Victory in Ramadi deprives Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015.

'When it comes to India-Pakistan relations, seminal moments of progress invariably bring out saboteurs of peace -- whether we're talking about fresh provocations along the LoC, or even a terror attack in India.'

'What should worry India and which needs to be expressed is Russia's simultaneous proximity to both China and Pakistan from a strategic angle. That hasn't happened ever before,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).

Get set to be amazed as Rediff.com has all that and more sporting action from the past week encapsulated in this super photo feature.

Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 10 images

India has built two top-secret facilities in Karnataka to enrich uranium in pursuit of its hydrogen bomb dream.

China also had the largest illicit outflows of any country in 2013.

Here are some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit is an attempt to move the Indo-Singapore relationship to the 'next level'. Singapore has been one of the top investors in India. India-Singapore bilateral trade has already crossed the $15 billion mark. As per the official records, Singapore has emerged as the second largest source of Foreign Direct Investment in India, says Dr Rahul Mishra.

'It has taken bombings in Beirut, bombing of a Russian airliner and now terror attacks in Paris for people to realise that we are not going to achieve our objectives of destroying ISIS if we drive in second gear. We need to get into top gear.'

Sunday's operation, the biggest in the Belgian capital since the Paris attack, began shortly after a government meeting on the crisis and a decision to maintain for a second day the highest possible alert level in Brussels.

Heavily armed police and soldiers patrolled key intersections in Belgium's capital on Saturday as the government warned of a threat of Paris-style attacks.

Anita Datar is the sole US citizen to have been killed in the attack.

The 'Missing link in India's Act East Policy', as India's former foreign secretary Shyam Saran calls it, needs to be filled sooner rather than later, says Dr Rahul Mishra.

A man identified as "Al Karar the Iraqi", threatened the 'crusader' nations who are fighting together against the IS and the US capital was specifically singled out.

All major sporting events in the Paris region were suspended on Saturday as France mourned the victims of the attacks in the capital city the night before that left 129 people dead and 352 wounded.

Do Modi's foreign visits actually serve India or they nothing more than expensive tools for domestic positioning and image-building, asks Shehzad Poonawalla.

The US dollar has risen about 15 per cent since mid-2015.

A Washington, DC police officer arrived on the scene of a fight to break it up, but ended up in a dance-off instead.

World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Annual Survey 2015 is one of the most geographically diverse surveys of millennials.

To redevelop cities as 'smart', investment of at least $10 billion is required. For 100 cities, it works out to $1 trillion

The gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College in rural Roseburg, about 180 miles south of Portland -- the capital of Oregon -- and then went on to other classrooms gunning down his victims, witnesses said.

Pitching support for his Digital India initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Facebook headquarters.

Even as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif headed to the United States for the 70th session of the UNGA and for bilateral meetings to be held on the sidelines of the multilateral summit, back home all that is expected of him is to internationalise the Kashmir issue, or as Pakistan puts it, the 'Kashmir dispute'.

Google boss's absence at US-China internet forum meet raises eyebrows.

'This has been an ongoing process,' says Ambassador B S Prakash, India's former consul general in San Francisco, 'but I believe a Modi visit to the West Coast can be a force-multiplier.'

Modi is scheduled to meet over 50 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies over dinner hosted in New York on September 24.

Days before Narendra Modi arrives in the US to speak at the UN, meet Barack Obama, gupshup with the likes of Nadella, Pichai, Zuckerberg, and address desis in Silicon Valley, his ministers will help set the commercial and strategic tone for the prime minister's visit.

'India will soon have the world's largest and youngest population -- just imagine what tomorrow's citizens of India will be able to accomplish, given the right education, training, and opportunity.'

The sale of the Lincoln House in the Breach Candy area of south Mumbai, which used to house the US consulate, to the billionaire chairman of the Pune-based Serum Institute, makes it the largest real estate deal in the country's financial capital.

The company has also stepped up its courtship of machine-learning PhD's, joining Google, Amazon, Facebook and others in a fierce contest

'The ISI has given a stunning display of its capacity to do with impunity what it likes within Kabul. Incensed over the triumphalism of the hardliners in Kabul, the ISI has hit out; it is a typical ISI reflex action that Indians are familiar with,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

On Sunday, August 9, over 400 California-based community leaders from various organisations and inter-faith groups gathered under the Indo-American Community of West Coast USA banner, some of whom were the first to sign up for the event.

A sensational interview on India-China ties, with the man most qualified to answer.

'When he first came to office, my belief is that the PM's reading of the landscape was that, with a vanquished Congress and fragmented Opposition, he was looking at least at two terms in office. This reading perhaps allows for a more cautious, gradual approach.' 'It was only a matter of time before the government was forced to come face-to-face with a serious corruption scandal. This is not a commentary on the BJP, but a statement about India's political economy.' 'There is growing concern about the government's commitment to freedom of expression, religious tolerance, and an independent civil society. Thus far, the positive movement on strategic and economic matters has crowded out these concerns, but they are lingering beneath the surface.'

'Will 'Make in India' be able to harness the demographic dividend so it does not become a disaster?' 'Will 'Digital India' live up to the lofty promises the government and private sector made as part of its recent launch?'

'The nuclear deal required Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to gamble the future of his government on a vision for the future of his nation.'

China's malfunctioning stock markets remained semi-frozen.

United said it would rebook flights for affected passengers without charge

The crisis remains acute with the country's banks already closed.