Defending champion Viswanathan Anand and Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen played out a fourth successive draw in the World Chess Championship in Chennai on Tuesday after 64 moves.

Vice President Hamid Ansari's visit to Havana provided rare insights of the Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul. Rediff.com's Nikhil Lakshman reports.

Here's Lonely Planet's list of cities to travel to in the coming year.

Vice President Hamid Ansari discovers the iconic Fidel Castro in fine form during a rare 65-minute encounter. Nikhil Lakshman reports from Havana

Fidel Castro meets Vice President Hamid Ansari for an unprecedented meeting. Nikhil Lakshman reports from Havana.

People of Cuba were offered a glimpse of India's diverse culture when visiting Vice President Hamid Ansari inaugurated a Festival of India in Havana to bring the two countries closer.

Vice President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday left Lima for the first ever bilateral visit to Cuba by a top Indian leader after a "landmark" tour of Peru during which four agreements were signed.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, a former diplomat himself, explains his sense of India and the world. Nikhil Lakshman, traveling with Vice President Ansari to Peru and Cuba, listens in.

Hamid Ansari on Friday left for Lima on the first-ever visit at the Vice Presidential level to mineral-rich Peru and Communist Cuba as part of India's thrust towards Latin America.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari embarks on an important Latin American visit, heralding that resource-rich continent's importance to India.

Indian boxers will return empty-handed from the World Championships for the first time in four years after none of their five quarter-finalists made it to the semi-finals in the biennial mega-event, in Almaty, Kazkakhastan, on Wednesday. After the defeats of fourth seed Shiva Thapa (56kg) and sixth seed Manoj Kumar in the afternoon, Vikash Malik (60kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) also lost their quarter-final bouts in the evening session.

It was a disappointing first session for Indian boxers in the World Championships quarter-finals, on Wednesday, as the seeded duo of Asian champion Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) lost, and Satish Kumar (+91kg) was declared medically unfit.

Tripura's popular chief minister shows up the failures of the elitist central leadership of India's Left, says Devesh Kapur

Rising Indian boxer Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar(64kg) endured draining contests but came out triumphant to enter the quarterfinals on a bitter-sweet day for India in the World Boxing Championships in Almaty (Kazakhstan) on Monday.

Parle Agro had sold its popular and iconic soft drink brands namely Thums Up, Limca, Gold Spot and Citra, to Coca-Cola in 1993 and had also signed a non-compete agreement for 10 years.

Wrestling was welcomed back into the Olympic fold on Sunday after a seven-month exile.

A 64-year-old American long-distance swimmer, Diana Nyad, completed a 35-year-long quest to cross the Florida Straits on Monday, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba without a shark cage.

The national trials for the event were scheduled to be held on August 16 and 17 in Patiala but were postponed till the end of this month with neither the boxers nor the coaches having any clue about the reasons.

Medal table from the World Athletics Championships 2013.

Day 5 guide to the action in the Moscow World Athletics Championships.

Medal table from the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

Wrestling was welcomed back into the Olympic fold on Sunday after a seven-month exile.

Usain Bolt returned to the scene of his triple Olympic glory and duly delivered for 60,000 camera-flashing fans as he overcame a slow start to win the 100 metres and give the London Anniversary Games the Friday finale it demanded.

The United States topped Group C with a 1-0 win over Costa Rica on Tuesday while Cuba also advanced to the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-finals as one of the best third-place teams after beating Belize by four goals.

American whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently sheltered in the transit zone of Moscow airport, has sought asylum in 20 countries, including India.

Belgian-born Rich, whose trading group eventually became the global commodities powerhouse Glencore Xstrata, died in hospital from a stroke.

Edward Snowden, a former private contractor with the Central Intelligence Agencywho leaked the controversial United States secret surveillance programme, on Sunday made fresh claims about America's cyber espionage against China, including intensive hacking attacks on a top university in Beijing.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Friday that some local news channels had ganged up with the opposition to make a hue and cry over rape and violence in the state and reiterated that there was a conspiracy to kill her.

United States President Barack Obama has appointed Cliff Sloan, a high-powered lawyer with extensive experience in all three branches of the government, as his special envoy for the closure of the much-criticised terrorist detention centre at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Lines up a $1-billion capital expenditure plan for exploration purposes abroad.

Australian long-distance swimmer Chloe McCardel abandoned her quest to become the first person to make the 103 mile (166 km) swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, after she was severely stung by a jelly fish on Wednesday night.

With favourable weather predicted and a team of scientists on her side, Australian Chloe McCardel will set out on Wednesday to become the first person to make the 103-mile (166-km) swim between Cuba and the Florida Keys without a shark cage to protect her.

United States President Barack Obama's speech outlining the future of his counter-terrorism polices was disrupted by a member of Code Pink, a group that has long protested the US wars and counter-terrorism policies.

The suspended Indian Boxing Federation has infuriated the International Boxing Association (AIBA) yet again and it is the pugilists who are paying the price for their refusal to act according to the world body's diktat.

United States should continue to maintain a visa ban on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as there was "significant evidence" linking him to the violence in the state in 2002, a Congress-established independent panel on religious freedom has recommended.

Analysts believe that it was unlikely that an international terror network was behind the explosions.

Top boxer Vijender Singh, who finds himself at the centre of a drug scandal, will not be considered for selection for two upcoming international events for missing the trials.

Former world and Olympic champions Svetlana Krivelyova and Olga Kuzenkova have been banned for two years each for failing drugs tests after their samples were re-examined, the Russian athletics federation (VFLA) said on Tuesday.

Cuba has an eclectic mix of colonial and Art Deco homes, apartment complexes and impoverished buildings.

The DMK will not regret parting company with the Congress as Karunanidhi knows that in this era of coalitions, it is impossible for the Congress-led government to seek a third term, given its track of record of scams. Even otherwise, the Congress has no base in Tamil Nadu where it has been out of power since 1967, says S Murari