Enter the fireworks city of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu and you can smell a familiar mix of sulphur, potassium nitrate, aluminium and carbon - familiar because if you've ever burst crackers, say on Diwali or Onam, chances are they were made here. Almost every household used to contribute to India's festive joy by contributing almost 90 per cent of the fireworks made in the country. Before the pandemic, around 300,000 people worked in the industry directly and another 500,000 indirectly. Located 540 kilometres from Chennai, Sivakasi is famous for its fireworks and crackers, along with printing and matches, but is almost a ghost town these days.
Lionel Messi, having reversed his decision to quit international soccer with a view to playing at another World Cup, could miss out on Russia 2018 if Argentina continue their downward spiral. Argentina played poorly in their last three qualifiers without the injured Messi and languish in fifth place in the South American group with Paraguay and Chile hot on their tails. Only four countries are guaranteed a place at the finals.
Tokyo Olympics javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra has lined up the World Championships, Commonwealth Championships and Diamond League next year to achieve his goal.
Photos from the UEFA Champions League matches played across Europe on Wednesday
A look at the top tweet top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
'We are losing the battle of secularism, but we have not lost.'
The flame was carried to the podium by three-time Paralympic shooter Taguchi Aki. It was a special moment for Taguchi, as it came 106-days after she lit the celebration cauldron when the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay was re-started in Fukushima on March 25, this year.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
Thousands of people held celebrations at various places throughout the night to welcome 2020.
It will be his fifth birthday in jail as an undertrial. He was arrested two days before his birthday in 2015. Tuesday also marked Peter's fourth year in jail.
India will go for the kill against a determined England in the Garden City, setting the stage for a tantalising series-deciding third and final Twenty20 International in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Ronaldo's career tally includes goals for four top-flight clubs
Manchester United opened up the Premier League title race with a convincing 2-0 home victory over leaders Chelsea on Sunday that leaves second-placed Tottenham Hotspur just four points behind.
Antonio German struck in the penultimate minute before time to help Kerala Blasters FC negate Mumbai City FC's first-half lead and draw the India Super League football game at 1-1, in Mumbai, on Thursday.
Dividing people in the name of religion, engineering riots and committing atrocities on Dalits is not Hindutva but to unite one human being with another is, he said in a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party while replying to a question at a summit organised by news channel Times Now.
A round-up of Saturday's action in LaLiga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
Pat Cummins said the Adelaide wicket had played a part in the humbling of India in the first test and the Australia paceman is hoping for another good track when the teams meet again in the second Test in Melbourne on December 26.
To achieve herd immunity, rapid vaccination is the only hope.
Inspirational manager Juergen Klopp has rekindled the Anfield flame though and delivered the club's 19th top-flight title, one behind arch-rivals United's record of 20, after finishing runners-up to City in a thrilling race last season.
Brentford will go into the playoffs along with Fulham and Cardiff City but in a huge swing in fortunes, Nottingham Forest missed out on goal difference with Swansea City grabbing the last slot in astonishing fashion.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
The 30th edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair, which was scheduled to be held at Pragati Maidan from January 8 to 16, has been postponed in view of the latest DDMA guidelines imposed following the surge in COVID cases driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, said the organisers in a statement.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday won the bypoll to the Champawat assembly seat defeating Congress' Nirmala Gahtori by a record margin of over 55,000 votes to retain his office.
Mark your calendars! Here's all the lowdown of all the major sporting events coming up in 2022...
In our special series re-visiting great Hindi film classics, Sukanya Verma looks back at Raj Kapoor's Boot Polish (1954), starring Baby Naaz and Ratan Kumar.
Karolina Pliskova overcame a slow start before beating Garbie Muguruza 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) in her opening match at the WTA Finals. In a contest between two former No. 1-ranked players, the third-seeded Pliskova struggled early adjusting to the nearly 5,000-feet altitude of Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city on Wednesday.
'While I was shooting fake guns in Minsk, there were real grenades being thrown just a little distance away.'
'...Cliffy with utter disregard to his personal safety, charged through the fire zone, closed in on the enemy, threw hand grenades inside their bunkers and killed six enemy soldiers!' '...He was hit by a volley of bullets. Even before breathing his last, Cliffy killed a Pakistani soldier in hand-to-hand combat...' Captain Keishing Clifford Nongrum, who was just 24, received the Mahavir Chakra posthumously for his superhuman act of valour in the Kargil War just 18 months after he joined the Indian Army. Archana Masih/Rediff.com remembers one of India's Bravest Of The Brave as the nation salutes the 527 soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice for the Motherland on Vijay Diwas.
Australia were taunted ahead of the fourth Ashes Test against England with a giant billboard of Ben Stokes saying 'Welcome to Manchester' outside the team hotel on Wednesday.
Liverpool's hopes of opening up a menacing five-point lead at the top of the Premier League were scuppered in unlikely fashion as struggling West Bromwich Albion snatched a 1-1 draw at Anfield
Anthony Martial went from villain to hero as his second-half equaliser earned Manchester United a deserved point in a 1-1 draw against CSKA Moscow in Champions League Group B on Wednesday.
Karim Benzema's hat-trick earned Real Madrid a 3-1 win at reigning European champions Chelsea in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday. In another quarter-final match, Villarreal stunned six times European Cup winners Bayern Munich 1-0.
Hazard extra-time goal sends 10-man Real Madrid through to Copa del Rey final.
If Harshita has her way, she would happily miss the exams again but she can't.
Shoojit Sircar picks two Oscar-winning, slice-of-life films which say a lot with the minimum of fuss.
Unpaused: Naya Safar holds on to a light-at-the-end-of-a-tunnel thought and looks at the pandemic-afflicted people from all walks of life through the prism of optimism in five poignant stories, notes Sukanya Verma.
Dharamsala may be a quiet town but its residents prefer the fast-paced Twenty20 version of cricket they often see in the Indian Premier League, with the lack of buzz ahead of the fourth One-day International between India and the West Indies to be played on Friday being a clear indicator.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday.
"The whole idea of Cricket All Stars is that, to try to get as many nations together to celebrate this'
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