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NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, of Indian origin, is in the news these days. Her team has returned safely to Earth after spending nine months in space. They intended to be in space for eight days, but technical problems extended their mission. The spacecraft returned without them in September. This week, they landed in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov.

On Wednesday, last week, the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor - the largest Turkish city- could be described as a watershed moment in the country’s continued shift away from democracy. Opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fear it is a move to sideline the sole challenger capable of defeating him in upcoming elections, expected before 2028.

NEW YORK: China never ceases to amaze. It is now practicing “dogfighting” satellites as part of its enhanced program in defense preparedness in outer space that includes extending the conventional dog fights in the air between fighter jets to satellites.

NEW YORK: Elon Musk and Donald Trump are attempting to transform the architecture of the federal government. The American state under their influence is not merely a vehicle for broad capitalist governance but a tool for the personal enrichment of individual business elites.

BERLIN: Some world events can look different to those of us in Berlin. God knows, here too I’m frightened at what Trump, Vance and Musk are doing and planning. Nor do I love Putin. But what I hate above all else is war, which is looks — and is closer over here.

Despite his best efforts and concessions to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, including a US vote in the UN alongside North Korea, Iran and Russia on Ukraine war, Putin has given a big hoax to US president.

NEW YORK: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is in a head spinning dilemma as US President Donald Trump bowls him a googly the first ball and a China man the second and the predatory wicket keeper Russian President Vladimir Putin is waiting like a hawk to stump Zelensky as he tries to go out of the crease to kick in the ceasefire hard to end the three-year old conflict.

NEW YORK: Can India follow the Chinese model with retaliatory tariffs against the US duties on Indian goods as US president Donald Trump, despite his bonhomie with Indian premier Narendra Modi, publicly declared that Indian tariffs on US products were among the highest and so why not increase the tariffs on Indian products.

NEW YORK: The U.S. government is at war with Cuban doctors working in other countries. Currently, 24,180 Cuban healthcare providers, mostly doctors, perform duties in 56 countries. On Feb. 17, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions directed at people associated with Cuba’s medical missions and declared none of them will be eligible for visas to enter the U.S.

LONDON: “The centrists in Labour are worried that an authentically left-wing rival party could emerge.”Thus the usually interesting Telegraph columnist Sherelle Jacobs, apparently channelling the apprehensions of Downing Street. Have the centrists — generous term by now — anything to be worried about? “Yes” would be the simple answer, not necessarily the longer one. As previously argued here, the Starmer government has exposed more of Labour’s left flank faster than any Labour government in history.