India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 200-crore mark on Sunday.
These natural wonders are all under threat.
'I do not agree that the intent was to send a political message to China that the US treats friends and foes alike.' 'In any case, such acts do not ruffle a feather in China,' observes Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
India added three unicorns per month in 2021 to nearly double the overall number to about 85 at last count. And there are many gazelles and cheetahs in the pipeline. All gunning to be unicorns (and then decacorns) soon thereafter, notes Sandeep Goyal.
A state of emergency has been declared in Washington, DC and five states as 30 inches of snow and high winds may shut down up to a third of the country.
"It was a direct hit and grand success," defence sources said after the test launch.
Images from Day 2 in the first Test between India and Sri Lanka, in Mohali, on Saturday.
Here are 7 things you need to know, including some you probably didn't know, about this historic debate.
If it splits now, who takes what away and leaves what behind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
While the two leaders have met earlier when Biden was the Vice President of the country, this is for the first time that Biden will be meeting Modi after he became the 46th president of the US in January.
'The food security along the coastal region will be severely affected.'
The PLA Air Force has conducted a combat air patrol in the South China Sea recently, which will become "a regular practice" in the future
'In terms of sheer incompetence, this government has rivaled the Rajiv Gandhi-led government that was derisively called the 'Baba-log' government for its naive handling of many issues,' notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Irma, expected to landfall in Florida on Sunday, is likely to cause devastation across Florida.
The aftermath of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan has led to an argument that there was no religion as Hinduism in Chola times.
Instead, there was only Saivism, Vaishnavism, etc, and that the Cholas were Saivites, and hence not Hindus, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Is it even an official disaster if you don't document it on social media? That seems to be the problem in Hawaii as officials are frustrated with people risking their lives all for a selfie. Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has been spewing lava ever since it started erupting on May 3. More than 1,700 local residents have been evacuated from the volcano's East Rift Zone on the Big Island of Hawaii, where lava from 20 fissure vents has destroyed 26 homes. And even now, people can't stop taking selfies with the dangerous volcano and posting them on social media.
While the US omitted China and Russia from the list of invitees, Beijing was furious over the invitation to the self-governing island Taiwan, which China said is a blatant violation of the 'One China' policy that considers Taipei as the integral part of the Chinese mainland.
Taiwan reopened baseball games to a limited number of fans on Friday for the first time since controls were imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, part of government efforts to slowly allow normal life to resume. Taiwan has been relatively successful at controlling the virus, with 440 cases to date and 6 deaths, with only 85 active infections, thanks to early prevention and detection efforts.
All the summer transfer details right here...
Virat Kohli's position as India's ODI captain, his Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane's future as vice-captain in the longest format along with 100-Test man Ishant Sharma's place will be up for discussion when the national selectors pick the jumbo squad for the tour of South Africa later this week.
The Isle of Man is busy welcoming hundreds of the Commonwealth's most talented young athletes, officials and supporters to the island.
'The MEA, hopefully, made it clear that the Indian PM can't be seen in Xi Jinping's company when China has, for all intents and purposes, annexed over 1,000 sq kms of Indian territory in eastern Ladakh, and essentially that the Wuhan spirit and the Mamallapuram spirit have turned into vinegar.'
The first priority for the new Tibetan administration in Dharamsala should be to look at Tibetan recruitment in the PLA, suggests Claude Arpi.
Biden on Friday opened the first Quad Leaders' Summit held virtually and attended by Prime Minister Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
'We will stand with friends, partners and allies to advance our shared prosperity, security and values in the Indo-Pacific region'
'They are taking the people of the country for granted.'
Mahinda Rajapaksa completed 50 years of parliamentary politics in July this year. He was elected as a Member of Parliament at the young age of 24 in 1970. He has since been elected president twice and has been appointed prime minister thrice.
Describing the trial a "complete success", sources said that all the mission objectives were met during the test.
'Whenever an achiever writes a book, writing a book is not a commercial enterprise.'
Though India's airlines are certainly bleeding, they haven't yet faced the ignominy of shutting down.
A series of steps taken by the government to promote ease of doing business and liberalisation of foreign direct investment norms have helped India receive record FDI inflows so far this year, and implementation of measures like PM Gati Shakti, single window clearance and GIS-mapped land bank are expected to further push investments in 2022. Notwithstanding the global slowdown and the COVID-19 pandemic, total foreign direct investments into India rose to a record $81.72 billion in 2020-21. During April-July this fiscal, FDI (foreign direct investment) into the country increased by 62 per cent to $27.37 billion.
Speed skating - Swings wins mass start, brings first Belgian Winter gold in 74 years.
'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.'
Anyone within range of China's expanding navy will have to build capabilities faster and/or work more closely with the US, as Australia has just announced, asserts T N Ninan.
From Covid to climate change, Shankar Acharya's look at some of the trends and events that might shape 2022.
'From the very start, PM Modi was insistent that visiting foreign leaders should be exposed to an India beyond its capital.' 'Through these experiences, he felt that the full Indian narrative would be much better understood across the world,' explains External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A riveting excerpt from Bluekraft Digital Foundation's Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.
Suzie Bates blasted 79 not out on her home ground of Dunedin as New Zealand earned a nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022.
