China has built over 16,000 kms of high-speed train tracks connecting most of the major cities.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 16 images
Naga splinter groups impatient with stalled talks as well as rebel Manipuri groups who have a stake in disrupting upcoming elections to the state assembly, are believed to be regrouping in the borderlands of China's Yunnan province and Myanmar, taking advantage of the turmoil in the latter by using it as a transit corridor.
A Ganesh Nadar, who once met V Prabhakaran at the LTTE's press conference in Jaffna, feels Madras Cafe is not at all about the Tigers.
The Taliban is showing its strong discontent as the high hopes given to it by the Pakistani military have been dashed, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
New Union minister L Murugan's declaration of Kongu Nadu as his native place, instead of Tamil Nadu, may be part of a grand BJP strategy to create new states out of existing ones, particularly those that have anti-BJP governments, mulls N Sathiya Moorthy.
The world's largest ice festival has opened in north-eastern China, featuring frozen castles, glistening snow sculptures and lots of snowmen. Here's a glimpse of the frozen world.
There were Vedic mantras engraved along with prayer songs for Lord Shiva, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. Neither the government nor the people of Faisalabad demanded that the carvings be removed. I felt very happy to see Sanskrit shloka
China has been an aggressor against India along the Himalayan border, a top American diplomat nominated by President Joe Biden as his next envoy to Beijing has told lawmakers, stating that the US must hold the Chinese government accountable for failing to play by the rules.
The Mascots -- Congcong, Lianlian and Chenchen --, which reflect the internet prowess of Hangzhou city and Zhejiang province, were unveiled at a digital ceremony in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that has brought the whole world to a stand still.
In its sheer audacity, the initiative with Russia has the potential to transform world politics in the same way as the 1972 Nixon visit to China and 'Shanghai Declaration' changed world dynamics, says Anil Athale.
A former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam child soldier-turned-politician was acquitted by a court in Sri Lanka on Wednesday in the 2005 murder case of a senior ethnic Tamil lawmaker at the height of the country's bloody civil war.
The fire broke out on the second floor of the HNA Platinum Mix Hotel in the Honggutan New District on Saturday morning, firefighters said.
Millions of people in China were displaced when typhoon Haikui, the worst storm to hit the country's coast since 2005, wrecked havoc in the eastern parts with heavy flooding.
The Taliban have been known for using violence to force the people to accept their agenda and views, he added.
Eleven people were killed and 59 others injured in a pile up on a highway caused by collision of several vehicles in eastern China. Several vehicles collided into another on a section of expressway in China's eastern Anhui province on Saturday night, rescuers said.
In gifting the submarine to Myanmar, India is competing with China for influence in the region.
The team of hunters was unhurt in the attack that happened in Guchak area of Panjgur, however, two vehicles of the convoy were damaged in the firing, police said.
Three suicide bombers struck in Saudi Arabia on Monday, including a shocking attack at Islam's second holiest site, the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, where four security guards were killed.
Pompeo, during a Congressional hearing on Thursday, told the members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that 'the actions are entirely consistent with what they have been signalling to the world for decades you might even argue since 1989, but certainly since General Secretary Xi came to power'.
According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakh Hindus are living in the country.
Fourteen photos from events that defined the world in the week gone by.
In a significant development, India for the first time on Thursday abstained from voting on the United States-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged human rights violation which was passed by 23 votes in favour as against 12 in opposition and 12 abstentions in the United Nation's Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Dealing with the Sirisena government in Sri Lanka, says G Ganapathy Subramaniam, is a lot easier for India than engaging with the Rajapaksa regime.
From Sri Lanka's most popular political family to its most despised -- going by the voices on the streets calling for the Rajapaksas' ouster -- what went wrong for the clan? Veteran Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy offers an insight.
Nine persons were killed and three others missing as Super Typhoon Soudelor left behind a trail of destruction in eastern China, uprooting trees, hitting power supply and causing the heaviest rains in a century, state media reported on Sunday.
Modi said he was glad that his trip "is one to wipe tears from the eyes of those who suffered".
The TTP, however, did not confirm the death of its chief in the drone strike.
The Railways Minister said gas stoves carried by some passengers blew up when they were preparing breakfast on the speeding train in violation of rules.
This was the first phone call between the two leaders after Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20.
'Putin has set aside all the rules and now he is deciding the rules.'
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.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya questioned the president's decision to suspend parliament till November 16, saying it will have "serious and undesirable" consequences on the country.
Sirisena's sacking of Wickremesinghe was the culmination of an year of bitter relations between them on several policy matters. The president has been critical of the prime minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.
Over a million people have been evacuated and hundreds of flights were cancelled as typhoon Chan-Hom made landfall on Saturday in eastern China, bringing severe winds and heavy rainfall to Zhejiang and neighbouring provinces.
Police said the exact death toll could not be ascertained, as the victims were blown to pieces.
'The PLA has continued to do exercises and drills and recently carried out air exercises with fighter jets.'
A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday.
Whether it liked it or not, the Ukraine crisis forced India to choose between the aggressor Russia and the US-led free world, a decision it hated to make, Virendra Kapoor points out. In the end, it abstained from the vote in the Security Council.
Cut off from the world and having to contend with an orthodox and repressive Taliban government, Afghans are facing the brunt of Pakistan's decades old policy of nurturing militant groups, note Harsh V Pant and Kriti M Shah four months after the Taliban took Kabul.
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