TOP 5 WORLD NEWS

A full-floor penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, has sold for $21 million, the developers announced Thursday. Spanning the entire 51st floor at the 52-story condominium tower, the penthouse has 7,760 square feet of interior space, including four bedrooms and staff quarters, six-and-a-half bathrooms, a great room, a living room, a family room, an expansive kitchen with views, a gym, a home theater and a den, according to developers Fortune International Group and Château Group. “It features 13-foot ceilings and 360-degree views of the entire coastline and downtown Miami,” said Edgardo Defortuna, chief executive officer and president of Fortune International Group.

Dubai house prices plummeted to their lowest levels in over a decade last quarter, according to new data from U.A.E.-based property firm Cavendish Maxwell. The average single-family home price sunk 24% over the past year to AED1.82 million (US$495,500), a level not seen in over 11 years despite a global recession and regional economic meltdowns over the past decade, according to data on website Property Monitor.

Rs 15,000 crore expected to be monetised through urban real estate; close to Rs 29,000 crore is estimated from monetising warehouses and around Rs 11,450 crore from stadiums. The government plans to monetise all assets through direct contractual instruments such as public-private partnership (PPP) concessions as well as capital market instruments such as Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT). InvITs will help the retail investors to participate and gain from the India growth story.

Lake Mead, a Colorado River reservoir just east of Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona border, is poised to become the focal point of one of the country's most significant climate crises: water shortages in the West. Millions of people will be affected in the coming years and decades by the Colorado River shortage alone, researchers say, with some being forced to make painful water cuts.

The Russian and British empires battled over Afghanistan in the 19th century, and the United States and the Soviet Union in the 20th. As the Taliban take over in the strategic, landlocked nation, the new Great Game has Pakistan in control, with its ally China looking to cement its grip on the region. Pakistan has deep ties with the Taliban and has been accused of supporting the terrorist group as it battled the US-backed government in Kabul, charges denied by Islamabad. When the Taliban captured Kabul last week, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Afghans had broken the "shackles of slavery". As the Taliban hold discussions to decide on its government model, media reports have said some Pakistani officials are involved. A Foreign Office spokesperson in Islamabad said Pakistan wanted an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan that ensured peace and stability in the region but added that the "key role remains with the Afghans".