Nirmala Sitharaman has a God given opportunity to orchestrate a transformation in India's defence capabilities. One hopes she has her own counsel and does not overly let the PMO run her ship, says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
'He never went to the Bombay industry.'
Seven-time champion Serena Williams endured an unlikely scrap in her Wimbledon opener and will look to shake off more rust in the second round on Thursday when she faces another qualifier in 18-year-old Kaja Juvan.
'Unquestionably, the spirit behind the Panchsheel agreement and the 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai' slogan were thrown overboard by the Chinese, and a trust deficit was injected between the two nations.' A revealing excerpt from General J J Singh's The McMahon Line: A Century Of Discord.
India's date with legends of the tennis world ended after the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic provided glimpses of their brilliance on Monday, the concluding day of the Delhi leg of the International Premier Tennis League. Manila Mavericks defeated Singapore Slammers 23-17 in the evening match while the Djokovic-led UAE Royals proved too hot for home team India Aces, winning 29-22.
Gopal Subramanium would have been a plus to the apex bench, aver many, who point to his record and speak for his integrity
Novak Djokovic vanquished Andy Murray for the fourth time in an Australian Open final on Sunday to win a record-equalling sixth title and serve notice to his rivals that he could surpass even his stellar 2015 this year.
Bogged down by inefficient administration and unable to attract financing, the once legendary football clubs of Kolkata are fading into irrelevance.
Ever since Indrani's bail plea was denied by the judge her security has been stepped up. The message was clear. If she felt that unsafe she could get all the security she needed. But in jail she stayed.
Happy Friendship Day, folks!
In this two-part interview to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, former IB chief Ajit Doval furiously argues against any kind of CBI action against his former colleague Rajinder Kumar in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case of 2004.
Pankaja Munde, who is the MLA from Parli, led the campaign for Gopinath Munde during the Lok Sabha elections against the single-minded, 'undo the Mundes' campaign by the Pawars and the Nationalist Congress Party. She is not set to take over his mantle, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
Muslims need to get out of their Isolation Syndrome, argues Mohammad Sajjad.
'An elephant has to behave like an elephant and not shy away from confronting the jackals,' argues Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale.
A win by Venus would keep the 35-year-old on track for a first grand slam title since 2008 Wimbledon and a possible return to the US Open final where she first made the final in her debut in 1997. But a victory would end little sister Serena's quest for the rarest of tennis feats -- a calendar-year grand slam.
You can afford to miss Grudge Match if you aren't a fan of its lead stars Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro, or a fan of boxing.
Rediff.com gives you a look at films in the past that have captured the lives of sporting icons, and their rise to glory, on the silver screen.
'The myth that the BJP has created that they are an election winning machine has been comprehensively demolished.'
Harbhajan Singh, who bowled India to memorable victories against the Aussies, looks at the India-Australia series.
Iron-willed Czech Tomas Berdych ended eight years of tyranny under nemesis Rafa Nadal to storm into the Australian Open semi-finals on Tuesday before his next opponent Andy Murray restored British colonial rule to the floodlit centre court.
Veteran actor Vinod Khanna passed away on Thursday after battling cancer. He was 70.
'It remains to be seen how much Prithvi Shaw's warriors go on to accomplish, but letting all the adulation go to their heads is the last thing you can expect.' 'Throughout its dominant streak in New Zealand, the Under-19 team played in the personality of its coach, Rahul Dravid.' 'Now, only if they can kick on and become as good as him.'
It was the greatest series in the history of the game but what has become of those Australian and English players a decade on?
The California Superbike School, which has trained many MotoGP and WSBK champions in various countries, will train Indian riders now.
'Indian nationhood is indeed at the cusp of alarming redefinition -- hate-filled, and exclusionary.' 'Nations are not built this way, instead these are the ways of liquidating nations.' 'We must pre-empt it.' 'Can we?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'
'The ISI has given a stunning display of its capacity to do with impunity what it likes within Kabul. Incensed over the triumphalism of the hardliners in Kabul, the ISI has hit out; it is a typical ISI reflex action that Indians are familiar with,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The State is trying to curb the students movements, therefore, there are suspicions against some of the Subramanian report on education's recommendations, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'Every Ali obituary I read made the point that he 'transcended his sport' -- a reference to the many battles he fought with America even as he fought in America.' 'What the obituaries leave out is that Ali equally transcended the boundaries of geography and of information -- as witness the Chennai teen who assimilated that most mobile of fighters through still images shorn of context.'
'Mary just stopped talking to me. Maybe she did not like the fact that she was the gold medallist, but it was me (Sarita), not her, who was getting all the attention.'
One of India's greatest actors -- someone who acted in 14 Satyajit Ray films -- doesn't get good movie roles anymore.
'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'
