The Cuban government has announced nine days of mourning and has set Castro's funeral for December 4.
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo struck his fifth international hat-trick, including a spectacular volleyed opener, to lead the European champions to a 5-1 win over the Faroe Islands in their World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
Here is a lowdown of all the light-hearted, fun news from around the ICC World Cup.
Any additional effort to assuage the growing worldwide hunger for infrastructure funding is more than welcome, says Barun Roy.
'Tis the season for hope and for forecasts. So here we look at the things we want and hope will be granted in 2015.
Photos from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers played on Tuesday
Real Sociedad midfielder Carlos Vela was called up by Mexico for November tour friendlies on Tuesday after turning his back on his country since March 2011.
While India is witnessing slowdown, many countries have not yet been able to come off the last decade's financial crisis.
FIFA defended the harsh punishment it handed down to Uruguay striker Luis Suarez for biting an opponent during the World Cup, despite complaints on Friday from his coach, politicians and even the man he bit that the record penalty was excessive.
This means lower losses on fuel sales by Indian oil companies and a shrinking oil subsidy bill for the government.
Former editor of Femina magazine, Sathya Saran looks back at the Miss India pageant that changed the lives of two young women.
India's macroeconomic situation has benefited from oil prices' decline.
The futures of thousands of undocumented Indians who were taken to the US as children are in danger after Donald Trump's repeal of the DACA program.
'When you go to the root cause of any strife or violence, you find an agitated mind. If this agitation is not dealt with, then any other solution will be temporary and not as effective.' 'This is where meditation and the breathing techniques play a crucial role in creating a crime-free, violence-free society.'
'Modi is likely to make more announcements to win or retain popularity, and put himself at the centre of things even more than now,' says T N Ninan.
What a year Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh and Anirban Lahiri had!
Whatever happens with this election, there is going to have to be a serious rethink of how the ECI, and elections, are run in India. There can't even be the whiff of impropriety. In a country that believes in democracy, EVM rigging isn't stealing an election, it's stealing the soul of a nation, says Cleo Paskal.
Here's your weekly digest of the most Weird, True and Funny News from the across the globe.
Srinidhi Shetty on her journey from small town girl to the toast of the world.
No large nation has done less to feed its millions of poor than India has in the past decade or two since the beneficial effects of the Green Revolution wore off.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene welcomed back the Kimi Raikkonen of old on Sunday.
Pushing a barrel of oil back to around $100 would require a reduction of production of about two million barrels a day - a cut that would fall predominantly on Saudi Arabia.
Arthur J Pais analyses Oscar 2014 big wins and losses.
Trade sanctions on Russia by Europe and the US offer an opportunity for India, but the devaluation of the rouble may play spoilsport
'A few months ago, everybody was saying, "Why isn't Vijender taking part in the Olympics?"' 'This is not like going to Haryana or Delhi that you just take a ticket and reach there.' 'Going to the Olympics is not easy'
It has been said that by 2025, India could become among the top five economies in the world. If India does become a $5 trillion economy but gets all its rivers polluted, food chain poisoned and genetic pool depleted and biometric database of Indians sold or stolen at the behest of commercial czars, will it not be a pyrrhic economic victory, asks Gopal Krishna.
'India-US relations seem to have soured when the US expected India to not only balance China in the Asia-Pacific, but also make concessions to Pakistan as a price for US technological help,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'When workers in other industries enjoy protection, why should sex workers not receive similar protection?' 'Sex work should be treated as work and brought under the work schedule of the labour department.' 'We will only end up giving immunity to the pimps and brothels to buy or sell human beings. This will in turn increase trafficking of young women and children.' Rashme Sehgal reports on the debate over legalising prostitution, a bugle in whose favour has been sounded by the new chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Lalitha Kumaramangalam.
'If the Americans believed that India is as strong as China or Russia, would they have shown this scant respect for us,' asks Tarun Vijay, MP. 'An economically strong and militarily powerful India would never have had this experience. Not just the Americans, everyone in this world respects might. China receives respect, India gets the law book.'
Today, the biggest challenge for any state is to evolve indigenous hardware options. It is important for the states like Germany, India etc to increase their stakes in the global IT setup and this could allow them to control the US domination, says Ajey Lele.
Goan beauty Gail Nicole Da Silva, first runner up Miss United Continent 2014 tells us how her personal success has inspired several others to believe in their dreams.
With fresh enrollments crossing 100,000 mark, the total number of Indian students studying in the US reported a sharp increase this year.
'If a person whom Vijender had thrashed earlier is now a World champion, why can't Vijender be champion now too?'
Luis Suarez returned for Uruguay for the first time since his infamous World Cup biting incident and scored in a 1-1 friendly draw against Saudi Arabia.
'A plausible American tactic,' Rajeev Srinivasan suspects, 'would be to try and prevent the BJP and Modi from coming to power by splitting the anti-Congress vote using the AAP, and in case that fails, to follow up with a Plan B to make India ungovernable, to create mass conflict through their agents.'
"The poor will not suffer disproportionately due to bouts of sharp inflation, and the middle class will not see its savings eroded," Raghuram Rajan said.
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