Colombo seems to be veering to the middle path between China and the US on global matters, but in regional matters of strategic security, it is increasingly identifying with India, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Russia is the only country that can act as facilitator for any eventual Chinese-Indian rapprochement,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Fans tuning in to the 2016 World Chess Championship from home may well have the best seats in the house, with the tournament set to be broadcast live in 360-degree Virtual Reality (VR) -- a first in any sport, organisers say.
The US military efforts in Afghanistan were akin to filling a bucket that had gaping holes, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pitching for a nuclear weapon free world, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday proposed a global convention for 'no-first-use' of atomic arsenal to make the world a safer place.
Three Indian Air Force officers held as Prisoners of War in a jail in Rawalipindi made a heroic escape. They reached as far as the Pak-Afghan border in Pakistan's Wild West -- within sniffing distance of freedom -- only to realise that they had finally met their match. Or so it seemed. The three escapees were never feted for their audacious attempt 41 years and truly deserve official recognition. Why not honour them at least now, says MP Anil Kumar.
'Another friend told me that the Russians had come to their homes, killed their neighbours and raped his neighbour's wife, and they killed even children in Bucha.'
'When George Bush Senior decided in 1992 that India and the United States must start talking in this-now-changed world, who would have thought that 10, 15 years down the road, we will start looking at each other as strategic partners?'
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
Germany's foreign ministry has called in British Ambassador Simon MacDonald to demand an explanation over allegations that his mission in Berlin is operating a "secret listening post" to spy on the German government.
Following deadly clashes at home in which at least 26 people were killed, the Ukraine's Olympic team wore black armbands at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games on Wednesday.
One has to wonder what is so wrong with the European Union.
Sandhya Ravishankar describes the thorny relationship between the two political titans of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, both now part of the ages.
"Bad actors" cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons at the cost of those trying to maintain peace and safety, United States envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said.
Images for Sunday's closing ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics.
Siddharth Shukla, Asim Riaz, Rashami Desai, Shehnaaz Gill, Mahira Sharma, Paras Chhabra and Arti Singh
If New Delhi finds itself out in the cold in Afghanistan, both the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA have only themselves to blame. Each has been in power for a full decade from 2001, without reaching out to the Taliban, points out Ajai Shukla.
Hordes of Indians frequent temples, markets, bazaars regardless of the consequences.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty was one of those agreements and is set to expire in the next two years. The 1987 pact helps protect the security of the US and its allies in Europe and the Far East.
Trump's trip to Brussels would be his first overseas visit after he was sworn-in.
'Unless India ups the ante, Beijing will continue to believe its transgressions are cost free and will feel encouraged to do more of the same.'
The prime minister said he himself is an example of Ambedkar's philosophy.
Both statesmen possess a cultivated pugnacious style which they keep in reserve and can at will bring into play, and despite the mutual distrust in Russian-American relations, they are proponents of detente, quintessentially, who take their mission deadly seriously, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Any form of entanglement with India or the US on the strategic plane will be anathema to Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa rulers, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The days are gone when we only deal with India as the other side of the Pakistan coin or Pakistan as the other side of the India coin.'
While we seem to want soldiers on short-term engagement, warfare itself is getting more technical and needs skilled manpower. The world has seen the dismal performance of armies that rely on short tour of duty soldiers or have outsourced war to 'contractors' in Afghanistan and now in Ukraine, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Notwithstanding how the current impasse is solved, at some point in the future, Russia will realise that just as centuries ago it developed the paradigm of securing its heartland's safety through annexing vast buffer zones between itself and the enemy, a more modern security is possible only through friendly relations and sustainable peace, observes Shyam G Menon.
Many of the stories, the pictures going out of India worldwide lately with these provocative processions, taunting of Muslims, bulldozers targeting mostly their properties, the sweeping 'othering' of a community of 200 million are painting the front pages and TV screens in the democratic world. That is where most of the friends we covet lie. Soon enough, these will also make our vital friends among the Muslim nations, from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, uneasy. The best time for course correction is now, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Penned by lyricist Sameer, the tribute song in honour of the martyrs of the Kargil War features Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Kangana Ranaut among others.
'We should give (Mueller) credit. In general, he conducted an objective probe and confirmed the absence of any traces and collusion between Russia and the current administration'
'This trope must have been taken in 30 films.' 'The rogue agent is a common trope and not something unique.'
From Sri Lanka's most popular political family to its most despised -- going by the voices on the streets calling for the Rajapaksas' ouster -- what went wrong for the clan? Veteran Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy offers an insight.
Flimsy motives and dispensable characters ensure there's no hope for Tigmanshu Dhulia's disappointing drama, notes Sukanya Verma.
Pressure had been building on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its president, Thomas Bach, with some athletes and sporting bodies angry that a seemingly inevitable decision had taken so long.
The equity infusion will happen at Rs 505 a unit, which is a premium of nearly 14 per cent over February 4's close of Rs 444.60.
A third-year student of the Vinnytsia National Medical University, Attar had on February 22 booked a ticket for February 27 to fly back home to India.
A selection of some interesting stories from Wednesday that you possibly would not have read in your newspaper.
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.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands in the past few years, which it says it has the right to defend.
