Manchester City host Monaco in the Champions League round-of-16 on Tuesday night in what has been billed as a clash of Europe’s emerging powers, with either side fancying their chances of progressing into the last-eight. 

The oligarch-backed clubs are looking to make a splash on a stage in which they have had little success and with expensive talents all around, they have the perfect opportunity to do so in the first leg at the Eithad Stadium.

Manchester City
Pep Guardiola has had a difficult first season in the Premier League, but in Europe the signs have been promising. A win over mighty Barcelona in the group-stages made many sit up and take notice of the Sky Blues.

With their league aspirations effectively over, it would be fair to say that the Champions League is now the main aim.

They had been impressive in recent weeks, winning five matches on the trot before a draw on the weekend against second-tier side Huddersfield brought that run to a halt.

Their preparations were dealt a massive blow when hot-shot striker Gabriel Jesus was stretchered off last week against Bournemouth and in all probability will miss the remainder of the season. It now falls to the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero to step up and deliver in the Brazilian’s absence.

While City don’t lack firepower by any stretch of the imagination as young players such as Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling are in impressive form, their achilles heel is inarguably their defence.

Guardiola will have to choose whether to start Willy Caballero or Claudi Bravo in goal and to be fair, neither goalkeeper inspires confidence.

Apart from Jesus and fellow long-term absentee Ilkay Gundogan City have a full complement of players available and even captain Vincent Kompany could make the bench.

Monaco

The principality club are flying high in Ligue 1, leading Paris Saint-Germain by three points and they impressively topped their Champions League group which had Bayer Leversuken and Tottenham Hotspur in it, losing just one game from six.

Despite the fact that they dropped points against Bastia, Monaco are unarguably the in-form side between the two as they are unbeaten in their last 12 games.

Their attack, much like their opponents, is their greatest strength with Radamel Falcao leading the line for Leonardo Jardim's side with an impressive goals tally of 21 season already.

The experienced Joao Moutinho pulls the strings in midfield, but Monaco have young guns of their own who have caught the eye of Europe’s scouts. Thomas Lemar is a fine right winger and with his speed, could cause City a lot of problems on the wing.  And in Kylin Mbappe they have a secret weapon of sorts as the 18-year-old striker is very much an unknown quantity and can create havoc if sent in the second half.

Monaco are well-stocked in every department, with Gabriel Boschilla the sole absentee as he is recovering from a cruciate ligament rupture.

Super Stat: This is the first-ever meeting between the two cash-rich sides in the Champions League!

Manchester City host Monaco in the Champions League round-of-16 on Tuesday night in what has been billed as a clash of Europe’s emerging powers, with either side fancying their chances of progressing into the last-eight. 

The oligarch-backed clubs are looking to make a splash on a stage in which they have had little success and with expensive talents all around, they have the perfect opportunity to do so in the first leg at the Eithad Stadium.

Manchester City
Pep Guardiola has had a difficult first season in the Premier League, but in Europe the signs have been promising. A win over mighty Barcelona in the group-stages made many sit up and take notice of the Sky Blues.

With their league aspirations effectively over, it would be fair to say that the Champions League is now the main aim.

They had been impressive in recent weeks, winning five matches on the trot before a draw on the weekend against second-tier side Huddersfield brought that run to a halt.

Their preparations were dealt a massive blow when hot-shot striker Gabriel Jesus was stretchered off last week against Bournemouth and in all probability will miss the remainder of the season. It now falls to the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero to step up and deliver in the Brazilian’s absence.

While City don’t lack firepower by any stretch of the imagination as young players such as Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling are in impressive form, their achilles heel is inarguably their defence.

Guardiola will have to choose whether to start Willy Caballero or Claudi Bravo in goal and to be fair, neither goalkeeper inspires confidence.

Apart from Jesus and fellow long-term absentee Ilkay Gundogan City have a full complement of players available and even captain Vincent Kompany could make the bench.

Monaco

The principality club are flying high in Ligue 1, leading Paris Saint-Germain by three points and they impressively topped their Champions League group which had Bayer Leversuken and Tottenham Hotspur in it, losing just one game from six.

Despite the fact that they dropped points against Bastia, Monaco are unarguably the in-form side between the two as they are unbeaten in their last 12 games.

Their attack, much like their opponents, is their greatest strength with Radamel Falcao leading the line for Leonardo Jardim's side with an impressive goals tally of 21 season already.

The experienced Joao Moutinho pulls the strings in midfield, but Monaco have young guns of their own who have caught the eye of Europe’s scouts. Thomas Lemar is a fine right winger and with his speed, could cause City a lot of problems on the wing.  And in Kylin Mbappe they have a secret weapon of sorts as the 18-year-old striker is very much an unknown quantity and can create havoc if sent in the second half.

Monaco are well-stocked in every department, with Gabriel Boschilla the sole absentee as he is recovering from a cruciate ligament rupture.

Super Stat: This is the first-ever meeting between the two cash-rich sides in the Champions League!

While in the state capital Shimla, one hears of increasing dog and monkey bites, people in the area bordering Pong wetland in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh are fearful of Mongoose bites.

The Mongeese in the area have bitten several humans and domestic animals, mainly cattle, in past few months.

Some deaths of animals, especially cows, have since been reported in the Jagnoli and adjoining Hadwal Panchayats.

In one of the incidents, more than 10 cattle in one shed were bitten reportedly by a mongoose and all of them had to be given vaccination later, according to locals.

“We have never seen the Mongeese getting aggressive like this. They move around in the forest area and bushes in the extended belt of Pong wetland and feed on the earthworms in the heaps of cow dungs in villages. Surprisingly, for the past sometime, they have been barging into the houses of the people and the animal sheds and are biting them,” said Pradhan of Jagnoli area, Sharda Devi.

They said it is serious as not only the human lives are at risk, the animals too need to be prevented from Mongeese as the economy of the people is dependent on cattle.

A team from the animal husbandry department had visited the area to look into the issue at the instance of the Panchayati Raj Institution representatives, following which the affected animals are now being administered free anti-Rabies vaccination.

Bites of wild animals like Mongoose, jackal, wolf and fox can supposedly cause Rabies if the victims (who are bitten, humans or animals) and their mixing with the human habitations can often be dangerous.

In this case a few Mongeese were reportedly killed by the locals in self defence.

The veterinary experts said there was a need to study the phenomenon of Mongeese going mad in a particular area. “The domestic animals in the affected area should be administered preventive vaccination free of cost to save them from the risk of Rabies,” said an official with the department.

They said the forest department should get the Mongeese in the area examined for Rabies virus and formulate a strategy accordingly to save people and animals. The wild life officials at Nurpur, however, had no information on the issue.

It is pertinent to mention that the mixing of wild animals, even leopards, in human localities is a common sight in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh as there are forests all around.

Rather, with humans now encroaching on natural habitats of wild animals, the human-wild animal conflict has increased manifold in Himachal Pradesh, with cases of even leopard (who easily stray into villages and towns in search of food) attacks on humans on the rise. The forest department has not been able to do much in this regard so far.

While in the state capital Shimla, one hears of increasing dog and monkey bites, people in the area bordering Pong wetland in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh are fearful of Mongoose bites.

The Mongeese in the area have bitten several humans and domestic animals, mainly cattle, in past few months.

Some deaths of animals, especially cows, have since been reported in the Jagnoli and adjoining Hadwal Panchayats.

In one of the incidents, more than 10 cattle in one shed were bitten reportedly by a mongoose and all of them had to be given vaccination later, according to locals.

“We have never seen the Mongeese getting aggressive like this. They move around in the forest area and bushes in the extended belt of Pong wetland and feed on the earthworms in the heaps of cow dungs in villages. Surprisingly, for the past sometime, they have been barging into the houses of the people and the animal sheds and are biting them,” said Pradhan of Jagnoli area, Sharda Devi.

They said it is serious as not only the human lives are at risk, the animals too need to be prevented from Mongeese as the economy of the people is dependent on cattle.

A team from the animal husbandry department had visited the area to look into the issue at the instance of the Panchayati Raj Institution representatives, following which the affected animals are now being administered free anti-Rabies vaccination.

Bites of wild animals like Mongoose, jackal, wolf and fox can supposedly cause Rabies if the victims (who are bitten, humans or animals) and their mixing with the human habitations can often be dangerous.

In this case a few Mongeese were reportedly killed by the locals in self defence.

The veterinary experts said there was a need to study the phenomenon of Mongeese going mad in a particular area. “The domestic animals in the affected area should be administered preventive vaccination free of cost to save them from the risk of Rabies,” said an official with the department.

They said the forest department should get the Mongeese in the area examined for Rabies virus and formulate a strategy accordingly to save people and animals. The wild life officials at Nurpur, however, had no information on the issue.

It is pertinent to mention that the mixing of wild animals, even leopards, in human localities is a common sight in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh as there are forests all around.

Rather, with humans now encroaching on natural habitats of wild animals, the human-wild animal conflict has increased manifold in Himachal Pradesh, with cases of even leopard (who easily stray into villages and towns in search of food) attacks on humans on the rise. The forest department has not been able to do much in this regard so far.

Ligue 1 defending champions Paris Saint-Germain failed to build on their momentum in the UEFA Champions League as they recorded a goalless draw at home against Toulouse, while Saint-Etienne suffered their second defeat of the week in the contest for the fourth place with a 2-1 away loss to Montpellier.

On Sunday evening, PSG proved unable to recreate their win in the same stadium where they had battered multiple European champions FC Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 five days ago, reports Xinhua news agency. 

Without injured Argentine winger Angel Di Maria, the French defending champions found it difficult to hit the target. The best chance for them came in the second half, but Edinson Cavani's effort was denied by a collective effort of the opposing team.

The draw extended PSG's unbeaten run to 13 games in all competitions, and wasted a great chance to cut the gap from Monaco to a single point after the league leaders tied struggling Bastia at 1-1 on Friday. Currently placed second, PSG were ahead of Nice on goal difference alone, who edged past bottom-ranked Lorient 1-0 a day earlier.

After being blasted away by Manchester United 3-0 in the Europa League last 32 first-leg on Thursday, Saint-Etienne still could not find a winning path back in the league, although they took an early lead on Kevin Monnet-Paquet's goal 12 minutes into their game against Montpellier.

After midfielder Paul Lasne helped Montpellier level the game in the 49th minute, Saint-Etienne were reduced to 10 players as forward Jorginho was sent off two minutes later.

Montpellier's Steve Mounie scored his 10th goal of the campaign midway through the second half, handing Saint-Etienne their second straight loss this week.

Trailing 1-2 against Dijon with 10 minutes remaining, Lyon showed their resilience and scored three goals to make a strong comeback. Alexandre Lacazette, whose value reportedly reached 55 million euros, finished his 21 league goals of the season on a penalty to give Lyon a 3-2 lead before substitute forward Nabil Fekir sealed the win for the team.

With a game in hand, fourth-ranked Lyon are four points above Saint-Etienne, Marseille and Bordeaux, who crushed Guingamp 3-0 earlier on Sunday.

Ligue 1 defending champions Paris Saint-Germain failed to build on their momentum in the UEFA Champions League as they recorded a goalless draw at home against Toulouse, while Saint-Etienne suffered their second defeat of the week in the contest for the fourth place with a 2-1 away loss to Montpellier.

On Sunday evening, PSG proved unable to recreate their win in the same stadium where they had battered multiple European champions FC Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 five days ago, reports Xinhua news agency. 

Without injured Argentine winger Angel Di Maria, the French defending champions found it difficult to hit the target. The best chance for them came in the second half, but Edinson Cavani's effort was denied by a collective effort of the opposing team.

The draw extended PSG's unbeaten run to 13 games in all competitions, and wasted a great chance to cut the gap from Monaco to a single point after the league leaders tied struggling Bastia at 1-1 on Friday. Currently placed second, PSG were ahead of Nice on goal difference alone, who edged past bottom-ranked Lorient 1-0 a day earlier.

After being blasted away by Manchester United 3-0 in the Europa League last 32 first-leg on Thursday, Saint-Etienne still could not find a winning path back in the league, although they took an early lead on Kevin Monnet-Paquet's goal 12 minutes into their game against Montpellier.

After midfielder Paul Lasne helped Montpellier level the game in the 49th minute, Saint-Etienne were reduced to 10 players as forward Jorginho was sent off two minutes later.

Montpellier's Steve Mounie scored his 10th goal of the campaign midway through the second half, handing Saint-Etienne their second straight loss this week.

Trailing 1-2 against Dijon with 10 minutes remaining, Lyon showed their resilience and scored three goals to make a strong comeback. Alexandre Lacazette, whose value reportedly reached 55 million euros, finished his 21 league goals of the season on a penalty to give Lyon a 3-2 lead before substitute forward Nabil Fekir sealed the win for the team.

With a game in hand, fourth-ranked Lyon are four points above Saint-Etienne, Marseille and Bordeaux, who crushed Guingamp 3-0 earlier on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump's revised travel ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts green card holders and those who already have a visa to travel to the US, even if they have not used it yet.

According to a senior White House official, the order will target only those same seven Muslim-majority nations — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya.

The President came up with a second order after federal courts held up his immigration and refugee ban. The order could come sometime this week, Fox News reported.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order, said green card holders and dual citizens of the US and any of those countries were exempted.

The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out — and reject — Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the version being circulated was a draft and the final version should be released soon.

Trump's original executive order triggered chaos at airports across the US, as travellers were detained when the order rapidly went into effect, US permanent residents known as green card holders among them.

Attorneys provided legal assistance to those held and protesters descended on the airports as news of the order's implementation spread.

The order temporarily suspended for 90 days all travel to the US for citizens of those seven countries.

The original order also called for Homeland Security and State Department officials, along with the director of national intelligence, to review what information the government needed to fully vet would-be visitors.

It asked them to come up with a list of countries that cannot or would not make the information available.

It said the government would give countries 60 days to start providing the information else citizens from those countries would be barred from travelling to the US.

Even if Syrian refugees are no longer automatically rejected under the new order, the pace of refugees entering the US from all countries is likely to slow significantly.

That is because even when the courts put Trump's original ban on hold, they left untouched the President's 50,000 per year refugee cap, a cut of more than half from the cap under the Obama administration.

The US has already taken in more than 35,000 refugees this year, leaving less than 15,000 spots before hitting Trump's cap.

This means that for the rest of this fiscal year, the number of refugees being let in per week will likely fall to a fraction of what it had been under the Obama administration's cap of 110,000.

The travel ban again came under attack when the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate the ban, unanimously rejecting the administration's claim of presidential authority, questioning its motives and ability to survive legal challenges.

The pushback prompted Trump to tweet "SEE YOU IN COURT!" and he has since lashed out at the judicial branch, accusing it of issuing a politically motivated decision.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, speaking at the Munich Security Conference about combating terrorism, said Trump was working on a "streamlined" version of the initial executive order.

Kelly said Trump's order was designed as a "temporary pause" to allow him to "see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps — and gaps it has — that could be exploited".

He said the Trump administration was surprised when US courts blocked the order and now "the President is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version" of the ban.

This time he will be able to "make sure that there's no one caught in the system of moving from overseas to our airports".

Kelly mentioned "seven nations" again on Saturday, leading to speculation they will all be included in Trump's next executive order.

The President's order sparked an immediate backlash and saw chaos and outrage, with travellers detained at airports, panicked families searching for relatives and protesters marching against the sweeping measure — parts of which were blocked by several federal courts.

Keeping aside mixed global cues, domestic equity markets extended gains for third-straight session and closed Monday’s trading session on a higher note. The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended 193 points higher at 28,662, and the Nifty at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 58 points up at 8,879.

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices jumped 0.7 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively.

All the BSE sectoral indices, except FMCG index, closed in the positive zone with Metal index leading the gains, up 2 per cent. FMCG index slipped 0.1 per cent.

On Friday, the Sensex had closed 167 points up at 28,469 and the Nifty had closed 44 points higher at 8,822.

Top gainers in the Sensex-30 pack: TCS (up 4.1 per cent), Tata Steel (up 3.8 per cent), Gail (up 3.1 per cent), HDFC Bank (up 2.5 per cent) and Infosys (up 2.5 per cent).

Top losers in the Sensex-30 pack: Axis Bank (down 1.9 per cent), ITC (down 1 per cent), HDFC (down 0.9 per cent), Dr Reddy’s Labs (down 0.6 per cent), and ICICI Bank (down 0.3 per cent).

Meanwhile, the Rupee was trading four paise higher at 66.96 against the US Dollar.

The Congress on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his controversial "graveyard and cremation ground", remark alleging him of "vitiating" the atmosphere during the state polls.

"The Prime Minister, true to his form, is vitiating the atmosphere during election time," Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters here.

"He has tried to stir communal tensions and polarise the society. His speech on graveyard and crematoria, shows his mindset," the Congress leader said. 

Sharma's remarks came a day after Modi addressed a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur accusing the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government of playing politics of discrimination. 

He also said that this was while his flagship schemes were benefiting all irrespective of their caste and religion.

Modi on Sunday said: "If a village receives funds for a graveyard, then it should also get for cremation ground… If you provide uninterrupted power supply for Eid, then you should also do it for Holi."

"It is clear BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is heading towards a big defeat. Flustered and frustrated Modiji has lost all sense of balance in his speeches," the Congress leader added.

The Congress leader also said that India is a multi-cultural nation. "Our Constitution doesn't allow anyone to divide the nation, be it on caste or religion."

"PM is not above the Constitution or the law. The Prime Minister would be better served to tell the people how many of his promises he has kept," Sharma added.

The Congress leader accused the Prime Minister of not fulfilling his promises to the farmers made in 2014.

Hitting back at the corruption accusation leveled against her by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday said the PM had a negative mindset towards Dalits.

“The prime minister has compelled me to define him as Mr. Negative Dalit man,” an agitated Mayawati said reacting to PM Modi’s comments earlier in the day that the BSP had turned into “Behen ji Sampatti Party” referring to Mayawati’s wealth and assets.  

“Modi is defining BSP wrongfully…I dedicated my life for the poor, deprived and Dalits…they consider me as a big sampatti (asset) for them,” she added.

She further said that that Modi will get a “tit-for-tat reply” when the results of the UP polls will be declared on March 11.

Speaking at a public rally in Orai ahead of the fourth phase of polling in UP on February 23, Modi had slammed Mayawati for criticising the Central government’s demonetisation move.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Monday arrived here in Iraq on an official visit.

Mattis' visit came as Iraqi forces are trying to clear Islamic State (IS) militants from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Defense Secretary will meet top Iraqi officials and military commanders to discuss bilateral relations and the offensive against the IS group in Mosul.

Hundreds of US troops are already in Iraq, serving as trainers and advisers, to help the country win the battle against the IS.

A US-led international coalition has been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Monday arrived here in Iraq on an official visit.

Mattis' visit came as Iraqi forces are trying to clear Islamic State (IS) militants from its major stronghold in the western side of Mosul, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Defense Secretary will meet top Iraqi officials and military commanders to discuss bilateral relations and the offensive against the IS group in Mosul.

Hundreds of US troops are already in Iraq, serving as trainers and advisers, to help the country win the battle against the IS.

A US-led international coalition has been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.

Supply of water from Veeranam lake in the district to Chennai to meet the drinking water requirement was stopped from Monday owing to poor storage, a senior PWD official said.

The water level in the sprawling tank on Monday stood at 27 feet as against its maximum of 47.50 feet, PWD Assistant Engineer R Govindarajan told reporters.

He said the water level was dwindling as it had not been receiving inflow from Mettur Dam.

Most parts of Tamil Nadu are facing drought like situation in view of monsoon failure.

The Congress is confident of returning to power for the fourth time on the trot in Manipur, riding the growing wave of anger over the ongoing economic blockade and apprehension about the state's territorial integrity.

"We will win more than a two-thirds majority in the state. The people have understood very well the game plan of the BJP. They are hand in gloves with those who have called this blockade and are a threat to the territorial integrity of Manipur," state Congress spokesperson K H Joykishan said.

Polling for the 60-seat Manipur Assembly will take place in two phases on March 4 and March 8.

It seems that the Congress, which is vying for a fourth term under the leadership of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, has been able to shed the baggage of anti-incumbency after its one-and-a-half decade rule, marred by allegations of fake encounters, corruption and human rights violation.

The party has tried to make the economic blockade and threat to the territorial integrity of Manipur, if the BJP comes to power, major poll issues.

Even in June last year, with the resurgence of the BJP in the state and several Congress leaders joining it, it looked like the Congress was going to have a tough time in the 2017 Assembly polls.

But with the decision of creation of seven new districts in the landlocked state by bifurcating the existing ones and upgradation of Sadar Hills to a full-fledged district, the Ibobi Singh government has turned the tables on the BJP and seems to have killed three birds with one stone.

Besides partly dividing the hill tribals by upgrading Sadar Hills to a full-fledged district, the economic blockade by the United Naga Council has only helped the Congress consolidate the dominant Meitei (Manipuri) community by cashing on their anger with the three month-long blockade.

Thirdly, the Congress's repeated allegations that the BJP was hand in gloves with the Nagas and the Centre not disclosing the details of the framework agreement with NSCN (IM) have also helped Congress sharpen its attack on the BJP that it (BJP) will compromise the territorial integrity of Manipur.

China has said this year's BRICS summit will promote more inclusive and balanced economic globalisation.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday said the summit, to be held in southeast China's coastal city of Xiamen in September, will not only contribute to common development of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, but also promote more inclusive and balanced economic globalisation.

Wang met his South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on Sunday in Beijing.

Wang also lauded the close ties between China and South Africa, featuring "profound" political mutual trust and "fruitful results" of mutually beneficial cooperation, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

"Particularly on issues of major concerns and concerning their core interests, the two countries understand and firmly support each other, incessantly deepening their strategic partnership," he said.

Scientists have developed a new 3D-printed camera that could provide eagle-eye vision to micro-drones.

The micro camera may be employed in medical procedures such as endoscopies, or used to develop micro-robots designed to measure, explore or survey, said researchers from University of Stuttgart in Germany.

To create sharp images like an eagle's eye, the researchers used a technique called femtosecond laser writing to 3D print clusters of four lenses at a time.

The lenses range from wide to narrow and low to high resolution, and images can then be combined into a bull's-eye shape with a sharp image at the centre, similar to how eagles see.

"This means that we still cover the whole object and get a better resolution in the centre," said Simon Thiele from the Institute of Technical Optics at Stuttgart.

Thiele noted the drawback is that we lose information in the periphery. The goal is to optimise the flow of information, 'Live Science' reported.

The four lenses can be scaled down to a footprint as small as 300 by 300 micrometres, similar to a medium-size grain of sand.

The size of the entire camera setup could decrease with design tweaks to pack in or combine lenses, or as smaller chips become available, researchers added.