Here's a collection of images that show we live in a crazy, crazy world.
Chinese bicycle sharing giant Ofo launches service in seven Indian cities.
China has conducted a massive military exercise in the high altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, close to the disputed borders with India, during which it has for the first time tested the multi-role J-10 fighter jets.
Stating that India's entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group will "shake strategic balance in South Asia and even cast a cloud over peace and stability in the entire Asia-Pacific region", an article in the state-run 'Global Times' however said China could support India's inclusion in the 48 member nuclear club if it "played by rules".
It is the country's second aircraft carrier, after the Liaoning, and the first to be made domestically.
Protests at this time when efforts are underway to strengthen the PLA and keep morale high would be worrying for the military leadership, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
We bring you a collection of some of the best photographs taken this week by ace photographers.
As the world struggles with the deadly coronavirus, there are some who are dealing with the pandemic in their own unique way. Here are 12 images that show how.
"India is a global strategic partner of ours. We have a wide, broad, deep relationship with India. There will be a lot on the agenda in the bilateral relationship and in the multilateral engagements he takes part in on the margins of the G20," Ned Price, State Department Spokesperson, told reporters at his daily news conference.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the need for the recruitment of new talent to support the rapid modernisation of the armed forces and win future wars amid reports that the military has committed more resources to enrol 3 lakh personnel for frontline positions.
The blast happened around 4:50 pm at the front gate of the kindergarten in Fengxian County in east China's Jiangsu Province when children were leaving the school, officials were quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
United States President Joe Biden is all set to visit India and is 'very excited' about the important initiatives he will be championing at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, according to senior White House officials.
'If a 'two-front war' develops, Iron Brother may only turn out to be a drag on the PLA, since Pakistan is in no position to wage a war with India,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In a rare public admission of Pakistani links to militancy in China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang province, the official media in Beijing said the co-founder of the Al Qaeda linked East Turkestan Islamic Movement was indoctrinated in a madarasa in that country.
'The Indian army is a professional army. They can handle such a situation'
Despite Beijing reporting just 51 new cases on Wednesday, China's capital tightened Covid restrictions as it battled an outbreak.
It has triggered a cause of concern for India too as many of the 700 odd Indian students studying in universities of Wuhan and Hubei provinces are still stuck up there.
India on Wednesday reported 21 cases of the JN.1 Covid variant, a development that is neither surprising nor particularly worrying, scientists said while allaying fears but also advising adherence to existing precautionary measures.
From March 1959 to March 1962, the PLA fought 12 major battles in central Tibet which was seen as an opportunity to train China's soldiers, notes Ajai Shukla.
a look at the devastation caused by the twin blasts reportedly caused by combustible and explosive goods stored in containers at a warehouse in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin
The People's Bank of China cut its daily reference rate for the currency by a record 1.9 per cent, the biggest loss since January 1994.
The 2.3 million strong People's Liberation Army, the world's largest, adopts a more aggressive posture with massive structural revamp.
'But unlike Bond who killed an individual, Israel is killing a nation.'
When the novel coronavirus outbreak hit China in late December and January, the government sprang into crisis mode. Hard-hit cities like Wuhan, where the outbreak began, went into complete lockdown. Millions worked from home or self-quarantined for weeks on end. New hospitals were built in a matter of days to treat the sheer number of patients. People who broke quarantine rules or lied about their travel history were detained. Soon, the virus spread over the globe, with many countries banning movement of citizens to some ordering sanitisation of public spaces. Take a look.
London's stunning victory was warmly received in China, hosts of the 2008 Games in Beijing, who also told the British capital to expect a large Chinese audience.
India's largest airline has also told its crew members -- who are working on flights connecting India with East Asian countries like Thailand and Singapore -- to wear N95 masks at all times when they are on ground.
The Chinese mainland on Thursday reported 3,472 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, besides 20,782 asymptomatic cases, according to the National Health Commission.
In the travel advisory, the Health Ministry again asked people to refrain from travelling to China in view of the coronavirus outbreak in its Hubei province and said travellers on return from the neighbouring country could be quarantined.
The authorities have mounted massive containment measures including mass testing of about 90,000 people
The total number of doses administered in the country has crossed 78.68 crore.
The aircraft carrier is China first domestically-built ship. Shandong is bigger than China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning and could house 36 fighter jets.
The Chinese Communist party has not closed its door of contacts and negotiation with the Dalai Lama, a senior Communist leader wrote recently. Former RA&W officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade explains what the thinking on Tibet is likely in Beijing.
Although China still faces the threat of new outbreaks due to local community transmissions or from imported cases, the country's capability to contain the COVID-19 has been honed, thanks to its experience in battling the virus for months.
On the Ukraine conflict, Modi said, "Some people say that we are neutral. But we are not neutral. We are on the side of peace." "All countries should respect international law and the sovereignty of countries," he said.
The Wuhan municipal headquarters in a notification said the revisions were made in accordance with related laws and regulations as well as the principle of being responsible for history, the people and the deceased.
Mainstream American newspapers, many of which had been sceptical of India's space mission and sometimes even made fun of it through cartoons, noted the great Indian achievement.
Apart from Shanghai, 15 other provincial-level regions on the mainland saw new local Covid cases .
The Wuhan lockdown was lifted even as epidemiologists warned that it is not the time to completely lower the guard and ease on full-scale restrictions, considering the looming asymptomatic patients and possible rebound in infections, the official media reported.
Happily, it does not require the world to hold a mirror up for us. We can look at ourselves and understand easily if we choose to be honest about where we find ourselves three quarters of a century after Independence, asserts Aakar Patel.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre, more than 4,000 people in the US have died due to COVID-19 and nearly 190,000 have been infected by it.
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