In last year’s Reith Lectures – the BBC’s annual radio series – former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney observes that, since the 2008 financial crisis, norms and institutions have increasingly been defined by their monetary value.

In February 2011, an extreme cold snap in Texas led to a major blackout. About 200 energy-generating units faltered, from power plants to wind farms, impacting more than 3 million customers.

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The year 2020 was truly a disruptive time in world history. The fast-spreading Covid-19 pandemic managed to halt even the wave of globalisation and compelled governments to go into lockdown.

Led by China, Asia is emerging as the economic power house of the post-Covid world. Asian nations are already the conspicuous choice of global equity investors as the region has had relative success in containing the pandemic and is set to grow faster than the rest of the world in 2021.

In the end, it is all about being at the right place at the right time. But what happened to me on the 10th edition of National Sport Day in Qatar goes far beyond the lucid boundaries of expectations.

Novak Djokovic’s 18th Grand Slam title won at the Australian Open on Sunday puts him only two short of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s 20, with experts now certain that it’s only a matter of time before he overtakes the universally adored duo.

In the end, it is all about being at the right place at the right time. But what happened to me on the 10th edition of National Sport Day in Qatar goes far beyond the lucid boundaries of expectations.

Some 15 years ago, I was interviewed for a job out of my academic background in a company called Maersk Oil and the interviewer was the Director of Drilling Department, Hans Flikkemah.

“Maybe by mid-to-end of the 2030s we can start pushing out of the Earth-Moon system and land astronauts on Mars,” these words of Nasa acting administrator Steve Jurczyk achieves a special significance in the light of the ultra-dramatic safe landing of the US space agency’s science rover Perseverance

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Some 15 years ago, I was interviewed for a job out of my academic background in a company called Maersk Oil and the interviewer was the Director of Drilling Department, Hans Flikkemah. The position was a Drilling Engineer role whereas my qualification and working experience were in the Aeronautical