India is no longer shying away from playing a role on the regional and international stages and is willing to don a bigger role in regional politics. It is showing traits of a responsible stakeholder in the regional security dynamics, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
'When the first Islamic State flags appeared, it was called an aberration.' 'When videos appeared, they were termed exceptions!' 'It is high time we accepted that the global jihad is here.'
An army of 'book fairies' are anonymously dropping off some delightful books in public places across the world.
Harish Kapadia is the only Indian to win mountaineering's most prestigious award.
Pakistan, which has propped up the new Taliban leadership, would be keen to use its influence over the group to neutralise India's presence in the region.
Annabel Mehta, Sachin Tendulkar's mother-in-law, has dedicated her life to working with the Beautiful People of the other half of Mumbai without whom the city would neither exist nor thrive. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel met the amazing lady who was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to underprivileged communities.
'it looks like India wants to follow Pakistan on the slippery slope of stupidity masquerading as religion.'
Stepping up its offensive, Israeli military killed 26 Palestinians, including eight members of a family, in overnight raids on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, taking the death toll to more than 300 in the 12-day long conflict that has displaced thousands.
Thousands of emergency rescue teams officials remained on their toes, helping people affected by the deluge. Weather official said parts of state are expected to receive rainfall again.
'It affects our economy, it is very important in many ways.' 'So we have to be the foremost experts in the world on the monsoon.' 'But the best minds in India have not devoted their time to the study of monsoon and they have followed the fashions of the West.'
'Intrusions by PLA troops in the Ladakh sector are more in number than elsewhere and this region is now likely to remain an area of enhanced Chinese interest,' warns China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
Hein Kiessling has the kind of access in Pakistan that journalists (and spies) would die for, says Kanika Datta.
In this series, Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
We present some of the best photographs clicked across the globe in the month of May.
Here's a glimpse at what happened around the world last week.
As Cyclone Hudhud is closing in on the Andhra Pradesh coastline and is expected to make a landfall near Visakhapatnam by Sunday afternoon, about 1.11 lakh people in five coastal districts have been shifted to safer places.
The ground situation in Iraq is so bad that there is no scope for any non-conventional action or any kind of bravery. Patience, slow movement, and full backing to Indian negotiators would help in a big way, says Sheela Bhatt.
Egypt launched air strikes in Libya, in an escalation of Egypt's battle against IS' growing militancy
On display was India's military might and cultural diversity.
'I got Rs 300 for a dubbing job, and I was so happy with that money because it was my first income in Mumbai!' Laal Rang heroine Pia Bajpai shares her story.
From the Syrian civil war to the Ukrainian crisis to the terror unleashed by the dreaded Islamic State, there was no lack of news in 2014. In this five-part series, rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
'The military aim in a future conflict, if it can't be avoided, should be to cause maximum damage to the adversary's war waging capability and capture limited amount of territory as a bargaining counter,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The earthquake with epicentre at Lamjung, around 80 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu, and had its impact inseveral cities in Bihar and West Bengal and eastern India. Anumber of aftershocks were felt for a long time after the quake.
The IAF chief stressed on the ongoing development of advanced landing ground along the Himalayas.
'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.'
50 years after the 1965 War, India still thinks we can have a 'limited war' when our opponent has time and again shown it does not believe in a limited war, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Israeli troops backed by tanks and drones on Thursday continued to pound Gaza in its operation against Hamas, defying mounting calls for restraint and a United Nations vote to investigate the deadly offensive that has killed 720 Palestinians and 34 Israelis.
'Jihadi outfits backed by the ISI are now prepared to attack targets not just in J&K, but also in Punjab. This signals an escalation in the range and scope of cross-border terrorism, which cannot be ignored,' says Ambassador G Parthasarthy, former high commissioner to Pakistan.
The evacuation mission mounted by the government helped more than 5,000 Indians leave war-torn Yemen. The author goes behind the scenes to find out how this was achieved
A 'soft' approach must be nurtured to complement the hard-line of spending billions in physical conflict; that is the only way to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS.
China sees India and Japan's 'North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project' as a challenge to its OBOR, says Rajaram Panda.
'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'
During his visit, Mukherjee visited the hotbed of Madhesi protests Janakpur and met ex-servicemen of Gurkha regiments in Pokhra.
How did Mansoor Peerbhoy, an academically bright, suave and soft-spoken young man, who never exhibited any jihadist tendencies, go on to head the Indian Mujahideen's media cell?
The decision to not attend the forum attended by 28 heads of state and 130 national delegations is a clear break from its usual policy of going along with the crowd.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Al Qaeda were convinced that 26/11 attack masterminds Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman would face only "superficial" action from the Pakistani authorities and within months plans were afoot for another terror strike in India, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said on Saturday.
Here's your weekly digest of the most Weird, True and Funny News from the across the globe.
'Who's providing all this money to the BJP? And who's providing all this money to the Congress?' 'Where did all this money come from?' 'Who is enabling all these MLAs to be bought for Rs 50, 60 crores?' 'There's one MLA on whose behalf somebody claimed that the BJP invited him for Rs 60 crores. Whose money is this?'
The main culprit in vitiating the inter community/caste/class relations has been the so called 'targeted' approach. This is nothing but discrimination on the basis of faith/caste/class. When an equally poor and deprived child is denied scholarship, despite equal merit, resentment begins to brew, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
'After a strategic pause though, Beijing will revive its policy of slowly creeping towards acquiring sovereignty over the South China Sea.'
