China's state-run Sichuan Airlines has suspended all its cargo flights to India for 15 days, causing major disruption to private traders' efforts to procure the much-needed oxygen concentrators and other medical supplies from the country despite Beijing reiterating its readiness to help India to deal with the latest surge of COVID-19 cases.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday arrived in Xian on a three-day visit to China during which he will hold summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a range of issues including the festering border dispute and China's plans for infrastructure projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Here's a collection of some of the best photos from around the world shot in the last 24 hours.
Giving final touches to its most ambitious plan to build a wide network of new silk roads on land and seas to enhance global connectivity, China has invited India to join President Xi Jinping's pet project that would revive the ancient trade route and benefit the region.
Here's your weekly digest of photographs that prove that it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there!
Norma Astrid Godinho picks her IPL 2022 Dream XI, an unbeatable combination that could give the very best a run for their money...
Saina Nehwal faces a tricky draw in the Asian Badminton Championships as most of the shuttlers she is likely to play against have defeated her in the past, feels national coach Pullela Gopichand.
Mamata should travel to China to see how the Chinese railway system is expanding, says T N Ninan.
India's Saina Nehwal moved to the second round of the women's singles in the Yonex Korea Super Series 2009 after Charmaine Reid of Canada gave her a walkover in the opener in Seoul on Tuesday.
Pakistan's Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif is in China's militancy hit Muslim-majority Xinjiang province on a rare visit where he met his Chinese counterpart General Fang Fenghui, promising to crackdown on Uighur militants.
Saina Nehwal failed to produce her vintage form of recent years as the Indian ace suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Malaysian Julia Pei Xian Wong in the quarter-finals to crash out of the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open in Hyderabad on Friday.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal thumped Hung Yung Chan of Hong Kong in straight games to sail into the quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open in Hyderabad on Thursday. Women's second-seed Saina rode on the unforced errors of her opponent and thrashed her 21-8, 21-8 to set up a quarter-final clash with fifth-seed Xian Wong of Malaysia.
'The impasse on the India-China border in the Sikkim sector persists, but the Hamburg meeting between the two leaders will certainly have its salutary effects on the relationship between the two countries,' says China scholar Rup Narayan Das.
Sonia referred to her trip as a 'milestone' in bilateral relations, while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao termed her work in improving bilateral relations as 'of great importance'
Ian Chappell's belief stems from India's incredible depth of talent and its success ratio of late.
The South Americans beat China for their second straight victory in the tournament.
Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton event.
The deployment seems to be more than what is needed.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia will be the first in more 35 years to be held without spectators after organisers introduced tighter measures to protect against the coronavirus. Here is a list of international sports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
'Problems will keep recurring unless China vows to resolve all outstanding issues between the two sides,' says Sana Hashmi.
While the two sides' objectives may appear to differ, it is clear that both India and China are emphasising on the common minimum possible areas of cooperation between them, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
He stressed the need for strengthening mutual trust and confidence while seeking solutions to outstanding issues.
Highlights from PM Modi's speech in Beijing after signing 24 agreements.
India play the opening T20I against New Zealand on Friday.
Unlike in the past, Modi made candid, frank and direct remarks on his hosts by suggesting that the Chinese side is holding back on further improving relations, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
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'The need of the hour is to build on the positives and control the negatives,' says Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale (retd).
Support from the committee gives Xi an indefinite extension on the reins of power, which will surely result in hawkish and insular policies. It does not bode well for relations with the USA, or with anyone else who does not bow the knee to Beijing, for that matter.
Vice President Hamid Ansari on Wednesday left on a five-day visit to China where he will hold bilateral discussions with his counterpart Li Yuanchao and attend events to mark the 60th anniversary of Panchsheel agreement.
'Chinese leaders rarely receive their foreign guests in cities other than Beijing. Such respect for India!' 'Does it mean that Modi could replicate "the warmth and unconventional way" by sending Indian troops into Tibet, as Xi did in Chumur (Ladakh) when he arrived in India? Of course, Indians are far too polite to do so,' says Claude Arpi.
Prime Minister Modi made a strategic blunder of Nehruvian proportions -- presuming no war can happen now, and the Chinese won't be a military threat and risk their economic interests, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Modi's arrival has changed the optics of the visit. There is a different demonstration of the confidence level in the Indian leadership, but not much has changed beyond that, reports Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
Xi, 67, already roiling the Communist Party with a 'rectification' campaign and mass persecution of foes, will launch 'another brutal purge' following the Chinese army's failures on the Indian border, the Newsweek said in an opinion piece.
This is perhaps the most authoritative portrayal so far of Indian air power as a threat to China.
Sharing his experience, Kulshrestha, 46, said the Chinese authorities looked after and treated him "well" during the detention and that he now wants to move on.
'It is entirely possible that there are many treasures of our history and our faith buried deep underground,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
Kicking off his four-day visit, General Suhag met General Li Zuocheng, the head of China's ground forces which have undergone major restructuring in the last three years.
Refusing to share in the euphoria of ally Bharatiya Janata Party over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's China visit, Shiv Sena on Monday accused the neighbouring country of pursuing a policy of "hugging from the front and stabbing from behind".
Three-times champions Iran cruised into the 2015 Asian Cup finals after thrashing Lebanon 4-1 on Tuesday, but China missed the chance to join them and face a nerve-jangling final qualifier after being held to a goalless draw by Saudi Arabia.
