The Australian government cancelled Novak Djokovic's visa for a second time on Friday, saying the World No 1, unvaccinated for COVID-19, may pose a risk to the community.

Djokovic practised his serves and returns with his entourage on an empty court at Melbourne Park

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke is weighing exercising his discretionary powers to revoke Djokovic's visa

Novak Djokovic blamed "human error" on Wednesday for a mistake in his Australian immigration paperwork and apologised for breaking isolation for a photoshoot when he had COVID-19 last month.

Sanjay Bhandari, an accused arms dealer wanted in India on money laundering and tax evasion charges, is pursuing a separate legal battle of his own in France over an alleged unpaid cut from a large Indian defence contract dating back over 10 years, according to a UK media report.

Australian authorities scrambled on Sunday to file a legal defence of their decision to bar entry to tennis world number one Novak Djokovic over his COVID-19 vaccination status, as the Serbian superstar spent his fourth day in immigration detention.

Djokovic, a vocal opponent of vaccine mandates hoping to win his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open, has been holed up since Thursday in a modest Melbourne hotel after his visa was cancelled due to problems with the exemption.

Australia's Nick Kyrgios said he supported vaccination "but how we are handling Novak's situation is bad, really bad". The Australian Open begins on January 17, but the multi-millionaire Djokovic is constrained from training as he sits in a hotel where one Iranian detainee said he had found maggots and mould in the bread.

The arrival of Novak Djokovic led to incongruous scenes outside the hotel, with members of the Serbian expatriate community draped in the national flag and playing traditional music joining refugee activists in protests.

In 2017 the Bangladesh supreme court on his watch annulled the 16th amendment to the constitution which empowered parliament to impeach SC judges for misconduct or incapacity. As it upheld the independence of the judiciary, it miffed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who accused Justice Sinha of 'humiliating' the country. He was accused of corruption and misuse of power, allegations that he denied. Prakash Bhandari reports.

Shelar also claimed that the MVA govt was obstructing the Centre's strong actions to tackle the drug menace in the country.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday discussed issues relating to Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific during his bilateral meetings with global counterparts on the sidelines of the annual high-level UN General Assembly session.

The world is seeing an "explosion" in seizures of power by force and military coups are back, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told world leaders on Tuesday, lamenting that geopolitical divisions are undermining international cooperation as he called for strengthening global governance and re-igniting multilateralism.

For Afghans in India, including medical tourists from the war-torn country as well as migrants and refugees staying here much longer, the safety of friends and families is the biggest concern - particularly for those linked to the now collapsed government or who have had work ties with the US.

Players from Afghanistan's female youth soccer teams have arrived in Pakistan and will seek political asylum in third countries amid concern over the status of female athletes under the new Taliban government in Kabul.

According to the data, the total number of persons of concern to UNHCR in India stands at 43,157. Among them, 15,559 refugees and asylum seekers are from Afghanistan.

In a fresh influx from trouble-torn Myanmar, more than 1,800 people have reportedly crossed over to Mizoram in the past few days, state Home Minister Lalchamliana said.

The Biden administration is quietly pressing Pakistan to cooperate on combating dreaded terrorist groups such as the ISIS-K and Al Qaeda following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, according to a set of leaked documents and diplomatic cables to a prominent US media outlet.

The Delhi high court on Friday directed the Delhi government and the police to ensure that the number of Afghan nationals, protesting outside the UNHCR office in New Delhi and seeking refugee status, is suitably reduced and they strictly follow Covid-19 appropriate protocol.

The Delhi high court on Wednesday expressed concern over a large gathering of Afghan nationals protesting outside the UNHCR office and seeking refugee status, saying it could act as a super spreader of coronavirus as there is lack of adherence to Covid-19 appropriate norms.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during his telephonic conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, discussed the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan amidst chaotic airlifts of Afghan civilians and diplomats by the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries before the August 31 deadline.

'My family goes to the airport every day so that they can find a way out.'

The meeting was attended by a group of Taliban leaders where JeM sought their support in 'India-Centric' operations. All states have been alerted to conduct security drills and keep anti-terror units on high alert.

'They didn't speak Hindi or English, but love is a universal language.'

'India's treatment to a member of parliament of Afghanistan was not good and I am very upset about this action.'

'It's hell right now'

It is hard to escape the feeling that solving the problems of 2020 and 2021 will require something special which at the moment is not on view, observes Aakar Patel.

From sharing medals to defections to gestures on the medals podium to punching horses, the Tokyo Olympics had it all.

'We are not the ones who made the decision, we are only executing it,' Tsimanouskaya said the two officials told her. The two officials had told her the order to send her home came from "high up" in Belarus.

A British court on Monday granted a bankruptcy order against Vijay Mallya, paving the way for a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) to pursue a worldwide freezing order to seek repayment of debt owed by the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. "As at 15.42 [UK time], I shall adjudicate Dr Mallya bankrupt," Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs said in his ruling during a virtual hearing of the Chancery Division of the high court. "I have to decide if there is a real prospect of payment of petition debt in full within a reasonable period of time... there is insufficient evidence that [Mallya's asset realisations in India] will pay the debt in full within a reasonable period of time," Judge Briggs noted, in reference to defence arguments pointing to a restoration process in India following a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court order for the attachment of Mallya's assets.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah took serious note of Maharashtra government's shifting patients lodged in mental health institutes to homes for beggars and asked it to discontinue the practice immediately saying it is counter-productive and runs against the provisions of Mental Health Act.

Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi, whose extradition to India was ordered in April by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, has lost the first stage of his extradition appeal in the high court in London.

'Buddhada became such a confidante, friend, philosopher and guide in my life.'

Armed with court order, a consortium of lenders led by SBI can now sell certain real estate properties and securities belonging to fugitive Vijay Mallya to recover loans turned bad with failure of Kingfisher Airlines. A consortium of 11 banks that gave Mallya loans, led by State Bank of India (SBI), had approached a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court seeking restoration of his properties seized by the Enforcement Directorate. The special PMLA court in Mumbai on Tuesday allowed the restoration of properties worth Rs 5,646.54 crore to banks.

Vijay Mallya on Wednesday lost an appeal to gain further access to court-held funds to cover his costs for legal proceedings in India, as a high court judge in London concluded that the 65-year-old businessman had failed to provide sufficient evidence in support of the over 750,000 pounds being sought. During a remote hearing of the Chancery Division, Justice Robert Miles handed down his judgment in favour of a consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI). He also directed Mallya to cover 95 per cent of the costs of the appeal as the banks had been "very substantially successful" and the "overall winners" in fighting the case to prevent further sanctions from the court-held funds.

China on Friday said that any successor to the present Dalai Lama should be approved by it, ruling out recognition to any heir nominated by him or by his followers.

A consortium of Indian banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday moved a step closer in their attempt to recover debt from loans paid out to Vijay Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines after the high court in London upheld an application to amend their bankruptcy petition, in favour of waiving their security over the embattled businessman's assets in India. Chief Insolvencies and Companies Court (ICC) Judge Michael Briggs handed down his judgment in favour of the banks to declare there is no public policy that prevents a waiver of security rights, as argued by Mallya's lawyers. At a virtual hearing, July 26 was set as the date for final arguments for and against granting a bankruptcy order against the 65-year-old Mallya after the banks accused him of trying to "kick matters into the long grass" and called on the "bankruptcy petition to be brought to its inevitable end".

The issue of extradition of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi figured in a virtual summit between India and the UK on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that economic offenders should be sent back to the country at the earliest for trial. India has been pressing the United Kingdom to extradite Mallya and Modi to face trial in India for their alleged involvement in cases relating to financial fraud. At a media briefing, joint secretary in the Europe West division in the ministry of external affairs (MEA) Sandeep Chakravorty said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has mentioned that the authorities in the UK will do whatever possible to make sure that the economic offenders are extradited.

The issue of extradition of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi figured in a virtual summit between India and the United Kingdom on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that economic offenders should be sent back to the country at the earliest for trial.

The United Kingdom's home department has cleared the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is wanted in an over Rs 13,000-crore bank fraud case, officials said on Friday.