Russia benefited from Novak Djokovic's misfortune to sneak into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup on Sunday. The Serbian, who had been suffering from flu symptoms over the past week, was leading Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-3, 4-6 in the first reverse singles when he abruptly retired to hand Russia an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the first-round tie in Moscow.
Russia, losing finalists to the US last year, also went 2-0 up on day one, helped by misfortune in the Serbian camp.
Italy beat Portugal 3-1 on a night of friendly matches between Euro 2008 rivals that left tournament co-hosts Switzerland and Austria among the losers.
Still riding a wave of euphoria after their Australian Open success, Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic could turn out to be unwelcome guests in Moscow for Serbia's Davis Cup tie against Russia.
China reached the Fed Cup semi-finals for the first time with a 3-2 victory over France.
Maria Sharapova came to Russia's rescue on her Fed Cup debut to pull the holders level at 1-1 in their world group first-round tie against Israel.
The Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Spain also booked trips to the finals in Austria and Switzerland in the penultimate round of qualifiers.
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From Kohinoor to modern day fancy stones, diamonds have caught the imagination of old and young
"And in this overall context," he added, "it is against India's own national security interests to have another nuclear weapons state in our region."
Feyenoord got the win they needed, a 3-1 home success over Wisla Krakow in Group E which ended the Polish side's interest in the tournament.
Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and Rangers secured four berths for British teams in the knockout phase of the UEFA Cup on Thursday.
In other action on a night of just seven qualifiers around the continent, there were wins for Croatia, Russia, Ireland, Poland and Finland.
How does a country stay relevant in a grouping of 119 countries with little or nothing in common today, other than the fact that they had gotten together in a time and era when there was a Cold War on in the World.
This Nam summit presents a great opportunity for India to get back into the drivers seat of the developing world, says Seema Mustafa.
However, Israel added that the issue has to be resolved bilaterally.
'NSA Doval and the PM are known to admire Israel's tough response to cross-border terrorism.' 'However, New Delhi's situation is far more complex than Tel Aviv's, which enjoys military superiority over all its neighbours,' says Ajai Shukla.
The world saw what Lashkar-e-Tayiba was capable of during the horrific 26/11 attack in Mumbai. Post this incident, many had been speaking of the manner in which the Lashkar is positioning itself to become the next Al Qaeda. It was clear when Lashkar to boss Hafiz Saeed swore that they would have their flags flying at Washington DC, New Delhi and Tel Aviv. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
India and Israel on Tuesday vowed to upgrade their relations in all fields and work out a joint strategy to "checkmate" terrorism, while deciding on a roadmap to elevate cooperation in multiple areas like defence, agriculture, trade and hi-tech over the next two decades.
Israel is determined to take the bilateral engagement to a different level that goes beyond defence hardware and intelligence software. Kanchan Gupta reports exclusively from Tel Aviv for Rediff.com
Modi's visit is aimed at commemorating 25 years of establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
De Beers, the diamond cartel continues to maintain its dominant position in the industry by using its numerous worldwide companies to buy up new sources of diamonds and to control distribution of industrial diamonds. Take the Rediff Business Quiz.
Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party has claimed a stunning victory in the election.
Israel is no longer the valiant and beleaguered underdog, but increasingly seen as an increasingly arrogant oppressor seeking to crush another old nation under its jackboots, says Mohan Guruswamy.
>What happens when two teenagers -- one Israeli and one Palestinian -- discover that they were accidentally switched at birth? The Other Son is a wonderful vision of Israel and Palestine. There is no positive future for the region and its people without this vision, feels Aseem Chhabra.
Congressman Steny Hoyer, the majority leader of the US House of Representatives, defended against hypocrisy charges in US' foreign policies, and claimed to be India's friend and ally.
Stepping up its offensive, Israeli forces on Wednesday hit about 200 targets in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killing at least 17 people, triggering a retaliation from the Palestinian group which fired a barrage of rockets deep into the Jewish state in the bloodiest conflict since 2012.
Vowing liberate whole of Palestine from Israeli clutches, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a fiery speech on Monday told thousands of Palestinians that the Islamist faction's control over the Gaza Strip is "just a step" towards their goal.
'We did not know we would one day dominate nearly 70 per cent of the market.' 'Today, of 100 diamonds available for trade in Antwerp, 93 are cut and polished in India.' A fascinating excerpt from Shantanu Guha Ray's The Diamond Trail: How India Rose To Global Domination.
On planes, on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Zee5, Hulu, MUBI, Kanopy, film festivals... Aseem Chhabra tell us how he watched 309 films in 365 days.
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