The corruption scandal that has rocked athletics is worse than the one that has plunged soccer body FIFA into crisis because it punished clean athletes, four-times Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson said on Tuesday. "With athletics, if you think about the victims, it is absolutely worse," the 400 metres world record holder told BBC radio. "The victims here are those (clean) athletes. They never had the opportunity to stand on the podium and they should have," added the American sprinter. An independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has stated in a damning report that "corruption was embedded" at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Governor Raghuram Rajan has asked his colleagues to ensure that the central bank is not seen as mere "paper tiger" and even rich and powerful wrong-doers are not spared.
The Eastern Naval Command is all geared up to host the International Fleet Review in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhpatnam coast which begins on Wednesday, a mega event that will witness participation from nearly 50 countries.
'Many said his visit was very risky. But mercifully, Air Force One has taken off from Delhi without Mr Trump stepping on anybody's toes,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
"You ask in Uttar Pradesh for five Dalit leaders and the answer you will hear is Mayawati, Mayawati, Mayawati, Mayawati and Mayawati... I want there to be a queue of leaders at all levels, in UP, Delhi, at block levels, in villages...," he said.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
With Modi's international image seriously damaged -- perhaps, irrecoverably -- and Indian foreign policy finding itself in drift, we move on to the New Year in a depressing scenario, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India has the potential to achieve 9 per cent growth rate and become a $10 trillion economy by 2034 on the back of concerted efforts by the corporate sector and a constructive role played by the government, a PwC report said on Monday.
The step has been taken to boost tourism in Ladakh and give people a window to appreciate the tough work done by Army jawans and engineers in extreme weather and inhospitable terrains, he said.
Faced with an onslaught of unsavoury messages on social media, some purportedly written by retired and serving personnel, the army on Thursday turned to Facebook to caution them against accepting or forwarding messages without verifying facts.
United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell plans to meet Narendra Modi, signalling a shift in America's stand towards the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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.
'There will be much for President Trump and Prime Minister Modi to discuss including growing Chinese military cooperation with Pakistan, which heralds a new attempt by China and Pakistan to neutralise India's influence in its Indian Ocean neighbourhood,' notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy.
"In India, we derive our strength from tolerance, and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity," he said.
Highlighting the pendency of cases in various courts of the country, he said Indian legal system is marked by long delays and some of the reasons for it are infrastructure gaps and considerable vacancies, particularly in subordinate courts.
'Singing the national anthem just makes you a very proud Indian.' Hitting all the right notes, Kavita Krishnamurthy, who is slated to sing the national anthem at the Madison Square Gardens at the reception being hosted by the Indian-American community for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tells P Rajendran/Rediff.com that being chosen for such an event gives her great pride.
Milk booths by Amul and Mother Dairy, a Kumbh phone by Reliance Jio, Dabur's toothpaste dispensers are among the many initiatives by brands steadying for a stint on haloed ground.
The Srinagar-Leh National Highway connecting Ladakh with Kashmir Valley was reopened for traffic on Tuesday after remaining closed for seven days due to heavy rains, boosting connectivity to the flood-hit region awaiting crucial supplies.
Modi has shown huge tolerance by shaking hands with Sharif. Even if the other (party) raises hand, we should fold ours. This is our tolerance and Modi has displayed it," an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said.
Both protesters and the authorities in Hong Kong are using complex combinations of technology, reports Devangshu Datta.
At Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas's nuptials, the Adil Manuel Collective played funk, jazz and R&B for longer than planned that evening at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. One of the couple's friends in the audience yelled: 'Are you guys even from India?' Adil Manuel offered to show her their passports.
'Significantly, Foreign Secretary Gokhale was received at very high level in Beijing.' 'It only shows China's keenness to move forward and put the relationship on a 'win-win' footing,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The frenzy to be present at the Madison Square Garden on September 28 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Indian-American community likely rivals a rock concert held at the famous New York venue.
"We feel there is a scam behind this decision," Rahul said.
'It is nobody's contention that uncomfortable questions regarding national security should not be raised. But that is a topic for another day and another time when the immediate threat has faded,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
So far, the Central Sector has never seen active hostilities, remaining peaceful even through the 1962 war. A reason for the Central Sector having remained peaceful is the towering Himalayan watershed that defines the border.
A bill seeking stringent punishment including death penalty for hijackers and giving right to security forces to shoot down an aircraft, which may be used as a missile, was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
'The fact that Modi and Xi exuded confidence to accelerate the negotiations for a border settlement alone underscores that the Russia-India-China triangle has become very dynamic,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Music composer-singer Bappi Lahiri offers a sneak peek into what to expect in his US concerts this month.
Will Priyanka contest against Modi in Varanasi? Will Rahul also contest from Karnataka? Rasheed Kidwai -- Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party's biographer -- reveals what is churning in the Congress.
Gazing upon the prize-winning images of the Siena International Photo Awards 2019 is something of a roller coaster experience. The overall winner is a compelling picture of a boy trying to retrieve his ball behind an armed guard in Liberia, taken by British photographer Jonathan Banks. He was up against some extremely talented competition, as our selection shows.
Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, described child slavery as the "most heinous crime against humanity."
Apart from the two Indians, four others have been selected for the award -- Conchita Carpio-Morales of the Philippines, Dompet Dhuafa of Indonesia, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and 'Vientiane Rescue' of Laos
'An expanding army, rising salaries due to the 7th pay commission, and raised pensions due to OROP are consuming money at the cost of badly needed bulletproof jackets, rifles, artillery, submarines, warships and fighter aircraft,' notes Ajai Shukla.
Celebrations erupted across Assam with opponents of the bill bursting crackers, distributing sweets and breaking into frenzied dancing on the streets.
Far-reaching procedural and institutional reform, and not the death penalty, is needed to tackle the endemic problem of violence against women in India, stated human rights organisation Amnesty International India, after a New Delhi court sentenced to death four men in the December 16 gang-rape case.
'You bust one module and another one comes up.'
The horrific terrorist attack in Paris has been described as the copycat version of the 2008 Mumbai assault by security experts who believe that the incident will be a game changer for how the West looks at the threat terrorism presents to all.
'All-India alliances are not the priority today.' 'Therefore, the CPI-M's political line dovetails with the emergent political reality in the country,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
Kulkarni said that he has accepted Kasuri's invitation to join the launch of his book 'Neither a Hawk nor a Dove' in Karachi on November 2.
