As the world grapples with extreme weather events and climate change becomes the buzzword of contemporary times, author Amitav Ghosh says the crisis has been in the making since the 17th century and it is imperative to take into account history before beginning to tackle the issue.

India has much paranoia in India about a new 'Terroristan' coming up between Pakistan and a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Pakistan has zero ability economically, diplomatically, geostrategically or militarily to create one. If they try, it will be great for India as they will destroy themselves yet again, asserts Shekhar Gupta.

The second round match between former champion Angelique Kerber and Anhelina Kalinina, originally scheduled to begin after Schwartzman and Anderson, was pushed to Thursday.

The iconic Times Square in New York City, reverberating with the chants of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', was on Sunday drenched in hues of saffron, white and green as the biggest Indian tricolour was unfurled at the popular destination to mark the 75th anniversary of India's Independence Day.

Mumbai, India's financial capital, is set for a mega transformation with a massive patch of land opening up for redevelopment; a new metro railway ready to start services by the year-end; and the country's oldest railway station, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, going for modernisation with private sector participation. Work on Mumbai's second airport will start from next month, while construction of the sea link connecting central Mumbai to Navi Mumbai has already moved into a fast lane despite Covid-induced lockdowns. Also, a coastal road project, connecting Nariman Point to Worli, is under way and will help decongest the city to quite an extent. Of all these mega infrastructure projects, the one that has a huge potential to change the city's skyline is the Eastern Waterfront project - to be built on the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) land.

Britain's Cairn Energy has secured a French court order to seize 20 Indian govt properties to recover arbitration award, it is learnt.

On July 1, 2021, Britain's Princess Diana would have turned 60 and two decades after her tragic death in a car accident near the end of summer 1997, she still holds an exalted place on the altar of the most admired people in the world, her status secure as a style icon -- as is her legacy of having forever changed the British monarchy.

After Air India, Britain's Cairn Energy PLC plans to target assets of state-owned firms and banks in countries from the US to Singapore as it looks to ramp up efforts to recover the amount due from the Indian government after winning an arbitration against levy of retrospective taxes. A lawyer representing the company said Cairn will bring lawsuits in several countries to make state-owned firms liable to pay the $1.2 billion plus interest and penalties that are due from the Indian government. Last month, Cairn brought a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York pleading that Air India is controlled by the Indian government so much that they are 'alter egos' and the airline should be held liable for the arbitration award.

Not to say that India couldn't have handled the situation better, but on average, it didn't do anywhere near as badly as the naysayers make it out argues Rajeev Srinivasan.

Given how everything has played out, Mehul Choksi, now 62, achieved all that he wanted but for all the wrong reasons, says Pavan Lall.

"Well, he never used words like escape or shared with me such a plan like this. However, he did ask me twice if I have ever been to Cuba, he also told me that the next time we may meet in Cuba. He never explained the escape plan but I'm certain that Dominica is not his final destination but if you ask my opinion, I can be more and more certain that Cuba could have been his final destination," Barbara told ANI.

The distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine is underway across the world. To provide a convenient and safe place for people to receive COVID-19 vaccines, countries around the world transform shopping malls, churches, airports, subway stations and museums to vaccination centers. Some also offer vaccination services on the river and mountain.

'In the second wave, probably due to the mutants, probably due to COVID-19-inappropriate behaviour, we are seeing it coming in the younger population, say from ages 30 to 50.' 'Also, we've seen that sometimes they deteriorate pretty rapidly and therefore we may need to keep a closer watch on the symptoms and on the oxygen levels at home.'

Like there's no dearth of memorable bus scenes and train imagery in Hindi movies, planes are equally prolific on silver screen.

British oil firm Cairn Energy Plc on Tuesday said it has identified Indian sovereign assets overseas, which it can seize in the event of New Delhi failing to return over USD 1.7 billion that an international arbitration tribunal has ordered after rescinding a retrospective tax demand.

Courts in five countries including the US and the UK have given recognition to an arbitration award that asked India to return $1.4 billion to Cairn Energy plc - a step that now opens the possibility of the British firm seizing Indian assets in those countries if New Delhi does not pay, sources said. Cairn Energy had moved courts in nine countries to enforce its $1.4 billion arbitral award against India, which the company won after a dispute with the country's revenue authority over a retroactively applied capital gains tax. Of these, the December 21 award from a three-member tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands has been recognised and confirmed by courts in the US, the UK, Netherlands, Canada and France, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

COVID-19 has emerged as an important form of diplomatic currency around the world as nations try to showcase their soft power gains. In this race, India has an edge as India is already a pharmaceutical giant having produced some 60 per cent of global vaccines and now justly seeking to strengthen ties and expand its influence in its neighbourhood and beyond, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.

Trump has spent a significant amount of time at Mar-a-Lago, dubbed the "Winter White House", throughout his four-year presidency.

'It was always my intention to be different, because that is the only way to last.'

The news comes as the United States approaches 300,000 deaths from COVID-19.

She has emerged as one of the most measured, and perhaps most unanticipated, voices to address racial injustice in America.

The New York Film Festival served an amazing plate of films. Aseem Chhabra picks the best ones.

Treaty

"When you look at our opponents in this race, you think the Chinese gave Hunter Biden $1.5 billion -- because he was a great businessman, or because they knew the Bidens could be bought, and therefore soft on China," he said.

The mispronunciation outraged a large number of Harris' supporters and her spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, "I'll keep it simple: If you can pronounce 'former' Senator David Perdue, you can pronounce 'future' Vice President Kamala Harris."

Ambassador Natarajan Krishnan and Ambassador Shankar Bajpai helped shape Indian foreign policy at a glorious, but difficult, time in history, recalls Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.

'People are getting admitted to hospital two to three days before their death in a very serious respiratory compromise state and they are passing away within 48 hours.' 'Those who are coming early in the disease, the minute they are suspicious that they have COVID-19, the recovery rate has been much, much, higher.' 'The moral of the story is: We must destigmatise COVID-19.' 'People should be told: 'Look, if you have anything like this, please come immediately'.'

If you are missing travelling, you will love these fabulous holiday pix!

'He was capable, concise, calm, sublime, and profound, and perhaps that's also why Irrfan's passing felt 'personal' to many.'

'I am more worried about the rainy season from June.' 'If you don't bury the COVID-19 dead properly, then rainwater will seep into the dead bodies and it will come to our locality where I fear more than 2,000 people will be affected.'

Missing their grandparents, not being able to go out and meet their friends.... These are just some of the things that kids, who have been confined to their homes due to the coronavirus lockdown, have revealed. From Tokyo to Buenos Aires, and New York to Kathmandu, youngsters have taken to their balconies or front lawns to display and explain the drawings they have made to Reuters photographers.

The US became the first country in the world to have more than one million cases of coronavirus. It accounts for nearly one-third of the 3.1 million cases globally.

'Between the quiet hallways and the empty streets, there is a misleadingly peaceful atmosphere outside, that does not reflect the stress and tragedy happening every day between hospital walls.'

Beijing-based retired basketball star Stephon Marbury is arranging an urgent shipment of surgical masks from China to New York to fight the coronavirus. He wanted to help his home city solve its reported shortage of masks.

Till Monday, 43,734 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States.

The disgraced Hollywood mogul was recently shifted to high security Wende Correctional Facility from Rikers Island prison to spend his jail term.

'It is perplexing to see the leader of the First World with a first rate medical infrastructure come up short on its foresight to handle the pandemic,' notes Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).

The Union Health ministry put the number of positive cases at 82, eight more since Thursday night, which includes the woman and a 76-year-old man from Karnataka who became the country's first coronavirus fatality besides 17 foreign nationals, Health Ministry officials said.

Tokyo marathon which last year saw close to 38,000 amateur participants, was scaled back to just a few hundred professional athletes, with the public strongly discouraged from lining the route. In past years the event attracted more than 1 million roadside spectators.

Here are the best images from across the world from the previous week.