India enjoy a 2-0 lead in the five-match cricket One-Day Internationals series, but middle-order batsman Virat Kohli says that the visitors cannot take the West Indies lightly.

Ebullient and eccentric at the same time, barefoot painter Maqbool Fida Husain took Indian art to the global stage with his cubist-inspired modern art but was riled in controversy with his paintings on Hindu deities.

R. Mohan

Batsmen do not quake in their cricket boots when Ravi Rampaul or Darren Sammy are bowling with the new ball. It appears batting at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad these days is more difficult when spinners are bowling. It was not always like this. It is also a measure of the decline of West Indies that the pitches have crumbled into slow turners.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Thursday arrived in Melbourne from New Zealand. Many of Dalai Lama’s devotees greeted him and wore traditional Tibetan clothing and waved flags.

Sending a tough message to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, the White House has said that the Arab leader has two choices — either to be part of the transition or get out of the way.

Lech Walesa, the anti-communist dissident who founded Solidarity in Poland, has been hospitalised in his hometown of Gdansk, officials said on Thursday.

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip was reopened on Wednesday, ending a four-day closure amid disagreements between Egyptian and Hamas officials.

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan marked one year in office on Wednesday, matching or outlasting his four predecessors, but mired in a deepening squabble over when he too will head for the exit.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday used a trip to a remote Aboriginal community to reaffirm her hopes for a change to the constitution to recognise Australia’s first inhabitants.

If at all Allan Donald agreed to be bowling coach of South Africa, it was because of Gary Kirsten’s presence as head coach of the team.