Increasingly isolated on the global stage, the World Cup has so far helped Vladimir Putin send a defiant message to his opponents that Russia is succeeding despite Western efforts to hold it back.
World athletics' governing body decided on Friday to maintain its doping ban on all Russian athletes, Sky News reported, quoting unnamed sources, leaving the country's hopes of competing in the Rio Olympics dependent on Olympic chiefs giving special dispensation at a meeting next week. The Council of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was meeting in Vienna to decide whether to lift the ban after hearing from a task force that significant doping problems still existed in Russia. The suspension was first imposed in November and extended in March. A spokeswoman for Russia's athletics federation said she could not confirm the reports that the ban had been upheld.
Russia welcomed the world to the soccer World Cup on Thursday as fans streamed in, the hosts savoured a 5-0 victory on the pitch and President Vladimir Putin's government derided Western efforts to isolate him.
Russia's main gain will be that in geopolitical terms, Ukraine regains its sovereignty and ceases to be a de facto American colony, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Afghanistan will remain a frontline state for Washington for a foreseeable future in terms of the potential threats to US national security from terrorist groups, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
Claiming to have accessed WADA's database, Fancy Bears' hack team claimed to have leaked dozens of files allegedly relating to United States athletes on the internet.
Klitschko and his brother Vitali, also a former world heavyweight champion and now the mayor of Kyiv, have both taken up arms against invading Russian forces.
Russia said on Friday it is ready to do everything from a legal point of view to defend Russian athletes if they are banned from taking part in the Rio Olympics over doping allegations.
Breakdancing, considered one of the pillars of hip-hop culture, will also make its Asian Games bow in 2022, two years before it features in the Olympics for the first time in Paris.
The blast, which could be heard several kilometers away, sent burning debris showering down over an area a few hundred meters from the Justice and Interior Ministries, a top courthouse, and the former office of the prime minister.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that whatever action is required in Syria should be under the UN framework, amid growing pressure on US President Barack Obama from his Russian counterpart and other world leaders not to attack the Arab country.
China is going to be an indispensable partner in Russia's ongoing crisis with the US, while on its part, China cannot remain indifferent if Russia gets crushed by the US, lest it loses 'strategic depth', observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
CAATSA was aimed at Moscow and not intended to damage the military capabilities of its 'allies and partners', US said.
'Every single American act to weaken Syrian forces would only tilt the military balance in favour of ISIS whom Trump pledges to vanquish from the face of the earth,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The reason: Vitaly Mutko has delivered victories on the sports field for the past decade and a half to match Putin's ambition of restoring national pride, and the Russian leader stands by the people who give him loyal service.
Vladimir Putin is MIA (missing in action) and the Internet is obsessing over it!
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
Two US warships fired at least 50 cruise missiles at the Ash Shai'rat airfield in Homs province in western Syria, from where the US administration believes Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad fired the chemical weapons against his own people, media reports said.
