'Our Lockdown Life has a sort of schizophrenic, Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde personality about it,' says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'No one needs to lose sleep if a person with better operational credentials supersedes lesser endowed peers,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
'No one knows whether exposure to the Nobel process would be to her liking, or would benefit her symbolic position above the fray,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'India should think big: About how in a multi-polar world, India can indeed be one of the poles, rather than being a secondary power that has to worry about 'alignment' with one of the poles. A G3 in other words, India should look to getting others to align with itself rather than the US or China,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
The war of words between China and the US heated up on Tuesday with an American Admiral defending last week's US naval ship's foray near Chinese-made artificial islands in the area while Beijing blasted the move as a "blatant provocation".
China's strong manufacturing base and India's software and scientific skills had massive potential both as a production base and for creating a consumer market.
Substantial gains can still be made with good policies and initiatives.
The Cuban government has announced nine days of mourning and has set Castro's funeral for December 4.
'The mood in Beijing is already nervous and feverously watchful.' 'Developments in China will be scrutinised as intensely and nervously as the ones in Washington,' says Claude Smadja.
In a stern message to its neighbours, China today said it is determined to defend "every inch" of its territory and there was "no room for compromise" with Japan over territorial or historical disputes.
'The Indian State needs to focus on healthcare, education, infrastructure and law and order, and get out of all these regulatory cholesterols.' 'Then, India will fly.'
Tibetan refugees in India face a bleak future, says Greg C Bruno.
Then chief minister Jyoti Basu once told an industrialist that capitalists were class enemies and he should expect no sympathy.
In a historic decision, President Barack Obama announced a series of steps aimed at normalising relations with communist-ruled Cuba, with which the US had severed diplomatic ties decades ago imposing a series of sanctions on its island neighbour.
'The top level will be development and then sab ka saath, sab ka vikas.' 'But at the street level, the tongue will be vicious.'
'A collapsing Pakistan may well unleash its nuclear weapons as the last throw of the dice. With a nuclear arsenal of over 50 bombs, even a regional nuclear exchange can devastate the world.'
How many of the 319 films Aseem Chhabra watched in 2018 have you seen?
'The bottom line is that at least now we should take an honest look at this business of NSG membership (or Masood Azhar for that matter.),' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Here's a look at the 10 most dangerous countries in the world.
'It was the Mughals who first established standard units of measurement and maintained offices of meticulous record keepers and auditors, departing from the more haphazard methods of earlier regimes.' 'By the end of the 16th century, their revenue and judicial administrations exhibited an obsessive preoccupation with order, the efficient management of time, and a spirit of rational self-control -- all of them characteristics of early modernity,' point out Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Ellman.
'China, which had earlier blockaded New Delhi's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group by citing the nuclear non-proliferation law, finds itself in an awkward position and international isolation.' 'India needs to pursue a policy of mediation between China and the Southeast Asian countries for regional security,' says Srikanth Kondapalli.
PM Modi addressed the Indian community in Washington DC after meeting chief executives of major US companies.
Both have made factory jobs the centre of their economic agendas. Kanika Datta explains the practical limits to their ambitions.
An array of Olympians and stars of sports niche and new arrive in the South Korean city of Incheon for the 17th Asian Games this month, bringing together some 10,000 athletes for a 16-day multi-sport spectacular second only in scale to the Summer Olympics.
Here's your weekly digest of bizarre moments from around the world.
Indians want change and progress. They should be willing to accept tough decisions, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
China on Wednesday said the US' naval and air incursions in the artificial islands in the South China Sea will be counter-productive leading to "miscalculation" and "crisis", as Beijing summoned the American ambassador to protest the US Navy's sailing of a warship into the disputed waters.
China sees India and Japan's 'North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project' as a challenge to its OBOR, says Rajaram Panda.
'A plausible American tactic,' Rajeev Srinivasan suspects, 'would be to try and prevent the BJP and Modi from coming to power by splitting the anti-Congress vote using the AAP, and in case that fails, to follow up with a Plan B to make India ungovernable, to create mass conflict through their agents.'
"The basic idea is that India would like to continue to be the most beautiful woman wooed by all men, notably the two strongest in the house, US and China," the article titled 'Indo-US strategic distrust stalls LSA signing'.
'Is Trump going to play a mediating role? Can he play a mediating role? It's out of the question.' 'Kashmir is an Indian responsibility.'
'Despite much hype of optimism, everyone went home empty-handed without a clear picture where they are heading in the future,' notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'Relations between India and Japan are robust and devoid of either shadow of history or any irritant.' 'In fact, there is plenty of warmth and goodwill earned over history. There are no negatives but only opportunities,' notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
If the aim is to become a player with some strategic space of its own, not just in the Indian Ocean region but also in the adjoining region, then greater interaction with China is desirable, even necessary.
Suddenly the sands are shifting and even friends are acting strange.
Other large recipients are China ($64 billion), the Philippines ($28 billion), Mexico ($24 billion), Nigeria ($21 billion), Egypt ($18 billion), Pakistan ($17 billion), Bangladesh ($15 billion), Vietnam ($11 billion) and Ukraine ($9 billion).
'We shot Baahubali in Hyderabad during the summer when the temperatures would soar to 45 degrees. There was an ambulance on the set and every day someone would be injured or faint. Whenever I saw that ambulance, I heaved a sigh of relief and thanked god that it was not me.' Rana Daggubati shares his experience of shooting for Baahubali.
According to a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent, think tank dedicated to shifting the world's focus to peace as a positive and tangible measure of progress, India ranks 143rd
'A bit of marketing, a bit of positioning, and a lot of strategic thinking is required, and all this should be in aid of India's strategic intent: Becoming the third pole in a global G3 and aiming for Numero Uno,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
These images from across the globe tell that it is a crazy world out there!
