India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on Sunday for a third term after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern.
Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide wins this time around, defying analysts’ expectations and exit polls.
He was instead forced into quick-fire talks with the 15-member coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which guaranteed him the parliamentary numbers to govern.
Narendra Modi, flanked by top BJP officials and party leaders of his coalition, vowed in a ceremony marking his formal assumption of power to “bear true allegiance to the constitution of India”.
Honour guards lined the steps of the presidential palace where thousands gathered to watch Modi, dressed in a white kurta and with blue waistcoat, take the oath.
South Asian leaders from neighbouring Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka attended the ceremony but neighbouring rivals China and Pakistan had notably not sent top leaders.
Bollywood and business tycoons
The cheering crowd also included adoring BJP loyalists, as well as celebrities such as Bollywood legend Shahrukh Khan and billionaire tycoons Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, key Modi allies.
But with Narendra Modi yet to announce his new cabinet, the line of lawmakers also taking the oath of office was keenly watched as an indication of who will be in government.
Modi was followed immediately by top BJP aides Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari — the defence, interior and transport ministers in his last government respectively.
Tenth to take the oath, and first among the BJP’s coalition members, was H.D. Kumaraswamy from the Janata Dal (Secular) party.
Larger coalition parties have demanded hefty concessions in exchange for their support.
Other coalition leaders to take the oath included Ram Mohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the largest BJP ally with 16 seats, and which India media reports has extracted four cabinet positions.
Rajiv Ranjan Singh also took the oath, from the BJP’s next biggest ally the Janata Dal (United) with 12 seats, which has reportedly two minister posts.
The Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has unveiled a package of reforms to simplify imports from developing countries like Sri Lanka after upgrades to the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).
The changes, announced as part of the UK’s wider Trade for Development offer, aim to support economic growth in partner countries, including Sri Lanka, while helping UK businesses and consumers access high-quality, affordable goods.
New measures include simplifying rules of origin, enabling more goods from countries such as Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and the Philippines can enter the UK tariff-free, even when using components from across Asia and Africa.
These changes are expected to be in place by early 2026.
This move strengthens Sri Lanka’s position in its second-largest apparel market, supporting exports, jobs, and economic growth.
The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Andrew Patrick, said: “This is a win for the Sri Lankan garment sector, and for UK consumers. With the UK being the second largest export market and garments making up over 60% of that trade, we know manufacturers here will welcome this announcement.
“We want Sri Lanka to improve the utilisation of the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme for a wider range of goods, not just garments. With the Sri Lankan government’s ambition to grow exports, and with the simplification of rules of origin for other sectors too, we strongly encourage more exporters to explore how they can benefit from the preferences offered by the DCTS. The UK remains committed to working towards creating shared prosperity for both our countries.”
Pakistan police have arrested 149 people in a raid on a scam call centre, the country’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) said on Thursday.
The agency told the BBC it acted after a tip-off about the network, which was operating in the city of Faisalabad.
It said the centre was involved in Ponzi schemes and tricked people into handing over vast sums of money in the name of fake investments.
Those arrested included 78 Pakistanis, 48 Chinese nationals, eight Nigerians, four Filipinos, two Sri Lankans, six Bangladeshis, two Myanmar nationals and one Zimbabwean national. Eighteen of the 149 were women, the agency added.
A copy of a police report said victims of the alleged scam would initially receive a small return on their first investments, before being persuaded to hand over larger sums of money.
“The charged individuals ran WhatsApp groups where they lured ordinary people by assigning small investment tasks like subscribing to different TikTok and YouTube channels,” the agency said.
“Later, they shifted them to Telegram links for further online tasks requiring larger investments.”
Pakistani citizen Muhammad Sajid told BBC Urdu that he was added to a Telegram channel with tens of thousands of members and was impressed by the company’s work. He said he gave them more than 3.138 million rupees ($36,600) in various instalments.
The raid, which took place on Tuesday, saw authorities seize hundreds of computers, servers, cryptocurrency exchanges and foreign SIM cards from the site.
On Wednesday, 149 suspects appeared in court, 87 of whom were handed over to the NCCIA on a five-day physical remand.
A further 62 suspects have been transferred to the district jail on judicial remand until 23 July.
The agency said the raid was at the residence of Malik Tehseen Awan, the former head of Faisalabad’s power grid, who has not been arrested.
