The year 2014 is coming to an end. It was the year of conflict, the year of strife. Year 2014 will be remembered for several reasons -- the rise and threat of the Islamic State, the downing of two Malayasia Airlines aircraft and the sudden and effective way of using hastags on social media to generate a buzz about the event. After all, who can forget #theicebucket challenge and the phenomenon it grew into. Read on as we bring you an overview of international news and events of 2014.

As real estate is about a tenth of the Indian economy, the extent of black money floating around in the sector is huge.

'They're trying to make out like Algieri is the next Rocky. But this isn't a movie.'

Mahesh Rangarajan, director of the historic Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi, tells Sheela Bhatt how the first prime minister will always remain relevant, and the efforts being made to keep his legacy alive.

'Modi is a symbol of Asia Rising; and, for the first time in decades, a non-white has the potential to be the most compelling global leader.'

Dogs are adding an additional bite to the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as the demonstrators blocking the central part of the city for about a week brought their pets into the agitation fondly calling them "democracy dogs".

'What was predictable, but entirely missed by Modi's strident critics, is that the excessive and intemperate demonisation of Modi allowed him to assume his own metaphor -- the underdog, the martyr, the marginalised,' says Dr Aseem Shukla.

The perception that 'winnability' is based on gender is very strong, even though, if you break up the electoral success rate by sexes, the women who do win elections are proportionally far more successful than the men who win, given the huge number of men they have to beat.

Two whole weeks after he landed on his feet in unfamiliar territory, Patrick Ward records what it is to be a parachute journalist in the chaos called India

India-born poet Vijay Seshadri has won the prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for his collection of poems '3 Sections'.

'So you have a middle class, and an elite that have seceded into outer space and they look down and say, "What's our bauxite doing in their mountains?" and "What's our water doing in their rivers?" There's a sense of entitlement there.' Arundhati Roy captures minds with her thoughts on capitalism, Indian politics, war, and more in New York.

The death of Dr Shirley Sara Koshi, who started a veterinary clinic in Riverdale, Bronx, New York, last July, has shocked the community.

'A plausible American tactic,' Rajeev Srinivasan suspects, 'would be to try and prevent the BJP and Modi from coming to power by splitting the anti-Congress vote using the AAP, and in case that fails, to follow up with a Plan B to make India ungovernable, to create mass conflict through their agents.'

Author Ranbir Singh Sidhu's book Good Indian Girls is a departure from the themes that define 'Indian Diaspora fiction', finds Chaya Babu

Archana Shah offers her memories of a childhood spent in apartheid South Africa.

The global stigma of discrimination will go only when Asians and Africans have the self-confidence to be themselves, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray

We have let a woman of Italian origin rule us through a clever divide of administrative power centres, but far too many of us have not accepted her Indianness. We have every right to reject her politics and her corrupt government, but shouldn't her living most of her life here make her Indian enough?

"Though Sonia Gandhi was not a member of the Congress in 1984, she later became president of the party and now she shields the perpetrators of the genocide of Sikhs in 1984," alleged attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser to Sikhs for Justice, which has filed a civil suit against Gandhi in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Indian Members of Parliament have written to President Barack Obama, urging the US Administration to maintain the current policy of denying visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Instead of lamenting that the police is not doing its job, it is the duty of all citizens to bring these issues out in the open. We must try to find out what is going wrong and try to check this social malaise before it acquires demonic proportions and puts our country to shame before the civilized world, says Anil Chowdhry.

A belligerent rally in Kolkata by 16 Islamic organisations in support of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, one of the prime accused in the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, is indicative of West Bengal's liberal space shrinking, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.

'He spent his lifetime writing about Africa, supporting the continent's desires to stand up against injustice. Watching him work, I learned to be tolerant, secular and liberal, values that now define who I have become.' Aseem Chhabra pays tribute to his father Hari Sharan Chhabra, one of India's foremost experts on Africa.

Amidst the glowing tributes for National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra, who died last week, it must not be forgotten that he was pivotal to bringing about far-reaching but questionable shifts in India's security and foreign policy stances and forging a hard-line national security apparatus, says Praful Bidwai.

Sridevi excels as the devastatingly unassuming Shashi in her comeback film English Vinglish, writes Raja Sen.

'The cruelty to animals only reflects the modern, urban Indian contempt for any creatures -- animal or human -- who are voiceless and powerless and unable to fight back,' novelist Nilanjana Roy says, discussing her first book, the well-reviewed The Wildings, with Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.

Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has described Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru among her "greatest sources" of influence, as she encouraged American students to read the works of India's Father of the Nation.

The attack on Sikhs in a US gurdwara is not a mistaken attack. Sikhs are not mistaken for Muslims, but seen as part of the community of outsiders, says Vijay Prashad

According to the New York Daily News, images of the woman known only as 'Dania' show her posing for the camera and sporting her assets, including a curvy figure accentuated by enhanced breasts, flowing hair with rays of highlights.

'There is the hangover from colonial practices, which should disappear with greater educational freedom for women, and also, ironically, because of the looming woman shortage due to selective foeticide.'

Salman Rushdie is a "poor" and "sub-standard writer" who would have remained largely unknown but for his controversial book The Satanic Verses, according to Markandey Katju, till recently a judge of the Supreme Court.

The Tableeghi Jamaat is in the Pakistani media spotlight following Interior Minister Rehman Malik's statement on July 29, describing TJ's missionary centre in Lahore as the breeding ground of extremism and terrorism. Amir Mir reports from Pakistan.

Mahatma Gandhi-led 'Salt Satyagraha' during India's independence struggle has been named among the 'Top 10 Most Influential Protests' in the world by the prestigious Time magazine. In March 1930, Gandhi embarked on a 24-day march from Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad to the small seaside town of Dandi to produce salt to protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India.

The former IMF chief, who was indicted on seven counts on Thursday, allegedly forced the maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to perform oral sex.

Get updated on the ups and downs, starry secrets and all excitement at the recently concluded 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival.

After two forgettable days, writer-director Suparn Verma was back with a bang on Monday alongside Rediff.com correspondent Abhishek Mande attending the Jaipur Literature Fest, the biggest literary meet in the Asia Pacific. Here's their Day 4 dairy:

'As India's involvement in the growth of the US deepens, the search for the soul of India gains momentum. India's smart power gets projected in the US in very many ways.'

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report says the gaming industry he helped found in the former Portuguese colony and ruled for 40 years before the Chinese broke up his monopoly in 2001 will double its size, already twice that of Las Vegas, in the next four years.

Veteran diplomat and author Phillips Talbot, a Padma Shri recipient who experienced first-hand the power of Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent movement and was one of the few Americans present during India's partition, has died in New York at the age of 95.Talbot's death on October 1 was announced by the Asia Society, where he served as the president between 1970 and 1981.He was United State's assistant secretary of state for near eastern and south Asian affairs.

Highly placed sources said that the President, who met Krishna during a reception for heads of state and government at the Metropolitan Museum in New York late Thursday evening, personally conveyed the message about his upcoming trip to India during the brief photo-op and handshake opportunity.

A children's movement in Bhopal takes on the might of Dow Chemicals.