The Danes were certainly in no mood to risk defeat by pushing for a win they did not need to qualify.

Nigeria's top players needed persuasion to change positions in a tactical shake-up but coach Gernot Rohr's plans paid dividends as they beat Iceland 2-0 on Friday to get back in contention to progress to the World Cup's last 16.

Germany were stunned 1-0 by Mexico in the opening game of their World Cup defence on Sunday as Hirving Lozano finished off a sharp counter-attack that exposed the ragged defending that the four-times winners had displayed in their warm-up games.

Dark horse Croatia take on spirited Nigeria in a World Cup opener on Saturday that could leave one side fighting for their tournament lives in the Group of Death.

When Russia and Saudi Arabia meet on Thursday form will be irrelevant as the world's biggest sporting festival explodes into life in Moscow.

Uruguay will head to the World Cup on a winning note after beating Uzbekistan 3-0 in a chilly warmup in front of their own fans on Thursday.

Last year, Trump broke with decades of precedent by not hosting the annual Iftar dinne.

England beat Nigeria 2-1 in a friendly on Saturday that provided some clues as to how coach Gareth Southgate will line up his still experimental side when the World Cup gets underway in two weeks' time.

Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Nikhat Zareen (51kg) were among three gold medallists in India's stupendous campaign at the 56th Belgrade International Boxing Tournament in Serbia. India ended the tournament with three gold, five silver and five bronze medals.

Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and former junior World champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) were among eight Indian boxers to make the finals, while five others settled for bronze medals in the 56th Belgrade International Tournament in Serbia.

The cause of the crash was unclear and an investigation has been opened.

A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday

The last three league meetings between the two sides, including October's game at Anfield, have ended in draws but Lovren said Liverpool were intent on coming away with all three points on Saturday.

Leicester's Mahrez finds form in time for January sales

Manchester United climbed back up to second in the table after second-half goals by Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard earned a 2-0 victory at Everton -- their first win in five games in all competitions.

Five inspiring women who travelled thousands of miles to Hyderabad recently to grow their business and skills share their tales of global entrepreneurship. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel listened in.

Shashi Kapoor, the star who made us laugh, romance and cry, passed into the ages on December 4. We look back at the often underrated actor, who reinvested all his earnings as an actor into making films and keeping the theatre he established, Prithvi Theatre, alive.

'It is important to destroy, to undermine, to debunk the narrative of ISIS,' Olivier Roy -- one of the world's leading experts on radical Islam -- tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel in an exclusive interview.

Why should India buy olives from Europe when it could do so from the world's largest producers?

Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench and scored an opportunist goal which set Portugal on the way to a 2-0 win in Andorra on Saturday that maintained their chances of qualifying directly for the World Cup.

Tiny Cape Verde Islands catapulted themselves into surprise World Cup contention with a 2-1 victory away to South Africa.

After Pyongyang tests a missile potentially capable of reaching the US, Dr Rajaram Panda explores the realistic -- and peaceful -- options before Donald Trump and the international community at large.

At Rediff Labs, we analysed the data on military expenditure by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Iran signed a $3 billion deal with Boeing, backed Qatar against the Saudis, scored a big victory in Syria and reached out to Hamas. Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar examines how the Qatar versus Saudi Arabia standoff is quickly changing alignments in the Middle East.

A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday

Rediff Labs analysed the data on happiness, peace and human development for countries all over the world.

Will he take Modi's 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' route? Or will he turn UP into Egypt under Morsi, asks Syed Firdaus Ashraf.

Bayern Munich edged past Werder Bremen 2-1 on Saturday for a Bundesliga record 13th consecutive win over them to stay three points clear at the top of the table.

Riyad Mahrez, who inspired Leicester City to an extraordinary Premier League title triumph last season, was named African Footballer of the Year on Thursday.

The next big destination for IS in South Asia could be India. In India, the SIMI-IM network can provide the logistics for an IS staging area, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).

Glimpses from the Commandante's colourful life.

'Castro told us: "Give me a thousand Gurkhas and I shall keep my neighbour under control!"' 'We pretended that we did not know which neighbour he meant.'

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will resume their perennial battle to be crowned the world's best footballer after they headed the shortlist of 30 players for the 2016 Ballon d'Or announced on Monday.

'India has got a unique opportunity to get more and more business from outside as India is cost-effective and reliable.'

Top gainers among the S&P BSE Sensex include GAIL, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Bharti Airtel, all edging up by 1% in late morning deals

TCS, Power Grid and Infosys are among the top S&P BSE Sensex gainers

ISRO is focusing on more launches including that of a communication satellite from French Guiana next month.

PSLV C-35, carrying India's SCATSAT-1 meant for ocean and weather studies and seven other satellites including from the United States and Canada, on Monday lifted off from the spaceport in Sriharikota.

In its first multi-orbital launch, India's workhorse PSLV will on Monday inject eight different satellites, including the country's weather satellite SCATSAT-1 and five from other nations, into two different orbits.

Hong Kong has the highest level of economic freedom worldwide