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After about a year and a half of uncertainty and chaos post the violent ouster of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, Bangladesh witnessed the democratic transition of power on February 12, with over 60 per cent of Bangladeshis casting their vote for 300 Jatiyo Sansad seats. No doubt the doubts persisted until the last minute about whether the elections would be held since several interested sections might have preferred otherwise. Fortunately, good sense prevailed. Also, the fairness and inclusivity of elections will remain a point of debate, especially as the largest political party, the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina, was…

Karnataka’s skipper Devdutt Padikkal. | Photo Credit: File photo: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR With Karnataka all but guaranteed to meet Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy final, there is now heightened suspense over the venue for the marquee clash.The eight-time champion will get to host the final, for it finished with 27 points to J&K’s 24. It is understood that the KSCA Rajnagar Stadium in Hubballi is the front-runner with the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) on the outskirts of Bengaluru an option.A final at the CoE will, however, make it a closed-doors affair, something that doesn’t augur…

Chandeliers, caviar and carpeting used to spell luxury, now it is time. If your resolution this year was on living better, and learning to slow down, these holidays are for you. Responding to a growing thirst for the simple life and fresh air, farmstays across India are offering guests a space to harvest their own meals, hike, bake bread, forage, or enjoy the novel joy of doing nothing. From Rajasthan to Tamil Nadu, we have found you farms that will teach you how to breathe easy again. Harvest produce @ Sangam Farms, Bhilwara, Rajasthan The seed for Sangam Farms was sown…

Bareilly was once the focal point of the kingdom of Uttara Panchala, one of the most significant places in the Mahabharat story. It was said to be ruled by Draupad, father of Draupadi, who was also called PanchaliReligious tourism is at an all-time high in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Beyond Ayodhya, Prayagraj and Varanasi, even Bareilly seems to be drawing in visitors. In 2025, over 1 crore visitors from within India and even some from abroad visited the city as tourists.Interestingly, the destination for a large slice of these travellers was not the headquarters of the Sunni Revivalist Barelvis,…

File image of the Netherlands’ captain Scott Andrew Edwards. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Ahead of his side’s T20 World Cup clash against India at Ahmedabad, Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards said that the team is looking forward to the “massive opportunity” of playing against the defending champions in one of the world’s largest stadiums, in Ahmedabad.The Netherlands will be aiming to bow out of the tournament with their heads held high, hoping to create some upset against India or at least give them a massive scare ahead of the all-important Super Eight stage during their clash on Wednesday (February 18,…

Runners on Sheikh Zayed Road at the Dubai Fitness Challenge’s flagship event. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Sitting down to write about finishing my first 5K feels as exciting as lacing up my running shoes for the Dubai Run 2025. The journalist in me wondered how so many of us had descended upon Sheikh Zayed Road for the world’s largest free community run. There were 3,07,000 of us (yes, you read that right!).Families, fitness enthusiasts, and runners of all ages and abilities turned the Dubai Fitness Challenge’s flagship event into a spectacle on a chilly Sunday morning in November last year.…

In 2016, China welcomed 17.86 million babies. By 2025, that number had plummeted to 7.92 million: a decline of more than half in less than a decade, all during a period of peace, with no war or disaster. This freefall is not just a statistic; it is a social earthquake. Schools are closing, paediatric wards are shuttered or merged, labour shortages threaten factories, and urban infrastructures built for a larger population risk becoming white elephants. China’s demographic implosion is unprecedented in modern history, and its lessons for India are profound.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADChina’s strict one-child policy, implemented in the…

“He [Mohammad Nabi] is still fielding on the boundary, running better than any other youngster in the team,” Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan said. File | Photo Credit: AP After its impressive run to the semifinals in the T20 World Cup in 2024, a lot was expected from Afghanistan in this year’s showpiece. However, two defeats in the first two games set Rashid Khan & Co. back and their hopes of advancing out of the group stage took a beating.“Overall, if you look, I feel we played some good cricket, especially the game against South Africa. A couple of super overs…

Good food needs no drama or backstory to entice the eater. And yet, when doli ki roti was served to me for lunch by Sherry Mehta, who hails from Shimla and is an authority on Himachali and Punjabi cooking, at Kanak, Trident Hyderabad, I found myself curious. Without context, it looked very much like a puri that was part of ‘A culinary tale of unchronicled Punjab.’ Sheen sajji by Sherry Mehta | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement “No, it’s not a puri. Break a piece, taste it, then let’s talk,” says Sherry.I did—and the doli ki roti surprised me. Simply put,…

The parliamentary elections of February 12 have redrawn Bangladesh’s political map with startling clarity. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, secured an overwhelming mandate—winning roughly 209 of the 299–300 directly elected seats in the National Parliament. With near two-thirds control of the legislature, the BNP now commands the authority to reshape domestic governance and recalibrate foreign policy.Meanwhile, the so-called Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami achieved a historic high, emerging as the principal opposition with approximately 68 seats. The student-led National Citizens’ Party, a small fraction of Jamaat-e-Islami under nom de guerre, and some other smaller factions captured a modest but…