Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini has described Spain as Italy's bogey team and urged their fans not to dream too much. Italy face the titleholders on Monday in their second round match in Paris in a rematch of the 2012 final in which Spain cruised to 4-0 win. Spain also beat Italy on penalties in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals after a 0-0 draw and again at the Confederations Cup semi-final in Brazil in 2013. Another meeting in a group match at Euro 2012 ended 1-1.
Meanwhile, the US refrained from making any comment on the move to set up the development bank aimed at reshaping the international financial system dominated by the West, saying that the details are yet to emerge.
India will have the presidency of the BRICS' $100 billion New Development Bank for six years with headquarters in China that will become operational in about two years, a major step for reshaping the international financial system dominated by the West.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff on Friday called Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi to congratulate him on his landslide win in the Lok Sabha polls and said they were looking forward to meet him in the BRICS summit in July.
The business council aims to give impetus to trade.
The Summit could look at the possibility of starting credit facility in local currency by the BRICS Bank.
The Congress and AAP said the logo looks like the party symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Pitching for 'zero tolerance" against terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told leaders of the five-nation grouping BRICS that the "choices" they make now will shape the future of the world at large.
Ten-man Greece held Japan to a 0-0 draw that will suit neither side in a Group C match, which ended with boos ringing around the Dunas arena and sent Colombia into the last 16 of the World Cup on Thursday.
Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made two outstanding saves to deny Neymar as battling Mexico held Brazil to a 0-0 draw in their World Cup Group A match on Tuesday, ending the hosts' 10-game winning streak in the process.
In the wake of reported incursion attempts by China, India on Wednesday said such incidents take place due to difference of perception about boundary and leaders of both the countries are in talks to resolve the issue.
Emerging nations have discussed delinking the quotas from the governance reforms to facilitate its passage.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for Brazil on Sunday for attending the five-nation summit of BRICS nations on July 14 and 15 which is expected to finalise the setting up of a development bank and seek reforms of the United Nations and international financial organisations.
Javier Hernandez came off the bench to help Mexico reach the last 16 of the World Cup as their watertight defense and swift counter attacks gave them a 3-1 win against Croatia on Monday to emerge from Group A as runners-up behind Brazil.
All the three issues raised by China at the Modi-Xi meeting are either intractable or peripheral to the bilateral relations and suggest conventional methods to placate the other side without yielding much, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
The 5-nation BRICS group on signed an agreement to create a $100 billion pool of foreign-exchange reserves to help each other.
FIFA will go ahead with its controversial decision to stage World Cup matches at midday in tropical venues, president Sepp Blatter said on Tuesday as soccer's governing body announced a bafflingly complex procedure for Friday's draw.
Russia manager Fabio Capello and Juventus coach Antonio Conte voiced support on Saturday for the introduction of 'time-outs' during matches in a move they said would benefit players, managers and commercial partners.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left from Delhi for Brazil to attend the five-nation Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit slated to be held for two days, starting Monday. Here is his statement ahead of the meet.
Modi's visit to some developed countries such as the US, Japan, China and Australia were sprinkled with humongous investment figures. But do we have the wherewithal to absorb such big investments?
Mats Hummels scored with a header in the 14th minute to give Germany a 1-0 victory over France in the first quarter-final of the World Cup at the Maracana, in Brazil, on Friday.
England manager Roy Hodgson borrowed a line from the hit movie Forrest Gump on Monday when he described his thoughts ahead of this week's draw for the World Cup.
Putin, 62, who holds an 8th dan black belt in Karate, said, "I do not know how to do yoga. When you people do it, it looks difficult. That is why I have not tried it."
China continues to hold out on fingering Pakistan as the 'mothership of terror,' declaring Masood Azhar a terrorist at the UN, and India's membership of the NSG, says China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
The Doha Round of talks of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) faces a new challenge and if some statements emanating after the General Council meeting on July 25 at Geneva are to be taken at face value, this could derail the process of trade liberalisation through a multilateral route for some time.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Argentina remain winless in South American qualifying for the 2018 World Cup after struggling to a 0-0 in Paraguay on Tuesday, while Uruguay and Ecuador both made it two wins from two games to top the group.
'While visits and personal meetings are useful, changes of strategic significance have occurred recently, with Beijing trying to take the lead which Modi must take note of.'
The new government needs to clearly insist on diplomatic reciprocal arrangements with China. While reciprocity is a function of power in bilateral relations, the Modi-led government's responses should be based on India'S inherent strengths, says China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
Critics have even suggested that India is doing this because it is not prepared to take on the requirements of TFA, with a relatively weak trade infrastructure.
Did we miss the DeepState's Brazil Model in action in India in 2004 and 2009, asks Rajeev Srinivasan.
With Beijing having had a profound rethink on India's admission as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the tectonic plates of the geopolitics of a massive swathe of the planet stretching from the Asia-Pacific to West Asia are dramatically shifting. That grating noise in the Central Asian steppes will be heard far and wide -- as far as North America, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The World Cup is being played in the football crazy country after 64 years and nothing excites the Brazilians more than the sacred game,' says B S Prakash, India's former ambassador to Brazil.
'What gives hope is that Modi's own leadership is vitally linked to his capacity to deliver on the economic front. Indeed, if he succeeds, India's foreign policies will have changed beyond recognition,' feels Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The Modi-Xi and Modi-Obama meetings, with an interval of just 12 days, are juxtaposed superbly at a crucial point in the prime minister's life. Can Modi carve out a win-win situation with the superpower and the emerging superpower at the same time?'