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Blind women from India and Pakistan brushed aside political tensions on Sunday, shaking hands in neutral Sri Lanka at a cricket tournament for the visually impaired.At what organisers describe as the world’s first blind women’s T20 tournament, players from the two South Asian neighbours showed they had sporting vision even if they lacked sight — unlike their regular national teams.Tensions off and on the field have been high since a deadly military clash between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.India’s men refused to shake hands with their Pakistani opponents at the Asia Cup in September, since when neither side has shown signs of making up. That animosity spread to the women’s sides who declined any greeting at the recent T20 World Cup and also to Sunday’s men’s Rising Stars Asia Cup tie in Doha. India’s blind players were expected to mirror the conduct of their sighted teams when there was no handshake after the toss, but at the end of the match both sides warmly greeted each other.The two sides, who travelled to the venue together in the same bus, not only shook hands but also exchanged generous compliments.India won by eight wickets in just 10.2 overs after Pakistan were restricted to 135 for eight in their 20 overs at the Free Trade Zone grounds in Katunayake, 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Colombo.Pakistan skipper Nimra Rafique congratulated India on their comprehensive victory, while her Indian counterpart T. C. Deepika said Pakistan had played well. The teams applauded one another loudly but neither set of players was permitted to talk to the press.- ‘Biggest opportunity’ -There were hardly any spectators but the match was shown live on Sri Lanka’s national television, Rupavahini. Blind Sri Lankan officials hosting the tournament “watched” the match on YouTube by listening to the commentary.Indian team manager Shika Shetty told AFP before the match that the tournament was opening up opportunities for more women.“This is the first-ever World Cup for blind women… I think this is one of the biggest opportunities for our entire visually impaired girls,” said Shetty, who is not blind.“Maybe many girls with disabilities will come out from their villages. Maybe they will come for studies, maybe they will come for the sport. So it is helpful for other girls too.”Blind cricket relies on a sharp ear, as players must detect a white plastic ball — the size of a tennis ball — filled with ball bearings that rattle as it moves.Pakistan coach Tahir Mehmood Butt, also speaking before the game, said the launch of women’s blind cricket had created new opportunities for young players in Pakistan.“For the totally blind, if they have good hearing, they can become good cricketers,” Tahir told AFP.Each team must field at least four completely blind players, three who can see up to two metres, and four partially sighted players able to see up to about six metres.Totally blind batters may have a partially sighted runner. Bowling is underarm, unlike in the traditional game.Four other nations – Australia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the US — are competing in the tournament which began in India and moved to Sri Lanka for the final stages. The final is scheduled for next Sunday in Colombo.

Indian authorities said on Sunday that a deadly car blast in New Delhi earlier this week was an attack carried out by a “suicide bomber”, announcing the arrest of an accomplice.The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the country’s counter-terrorism law enforcement body, said the alleged attacker and the second suspect were both from Indian-administered Kashmir, where police have carried out sweeping raids in recent days.Announcing “a breakthrough” in the investigation, the NIA said in a statement it had arrested Amir Rashid Ali, “in whose name the car involved in the attack was registered”.He had “conspired with the alleged suicide bomber, Umar Un Nabi, to unleash the terror attack”, it added, without specifying any possible motive.Nabi, a resident of Kashmir, was an assistant professor in general medicine at a university in the northern state of Haryana, according to the counter-terrorism agency, which said it had seized a vehicle belonging to him.Ali had come to Delhi to “facilitate the purchase of the car which was eventually used as a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to trigger the blast”, the NIA said.The explosion on Monday took place near a busy metro station close to the landmark Red Fort in the capital’s Old Delhi quarter, where the prime minister delivers the annual Independence Day address.A hospital official has said the blast killed 12 people. It was unclear whether the toll included Nabi.The NIA’s statement said the attack “claimed 10 innocent lives and left 32 others injured”.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the attack a “conspiracy”, and his government vowed to bring the “perpetrators, their collaborators and their sponsors” to justice.It was the most significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the Himalayan territory in full. Tensions remain high between New Delhi and Islamabad.On Friday, nine people were killed when confiscated explosives blew up at a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, in what authorities said was an accident.Local media reported that a militant organisation had claimed responsibility for it, which police dismissed.The explosives had been recovered from Haryana state just before the powerful car blast in Delhi, according to the police.Indian media have widely connected the Delhi blast with a string of arrests just hours prior.Police said those arrested were linked with Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based and Al-Qaeda-linked group, as well as a Kashmiri offshoot linked to it.The group that claimed the police station blast is considered close to JeM.

Fast bowler Mohammad Wasim grabbed three wickets to help Pakistan dismiss Sri Lanka for 211 in the third and final day-night international in Rawalpindi on Sunday.Wasim finished with 3-47, while pace partner Haris Rauf took 2-38 and left-arm spinner Faisal Akram 2-42 as tourists were bowled out in 45.2 overs after they were sent in to bat.Sri Lanka lost the first two ODIs in Rawalpindi and started the final match on a bad note when skipper Charith Asalanka was ruled out with a fever.Sadeera Samarawickrama, who top-scored with 48, added 43 for the third wicket with stand-in captain Kusal Mendis (34), but the innings then fell away badly. Pathum Nissanka scored 24 and Kamil Mishara made 29 but both openers were dismissed in quick succession by the combination of Rauf and Wasim.Akram, playing his first international in a year, dismissed Kamindu Mendis for 10 and then Samarawickrama as the tourists slumped from 4-143 to 8-193.Debutant Pavan Rathnayake hit a fighting 32 with a six and two boundaries before he was the last man to go, run out trying to take a second run.Pakistan skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi and Faheem Ashraf took a wicket apiece.

The globe’s biggest luxury brands have dreamt of India’s vast consumer base for decades, but navigating the market has proven to be a complex task.French retailer Galeries Lafayette is the latest to try its luck, opening its first Indian store on Sunday: a sprawling five-floor outlet in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital.Its splashy foray into the market is getting a local boost from the fashion arm of the Aditya Birla Group, a major Indian conglomerate.Luxury expert and Comite Colbert CEO Benedicte Epinay called the arrival of the French department store “an important step”.India, with 1.4 billion people, offers what Epinay called “a promising market, but still a complicated one”.Brands must not only overcome high customs duties, a cumbersome bureaucracy and infrastructure limitations, but must also compete with a robust domestic luxury market.Galeries Lafayette’s Mumbai store of 8,900 square metres (105,000 square feet) has some 280 luxury and designer brands spread across it, according to figures from the French retailer on Sunday.Almost all of the brands are foreign, which industry professionals warn is a bold gamble given the rich local clothing culture.Galeries Lafayette’s international development director, Philippe Pedone, said at Sunday’s launch more local brands would be added.Mumbai resident Sonal Ahuja, 39, told AFP: “I think a lot of brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and Dior have been doing a pretty good job at sort of weaving Indian design into their products.””But at the end of the day, if you want to buy something to wear to a wedding, you will buy (from Indian fashion designers) Sabyasachi or Tarun Tahiliani. Why would you want to buy something foreign that is trying to be Indian?” she said.- ‘Ticks all the boxes’ –India’s luxury market is still relatively small, but expanding rapidly. Valued at $11 billion in 2024, it is set to triple to $35 billion by 2030, said Estelle David, South  Asia  Director at Business France.India’s economy creates tens of thousands of new millionaire households each year.These consumers increasingly splurge on everything from Lamborghini cars to Louis Vuitton bags.”When a luxury house looks at a new country, it considers the number of wealthy people and the rise of a middle class,” Epinay said. “India ticks all the boxes.”The reality is more complex.French luxury giants contacted by AFP declined to comment. Their silence, analysts suggest, reflects a lack of positive things to say about a market widely considered difficult.”They have very little data to show they are making profits or generating a return on investment,” said Ashok Som, from France’s ESSEC Business School.In the early 2000s, the biggest fashion houses eyed India as their next growth engine after China. But the market remains tiny a quarter of a century later, Epinay said.According to Epinay, most brands have only one to three stores in India, compared with 100 to 400 in China.In her view, the only real similarity between the two giants is “the size of their populations”. India lacks China’s “social, linguistic and territorial homogeneity”, Epinay said.India still has limited numbers of premium malls, most of which do not match what customers find in the Middle East, Europe, the United States or China.”India is not at the same stage of development, so it’s very difficult to compare,” Business France’s David said.Galeries Lafayette executive chairman Nicolas Houze said the luxury giant plans to open a second store in Delhi by the end of the decade, with an initial revenue target of 20 million euros ($23 million).- ‘Adapt to the culture’ -High customs duties often push Indian consumers who can afford top end to take a $350 round trip to Dubai, where they can buy a French luxury handbag for up to 40 percent less than at home.Vishal Mathur, 46, an entrepreneur who works in his family’s business in Mumbai, told AFP “one is willing to pay for craftsmanship, for style, for the brand”.”But to say you should pay extra just to buy in India? No way.”India and the European Union have committed to finalising a free-trade agreement by the end of the year, which would bring “fresh air to the market”, Epinay said.And profiting in India will require creative thought.Although major foreign ready-to-wear brands have outlets in megacities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and tech-capital Bengaluru, Western fashion remains in the minority.Many men wear the traditional knee-length kurtas for special occasions, while flowing saris remain the most popular for women.Brands such as Louboutin, Dior, Chanel and Bulgari are already collaborating with designers, labels, Bollywood stars and local influencers to appeal to Indian consumers, market specialists say. “You have to adapt to the culture, to tastes and consumption habits,” David said.

Spinner Simon Harmer claimed a match haul of eight wickets to lead South Africa to a thrilling 30-run win over India inside three days of a low-scoring opening Test on Sunday.India, without captain and leading batsman Shubman Gill who was ruled out because of a neck injury he suffered on Saturday, faltered in their chase of 124 to be bowled out for 93 in Kolkata.Harmer, who had figures of 4-30 in the first Indian innings, struck key blows in the second session including getting Rishabh Pant caught and bowled for two to dent the opposition chase.Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj struck twice in two balls to pack off India and trigger wild celebrations in the South African camp with the reigning world Test champions taking a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma hit a defiant 55 not out to lift his team’s second innings total to 153 after they slipped to 91-7 on day two.”Very exciting, you want to be a part of those types of games and obviously be on the right side of the result,” Bavuma said.”I think we tried to hold our ground as much as we could. We knew it was going to be tough with the bat, it was tough for us, but we needed to exploit what was there.”South Africa, who beat Australia in the World Test Championship final in June at Lord’s, have lived up to their winners’ tag with a recent 1-1 draw in Pakistan and now beating India at their own game of spin.Washington Sundar attempted to anchor India’s chase but fell to Aiden Markram’s off-spin for 31.Axar Patel gave the crowd some cheer with his two sixes off Maharaj before the bowler had his revenge to send the batter caught out for 26 off 17 balls.Left-arm quick Marco Jansen ripped out the Indian openers before lunch with the hosts effectively 10-3 in the absence of Gill, who is in hospital and “under observation”, at the break and Harmer soon took charge and returned figures of 4-21.- Bavuma-Bosch frustrate India -Wickets fell in clusters as Harmer, who was named player of the match, kept up the charge to send back Dhruv Jurel, Pant and Ravindra Jadeja in quick succession.”A game like this, you can’t dwell into it too much,” said vice-captain Pant, who took charge of the team after Gill was forced out.”We should’ve been able to chase this score. The pressure built on us in the second innings and we weren’t able to capitalise.”Earlier Bavuma played a defiant knock to keep South Africa in the hunt after they resumed on 93-7 on a tough pitch with inconsistent bounce.He started the day on 29 and played with grit to complete the first half-century of a low-scoring contest.Bavuma’s 44-run eighth-wicket stand with overnight partner Corbin Bosch frustrated the Indian bowlers until pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah broke through.Bumrah bowled Bosch for 25 before Bavuma reached his fifty in 122 balls, raising his bat to an applauding dressing room.Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj shattered Harmer’s stumps for seven and removed last man Maharaj for a duck in the space of four balls as Bavuma ran out of partners.South Africa fought back on day two after being all out for 159 on Friday after winning the toss and electing to bat.They dismissed India for 189 on Saturday to keep the deficit to 30 before again faltering in their batting.The second Test starts Saturday in Guwahati.

Quick bowler Marco Jansen ripped out both India openers before lunch Sunday as the hosts stuttered in their chase of 124 to win the first Test after South Africa captain Temba Bavuma’s unbeaten 55.India were left with a tricky seven overs to face before lunch at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and were 10-2 at the break after the left-armer removed Yashasvi Jaiswal, for a duck, and KL Rahul, for one.Washington Sundar, on five, and Dhruv Jurel, on four, were batting at the break. The score is effectively 10-3 because India will be without captain and leading batsman Shubman Gill who was ruled out because of a neck injury he suffered on Saturday and remains in hospital “for observation”.”He will take no further part in the Test match,” India said in a statement before play.India need 114 more runs and South Africa seven wickets to take 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The second Test begins on Saturday in Guwahati.Jansen in his first over got the left-handed Jaiswal to nick a length delivery to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, who then took a diving catch to dismiss Rahul.Earlier Bavuma played a defiant knock to steer South Africa to 153 all out in their second innings after resuming on 93-7 on a tough pitch with inconsistent bounce.Bavuma started the day on 29 and played with grit to complete the first half-century of a low-scoring contest.His 44-run eighth-wicket stand with overnight partner Corbin Bosch frustrated the Indian bowlers until pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah broke through.Bumrah bowled Bosch for 25 before Bavuma reached his fifty in 122 balls, raising his bat to an applauding dressing room.Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj shattered Simon Harmer’s stumps for seven and removed last man Keshav Maharaj for a duck in the space of four balls as Bavuma ran out of partners.Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja had figures 4-50.South Africa fought back on day two after being all out for 159 on Friday after winning the toss and electing to bat.They dismissed India for 189 on Saturday to keep the deficit to 30 before again faltering in their batting. 

India captain Shubman Gill was “under observation” in hospital Sunday after suffering neck pain and will take no further part in the first Test against South Africa.Top-order batsman Gill felt pain in his neck after scoring a boundary on the second day on Saturday in Kolkata and left the field.Gill “was taken to the hospital for examination after the end of day’s play,” said the Board of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI), on Sunday ahead of start of the third day.”He is currently under observation in the hospital. He will take no further part in the Test match. He will continue to be monitored by the BCCI medical team.”The first match of the two-Test series looks likely to end on day three at Eden Gardens on Sunday, with South Africa to resume at 93-7 in their second innings, a lead of just 63 runs, on tricky batting wicket.Gill faces a battle to be fit to lead the side in the second Test in Guwahati, which is due to begin in six days’ time on November 22.

Veteran spinner Ravindra Jadeja took four wickets to put India in sight of victory on a manic day two of a low-scoring opening Test on Saturday.South Africa were 93-7 at stumps to lead by 63 runs in their second innings on an Eden Gardens pitch that has made batting decidedly tricky. Fifteen wickets fell during the second day and KL Rahul’s 39 – from 119 balls – in India’s first innings remains the highest individual score of the match. Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma tried to replicate Rahul’s obduracy, making an unbeaten 29. Corbin Bosch, on one, was with him when play was called off due to bad light.Spinner Simon Harmer had dragged the visitors back into the contest with figures of 4-30 that helped bowl out India for 189 with the hosts taking a slender lead of 30.”Playing in India you know you will be under pressure and I thought we fought back well today in restricting them,” Harmer told reporters.”Cricket’s a funny game, we could be sitting here tomorrow night with a completely different story. South Africa manage to get to 150 and bowl India out for 80.””If there is one thing that this team has showed it’s that they can fight when the backs are against the wall,” added Harmer.Jadeja’s 27 was key to India’s first innings total and the 36-year-old all-rounder showed the other side of his game with some testing left-arm spin.South Africa found themselves in a hole when Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja removed the openers Ryan Rickelton and Aiden Markram either side of the tea break.Jadeja kept up the pressure as he struck twice in one over to send back Wiaan Mulder, caught behind by Rishabh Pant for 11, and two balls later Tony de Zorzi who was caught off his glove and thigh pad by Dhruv Jurel at short-leg.He had South Africa in more trouble when he spun the ball sharply to bowl Tristan Stubbs for five to bring the house down at the iconic venue that had over 47,000 fans according to official data.The biggest cloud on India’s horizon was the absence of skipper Shubman Gill who retired hurt on four with a neck problem. He did not return to resume his innings and nor did he field, with vice-captain Pant leading the team.- India collapse -Earlier, India lost regular wickets to survive just 62.2 overs in response to South Africa’s first innings total of 159.”Even we didn’t expect the wicket to deteriorate so quickly,” India bowling coach Morne Morkel said.”I thought it to be a good wicket in the first couple of overs, but that’s the beauty of playing in the sub-continent that you need to adapt and react quickly. We have quality with both seam and spin and that covers both bases.”The hosts resumed on 37-1 with overnight batters Rahul and Washington Sundar, who made 29, extending their partnership to 57 in a grinding first hour.Pant hit a 24-ball 27 on a pitch with inconsistent bounce and more turn expected.Sundar hit two fours and one six in his otherwise laboured knock before falling caught behind to Harmer.Gill walked out to loud cheers but his stay was limited to three balls as he swept Harmer for a four at backward square-leg and then held his neck in pain.The physio soon arrived and Gill walked back to the pavilion.Rahul kept up his hard work from day one when he made 13 off 59 balls and on day two looked more assured until his departure off Keshav Maharaj.India went into lunch at 138-4 and Jurel started with two fours after the break before Harmer had him caught and bowled for 14 to trigger a collapse.Jadeja took India into the lead with a boundary but fell lbw to Harmer and India slipped further when pace bowler Jansen had Kuldeep caught behind for one.Harmer cleaned up Axar Patel to end the Indian innings. Jansen returned figures of 3-35.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday to demand that followers of a tiny Muslim sect be declared infidels, in a show of force for hardliners ahead of elections.The Ahmadiya community, followers of a branch of Sufism that has its origins in 19th-century India, have long been persecuted in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.Mob attacks targeting sect member were reported across the country when former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s government fell last year in a student-led revolution. In the months since then, hardline Islamist groups that had been stifled under Hasina’s autocratic rule have returned to the fore, in part hoping to make headway in general elections set for February.The crowd in the heart of Dhaka on Saturday included political leaders and senior Islamic preachers from India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.Some protestors wore T-shirts that read: “Ahmadiyas must be declared kafirs (infidels).”A banner called for legislation against the sect “now”.Hardline Islamic scholars often denounce them as heretics, describing their belief in a prophet after Mohammed as blasphemy.”Ahmadiyas hold a completely different view from ours, and that’s why they are not us,” protester Mohammad Mamun Sheikh, 50, told AFP.”They can live in our country like followers of other religions, but not as Muslims,” he added.A 15-year-old boy at the rally, whose name has been withheld for safety, said his teacher had encouraged him to attend, arguing that “Ahmadiyas are polluting our religion.”Ahmad Tabshir Choudhury, a spokesman for the Ahmadiya community in Bangladesh, dismissed the theological arguments against them.”Religion is being used as a political tool,” he told AFP.Ahmadiyas make up less than one percent of Bangladesh’s population.”If our community made up even ten percent of the population, things would be different. Ahmadiyas would be treated differently by political parties,” Choudhury said.He added that despite fear of attacks, community members would not abandon their faith.”We will not give in,” he said.

Nine people were killed and 31 injured when confiscated explosives accidentally blew up at a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said Saturday, just days after a car blast in Delhi killed a dozen people.The incident happened in Nowgam and the explosives at the police station were recovered from Faridabad in the northern state of Haryana earlier this week, just hours before the powerful blast in Delhi that killed 12 people.Samples from the recovered material were being sent for further forensic examination since Thursday, the region’s director general of police Nalin Prabhat said, and the procedure was being handled with “utmost caution” due to its “unstable and sensitive nature”.”However, unfortunately during this course (on Friday) around 11:20 pm, an accidental explosion has taken place. Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” he told reporters.The victims included police personnel, forensic team members and two crime photographers and other members from the local administration.”The building of the police station has been severely damaged and the adjacent buildings have been affected,” he added.Local media reported that the militant organisation People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), said to be close to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group, had taken responsibility for the explosion, but the region’s police dismissed the claims.Attacks blamed on JeM include the 2001 assault on India’s parliament, and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing, which killed 40 security personnel.”The claim of PAFF or any other Pakistani terrorist group is patently false, baseless and mischievous!” the Jammu and Kashmir police said in a post on X. The explosion comes just days after powerful blast on Monday killed at least 12 people and wounded 30 others in the Indian capital New Delhi.It was the most significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.India’s government on Wednesday vowed to bring the “perpetrators, their collaborators, and their sponsors” of the deadly car blast in the heart of the capital to justice and called it an act of terrorism.