'It was India's good fortune to have a Vajpayee lead the government at this crucial moment in history.' 'By taking the N-decision he saved future generations of Indians from being 'Kosovoed' or 'Iraqed',' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Both Japan and China face a common challenge: How to deal with Trump.' 'The trade war with the US seems to have facilitated/hastened Abe's China visit, the first by a Japanese prime minister since 2011,' points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
A huge explosion on Friday hit the police headquarters in the Egyptian capital, killing three persons and wounding 40 others.
'Syed Salahuddin and Muhamed Sayeed would not have survived so long if they were in the cross-hairs of Mossad,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'If the strength of foreign terrorists can be brought to negligible levels there will be few takers for militancy.' 'That is why it is important to neutralise the terrorists at their launch pads,' advises Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
20 years ago this week, India and Australia played one of the greatest Test matches in cricket history. Sreehari Nair relives the sound and the fury of that unforgettable game at the Eden Gardens.
Besides the chief minister of Telangana, Modi was accompanied by Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E S L Narasimhan, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Telangana's IT Minister K T Rama Rao and state Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Laxman in the much-awaited train's inaugural run.
The United States wants India to wait for a final nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers before actively engaging with Tehran.
The train has a lot to offer to its passengers: Silent run, fully-sealed gangway connecting two coaches, GPS-based passenger information system, modular bio-vacuum and disabled-friendly toilets, intelligent air conditioning that adjusts cooling according to the climate and closed-circuit television for safety.
'The thin line is a permanent dilemma with soldiers. You have to appreciate that in that dilemma and chaos there are officers who stand and lead their men.
'This is the only place on earth where Elephas maximus climbs to these heights.'
'If, as appears to be the case, India is on way to 'mending fences' with China, and China is equally desirous to 'reset' the relationship, this could be a self-reflexive moment in India's positioning vis-a-vis not just the Dalai Lama, but also the Tibetan issue and China as a whole,' points out China expert Alka Acharya.
Poland's Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj edged past Britain's Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley in the final meters of the race to snatch the gold medal in the women's double sculls at the Olympic rowing regatta on Thursday. The nail-biter saw the two boats neck-and-neck for much of the race. Britain led Poland by just .64 seconds at the halfway mark and appeared poised to win.
In an incredible power-hitting show, Steven Smith and James Faulkner rattled up a match-winning 85-run stand from nowhere as Rajasthan Royals pulled off a stunning five-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL match in Bangalore on Sunday.
India should adopt a pro-active strategy on Pakistan -- catalysing, facilitating and making room for a change in its anti-India posture.
'It's scary to know that those arrested passed on sketches of warships etc to the ISI.' 'Who are the people behind the masks? Are they hiding in our various defence units?'
'China any day would prefer to team up with India and dump Pakistan once the resolution of the border dispute becomes an accomplished fact.'
While corruption destroys the moral fibre of a nation, its society and people, secularism as espoused in this country is cynical secularism, a sham perpetrated during election time and communalism is a spectre, a bogey raised by these great champions of Indian secularism to secure and perpetuate their vote bank, says Maneck Davar.
Democracy in Maldives is at the crossroads. There is need for the international community to put pressure on the incumbent regime in the country, so that it is not able to disrupt elections once again, and the democracy in Maldives could be saved from sinking, says Anand Kumar.
'Just because you fall in love with someone, who might not belong to the opposite sex does not mean you are different.' 'Love is always Love.' 'You cannot choose which person you will fall in love with.'
United States President-elect Donald Trump dropped enough hints on Sunday that he meant business when in an interview to CBS News he reiterated his commitment to building a wall on the Mexican border and deporting illegal immigrants.
'You can ascribe any ideology to him, and it will be equally right - or equally wrong.' 'Even though the comrades on the Left will never admit it, he seems as much Stalinist as capitalist.'
'Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is a step backward for the portrayal of female camaraderie in our movies,' argues Sreehari Nair.
'This is a movie made with this gaze fixed on its immediate well-wishers, while at the same time it squints hard looking for those swaying back and forth on the fence,' notes Rohit Sathish Nair.
'I think he had this in his head to go to different places, get some experience and then become the Congress president.'
Getting the balance between fiscal restraint and growth-contracting policy remains a problem.
Sri Lanka defeated India by five wickets in the first Twenty20 international cricket match to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, in Pune on Tuesday. Chasing a modest target of 102 runs set by India, Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal led from the front scoring 35 runs off as many balls, while Milinda Sriwardana's unbeaten 21 runs off 14 balls ensured a comparatively young visiting squad secured a morale-boosting victory.
The SBI said its officials were ferrying Rs 570 crore after the Reserve Bank of India asked them to, to address a temporary cash shortage in Andhra Pradesh.
'Show me songs that become larger than songs better than Dylan's.' 'Show me words that are like the master key to every human emotion under the sun better than Dylan's.' 'And show me someone who tosses it all out like Dylan does, every time.'
The perfunctory management of external affairs has left India's foreign policy establishment largely unprepared to manage the consequences of dramatic international developments, says Nitin Pai.
The plane that crashed in Colombia virtually wiping out an entire Brazilian football team was running out of fuel, had no electrical power, and was preparing for an emergency landing, according to the pilot's final words. The disaster on Monday night killed 71 people and sent shock waves round the global football world. Only six on board the LAMIA Bolivia charter flight survived, including three of the Chapecoense football squad en route to the biggest game in their history: the Copa Sudamericana final.
China's South China Sea build-up and 'territorial sea' construct potentially affects 55 percent of Indian trade passing through the region. Hence, coordinating with the US and Japan could provide dividends to India in the longer run,' says Srikanth Kondapalli.
'Despite Modi's high-flown rhetoric about good-neighbourly relationships in South Asia, he lacks a road map how to proceed -- be it with Bangladesh or with Sri Lanka and Pakistan... But a deeper question arises here: Did he duck on his own accord or under the diktat from the RSS, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Taki in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district is the last Indian outpost on the border with Bangladesh. It is one of hotspots for Bangladeshi infiltration into India. While most poor Bangladeshis cross over to look for work, terror groups take advantage to ferry their men and material into India. Indrani Roy/Rediff.com reports.
More than 100 people have died in rain-hit Jammu and Kashmir, which is witnessing its worst flood in 50 years.
'Their redemption is here. Definitely not in Pakistan.' 'They know if they step 20 steps on the other side of the Line of Control they will never return.' 'They will be ill treated.'
Former Miss India and actor Gul Panag on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party and will be its candidate for Lok Sabha polls from Chandigarh, a place where she was born and describes as her "family's home".
'The previous (Congress) government at least did not veto provisions of the cattle laws.' 'The BJP is actively weakening the provisions.' 'The BJP government tried to export goats from Nagpur for slaughter to the Middle East.' 'The whole country was aghast and offended. We are a country of Ahimsa.' 'The BJP has incentivised the butcher industry so meat export has gone up, live animal export has gone up, leather export is on the rise, smuggling has gone up.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done the seemingly impossible by finalising the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement ahead of his Bangladesh visit, writes Prakash Bhandari.
Dr Pinakin Shah visited the Land of the Thunder Dragon and returned mesmerized.
