Beneath a street lamp in one of Rio de Janeiro's slums, 19-year-old boxer Wanderson de Oliveira does pull-ups from a metal bar outside the Fight for Peace academy while two skinny young boys watch intently. Much of the Complexo da Mar, a teeming neighborhood of 140,000 people near Rio's international airport, remains in the grip of drug gangs despite efforts to break their hold on the city's poor districts ahead of the August Olympic Games. Gang members brandishing automatic weapons inspect vehicles that enter Mar at a checkpoint, watchful for raids by rival crews or the police. Youths with machine guns patrol the streets or loll in plastic chairs at corner bars.
Much like a bumbling partner in a three-legged race, the second half of Insidious: Chapter 3 lets its first half down, says Palma Sharma.
A spectacular Taapsee Pannu brings out the shift of a happy homemaker to a heartbroken woman most strikingly in her deeply affecting performance, applauds Sukanya Verma.
Lewis Hamilton is hoping rain will come to the rescue as a Hockenheim heatwave threatens to dash Mercedes's hopes of a home German Grand Prix win on Sunday.
Besides fighting Manny Pacquiao, British boxer Amir Khan wants to channel boxing talent in India and Pakistan.
'He has always given us the freedom to make our own decisions, whether they were right or wrong.'
'The bottom line is that disproportionate losses should be avoided at all cost and terrorists should be denied tactical successes that act as opium for them to become bold to achieve perceived victory.' 'This is a long war and instead of rushing to achieve quick success, the objective should be not to give any success to the terrorists in terms of casualties and freedom of movement.' 'Every soldier martyred by terrorists in combat is a moral victory for them,' says Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
'The sooner Pakistan and India face these geopolitical realities, the better it will be for their own security and prosperity,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'I am sure our DRDO will surely be on the job towards building similar capability to counter the threat posed by this Chinese helicopter,' observes Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
'The leadership is confronted with an economy growing at its slowest pace in 20 years,' points out Claude Smadja.
The sheer diversity of medal winners was a heartwarming aspect of the Games for India. There were medals from squash, although not gold, there were nine medals from boxing, 12 from wrestling, 16 from shooting and nine from weightlifting.
Keith Vaz, Britain's longest-serving Indian-origin MP was on Thursday re-elected as chair of the British Parliament's influential Home Affairs Select Committee.
The fifth-seeded Ukrainian reached her second straight Grand Slam semi-final after also making the last four at Wimbledon in July.
National politics will have a bearing on the RK Nagar byelections, and even in the state elections whenever they are called, says R Rajagopal.
Atletico Madrid turned up the heat on champions Barcelona when they fought back to secure a 2-1 win at home to Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Sunday as Real Madrid slipped off the pace with a 1-0 loss at Villarreal.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday addressed the UN General Assembly. Modi's 35-minute address covered a number of subjects such as terrorism, including its resurgence in West Asia, reforms of the United Nations, including the Security Council, and the need for a more inclusive global development.
On Reva, Mahindra says electric cars are an innovation that can disrupt the automobile sector.
Congress insists on Modi's apology for his claim that Manmohan Singh colluded with Pak to influence Guj polls.
Mulayam announced that sacked minister Gayatri Prajapati will be taken back in the UP cabinet.
Russia's World Cup dream ended within agonising sight of the semi-finals as they went down 4-3 on penalties to Croatia on Saturday after another gallant performance in front of their fanatical fans which again belied their lowly ranking.
The Asom Gana Parishad's fears relating to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill are not misplaced. But does the party still matter in Assam's politics?
China on Tuesday maintained that its decision to block the bid to get Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar banned by the United Nations was in accordance with "facts and relevant resolutions"
The apex court said banning entry of women to Kerala's Sabrimala temple is gender discrimination and the practice violates rights of Hindu women.
Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi read out the Preamble to the Constitution of India as part of the 'Satyagraha of Unity' protest.
'Just as the monkey god needed a Jambavan to prod him into realising his superpowers, so did the poll panel need a poke from the Supreme Court into remembering it had an armoury of powers at its disposal to stop the infractions,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Let me stick my neck out and say that Tamil Nadu will keep alive its reputation for landslide election verdicts, with the DMK front winning at least 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
''83 is a once in a lifetime story.' 'I often say that sometimes, I feel that you don't choose stories, stories choose you.' 'Why for the last 37 years was the story not made?' 'It's staring at our faces, the greatest sporting triumph for India ever.'
'For the Shiv Sena, Hindutva is like a shawl which can be put on and discarded at will.'
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Limited over captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager to regain his golden touch even as Virat Kohli eyes another smashing knock at his home ground when favourites India lock horns with New Zealand in the second ODI in New Delhi on Thursday. It may be just another ODI in a bilateral series, but there is lot at stake for Dhoni, who has been under pressure after Test skipper Virat Kohli led India to the number one ranking following a 3-0 whitewash.
Modi said India will continue its support to ASEAN for a rules-based security architecture for the region.
Aseem Chhabra picks 10 fascinating films he watched in Macao -- a blend of Asian, independent, Hollywood projects and even a 66-years-old classic Japanese film that still stands the test of time.
It alleged that the decision by India to 'derail the summit' effectively 'contradicts' Prime Minister Narendra Modi's own call to fight against poverty in the region.
"Our handshake with Indian Union was subject to certain conditions," he said.
Yuvraj Singh says the thought of not being able to play for India again has crossed his mind and added that it will be very depressing if he fails to make a comeback into the Indian cricket team.
Samrat & Co. might be about an extraordinarily observational man's fight against crime but as far as cinema goes, this film is a crime against the genre.
As we near the end of another eventful year, 15 top moments from the world of arts and culture.
'India will keep trying to avoid conflict.' 'This is the moment when we draw a line in the sand.'
The recall of a crushing loss might not have the same attraction as the memory of an inspired victory for most top tennis players, but World No 8 Stanislas Wawrinka wears failure as a badge of honour stamped permanently on his arm.
