Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2021.

Brazil scored twice in the last four minutes, the second a first international goal from Real Madrid striker Rodrygo, to cap a comfortable 4-0 win over Paraguay in Tuesday's World Cup qualifier in Belo Horizonte.

IMAGES from Australian Open matches played at Melbourne Park on Friday

Bayern Munich's Polish striker Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA Best Men's Player award for 2021 with Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas winning the FIFA Best Women's Player prize at Monday's ceremony.

'India is a founding and permanent member of this 'club of shame': Journalists are murdered on account of what they write or intend to write, but nobody is finally brought to justice in such cases.'

Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the Serbia team for the ATP Cup in Sydney, event organisers said on Wednesday, raising further doubts over whether the world number one will defend his Australian Open title next month.

Djokovic has declined to disclose whether he is vaccinated, citing privacy.

Should we not stop uncritically celebrating NRIs' elevation without regard to what kind of companies they are getting to run, and the nature of their products or business practices, asks T N Ninan.

Novak Djokovic, who has won a record nine titles at Melbourne Park including the last three, has repeatedly declined to reveal whether he has been vaccinated against COVID-19, with Australian Open organisers Tennis Australia confirming that all players would have to be vaccinated to compete in Melbourne.

The longest partial lunar eclipse on November 19 occurred after 580 years which turned the moon into blood red when Earth's shadow covered nearly all of it.

Images from the FIFA World Cup qualifiers matches.

India's Dronavalli Harika defeated former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga to grab a share of the lead.

If the DCGI grants regular marketing authorisation, Covishied will be the second vaccine in the world to receive such approval.

Foreign teams that will land in India for next month's FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar have been exempted from quarantine and will only be required to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms during the stay.

A summary of Thursday's World Cup qualifiers.

Indian GM S L Narayanan finishes second in chess tourney in Armenia

A round-up of Sunday's action in the South American World Cup qualifiers.

Brazil fought back from a goal down to score three times in the second half and record a 3-1 win over Venezuela that maintained their 100 percent record in qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to biggest decrease in life expectancy since the World War II, and wiped out years of progress on mortality, according to a study published on Monday by the University of Oxford.

The nomination sets up a confrontation between the Taliban and Afghanistan's fallen government envoy, Gram Isakuzai, who has held his post so far.

News of all that transpired on and off the football field.

A summary of Thursday's South American World Cup qualifiers.

The medals tally at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Summary of World Cup qualifiers played across the world on Thursday

Between trying to compose himself, wiping away tears and facing a long standing ovation, it took Lionel Messi more than a minute to start his farewell news conference on Sunday at FC Barcelona, where the Argentine has spent all of his playing career.

Capturing the drama on Day 12 at the Tokyo Olympics.

The experienced Indian golfer, who began the week with a superb 67 and was inside the Top-10, slid down the ladder thereafter with rounds of 72-68-72 over the next three days for a total of 5-under 283.

Capturing the drama at the 2020 Olympics.

Capturing the drama at the 2020 Olympics

Capturing the drama at the 2020 Olympics.

Simone Biles' bid for a record six gold medals at the Tokyo Games ended abruptly on Tuesday when she dropped out of the women's team final after one vault and watched as the United States surrendered their title to Russia.

World champions the United States were dealt a 3-0 drubbing by Sweden to end a 30-month unbeaten run, and the Netherlands put 10 goals past a hapless Zambia on a day of drama as the Olympics women's soccer tournament kicked off.

Chilean Taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre, Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs and Czech TT player Pavel Sirucek were forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics and placed in quarantine.

On Saturday evening, Lionel Messi finally got what had eluded arguably the finest footballer of his generation throughout his glorious career -- a trophy playing for his country.

Argentina finished their 2021 Copa America campaign unbeaten. Lionel Scaloni's side finished top of their group with three wins and a draw against Chile. In the quarter-final, they beat Ecuador 3-0 to progress to the final four.

Scaloni did not say what the injury was but he showered Messi with praise on a night Argentines took to the streets in huge numbers to celebrate their first international title 11 in 28 years and Messi's first victory with the national side.

The Barcelona striker has won the FIFA World Player of the Year a record six times and is widely considered one of the greatest players ever to play the game, alongside Pele and countryman Diego Maradona. But his inability to win an international title with Argentina always left an asterisk beside his name on the all-time greats list.

If confirmed by the Senate, Garcetti, 50, would replace Kenneth Juster, who served as India's Ambassador to the US during the Trump administration.

Lionel Messi, so often the key man for Argentina, paid tribute to Martinez.

Brazil have won the Copa America every time they hosted the tournament