The honour of lighting the Sochi Olympic flame was given to two triple Olympics champions on Friday as Vladislav Tretyak and Irina Rodnina jointly lit the cauldron at Russia's first Winter Games on Friday.
The road ahead will be long and winding and much resistance can be expected from the high-flying 'hawks' in our skies. But that should not deter the policymakers from planning a road map with the 'big picture' in mind, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In its sheer audacity, the initiative with Russia has the potential to transform world politics in the same way as the 1972 Nixon visit to China and 'Shanghai Declaration' changed world dynamics, says Anil Athale.
The navy finds itself fighting for relevance, with navy planners lamenting that its share of the budget has dropped dramatically.
Want to catch up on all that happened across the world in the week gone by? Here are 10 images that says it all.
Fifty years ago on July 20, 1969 with these words American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" E Aldrin made history by becoming the first human beings to set foot on another world -- the moon. It was an event that was watched by millions on television and one that remains etched in all our memories. Collected here are 17 images of that historic mission, a "giant leap for mankind".
World Cup hosts Russia have been fuelled by the criticism they received before the tournament, midfielder Anton Miranchuk said on Sunday as the team prepared for their second group match against Egypt.
PK Banerjee was captain of the Indian team that last played the Olympics in Rome 1960. He retired as a player in 1967 after being laid low by recurring injuries. But then went on accumulate a staggering 54 trophies as a coach.
The challenge for India and Russia is to make the relationship more broad-based and give it greater economic content, says former ambassador to Russia, Ronen Sen, who spoke exclusively to Sheela Bhatt
'One of his most famous scenes is set in a prison in Delhi where the British try to subvert Karla, the legendary Soviet spy who is being transferred back to Moscow and is being temporarily detained by the Indian agencies.' Ambassador B S Prakash salutes John le Carre.
Stanislav Cherchesov is getting the big graffiti treatment in Russia after coaching the home team to the second round of the World Cup for the first time in 32 years.
The world's oldest Olympic champion, Sandor Tarics, has died at the age of 102 in San Francisco, the Hungarian Olympic Committee MOB said on its website on Saturday, citing information from the family.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
Russia's men clinched their first-ever team title at the gymnastics World Championships on Wednesday, edging China in a tight contest in Stuttgart to avenge their 2018 defeat.
The national teams of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands visited the Auschwitz concentration camp on Wednesday.
Washington might occasionally make some noises about alleged human rights violations and related issues but commonality of interests will only see the Indo-US ties grow stronger, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Beresheet was developed by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries. If the mission had been completed successfully, Israel would have been the fourth country, after the Soviet Union, the United States and China, to land a spacecraft on the moon.
Victoria Azarenka's career has been a rollercoaster ride since she since she returned to the tour in 2017 after taking time off to have her son, Leo. After three years away from the WTA Tour following the birth of her son Alexander, Tsvetana Pironkova, playing in her first event since 2017, claimed a shock upset at the US Open.
Russia has sent out aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya for final sea trial in the White Sea before delivering it to India in early December.
In politics, if your objective is only winning elections, just Chanakya neeti might do. For governance you need both, Chanakya neeti and Ram Rajya. You can neither beat up the farmers into submission, nor dismiss them as 'Khalistanis', asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Kalashnikov USA announced on Tuesday that it is now selling AK-47 assault rifles and shotguns that have been manufactured at a US factory.
Of the 109 lunar missions during the period, 61 were successful and 48 had failed, it stated.
'Bolstering India's conventional military capability against China is in America's strategic interest,' says military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Nationality in sport has become muddied following the break-up of the Soviet bloc and the transfer of talent from poor to rich countries.
Despite the reality of the fiscal cliff, the US declinism industry is beginning to bottom out now.
'Why has the peace been kept?' 'Basically because there is a balance.' 'Maybe they think that balance has changed.' 'People can make mistakes. People can miscalculate.' 'If that is the cause, then I think what we have done, matching their build-up, etc, it is giving a good account of ourselves in the face-offs.'
Around 120 people had been evacuated from the burning centre, rescuers said on Sunday.
While the Soviet troops left Najibullah all alone without any back-up support to counter the Afghan Mujahideen, the US is unlikely to leave Karzai and his successor's government all alone, says B Raman
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Paralympic Committee (CPC) said on Sunday that Team Canada will not participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2020 due to concerns about the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Denmark's Superliga to resume on May 28 says Danish League Association
Georgian police have arrested a man after he tried to sell a bronze soccer ball stolen from the gravestone of one of Georgia's most popular players.
'Russia is the only country that can act as facilitator for any eventual Chinese-Indian rapprochement,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China on Tuesday launched its first aircraft carrier, propelling its fast expanding navy's blue-water capability beyond its territorial waters at a time when the neighbourhood is witnessing high-voltage tensions in Sino-Japan ties.
'The Pakistani military has encouraged and supported terrorist organisations, especially in Kashmir, as a means of waging proxy war against the Indian military and the country's superior economic resources.' 'The evidence is irrefutable with the recent killing of 46 paramilitary troops being just the latest example.'
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich emerged victorious on Friday from a long and hugely expensive legal battle with his former friend Boris Berezovsky.
'Manik Sarkar may have been able to hang on if he hadn't been a follower of the CPI-M's all-time hardliner Prakash Karat,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
Russia welcomed the world to the soccer World Cup on Thursday as fans streamed in, the hosts savoured a 5-0 victory on the pitch and President Vladimir Putin's government derided Western efforts to isolate him.
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