Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.

'The lack of a majority isn't the issue. He has enough in 240, especially as none of his allies can pull down his coalition.' 'That's why he's started as if this were just another, normal term. That pretence is vital for him.' 'The change for Modi 3.0 comes not from numbers, but from the new environment of contestation,' points out Shekhar Gupta.

LaLiga leaders Real Madrid's pursuit of a record-extending 36th Spanish title

Real Madrid beat holders Manchester City in an edge-of-your-seat 4-3 shootout victory to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Atletico Madrid secured a hard-fought 2-1 home victory over Real Betis in La Liga on Sunday thanks to an own-goal by Rui Silva and a header by Alvaro Morata as Diego Simeone's side ended a three-game winless run in all competitions.

The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.

Phogat alleged that Yogeshwar had laughed off the sexual harassment complaints against the WFI chief during the oversight panel hearings

After five months of a rigorous training, the Agniveervayus passed out of the Airmen Training School, impressing the audience with the skills they had acquired in just 22 weeks of training at the IAF base.

Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a poisonous snake, drawing strong rebuke from the Bharatiya Janata Party which said 'hate is coming out' with such comments and sought an apology from the veteran leader.

'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'

The BJP hopes that any vote AAP gets should only be from the Congress. At the same time, it does not want AAP to get too much of it. Because, a declining old opponent is a blessing as much as a rising new rival is a threat, points out Shekhar Gupta.

The results for the People's Choice Award for the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year are in.

Having emerged as the face of opposition resistance to the Narendra Modi juggernaut after the TMC's triumph in the assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in an unequal battle as she squares off with "lightweight" rivals in her own lair--Bhabanipur.

The maverick MLA came out with the announcement, claiming, as always, that he had "the blessings of Lalu Prasad", at a time when he was left licking his wounds after losing the battle in a tug of war with state RJD chief Jagadanand Singh.

'Project Big Picture' called for the biggest six clubs in the Premier League, along with three other long-term members, to be given 'special voting rights' that would effectively put them in command of the world's most commercially successful league -- and leave the rest as second-class passengers.

'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.

'Everytime the Chinese raised the issue of our patrol crossing the line, I told them let's not fight over a line that does not exist yet.' 'Commanders resolved such situations sitting across the table, sometimes we posed veiled threats about creating problems elsewhere along the 800 km frontier as a tit-for-tat.'

Red Bull's Max Verstappen will be doing all he can to stop six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton completing a Mercedes hat-trick and matching another of Michael Schumacher's Formula One records in Hungary this weekend.

A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday

Arsenal suffered another painful Premier League defeat as Swansea City capitalised on some glaring errors to win 3-1 on Tuesday, boosting their survival hopes and denting the visitors' top four chances.

How quickly affections can switch in soccer. Where once they would serenade coach Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge with an operatic flourish, now Chelsea fans have fallen headlong for another man driving them inexorably to the Premier League title.

Rest of India fought back well after conceding a 132-run first innings lead to Gujarat, but the newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions maintained the upper hand at the end of the third day of the five-day Irani Cup match, in Mumbai, on Sunday.

Winners of the 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Holidays, slurping on ice golas, fights in the school bus for the window seat and visiting grandparents are some of the things Rediff.com's Anita Aikara misses dearly.

The 44-year-old iconic rights activist turned emotional as she licked honey from her palm to end the fast.

'Every Ali obituary I read made the point that he 'transcended his sport' -- a reference to the many battles he fought with America even as he fought in America.' 'What the obituaries leave out is that Ali equally transcended the boundaries of geography and of information -- as witness the Chennai teen who assimilated that most mobile of fighters through still images shorn of context.'

Shabana Azmi shows us a different side.

'I have seen Rochelle without makeup. She is as ugly as her heart.' Evicted Bigg Boss contestant Kawaljit Singh gives us his version.

Puli makes for a truly bad trip, warns Raja Sen.

'One big problem for the RSS is, while they spread their ideology of hard, Hindu-ised Indian nationalism, the absence of their own pantheon of modern nationalist giants. They missed out on the freedom movement quite comprehensively, in some ways comparable to the Muslim League and latter-day Communists. They have to find heroes elsewhere.' 'They borrow who they can from the Congress, like Madan Mohan Malviya and Sardar Patel, and then steal the entire lot of revolutionaries, from Bhagat Singh to Netaji, never mind that many of them were extreme leftists.'

World No 10 Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni suffered a shock straight set mauling at the hands of Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniell as India were left trailing 1-2 against New Zealand.

'Single life is pretty good. I like the attention. If I feel lonely, I just call my mom and she sleeps in my bed,' Kalki Koechlin tells Rediff.com contributor Paloma Sharma.

Here's this week's collection of wacky and funny stories from around the world.

The Congress remains isolated as the ruling Bharartiya Janata Party wins over majority of its Opposition on the bill that clears the legal hurdle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appoint a principal secretary of his choice -- former TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra. Anita Katyal reports

Ashwath Nityanandan says the Internet keeps memories of his cat alive for him

Attacking Lalu Prasad for going to the Muzaffarnagar riot relief camps a few days after Rahul Gandhi's visit, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday said the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader was a sycophant who was "licking the feet" of Congress leaders.

After the loss at Johannesburg the pressure seems to be clearly on Team India. The men in blue will be fighting for survival as there is no time for the World No 1 team to recover.

India triumphed in the Tri-nation ODI series after defeating Sri Lanka by one wicket in the final in Port of Spain. Opting to field, India bowled out Sri Lanka for 201 and then chased down the target with two balls to spare.

More details will doubtless pour out about Sudipto Sen's rackets as investigations proceed. But one thing is certain. The vast majority of Saradha's victims will only get a pittance from the Rs 5 billion compensation fund set up by the Mamata Banerjee government, to be part financed by an additional levy on cigarettes, of all things. But the investors' stake is estimated at Rs 170 billion, if not more, says Praful Bidwai.

Jolly LLB is funny in parts but preachiness and the need to flaunt the film's sincerity and heart get in the way, writes Raja Sen.