programme, says Nitin Pai
The civil services seem to have gone sour under the NDA government. Ministers exercise executive power in a partisan manner. Consequently, a regime of favouritism holds sway over the corridors of power, feels Ram Ugrah.
