'Votes-for-notes no longer only means cash and goodies for fence-sitting voters,' points out Sunil Sethi.

Gauba said the JKLF spearheaded the separatist ideology in Kashmir Valley and the action was taken following the 'zero tolerance' policy of the central government against terrorism.

The apex court said Ambani and the others will have to purge contempt by paying Rs 453 crore to Ericsson in four weeks. A bench comprising Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran said if the 'contemnors' failed to make the payments within the specified period, they will undergo a jail term of three months.

'Xi Jinping is keen that the second Trump-Kim summit happens soonest.' 'Kim is reported to have told Xi that he expects to achieve a result from a second summit that the international community would welcome,' points out Dr Rajaram Panda.

It will lead to higher productivity for the company and will provide the employees more time for personal chores and engagement.

A ball-tampering scandal that devastated Australia cast a dark cloud over a dramatic cricketing year

The court order is seen as a major embarrassment for the AIADMK as Palaniswami will be the first chief minister in the state to face a CBI probe over corruption charges.

'A belligerent Alok Nath refused to leave.. kept screaming shouting threatening abusing trying to grab me..'

A market correction is a good time to reassess the quality of your portfolio and purge the poor quality names from it, says Ramesh Bukka

'North Korea could choose to go China's way by selectively opening up the economy, but Kim does not seem enthused by the idea.' 'Getting Pyongyang to give up the nuclear programme may be the best outcome Trump can hope for at the moment,' says Vikram Johri.

The journalist, who shot to fame for hurling a shoe at the then US president, calling him a dog, wants to fight corruption and rebuild Iraq. Muntadhar al-Zaidi speaks to Subhash K Jha.

'The military officers at China's National People's Congress reflect Xi Jinping's preference for elevating politically reliable, younger, officers with good professional qualifications,' says former RAW officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.

'After Modi, Yogi is the most popular face of Hindutva, but it's too early to say that he is someone who could succeed Modi.'

It's more common than majority of Indians realise.

Why do we need a cure here for peculiarly Western diseases when we don't have those diseases, and which the West itself is not trying to cure, asks Debashis Basu.

For a bunch that fancies itself so greatly and does not hesitate to express an opinion on everything, this is very odd behaviour, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.

India expects to remain unscathed this time, mainly because it is in a sweet spot as the world's third largest oil consumer, after the US and China, says Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.

An Insignificant Man gets full marks for its originality, says Utkarsh Mishra.

It's been 100 years since Lenin and the Bolsheviks overthrew the government, and its legacy remains visible even today in the buildings and monuments scattered throughout St Petersburg.

'That the two sides allowed such a situation to arise exposed the level of inaction and inefficiency in China-India border management.' 'The Modi-Xi meeting in Xiamen initiated a process to to avert such contingencies in the future.'

'For half a century, Delhi has not seen a truly powerful ruling party president.' 'The Cabinet, chief ministers, and even the heads of the most powerful departments and agencies now acknowledge where power lies, besides the prime minister's office,' says Shekhar Gupta.

India needs to be alert on how the Doklam standoff plays into the factional infighting in China's Communist Party, says Ambassador Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary.

Stylish Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who couldn't make it to the Playing XI for the first Test -- he was forced to miss the opening Test due to viral fever -- was seen having an enjoyable time with team-mates while having an intense session of FIFA video games.

The RSS realises that with a majority BJP government at the Centre and in several states, now was the best time to undermine and perhaps outdo the Congress-Left 'stranglehold' over campuses and young minds.

In a few years from now, India will be looking at an entirely different type of military adversary across the borders, in our waters, in the air, in space and in our communication networks, says Nitin Pai.

'If tempers all over the country are so fragile that they can be lost because a couple of film stars give their child the same name as a 14th-century warlord, exactly what sort of compromises can be palatable,' asks Mihir S Sharma.

In the fifth of a six-part series on the impact of demonetisation, Avishek Rakshit senses a storm brewing over the 850-odd tea gardens in the north eastern state, which have a weekly and fortnightly payment cycle.

James Wilson explains why Indians are destined to silently suffer the cash shortage for half a dozen more months.

'As I suspected, I had way, way too much clothing, which you would never know from what I actually wear,' says Mitali Saran.

Prepare to be surprised in Tamil Nadu

RBI is unlikely to stem the slide against the dollar as the greenback is rising rapidly against all currencies in the world.

'Alas, in this scheme there is nothing to stop the black money flows of the future.' 'On the contrary Modi has sown the seeds of more, through the issue of Rs 2,000 notes.' 'But have you heard one politician decrying this aspect of the scheme?' 'They must be secretly rejoicing that while Modi is taking away their past, he has not shut the door on their future,' says banker S Muralidharan.

'Even with the restrictions of depositing more than Rs 2.5 lakh in a bank, people will find new methods to convert this cash hoard into legal tender.'

Promises have been made in the past about cleaning up bank boards, revamping processes, purging vested interests. How far away is that Promised Land?

More than 100 medical experts, academia and scientists on Friday have called for the Rio Olympic Games to be postponed or moved because of fears that the event could speed up the spread of the Zika virus around the world. Their assessment counters the view of some leading experts of infectious disease who say that as long as the necessary precautions are taken there is no reason to cancel the Games. On Thursday, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, declared there was no public health reason to cancel or delay this summer's Games. In a public letter posted online, the group of 150 leading public health experts, many of them bioethicists, said the risk of infection from the Zika virus is too high. The letter was sent to Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, and urged that the Games, due to be held in Rio de Janeiro in August, be moved to another location or delayed.

'The irresistible charm of Indian politics is it can always throw up surprises -- even when it looks as predictable as in Tamil Nadu,' discovers Shekhar Gupta.

Who was Mohammad Azharuddin? More crucially, *what* was he? Those are precisely the questions that, as the end credits roll after 132 minutes of run-time, remain unanswered, feels Prem Panicker.

One of India's top filmmakers Satyajit Raj would have been 95 on May 2. We celebrate him by re-publishing a special series of articles through the week.

What was the need for Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman, Central Military Commission, to don the new role of Commander in-Chief? Does this mean that the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao faces numerous threats from within the Communist Party?

'The BCCI is -- and always has been, across successive dispensations -- allergic to criticism.' 'It has used the 'control' it enshrines in its name to destroy anyone who has dared to point fingers at its functioning,' says Prem Panicker, the distinguished cricket writer.