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A key Indian opposition leader and the former chief minister of the capital province Delhi lost his seat in local elections Saturday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party tipped for victory.Arvind Kejriwal lost his seat to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to election commission results, reflecting expected wider losses by his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — which has governed the sprawling megacity of more than 30 million people for most of the past decade.Modi’s BJP is in government in the national parliament, but has not controlled the local legislature in the capital New Delhi since 1998, and a win would be a symbolic and strategically important victory.Chanting BJP supporters danced in joy outside its New Delhi headquarters as vote results from the election on Wednesday were counted, waving flags and posters of Modi.Counting continues — with the AAP and BJP level on nine declared seats — but the election commission say Modi’s party is leading in more than two-thirds of the 70-seat assembly.”Our victory is a sign of the people’s faith in Prime Minister Modi’s vision of progress,” interior minister and BJP stalwart Amit Shah said in a statement.”The Delhi mandate shows that people can’t be misled with lies every time.”Kejriwal, who rode to power as an anti-corruption crusader a decade ago, spent several months behind bars last year on accusations his party took kickbacks in exchange for liquor licences, along with several fellow party leaders. Kejriwal has denied wrongdoing and characterised the charges as a political witch hunt by Modi’s government. He was one of the key pillars of an opposition block formed ahead of India’s general elections last year, when the BJP suffered significant losses despite holding on to power. Kejriwal’s defeat in his stronghold puts the BJP “back in a very strong position”, said Rahul Verma, of the Centre for Policy Research think-tank in New Delhi.”Now it seems what happened in general elections was a temporary lapse,” Verma added. “And it has put AAP in a difficult position going ahead.” 

Steve Smith and Alex Carey powered Australia to a formidable 414 all out Saturday in their first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. Their record-breaking 259-run partnership handed the visitors a commanding 157-run first-innings lead, as they were bowled out just seven minutes before lunch on day three.The Australian captain and his wicketkeeper put on the highest fourth-wicket stand by a visiting pair on Sri Lankan soil.They edged past the 258-run alliance between Michael Hussey and Shaun Marsh at Pallekele in 2011 by just one run.Smith was the bedrock of the innings, anchoring one end with solid strokes, while Carey provided the fireworks.The left-hander played with fearless intent, sweeping and reverse-sweeping the Sri Lankan spinners behind square.His career-best innings of 156 eclipsed Adam Gilchrist’s highest score for an Australian wicketkeeper in Asia, surpassing the swashbuckling left-hander’s 144 in Kandy (2004) and 144 in Fatullah (2006).With Sri Lanka taking the second new ball in the morning, their spinners found fresh bite from the deck, extracting more turn and bounce.The marathon stand was finally snapped when Smith feathered one behind, and two balls later, Prabath Jayasuriya sent Josh Inglis packing for a duck.Carey, who had tormented the bowlers with his audacious stroke play, perished attempting yet another sweep off Jayasuriya –- this time misjudging it and losing his stumps.Jayasuriya continued his run, bagging his 11th five-wicket haul in Test cricket when he rattled Mitchell Starc.Sri Lanka, who were earlier bowled out for 257, must now try to set Australia a challenging chase.But the visitors have already put the Warne-Murali Trophy beyond Sri Lanka’s reach, having taken an unassailable 1-0 lead with a crushing victory in the first Test.The innings and 242-run humiliation stands as Sri Lanka’s worst defeat in Test history.

Air traffic is booming in India, even though only a tiny fraction of its people fly each year, and manufacturers are seeking lucrative deals at the flagship Aero India exhibition from Monday.The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will also hold its annual general meeting in June in New Delhi, the capital of the world’s fifth-largest economy, another clear sign of India’s market punch.The sustained growth of its economy and middle class have made India and its 1.4 billion people the third-largest air market in the world, after the United States and China.”India is the rising star of global aerospace,” said Remi Maillard, Airbus India and South Asia chief. “It is the fastest-growing commercial aviation market in the world — and it will remain so for the next 20 years.”Airbus rival Boeing, which will also take part in the five-day Aero India show in Bengaluru for global aero vendors organised by the defence ministry, is equally enthusiastic. “It’s the most dynamic market on the planet — and certainly the most exciting,” Boeing India head Salil Gupte told AFP.India’s civil aviation ministry boasts of “soaring skies” in a sector “experiencing a meteoric rise”.That growth should lead to an increase in traffic in South Asia, mainly in India, of more than seven percent per year until 2043, according to Boeing’s forecasts.”Per capita air travel remains low in India at a mere 0.12, compared to 0.46 in China”, Maillard said, calling it a “telling comment on the potential of the Indian aviation market”.Railways remain hugely popular but travelling by trains crisscrossing a country about three-quarters the area of the European Union is often slow and chaotic.Boeing estimates that it would take around two percent of the 18 million daily train users — compared with 430,000 air passengers — to switch to flying for the air market to double.- ‘Slippers’ -Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the development of the air sector a priority since coming to power in 2014.Modi, who has said he wants to “bring air travel to the common people”, began a plan in 2016 to boost air links between small towns and the country’s megacities.”A common man who travels in slippers should also be seen in the aircraft — this is my dream,” Modi was quoted as saying by the aviation ministry.The number of airports has more than doubled in the past decade — from 74 in 2014 to 157 in 2024, according to ministry figures. The government is pouring in millions of dollars and is promising to increase the numbers to between 350 and 400 by 2047, the centenary of India’s independence.At the same time, the government has opened programmes to train some 30,000 pilots and at least as many mechanics over the next 20 years.Airbus and Boeing are key partners in that, with an emphasis on promoting women.- ‘Revolution’ -The major manufacturers say the next leap in the airline sector in India will be international.”The kind of revolution we have seen in the Indian domestic market in the last few years is now happening in the long-haul market,” said Airbus’s Maillard, adding the company was “leveraging India’s locational advantage, demographic dividend and economic growth”.Gupte said Boeing was expecting more orders for large aircraft capable of long-haul flights, which he believes will make up 15 percent of India’s total fleet within the next 20 years.Boeing forecasts that the Indian market will need at least 2,835 new aircraft by this deadline — three-quarters for market growth, and the rest as replacement.For Airbus, India made up nearly a 10th of its global commercial aircraft delivered last year — 766 commercial aircraft in total to 86 customers in 2204, with 72 going to Indian carriers.Boeing, which was shaken by scandals related to the production quality of its aircraft, and slowed down by a strike, has not released figures for 2024.Neither aircraft manufacturer wanted to detail its ambitions for the Aero India show.However, India’s order basket is overflowing.Air India, after a giant 2023 contract for 470 aircraft — 250 Airbus, 220 Boeing — ordered 100 more Airbus planes last year.India’s largest carrier, low-cost airline IndiGo, is also not satisfied at having placed the largest order in volume in the history of civil aviation — 500 from Airbus in 2023.It ordered 30 more last year.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Donald Trump during a trip to the United States next week, the foreign ministry in New Delhi said on Friday.Modi, who will visit Washington from February 12-13, will be “among the first few world leaders to visit the United States following the inauguration of President Trump”, India’s top career diplomat, Vikram Misri, told reporters.Misri said there had been a “very close rapport” between the leaders, although their ties have so far failed to bring a breakthrough on a long-sought US-India trade deal.”The visit will be a valuable opportunity to engage the new administration on all areas of mutual interest”, he said, adding that Modi would hold a bilateral meeting with Trump.”This has been one of our strongest international partnerships in recent years and the prime minister’s visit is in line with our steady engagement with the new administration,” Misri said.Modi was among the first to congratulate his “dear friend” Trump on his inauguration last month, saying he wanted New Delhi and Washington to work closely together.”I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit both our countries, and to shape a better future for the world”, Modi wrote on X in January.- ‘Very close rapport’ -However, Trump pressed Modi for “fair” trading ties in a telephone call later that month, the White House said, as Trump pushed his hardline trade agenda with world leaders.Trump and Modi also discussed strengthening the so-called Quad grouping with Australia and Japan, which is widely seen as a counterweight to China.India is due to host the bloc’s leaders later this year.The Indian and US leaders, both of whom critics accuse of authoritarian tendencies, enjoyed warm relations when Trump was in the White House from 2017 to 2021.Modi visited Trump in office in 2017 and 2019.He also hosted Trump at a huge rally in his home state of Gujarat, while Trump returned the favour with a similar event in Houston, Texas.”There is an obvious convergence of interests between the two countries,” Misri said, which included “trade, investment, technology, defence cooperation, counter-terrorism (and) the security of the Indo-Pacific”.The meeting will come days after a US military airplane flew back 104 Indian migrants, part of Trump’s overhaul of immigration.India’s foreign ministry said it was “firmly opposed to illegal migration, especially as it is linked to other forms of organised crime”.But New Delhi’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday pointed out that  the “process of deportation is not a new one”, and that the United States had expelled more than 15,000 Indians since 2009, almost half of them between 2019-2024.India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and enjoys world-beating GDP growth, but hundreds of thousands of its citizens still leave the country each year seeking better opportunities abroad.

Pakistan opened a renovated stadium for the Champions Trophy in Lahore on Friday, one of three to be used in its first major international cricket event in almost 30 years.The eight-team Champions Trophy will be staged from February 19 to March 9 in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, although arch-rival India’s matches will be staged in the United Arab Emirates after they refused to play in Pakistan.Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium was reopened after a 117-day renovation during which LED floodlights, larger score screens, new hospitality boxes and upgraded seating were installed.A warm-up tri-nation series of matches between Pakistan New Zealand and South Africa begins at the stadium on Saturday.”We are going to show the world that we are good hosts,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at the opening ceremony.Pakistan last held a major tournament in 1996, when it co-hosted the World Cup with India and Sri Lanka, before a forced hiatus over security concerns.Militants attacked Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore in 2009, killing eight people, wounding several touring players and extending Pakistan’s break from hosting international matches.The biggest concern for the Champions Trophy, however, has been whether the stadiums would be ready in time.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) first promised Lahore’s stadium would be open by the end of January.Karachi’s National Bank Stadium will host the first Champions Trophy match between Pakistan and New Zealand in under two weeks.Local media reported its renovation had run past three deadlines between December 15 and January 25, before a final pledge to finish by January 31 was settled upon.However, work was still underway in Karachi on Thursday.”The sounds of the hammers and the iron rods and drill machines still reverberated across the empty stands,” the English-language Dawn newspaper said.”It’s true that the work isn’t completed, but it’s well in its finishing stages.”President Asif Ali Zardari is due to inaugurate the Karachi stadium on Tuesday.Work also continued at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium as labourers spray-painted seats the green of Pakistan’s flag and erected a scoreboard at the ground in the garrison city near the capital, Islamabad.The sport has deep links with national pride and domestic politics in cricket-mad Pakistan.PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi also serves as the interior minister, while former prime minister Imran Khan used his international cricket career as a springboard into politics.”I want to congratulate everyone, this is a victory for the entire nation,” Naqvi told reporters before the Lahore stadium opening.

Commanding centuries from Steve Smith and Alex Carey gave Australia a dominating lead at stumps on day two of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Friday.Australia, leading by 73 runs at 330-3, were poised to post a mammoth first-innings total, with Smith and Carey stitching together an unbroken 259-run stand for the fourth wicket.Sri Lanka’s bowlers showed some early flair but the spinners struggled to get the same fizz off the surface once the ball lost its bite, and Smith exploited the gaps.The Australian skipper made a scratchy start and his innings could have been cut short on 24, when he was judged lbw to Nishan Peiris.However, a timely review saved him and Smith never looked back.Smith tightened his grip on the contest with elegant cover drives and precise pull shots.He took a few calculated risks and, with Sri Lanka lacking a substantial total to defend, the field was soon spread out to cut off boundaries rather than hunt for wickets.That didn’t deter the Australian captain, who pierced the gaps with ease in dispatching nine fours and a six.He brought up his 36th Test hundred in style, pulling part-timer Kamindu Mendis to the mid-wicket boundary.- ‘Raring to go’ -Carey was promoted to number five in place of Josh Inglis, who was off the field nursing a sore back, and grabbed his chance, racing to his half-century in 68 deliveries.His hundred came with a well-timed sweep to the boundary, taking just 118 balls to reach the milestone, and finished with a career-best 139 off 156 balls that included 13 fours and two sixes.Carey said his partnership with Smith was a “great experience”.”We are in a commanding position and we want to score as many as possible in the first innings, as batting can get tricky later,” Carey said.Sri Lanka were earlier bowled out for 257, having resumed on their overnight score of 229-9.Kusal Mendis played a lone hand with a spectacular 85 not out but he ran out of partners as the Australian bowlers wrapped up the innings after some late resistance.Mendis praised the Australians.”Australia were superb,” he said. “They bowled well and they took on our spinners well.”Sri Lanka must look to “create a few chances” on Saturday, he said. “We need to keep their first innings total to as little as possible,” he said.”The bowlers will be fresh tomorrow and they will be raring to go. We want to get back into the game.”The visitors have already put the Warne-Murali Trophy beyond Sri Lanka’s reach, having taken an unassailable 1-0 lead with a crushing victory in the first Test.The innings and 242-run humiliation stands as Sri Lanka’s worst defeat in Test history.

Commanding centuries from Steve Smith and Alex Carey gave Australia a dominating lead at stumps on day two of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Friday.Australia, leading by 73 runs at 330-3, were poised to post a mammoth first-innings total, with Smith and Carey stitching together an unbroken 259-run stand for the fourth wicket.Sri Lanka’s bowlers showed some early flair but the spinners struggled to get the same fizz off the surface once the ball lost its bite, and Smith exploited the gap.The Australian skipper made a scratchy start and his innings could have been cut short on 24, when he was judged lbw to Nishan Peiris.However, a timely review saved him and Smith never looked back.Smith tightened his grip on the contest with elegant cover drives and precise pull shots.He took a few calculated risks and, with Sri Lanka lacking a substantial total to defend, the field was soon spread out to cut off boundaries rather than hunt for wickets.That didn’t deter the Australian captain, who pierced the gaps with ease in dispatching nine fours and a six.He brought up his 36th Test hundred in style, pulling part-timer Kamindu Mendis to the mid-wicket boundary.Carey was promoted to number five in place of Josh Inglis, who was off the field nursing a sore back, and grabbed his chance, racing to his half-century in 68 deliveries.His hundred came with a well-timed sweep to the boundary, taking just 118 balls to reach the milestone, and finished with a career-best 139 off 156 balls that included 13 fours and two sixes.Sri Lanka were earlier bowled out for 257, having resumed on their overnight score of 229-9.Kusal Mendis played a lone hand with a spectacular 85 not out but he ran out of partners as the Australian bowlers wrapped up the innings after some late resistance.The visitors have already put the Warne-Murali Trophy beyond Sri Lanka’s reach, having taken an unassailable 1-0 lead with a crushing victory in the first Test.The innings and 242-run humiliation stands as Sri Lanka’s worst defeat in Test history.

The Trump administration has begun using military aircraft to underscore its determination to deport undocumented migrants. But while the optics make for good political theatre, the flights are expensive — as much as $1 million in the case of a recent deportation to India, according to an AFP analysis.In fact military flights can end up costing more than three times as much as a civilian trip, data shows.President Donald Trump was elected on a promise to carry out the biggest deportation “in the history of America.” While most of the migrants being targeted for expulsion come from Latin America, some are also being sent back much further across the globe.On Wednesday, a US Air Force cargo plane landed in Amritsar, India, carrying 104 Indian nationals who had entered the United States illegally, according to a US government statement.The flight is believed to be the first use of a military aircraft to deport people to India.Images captured by an AFP photographer show that the plane used is a C-17A Globemaster III, a large military aircraft capable of transporting troops, vehicles and supplies.The Globemaster is a workhorse of the US Air Force, and has been used in military theatres worldwide since it was first added to the fleet in 1995.But military flights are much more costly to operate than the charter flights that are also used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportations.According to information released by ICE in 2021, the cost of a charter flight is $8,577 per flight hour, although flights transporting high-risk migrants may cost more. The use of C-17 aircraft in transport operations is charged at $28,562 per hour, according to documents published by US Air Mobility Command.Military flights also take flight paths that are different to commercial aircraft, due to the sensitivity of operating in the airspace of another sovereign nation. They also generally refuel at military air bases instead of commercial hubs.Data from flight tracking site Flightradar24 shows that the deportation flight took off from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California, at around 1330 GMT on Monday. It then flew west to Hawaii, crossed the Pacific to the Luzon Strait near the Philippines, flew between Indonesia and Malaysia, then took a large detour south into the Indian Ocean where there is a US air base located on the tiny island of Diego Garcia.From there it flew thousands of miles (kilometers) north to India, landing at an airport in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab on Wednesday afternoon local time — more than 43 hours after takeoff from California.Accounting for the return journey to a US air base, the flight cost is likely to be more than $1 million even by the most conservative estimates of time spent airborne, equating to more than $10,000 per detainee.By comparison, a one-way ticket from San Francisco to New Delhi on an American commercial airline can be bought for around $500, or $4,000 in business class.

England will play Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy later this month despite calls from British politicians to boycott the match over the Taliban regime’s curtailment of women’s rights.The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Thursday that the fixture would go ahead in Lahore on February 26 after consulting with the UK government, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and England players.More than 160 British politicians had called for a boycott as female participation in sport has effectively been outlawed since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.That puts the Afghanistan cricket board at odds with ICC rules, though the men’s team are allowed to compete.ECB chairman Richard Thompson described the situation in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid” but said the match would take place.”We remain of the view that a coordinated international response by the cricketing community is the appropriate way forward, and will achieve more than any unilateral action by the ECB in boycotting this match,” he said.”We have also heard that for many ordinary Afghans, watching their cricket team is one of the few remaining sources of enjoyment. As such, we can confirm that we will play this fixture.”Afghanistan have become a greater force in white-ball cricket in recent years, rising to eighth in the one-day international world rankings, just one place below England.Both sides will also face Australia and South Africa in Group B of the 50-over tournament, which will be hosted in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates from February 19 until March 9.

India’s Shreyas Iyer on Thursday said star batsman Virat Kohli’s late injury call cut short his movie night before he turned hero in the team’s opening ODI win over England.Iyer replaced Kohli in India’s XI at the start of the three-match series in Nagpur and smashed 59 off 36 deliveries to help pull off a 249-run chase with four wickets and 11.2 overs to spare.”It’s been outstanding,” Iyer told broadcasters. “I wasn’t supposed to play the first game as we all know. Virat unfortunately got injured and I got the opportunity. But I kept myself prepared.”He added: “So, funny story. I was watching a movie last night. I thought that I could extend my night. Then I got a call from the skipper saying that you may play because Virat has got a sore knee. And then I hurried back to my room, went off to sleep straight away.”Iyer walked into bat with skipper Rohit Sharma out for two and India 19-2 when the IPL-winning captain smashed the opposition bowlers to all parts of the ground.He put on 94 runs with Shubman Gill, who made 87.The batsman’s blitz was studded with nine fours and two sixes as he set-up India’s 1-0 lead in the three-match series.