International Automobile Federation (FIA) vice president Carlos Gracia has defended his decision to declare Bahrain a safe destination for motor racing following criticism from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Former motor racing chief Max Mosley added his voice on Sunday to those opposed to Formula One racing in Bahrain this season, warning that the sport would pay a heavy price for the decision.
India has got the second set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals and entities under the automatic exchange of information pact with Switzerland, marking a key milestone in the government's fight against black money allegedly stashed abroad.
Bahrain has been given an extension to June 3 to decide whether the country's postponed Formula One Grand Prix can be rescheduled this year.
Bahrain refused to give up hope of rescheduling its postponed Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday with a statement that kept all options open.
The first race at the Red Bull Ring would be on the July 3-5 weekend.
Organisers have rejected calls from human rights groups to cancel Sunday's race because of what activists see as continuing political repression. The cars take to the track again on Saturday for practice and qualifying sessions.
Bahrain has of late emerged as a regional hub for banking because of low tax rates and easy regulations. At present, 409 banks and financial institutions have operations there.
"Stephen Abraham of India, caught in a crossfire in Bahrain, loses his life. Our Emb (embassy) in touch with Bah. (Bahrain) authorities who are cooperative," an official spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi.
Wary of uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, military troops and security forces backed by tanks on Wednesday cracked down to clear the landmark Pearl Square in Manama, a day after country's Sunni rulers clamped martial law in the violence-wracked gulf kingdom. An official statement read out on television said that the king had authorised the commander of Bahrain's defence forces to take all necessary measures to protect the safety of the country and its citizens.
Bahrain's monarch on Tuesday declared a three-month state of emergency, amid growing pro-democracy protests in the country, forcing it to invite troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to quell the unrest.
The United States has asked the Gulf countries to respect the rights of the people of Bahrain after 1,000 Saudi soldiers entered into the violence-hit nation.
Saudi Arabian forces on Monday entered the strife-torn Bahrain after two days of clashes between police and protesters mounted the most serious challenge to the Island's royal family. "More than 1,000 Saudi troops have entered Bahrain," the BBC reported, quoting a top Saudi official. The report said that the troops were part of Gulf Countries Peninsula Shield Force.
India football captain Sunil Chhetri believes that the country's budding soccer players should get a chance to train in European academies in order to improve their skills. The man with 72 international goals described his stint with Sporting Lisbon as a 'great experience'.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has waived rights fees due from Bahrain Grand Prix organisers after the season-opening race was called off because of unrest in the Gulf Kingdom. 'The fee that is normally being paid for the event is not being paid,' Ecclestone told the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Despite conceding four goals in the AFC Asian Cup opener against Australia, India goalkeeper Subrata Paul does not seem to be too bothered as he expressed confidence that the team will put up a good show against formidable Bahrain in their next Group C clash on Friday.
Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia remains a doubtful starter ahead of their Friday's match against Bahrain in the Asian Cup football tournament as he has still not recovered completely from his calf muscle injury, coach Bob Houghton said.
South Korea began their campaign for a first Asian Cup title in 51 years with a polished passing display to beat Bahrain 2-1 in Qatar on Monday.
Reader Naveen Behnal sent us this picture from Bahrain.
World champion Yusuf Saad Kamel blasted Bahrain team officials after crashing out of the 1,500 metres at the Asian Games on Monday, saying they had forced him to run with a painful knee injury.
'The recalculated ranking showed India should have had a higher ranking earlier (113 in 2012 instead of 132) and lower ranking later (114 in 2018 instead of 100).' 'This would mean that there has been no change in India's climate of doing business across two regimes.' 'This is exactly consistent with the reality on the ground,' observes Debashis Basu.
Red Bull's Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel took his first pole position of the season in qualifying for the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday.
The government hopes to use the Grand Prix as a way of showing that life is back to normal after a democracy movement launched an Arab Spring-inspired uprising last year.
A Force India Formula One team employee has been allowed to return home from Bahrain after expressing safety fears ahead of this weekend's controversial Grand Prix.
Some opposition activists have dubbed the big-money race a "tool of repression" and made repeated calls for it to be cancelled.
Formula One teams headed to China on Monday still unsure whether their return trip would take in troubled Bahrain for the following grand prix next week amid safety fears and increasingly loud calls for that race to be cancelled.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken down another victim, with the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix being the latest sporting event to fall prey to the global pandemic. Postponement of the race in Baku leaves Azerbaijan without a major sporting event in a year that had promised plenty of action as they were four games of Euro 2020 that has now been postponed to 2021.
A United States official is set to hold talks in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Lebanon this week on sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Lewis Hamilton broke ranks with other drivers who said they were comfortable with assurances received from the governing FIA, even as other sports cancel events and competitions around the globe.
Protesters blocked several roads and police fired teargas at a school in Bahrain on Sunday, activists said, as the Gulf state staged a Formula One race promoted by the government as pure sport but seen by the opposition as a public relations stunt.
Three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, says Raja Sen, needs to make his way up the grid in a year where Ferrari looks nearly invincible, and the Lotus cars are blindingly fast.
The ISSF said there will no ranking points in the tournament scheduled to be held from March 15 to 26 as the organisers are not in a position to guarantee participation of all athletes owing to the extraordinary situation.
There have been at least 1,641 cases of the virus in the Gulf region. Dubai has postponed its March boat show until November and Abu Dhabi postponed the ITU World Triathlon event this month, after earlier cancelling a cycling event in which two riders were diagnosed with the virus.
India cannot choose its geography and devise regional strategies to dovetail into the Western Indian Ocean hypothesis conceived in the Pentagon, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Prime Minister Modi needs to call Biden next month and clearly say: 'Mr President, the threat from China is clear and present. We, in New Delhi, have determined it to be an urgent national priority to outfit our submarines and aircraft carriers with nuclear propulsion and we want to cooperate with America on this programme",' advises Ajai Shukla.
Germany's Adrian Sutil stole some of the limelight from Michael Schumacher in Bahrain on Friday by putting Force India on top of the timesheets in first practice for the Formula One season. Sutil lapped the newly extended Bahrain Grand Prix circuit in one minute, 56.583 seconds while seven-times champion Schumacher, making his comeback with Mercedes at the age of 41, was 10th and 1.079 seconds slower.
Karun Chandhok has no illusions about what awaits him this weekend when India's sole Formula One driver makes his debut barely a week after sealing the deal. His new Spanish-based HRT team, formerly Campos Meta, have not even conducted a shakedown test of the Cosworth-powered car after narrowly winning a race just to get it ready for the Bahrain season-opener.
Over 200 students from Bahrain face expulsion from the University of Pune for allegedly overstaying their visas.
The race was originally set to be held in Shanghai on April 19, but the governing body FIA and Formula One said in a statement that they had jointly decided to postpone it.
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