Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
'Just how strong were the ties between the world's largest and oldest democracies that an incident involving a diplomat and a maid led to anger threatening the relationship itself? Or had the relationship been weakening in the past few years, masked by the empty symbolism of State dinners, asks Devesh Kapur.
'Manmohan Singh's fond hope of avoiding conflict over territory by 'making borders irrelevant' is increasingly difficult to realise in a world where institutional restraints on aggression are weakening and the new game in town is unalloyed power play,' notes T N Ninan.
There is no chance of the case against Devyani Khobaragade being dropped, but a plea deal is possible, which could avoid a jail term for the Indian diplomat, sources in the US government tell Rediff.com's George Joseph in New York.
'India missed the software products revolution (and now is in danger of missing the platform revolution), complacent that we are the software experts of the world based on IT services prowess,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
During the course of the hearing last month, it emerged that Modi had made death threats to witnesses and also attempted to destroy evidence such as mobile phones and a server holding "material critical to the fraud".
As protectionism grows from the United States to Australia, Sanjay Kumar Singh draws up a comprehensive financial checklist for those shifting to India.
The government on Thursday announced a number of concessions for Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of which it also introduced relaxations in the procedure for granting them Indian citizenship.
India said on Tuesday it was investigating US policies supporting solar panel makers, the latest move in an escalating row over renewable energy that has worsened already strained ties between the two countries.
Government has told the Delhi high court that Devyani Khobragade obtained US and Indian passports for her two daughters in violation of law.
Rejecting allegations of vendetta levelled against him and the United Progressive Alliance, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday demanded that the government should ensure that Lalit Modi returns to India to face the probe by the Enforcement Directorate on various charges, including money laundering.
Sensex may remain under pressure this week due to weak global factors.
Two years into power, there is very little to show for the Modi government by way of 'achievements' on the foreign policy front, and his China, Pakistan policies are gasping for breath, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The world's attention is on the new Taliban and the imminent announcement of an inclusive government in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
Noting that Pakistan's Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif appears to be sincere in his effort to improve relationship with India, a former top American diplomat has said he might not be able to do much unless he brings on board the powerful military.
While most banks in India store all this data on Indian servers in their core banking systems, the current directive addresses new-age payment and fintech companies operating in the space
Voicing serious concern over terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari asked China to step up pressure on its 'all-weather' friend Islamabad to stop "exporting terror machine" to India and act against perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday said he "doesn't have an answer" on the fate of this year's Indian Premier League amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The Board of Control for Cricket in India suspended the 13th edition of IPL, originally scheduled from March 29, to April 15 after government suspended all visas, barring few categories like diplomatic and employment, making it impossible for foreign players to participate.
'It needed political courage on the part of the prime minister to make such an intervention at the present juncture when the hawkish opinion rules the roost in the Indian foreign-policy discourses in our media, and, unfortunately, the sane voices have largely fallen silent,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The RBI on April 6 directed all payments service providers to make sure "that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India."
The United States on Wednesday said employment of domestic workers will now be on agenda for the bilateral talks with India with which it is in conversation to "determine the way forward" in resolving the 14-day-long diplomatic row.
The top posts on social media from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
The government must undo the damage inflicted by the flawed policies of globalisation, and India should be converted into a country where entrepreneurs can thrive and the entire population can participate in the economy, says Arvind Kumar.
The Iowa-based institutions of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi have said about only five per cent of the 2,600 Vedic pandits, who were brought to the United States from north Indian villages, have gone missing in recent years.
The action against the two journalists came as a privately-owned television station in the Maldives went off the air, citing threats during the country's current state of emergency.
'Random displays of anger will end in punishment from the IOC and the loss of points in the World Cup, without achieving what we seek,' says Aakar Patel.
Rediff.com's Rajesh Karkera made an 11-day road voyage across some of South Asia's most deserted, challenging, terrain, always under the gaze of the sacred, dazzling Himalaya.
'A bit of marketing, a bit of positioning, and a lot of strategic thinking is required, and all this should be in aid of India's strategic intent: Becoming the third pole in a global G3 and aiming for Numero Uno,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
The proposals being put forward by a coalition of powerful Democratic Senators are aimed at fixing the country's broken immigration system.
Students will have more H1Bs to count on after they graduate.
Given the upsurge of emotions over the unfairness of Section 377, Mr Sinha has displayed insensitivity towards the LGBT community. For this, he deserves a Boo!
This is Modi's first visit to the Maldives as prime minister. The last visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Indian Ocean island nation was by Manmohan Singh in 2011.
The president's moves will make it easier for entrepreneurs to work in the United States
The Commission further noted, "We are of the clear belief that the Race Equality Impact assessment of the changes to the HSMP does not fully comply with the requirements of the Race Equality duty."
There are 2.5 lakh undocumented Indians across the United States. While President Barack Obama's executive order last week does help, only the US Congress can really address the needs of those caught in the immigration tangle.
During the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting to review preparedness for COVID-19 management, through video conference with health ministers, chief secretaries of all states and UTs, central ministers and representatives from the related organisations and stressed on the need for keeping testing and quarantine facilities, isolation wards, and labs in active readiness.
But her name surprisingly figured among the Indian participants in the entry list issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) late on Saturday.
She said that settlement of claims will take time and that there was no point in waiting in Saudi Arabia indefinitely.
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Markets ended tad lower with financials declining the most ahead of RBI policy review tomorrow.
"It is not in our interest to allow use of Pakistan's territory for terror outside," Khan said.
