The New York Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 to reach their first NBA Finals since 1999, powered by Jalen Brunson's brilliance and a dominant Game 4 victory.
The multi-generational ensemble of world-class musicians dedicated to the masterful compositions and enduring legacy of the legendary sitar-musician.
The official 26-man squads for FIFA World Cup 2026.
The intriguing bit is that Trump is likely to attend the talks in Islamabad this weekend -- if he does, it will be the clearest signal yet that the US is ready to exit the war with some sort of win to show, since he cannot afford to go for the talks and return empty-handed, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War
'As result, Netanyahu 'convinced' Trump to go to war with the help of overoptimistic Israeli intelligence assessments, essentially explaining to him that they only need to bomb Iran for 3-4 days, and the regime would then collapse.' 'Rather unsurprisingly, Netanyahu is ever since blaming his own intel service for the entire operation failing.'
The core issues to be settled -- access to Hormuz, Israel's aggression in Lebanon, the question of Iran's nuclear programme, sanctions relief and compensation -- are thorny enough to require weeks of patient negotiation. The most likely outcome of the opening sessions is that both sides take the measure of each other, establish what is and is not negotiable, and return home without having broken anything. That would count as progress.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are actively pushing Trump to take the war to its bitter finish and 'erase' Iran's presence in the geopolitics of the region. Simply put, the two most powerful Sunni Arab oligarchies are on the same page as Israel. Such interference increases the risk of a breakdown in dialogue between the US and Iran, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The ceasefire is still technically holding, to the extent that no overt hostilities have been reported yet, but the rhetoric has hardened dangerously. The week ahead will also clarify whether the Islamabad failure was a negotiating tactic or whether Washington has genuinely locked itself into a position from which the only exits are climb-down, escalation, or the slow bleed of a new status quo that nobody chose and nobody controls. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
'Was the five-day pause ever meant to hold, or was it simply another instrument of signaling, of positioning, of buying time in a war where even the pauses are tactical?' asks Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
Fight on toward goals that keep receding, or exit with most objectives unmet. Trump is agitated, his poll numbers falling below the Plimsoll line, his base fractured between those who back the war and those who remember that he campaigned on ending them.
Alliances fight wars effectively only when they share an endgame. If Israel acted without US knowledge, then the military alliance is operating without real coordination at the level of strategic targeting. Neither picture is reassuring in a war that is no longer regional in its consequences. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
'Despite acting in some 100 films and television plays, people still remember the daadi of Hum Log.'
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed a strong message to his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski regarding terrorism and the Ukraine conflict, emphasizing the need for zero-tolerance towards terrorism and criticizing the selective targeting of India.
He added that current measures, including an oil quarantine and large naval deployments, are aimed at pressuring the Venezuelan regime.
While Zohran Mamdani captured national attention with his meteoric rise to be elected New York City's first Muslim mayor, his wife Rama Duwaji was helping orchestrate his win -- one pixel, one brushstroke, one brand decision at a time.
'...including my baby sisters, age three and one.' 'My dad was humiliated, and he started screaming at them.'
'I don't see how a company like OpenAI can honestly expect to generate revenue significant enough to maintain its spending habits via John and Jane Q. Public,' points out Sree Sreenivasan.
'Non-compatible with Western Civilization' is about as vague and jingoistic as it gets and Trump saying this gives full license to his acolytes to go full throttle on making life as difficult and scary as possible for as many non-white people as possible,' notes Sree Sreenivasan.
What is currently perceived as a massive, low-tech liability could become a high-value, export-oriented economic engine, points out Ajit Balakrishnan.
A guide to travel in 2026.
The New York City mayor-elect's mother has made some incredible movies.
Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam stated that his party would not allow any "Khan" to become the mayor of Mumbai, later clarifying that he was referring to an "anti-national mentality" and not a specific community. He cited concerns about radical elements and appeasement politics.
'One's country is the best place to live, no matter what problems, what difficulties.' 'My country is where I can breathe, where I can find the reason to live, and where I can find the strength to create.'
The 2025 US National Security Strategy marks a major pullback, with America turning backward and effectively allowing China greater dominance in Asia. while long-time partners like India are left to face an increasingly unstable global order largely on their own, observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
In an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Saturday, Putin said that such a move by Trump would "lead to the destruction of our relations. At least the positive tendencies that have appeared in these relations."
Lutnick said that these countries have to understand that if "you want to sell to the US consumers, you've got to play ball with the President of the United States."
Trump said California has been particularly "hard hit" because of this, blaming democrat Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, for this loss, calling him "weak and incompetent."
With his killer smile, the sex symbol image, Robert Redford would go beyond just being an actor, remembers Aseem Chhabra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that India remains committed to making every possible contribution for an early and peaceful solution to the conflict. Zelenskyy sought India's support in limiting Russian energy exports.
The attack during a lecture in western New York left the prizewinning writer blind in one eye.
Mr Trump's actions, because of their extreme nature and the dangerous rhetoric that accompanies them, receive the most attention, points out Mihir S Sharma.
Seventy years after Pather Panchali released on August 26, 1955, we finally get it. Shuttling between the village of Boral and a studio in Calcutta, caught between worrying about the next purse of funds and wondering which item to mortgage next, Satyajit Ray was explaining Indians to themselves, discovers Sreehari Nair.
'I woke up and I'm like Oh damn! It's hit 1 million views. Yeah it was crazy.'
"I'm very glad you raised this, Ishaan. I didn't plant it. I promise you. This guy does this to his dad," Tharoor replied amid laughter from the audience.
The reality is that far from being friendless, India is better positioned in the world than at any point post-Cold War, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'When India opened its doors to the world, moving away from an agrarian to a market economy, everything, whether life or love, was commodified.'
More than 300 flights have been cancelled and at least 25 airports, including Srinagar, have been temporarily shut for operations amid restrictions in the wake of the armed forces launching missile attacks on terror targets in Pakistan on Wednesday morning.
'It is high time that the 'war on terror' is removed from our diplomatic toolbox.' 'Certainly, our parliamentarians have no role in it,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
