'Thugs is smarter than a lot of 'nationalistic' movies,' notes Rohit Sathish Nair.
Sweden beat Italy 1-0 to gain the upperhand after their World Cup playoff first leg on a chilly night, while a young England side held Germany goalless and Belgium drew 3-3 with Mexico despite Romelu Lukaku's double but France eased to a 2-0 victory against Wales.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
An inspired Matteo Darmian scored his first goal for Manchester United and set up another as Louis van Gaal's side kept alive their hopes of a top-four finish with a 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
After seven consecutive league defeats, and one point from the last 30 on offer, had plunged Villa into crisis and cost Tim Sherwood his job, the former European champions produced a gritty display to frustrate City.
'The Left is dying, but its economic ideology rules, unchallenged.' 'Modi is its newest standard-bearer.' 'Even in today's bitterly polarised politics, if there is one thing on which not just the BJP and Congress, but all other parties agree, it is that socialist economics is the only way to survive,' says Shekhar Gupta.
We bring you a collection of some of the best photographs taken this week by ace Reuters photographers.
Condemning the incidents of intolerance, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that it is against the traditions of our culture. He said publicising the acts of vandalism is also a matter of great concern.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 13 images.
Kashmiris are our own people," said HM Rajnath Singh in Rajya Sabha.
From the Aadhaar verdict to #MeToo's arrival in the country to the entry into the Sabarimala temple -- India had a newsworthy 2018. As we step into 2019, these are the top moments from the year gone by.
'We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed.' 'The message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.' 'The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.' 'We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.'
Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja hammered home the advantage their bowlers had established when they took Australia to 147-3, a deficit of just 36 runs, at the close of the opening day's play in the first Test against New Zealand on Friday.
A summary of Wednesday night's matches inthe UEFA Champions League.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 14 images
'The world may be desirous of peace, but not Kim Jong-un.' 'Should we then accept the old adage that to maintain peace, we should be prepared for war?' asks Rajaram Panda.
Australia ripped out England's top order to take a vice-like grip on the second Ashes Test after completely dominating the second day at Lord's on Friday.
In this series, Rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
Phillip Hughes' fight for survival from a severe head injury has prompted a wave of sympathy across the globe, not least from former New Zealand cricketer Ewen Chatfield, who was nearly killed by a fast delivery in the 1970s.
Wayward employee behaviour at Uber and Infosys highlights the risk to corporate reputations.
Be prepared before taking the plunge from employee to entrepreneur.
Curfew-like situation prevailed in East Delhi's Trilokpuri area for the third consecutive day with people not being allowed to step out of their houses though no untoward incident took place in the violence-hit locality on Monday
Manchester United flirted with calamity before coasting into the Europa League last 16 as debutant Marcus Rashford helped them overcome an early blow with two goals in a 5-1 home victory over Midtjylland on Thursday.
Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson reeled off a record 10 successive birdies to win a fourball encounter against Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar that will go down as one of the greatest games in the competition's 87-year history on Saturday.
'A foot-in-mouth disorder seems to grip the government, and is growing chronic by the day,' says Sunil Sethi.
Barcelona's Luis Suarez netted twice for a 2-1 win over 10-man Atletico Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Tuesday after the visitors' Fernando Torres opened the scoring and was later sent off.
The Beast goes wherever the United States president travels. So whether of not Barack Obama follows protocol and hops into his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee's ride to head out for the Republic Day parade, the potently-luxurious limousine will be around the corner.
Indian Air Force on Friday raised its first squadron of the home-grown Light Combat Aircraft Tejas with the induction of two aircraft into the force at the Aircraft System Testing Establishment in Bengaluru.
Inching closer to launch its operations, new no-frill carrier AirAsia India on Saturday took delivery of its first Airbus A-320 as it landed in Chennai after flying in from Toulouse headquarters of the European aircraft manufacturer.
'100 Fayazs will bring a change in Kashmir, that's why they don't want a Fayaz.'
Here is the full text of the statement issued by FIFA on Monday detailing the suspension of FIFA President Sepp Blatter and European soccer boss Michel Platini for eight years.
Can 2018 top its predecessor in Sporting Glory?
A stunning double from captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave Sweden a 2-2 draw away to Denmark as they qualified for Euro 2016 on Tuesday by winning 4-3 on aggregate against their Scandinavian rivals.
A look at those who treat the idea of putting their life at risk as FUN!
Maharashtra has a rich wealth of forts, more than any other state in the country. 'If nothing is done, some of the small forts may simply disappear in the next 50 years.'
Ravichandran Ashwin was back in his elements with yet another five-wicket haul, setting up a perfect launch pad for skipper Virat Kohli to extend India's lead to 298 runs against England on the third day of the second cricket Test in Visakhapatnam.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton registers her first 'win' by four votes to two against Trump.
Success eluded them on the European and the PGA Tour but Indian golfers enjoyed a decent run in Asia, with rising talents Rashid Khan and Anirban Lahiri sharing four titles between them even as some seasoned veterans struggled in a mixed year for the sport.
Opposition parties on Friday criticised the government's decision to hike railway fares terming it as "criminal" to burden the people with such an increase and questioned as to why Parliament was not taken into confidence before taking the step.
Fearing imminent arrest and likely reprisals from the CRPF -- 25 of whose jawans were gunned down by the Maoists inside a jungle just 200 to 300 metres away from their homes on the afternoon of April 24 -- young Adivasi men and women in Burkapal abandoned their homes and fled into the jungle.
