Here's your weekly digest of the most weird, true and funny news from the across the world.
The Congress,BJP and AAP have carved out clear constituencies for themselves. Some of them may overlap with one another, but they seem to have positioned themselves well, says A K Bhattacharya.
The level of preparedness of Daesh sleeper cells is evident from the fact that it took just four days after Salah Abdelslam's arrest to execute the Brussels attacks, says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'340 films have been shot in Rajasthan in the last 50 years.' 'The Rajput community has never opposed any film except for Jodhaa-Akbar and Padmavati.' 'Rajasthan is known for welcoming guests, but why did these two films get into trouble?' 'They got into trouble because these two filmmakers wanted to create a controversy.'
"This wasn't an attack over meat. He has been killed in the name of religion. This is a pre-planned, cold-blooded killing. It cannot be an accident," said Owaisi.
The media and social media are abuzz about the no-frills style of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Delhi's to-be-CM Arvind Kejriwal, both very unusual politicians in today's India. But India has not seen a chief minister like Nripen Chakraborty whose spartan lifestyle and frugal habits were the subject of legend.
'Nobody is killing you in Kerala because you are Hindu unlike in North India where Muslims have been killed only because they are Muslims and were carrying some meat.'
Contentious issues such as the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Art 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir and enactment of Uniform Civil Code have been included in the Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto with the party making promises on them.
Ivanka spoke for a good 15 minutes, gracefully, looking straight at her audience, her face wreathed often in winning smiles. She is an articulate, striking, woman who charmed her audience.
'Modi has missed the bus in Kashmir.'
The year threw up quite a few shockers, some rather rude one. Below are Rediff.com's 12 picks that made us sit back and think, 'Did that really happen?'
Much of the negative perceptions of the north-east diaspora owe their origin and existence to the perverse policies of the central government toward the region and its people. This realisation must be the beginning of an earnest endeavour to address the issue, says R N Ravi.
She needs to find innovative ways to at least match the growth during Gehlot's rule.
The prime minister should have visited Sri Lanka, armed with a critique of the Rajapakse government based on nuance and fact, says Sreenivasan Jain
'I can tell you, Mr Chairman, from personal experience that there is nothing sadder than witnessing a close one, a loved one with mental illness at close quarters.' 'I have lived with a victim of mental illness. Like many in that condition, very often such people are in a state of denial.'
To avert another Uttarakhand-type catastrophe, we must change course. We should stop pandering to the Indian elite's insatiable appetite for electricity, which is driving reckless dam construction, says Praful Bidwai
With the state going to polls soon, Akhilesh Yadav needs to step out of his father's shadow and come into his own as the state's CM.
West Bengal is poised to become the rape capital of India, but its chief minister refuses to face reality, says Debosmita Sarkar.
The horrific disaster that has struck Uttrakhand has been assessed as a mix of natural and man-made. In fact, the various media analyses indicate we were asking for it and there were enough warnings and indications that this would happen, says Lt Gen (retd) Prakash Katoch.
'Jin Jiang had invested in Louvre Hotels.' 'Louvre, a couple of months ago, took a majority in Sarovar hotels.' 'So they are coming in now.' 'Look at the Chinese -- two quarters ago they took 25 percent in Hilton.' And then HNA also took majority in Carlson (Radisson).'
The rankings were prepared after examining the volume of terrorist and rebel alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number of killed and injured in a country over the past 30 days.
Manipur needs an integrated politico, military, socio-economic approach, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Here's your weekly digest of the craziest stories from around the world.
Pakistan has made it clear that there can be no talks with India unless Kashmir is on the agenda.
'When workers in other industries enjoy protection, why should sex workers not receive similar protection?' 'Sex work should be treated as work and brought under the work schedule of the labour department.' 'We will only end up giving immunity to the pimps and brothels to buy or sell human beings. This will in turn increase trafficking of young women and children.' Rashme Sehgal reports on the debate over legalising prostitution, a bugle in whose favour has been sounded by the new chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Lalitha Kumaramangalam.
It would certainly help if in the first five or ten years the new state had a Telangana United Front government which included all political parties and which then would dedicate itself to bringing about fast development for the neglected region, says Gautam Pingle in the final part of a two-part series on the new state.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday addressed the first joint sitting of Parliament as mandatorily required under the Constitution after the general elections. The address is the political, economic and foreign policy road map of the Narendra Modi government and covers virtually all crucial areas.
Dr Pinakin Shah visited the Land of the Thunder Dragon and returned mesmerized.
'There are some castes that grab power, then pass on the benefits to those who belong to their own caste.'
