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The victory marked India A’s first win of the tournament after its seven-wicket defeat to the United Arab Emirates A Women in the opener. Photo: X/ X@BCCIWomen. Skipper Radha Yadav led a dominant spin display before Dinesh Vrinda hammered a blazing half-century as India A Women cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket win over Pakistan A Women in the Women’s Asia Cup Rising Stars in Bangkok on Sunday (February 15, 2026). The victory marked India A’s first win of the tournament after its seven-wicket defeat to the United Arab Emirates A Women in the opener on Friday (February 13, 2026). The…

The sweet smell of marigolds mixed with the still humidity of a Tamil Nadu afternoon linger in the air. We are in a palatial Chettinad mansion, one of many that we will visit in the coming few days. The tiles are a work of beauty, the Burmese teak pillars stand imposingly tall, and the aromas from the kitchen beckon. I am in the historic region of Chettinad on a food trail called Suvai, organised by The Lotus Palace Chettinad. Over this weekend, I try all the food that the region has to offer and learn more about the Chettiar community.…

On January 27, India (the most populous nation and soon to be the third-largest economy in the world), and the European Union (a group of 27 countries and the second-largest economic bloc in the world) announced the conclusion of a mega Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The deal will be signed in the coming months after legal scrubbing and legal vetting, and will become operational by the end of the year, after it is approved by the European Parliament and Bharat’s Union Cabinet.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADMother of All DealsEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and India’s Minister for Commerce…

The delay at Khanabal is attributed to a court case pending since 2018 while non-clearance from the forest department has stalled installations at Sara Thang and Dambong since 2017. (File) | Photo Credit: PTI A Parliamentary Panel has highlighted significant delays in the installation of telemetry systems vital for real-time data collection and flood forecasting in some critical flood-prone areas.The Committee’s report on the performance audit of schemes for flood control and forecasting, submitted to the 17th Lok Sabha and tabled in the 18th Lok Sabha on July 26, underscores the need for urgent action to ensure timely and effective…

As in the case of other non-north-eastern and hilly States, a substantial portion of the losses for Tamil Nadu were concentrated in the power sector. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu Tamil Nadu has been identified as one of the top three States in the country, which suffer from heavy losses incurred by State Public Sector Enterprises (SPSEs). For the year 2022-23, the top three States in this category were Uttar Pradesh (₹32,430 crore), Rajasthan (₹18,814 crore), and Tamil Nadu (₹16,048 crore), according to the volume 1 of the main report of the 16th Finance Commission. These States come under…

You can tell a lot about a place by how it behaves in the rain. North Goa, with its sunny bravado and beach-bar buzz, tends to take a back seat come monsoon — shuttered shacks, quiet lanes, Aperol dreams on pause. But South Goa unfurls. Airbnb seems to have picked up on this shift in rhythm. Their recently launched digital magazine, Goa Unseen, is a soft pivot away from the usual must-do lists. It is thoughtful, image-rich, and most notably, tilted toward the South. According to Airbnb, monsoon bookings in South Goa have seen a steady 20–25% rise over the…

On the night of January 18, China witnessed one of the deadliest events of its modern history since Tiananmen Square’s student revolt in May/June 1989.The happenings were confirmed by many Chinese websites/blogs, though the official media did not acknowledge that a coup had been attempted with a possible assassination bid on Xi Jinping.Apparently, it was just barely foiled when the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) was informed of the impending coup by unknown sources (some speculated that it could have been by the CIA).STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADFor months,…

United States’ captain Monank Patel celebrates his fifty runs during the T20 World Cup cricket match between Namibia and USA in Chennai, India, on February 15, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP USA captain Monank Patel hailed his charges for bouncing back from two consecutive defeats after it defeated Namibia in Chennai on Sunday (February 15, 2026).“If you see our schedule, the first two games were very tough and whenever you play the best two teams in the group, it always gets tough,” said Monank.“You are always under pressure when you are losing and you don’t get the start. I thought…

Megha Desai, 36, a senior art director at a Mumbai-based branding studio, found her perfect monsoon escape not in a remote hill station, but in a glass-roofed coach on the Executive Vistadome AC (EV) compartment of the Dadar–Madgaon Janshatabdi Express, which runs daily. “You don’t need a five-star resort in the hills. Just book a Vistadome seat,” she says. A train crossing the Western ghats | Photo Credit: Getty Images In July 2024, during a break from back-to-back campaign shoots, Megha booked the Vistadome coach on a whim after seeing a friend’s Instagram stories of misty Konkan views. Securing the…

Following the 16th India–EU summit on January 27, a political declaration was signed at the ministerial level, confirming the conclusion of negotiations and agreement on the contents of a free trade agreement. After legal examination and EU ratification, the agreement is expected to enter into force in late 2026.Economists and trade experts are examining the implications of this FTA for economic interaction, particularly trade flows, between the two sides in the coming years. Our objective is to understand the geopolitical backdrop and broader political dynamics that led to this FTA, the signals it sends to the world, and its likely…