Anurag Srivastava is currently serving as the Indian ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union. He is from the 1999 batch of the Indian Foreign Service.

Tokyo marathon which last year saw close to 38,000 amateur participants, was scaled back to just a few hundred professional athletes, with the public strongly discouraged from lining the route. In past years the event attracted more than 1 million roadside spectators.

Yeshaneh crossed the finish line in one hour, four minutes and 31 seconds at the World Athletics Gold Label road race, eclipsing the previous record of 1:04:51

While many are getting stranded because of lack of clarity regarding the visa rules following the novel coronavirus outbreak, others are stranded in transit as even OCI cardholders are being turned away

'Rightly or wrongly, 1962 got ascribed to Krishna Menon and him alone. That's unfair.' 'Certainly, he was one of the guilty men, but he was not the only guilty man. Mistakes were made all around.'

Srinu Bugatha, Sudha Singh win Indian Elite category.

MotherCare, the baby and maternity clothes retailer that annually sourced garments worth Rs 100 crore from a single exporter in Tirupur, filed for bankruptcy in the UK and will close all its 79 shops in that country. It was the latest world-famous brand to pull down Tirupur's fortunes.

Major IT firms such as Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Cyient, and L&T Technology Services have direct exposure to Boeing or its suppliers' ecosystem, which comprises engine manufacturers, body suppliers, and avionics providers. These firms provide services like application development, testing, engineering, avionics, and business process management for the Boeing 737 Max programme.

As India's international role expands, so must our capabilities, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).

An estimated 3,92,078 babies were born around the world on New Year's Day, according to UNICEF. Of this, an estimated 67,385 babies were born in India, the most globally. China came in second with 46,299 births.

We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.

News of all that's transpired on and off the football field

Gazing upon the prize-winning images of the Siena International Photo Awards 2019 is something of a roller coaster experience. The overall winner is a compelling picture of a boy trying to retrieve his ball behind an armed guard in Liberia, taken by British photographer Jonathan Banks. He was up against some extremely talented competition, as our selection shows.

Defending champions Andamlak Belihu and Tsehay Gemechu produced their personal best to retain the men's and women's titles respectively at the 15th Delhi Half Marathon.

Wheeling round, a look of utter shock on its face, a marmot jumps in fright after a young fox sneaks up behind it. The split-second encounter between prey and predator -- called the Moment -- has won the man who captured it the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He was chosen from a longlist of various category winners, all of whom managed to record the oddities, rivalries and beauty of the natural world. Scroll down for some of the winners.

According to the global report, just 9.6 per cent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet.

This year's Laureates have shown how the problem of global poverty can be tackled by breaking it down into a number of smaller - but more precise - questions at individual or group levels, he Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

He has served in the military and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, before becoming the founder and director of the country's Information Network and Security Agency, which is responsible for cyber-security in a country where the government has always exercised tight control over the internet.

He was awarded the prize for his efforts to "achieve peace and international cooperation". Ethiopia reached a peace deal with Eritrea last year, ending a 20-year military stalemate following their 1998-2000 border war.

Rediff.com presents some memorable moments from the September 27 to October 6 meet. Take a look.

A round-up of results from the final day of the World Athletics Championships in Doha on Sunday

Images from Saturday's proceedings at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

India's Avinash Sable qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the men's 3,000 metres steeplechase after shattering his own National record for the second time in three days though he finished 13th in the final at the World Athletics Championships, in Doha, on Friday.

Images from Friday's proceedings at the World Athletics Championships, in Doha.

India's Avinash Sable qualified for the final of the men's 3000m steeplechase under dramatic circumstances after he initially failed to make the cut despite bettering his own national record in an eventful race in the World Championships.

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.

The American won in a season's best time of 9.76 seconds with his compatriot Justin Gatlin second in 9.89 and Canadian Andre de Grasse third in 9.90.

It was an agonising and heartwarming end to the opening heat of the men's 5,000m

No one on that glittery occasion could possibly have imagined that the Chinese were conspiring to invade India, nor could anyone have predicted that the seemingly benign Dalai Lama was plotting to flee Tibet and seek asylum in India. A fascinating excerpt from Sukanya Rahman's must-read Dancing In The Family: The Extraordinary Story Of The First Family Of Indian Classical Dance.

Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands broke the 23-year-old women's mile world record on Friday when she clocked four minutes 12.33 seconds in a race dedicated to former American runner Gabe Grunewald, who died from cancer last month at the age of 32.

India lifted 271 million people out of poverty between 2006 and 2016, recording the fastest reductions in the multi-dimensional poverty index values during the period with strong improvements in areas such as "assets, cooking fuel, sanitation and nutrition," a report by the United Nations said.

'The new order cometh, sweeping out the old,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash.

These pictures say more than words ever could.

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.

Attacks against journalists by supporters of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party increased in the run-up to general elections in the spring of 2019, the analysis alleged.

It is most unlikely that the US would take kindly to Indian claims of having shot down an F-16. There is too much commercial interest involved, says Col Anil Athale (retd).

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday

The watchdog has also asked the airlines to ensure various requirements are complied with by engineering and maintenance personnel with respect to 737 MAX planes.