Just like with millions of Indian Muslims, even the vice president of India has been forced to undergo the covert loyalty test: 'you are presumed to be pro-Pakistan until you demonstrably prove you are a nationalist', says Shehzad Poonawalla.
Modi invoked Lord Shiva on Mahashivratri and said people, with their third eye, can see what is good for them and what is bad.
Wasteful Portugal were held to a 1-1 home draw by Serbia after their captain and top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo limped off with an apparent hamstring injury in the first half of their Euro 2020 Group B qualifier on Monday.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 14 images.
India's tax officials, long the scourge of foreign investors, are under government pressure to avoid aggressive claims against overseas funds.
'Serious crimes of this sort cannot be excused merely because he has a family.' P Rajendran/Rediff.com was in the courtroom last week when Mathew Martoma was sentenced to nine years in prison for insider trading.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will push for stepping up global cooperation against the key issue of cross border tax avoidance and evasion at the G20 summit
Canadian PM's wife Sophie Grgoire-Trudeau seems to have overshadowed America's First Lady in the fashion department.
Malabar 2016 -- a trilateral maritime exercise involving the Indian Navy, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the US naval forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific -- concluded on June 17.
"In India, we derive our strength from tolerance, and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity," he said.
It's the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history -- and the fifth deadliest in modern US history.
Twenty years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, India is in rebirth mode. Whether there is a Babri Masjid or a Ram temple or not in Ayodhya, India will go on. And it will see many tomorrows, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
IMAGES from the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Gandhi also took a potshot at the RSS, saying it was bent on changing the country's Constitution.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
Why is an NRI banker with an MBA from MIT canvassing votes in Madurai?
'Rather than an outcome of 'pro-incumbency', the exit poll results betray a completely lackadaisical approach of the Opposition parties.' 'While a new kind of politics was on display for the past five years, they were still mired in their old-style methods which will cost them the election,' predicts Utkarsh Mishra.
Pop sensation Psy brought the house down 'Gangnam Style' as Incheon laid out the red carpet for over 13,000 competitors from 45 countries with an exhilarating opening ceremony to launch the 17th Asian Games at the main stadium on Friday.
'Akhilesh's plan is simple.' 'He wants to lead the party on the strength of the infrastructural development his government has done, capitalise on the massive sympathy wave of young people in the state who dream of doing what he has managed to do -- defy a feudal, greying orthodoxy that occupies and sits on posts and positions never to leave.'
Just as Nelson Mandela united South Africans of all races in life, his death is bringing them together to celebrate his exemplary journey and achievements rather than grieving over his passing.
Banned by basketball's governing body and a source of controversy at the Asian Games, hijabs were worn freely at the archery tournament in Incheon on Friday as athletes struggled to comprehend how a headscarf could cause such an uproar.
'That's the stunning achievement of two-and-a-half years of this government -- a political bait-and-switch, selling a promise of economic development, and delivering a triumphalist machine that sacralises country, nationalism, majoritarianism and tradition, to achieve Hindutva goals,' says Mitali Saran.
Sarbjit does indeed deal with a story worth telling, but does so in the most obvious and uninspired fashion, writes Raja Sen
He said Brexit was an "incredible opportunity" and "whatever" the UK did after it left the European Union was "OK with me".
Investigators on Sunday began probing the crash of a Russian Airbus plane in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that killed all the 224 people on board.
Lexus continues its hybrid offensive in the country with the new NX midsize luxury SUV that eyes the popular Mercedes-Benz GLC and the Range Rover Evoque, among others
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza feels the five medals that the team has managed to grab at the ongoing Asian Games is a pretty good performance given that the country did not come with the best unit.
An astounding 11,400 athletes will travel from more than 200 countries to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In all, 20 nations will be represented by three or fewer athletes - including Afghanistan, Belize, Gambia and South Sudan - nine will be represented by only two competitors, and one country will be represented by a sole athlete. Sprinter Etimoni Timuani will carry the flag at the opening ceremony for the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu - the smallest delegation destined for Rio de Janeiro.
Kangana Ranaut, the fiery movie star, continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons.
'In the newsroom, the thought process is about understanding the story and trying to look beyond the obvious. The fiction-writing process is similar in many ways but more internal.'
Leaders from 70 countries, including United States President Barack Obama and Arab politicians, gathered in Jerusalem on Friday to bid farewell to one of the last leaders of Israel's founding generation and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres as his funeral began amid unprecedented security.
Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world
Indian Americans and the larger Asian American community praised the United State Supreme Court ruling that provided same-sex couples the right to marry.
Lewis Hamilton's father always told him to 'drive like you stole it' but there was never any question about who owned Sunday's US Grand Prix.
The Statue of Unity the prime minister is building in Gujarat is a disgraceful waste of resources that does nothing for India except add a big fat bill, says Mitali Saran.
Do they have it in them to take on the competition?
'You may show at the end of December how much money has come into the system, but none would be the wiser because most of see only what we want to see and believe.' 'Some of us will see through it and you will make your proxies call us enemies of the State.' 'I was somewhat with you till here. But we diverge from here on until you can do something which will veer through my cynicism brought about by your policy,' says Harsh N Gokhale.
On the actor's 54th birthday on November 2, we write another tome about the boy with big dreams and a regrettable haircut, who defied incredible odds to become one of the most loved actors on the planet.
Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra refused to react to the personal attack launched against him by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Abhey Singh Chautala, saying the remarks made by the suspended body's chief do not deserve a rebuttal.
A photojournalist of a French news agency was shot at while three others were injured when activists of Pakistan's right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami protesting against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Friday clashed with police when they tried to enter the French consulate in Karachi.
