Lionel Messi and some of his Barcelona colleagues paid warm tribute to teammate Xavi on Friday after he extended his appearances record to 700 in the midweek King's Cup match at Getafe.
On the shopping list: Light tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, UAVs, assault rifles, fighter aircraft.
The Chinese Communist Party's all important 19th Party Congress is just months away, and President Xi Jinping finds himself confronting unlikely challenges to his pre-eminent position, says former RA&W officer and China watcher Jayadeva Ranade.
During the course of the intense and complex negotiations between senior commanders of the two armies that ended at 2 am on Wednesday, the Indian delegation also apprised the Chinese PLA about the "red lines" and conveyed that the onus was largely on China to improve the overall situation in the region, the sources said.
Sitharaman had a brief conversation with Chinese soldiers during her maiden visit to the Nathu La border post in Sikkim.
'India is not going to accept whatever the Chinese say. That is not going to happen.'
Chinese army on Wednesday reportedly made a fresh incursion in Chumar area and refused to return even as a flag-meeting between the two sides is believed to have made no headway in breaking the deadlock.
The Chinese side has particularly bolstered its presence in the Galwan Valley, erecting around 100 tents in the last two weeks and bringing in heavy equipment for construction of bunkers, notwithstanding the stiff protest by Indian troops. There have been reports of multiple incidents of transgressions by Chinese troops in several areas in Eastern Ladakh.
As it modernises its 2.3 million strong military with hefty defence spending, China is offering "well-educated" youth offers of preferential policies, ranging from promotions and access to advanced education to join its People's Liberation Army (PLA).
'China's moves are of direct significance to India, which will closely monitor Chinese naval activity in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean not least because of Chinese maps depicting claims over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.'
'Russia is the only country that can act as facilitator for any eventual Chinese-Indian rapprochement,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China's defence ministry on Wednesday denounced as "groundless" the accusation by a US security firm that a secretive PLA unit is engaged in sophisticated cyber espionage around the world, saying the allegation lacked technical proof and legal basis.
As a tense stand-off continues on the Sino-Indian border in Ladakh, where a Chinese patrol has apparently established a camp eight km inside India, the ministry of defence is confronted with a difficult decision -- an inexplicable army proposal to shift top generals, which would see key hotspots being placed under new commanders, unfamiliar with the situation.
The IAF chief also said Pakistan has become a pawn of Chinese policy and its dependence on China would increase further in future. He said India needs to understand the interplay of some major events in its vicinity that would impact the security scenario of the region.
Chinese may adopt similar tactics to test the nerves of the Indian establishment, reports RS Chauhan
In all the noise surrounding the Dok La confrontation, Claude Arpi focuses on a crucial issue that has hardly been covered -- the construction of roads for the armed forces and the local population to reach the most remote border posts.
Top defence officials of India and China on Monday kick-started the two-day annual defence dialogue in Beijing to discuss a host of issues concerning the bilateral military ties including resumption of joint exercises this year.
Operationalisation of a new border defence agreement to deal with recurring troop incursions along the LAC besides improving defence ties, is expected to top the agenda of General Bikram Singh as he starts a rare visit by an Indian army chief to China from Wednesday.
Lt General Ranbir Singh described the situation in Kashmir as stable but fragile.
Although the latest aggression by China has caught the attention of the nation, the countrymen have been kept in the dark about their ongoing numerous such transgressions, says R N Ravi
'The leverage created by the Indian military must not be lost.'
Indian cricketers who sustain injuries during the cash-rich Indian Premier League will now have to depend on their respective franchise to bear the costs of their rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
Terming Sino-India ties as one of the most important bilateral relationships for China, the People's Liberation Army on Tuesday said that it wants to build "new type" of military relations with Indian defence forces to promote peace and stability at the borders and in South Asia.
Injured Australian speedster Jackson Bird has been ruled out of the remaining three Test matches against India due to a bone stress injury on his back sustained during the first warm-up game of the ongoing series.
'The missile mounted near Kailash-Mansarovar is called DF-21. It is a medium-range, 2,200 kilometres ballistic missile. Its advantage is that it can cover all cities of north India, including New Delhi'
A brutal attack on fans of English football club Tottenham Hotspur in Rome has stoked fears in Italy of rising right-wing and anti-Semitic violence.
Rafa Benitez will continue to rotate his Chelsea players as they bid to deal with a fixture pile-up and rebound from two consecutive defeats, the club's interim manager said on Tuesday.
The government on Friday admitted that child marriages are prevalent across the country but they often went unregistered.
The actress features in Abbas Mustan's upcoming multistarrer Race 2.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari embarked on a two-day visit to Dubai on Saturday amidst reports that the trip was aimed at persuading his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, to return to the country and lead the Pakistan People's Party's election campaign.
Hockey India on Tuesday signed up as many as 10 current Australian players for its inaugural franchise-based league (HIL) to be held across different cities of the country from January next year.
The US Open's decision to extend the 2013 tournament to a third Monday has drawn criticism from the men's govening body the ATP who have called on Flushing Meadows organisers to fall into line with the three other grand slam tournaments.
The farm sector achieved 3.6 per cent growth during the 11th Five year Plan (2007-12), falling short of the 4 per cent growth target, although it was much higher than growth of 2.5 and 2.4 per cent during 9th and 10th Plans, it added.
Former India captain Rahul Dravid was scathing in his criticism after India's abject surrender in the Kolkata Test, questioning the "skill, ability and talent" of the players who are representing the country.
A bandh called by the National Democratic Alliance, Left parties and the Samajwadi Party to protest against diesel price hike, Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail and cap on subsidised LPG on Thursday evoked mixed response as protestors disrupted road and rail traffic in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha but it had little impact in Mumbai.
'By causing military humiliation of India it intends to send a signal to other Asian countries to toe the Chinese line,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The PLA Air Force has conducted a combat air patrol in the South China Sea recently, which will become "a regular practice" in the future
'We are not going to be threatened by China neither are we going to threaten China.'
The license of Kingfisher was issued on August 26, 2003, and is valid till December 31 of this year.
After the Ladakh fiasco where Xi Jinping did not expect the Indian Army to resist his land-grabbing tactics, he has to save face before his colleagues in the Communist party.' To bring the threat of a mega-dam to the northern Indian border is a clever move, observes Claude Arpi.
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