With Dh 750,000 overstay fines waived, Indian expat in UAE set to fly back home after 20 yrs

London: London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan on Saturday secured a record third term, as the party swept a host of mayoral races and local elections to trounce the ruling Conservatives just months before an expected general election.

Khan, 53, beat Tory challenger Susan Hall by 11 points to scupper largely forlorn Tory hopes that they could prise the UK capital away from Labour for the first time since 2016.

The first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when initially elected then, he had been widely expected to win as the opposition party surges nationally and the Tories struggle to revive their fortunes.

Hours later in the West Midlands, Conservative mayor Andy Street -- bidding for his own third term -- unexpectedly lost to Labour's Richard Parker, dealing a hammer blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

That narrow loss left the beleaguered leader with only one notable success in Thursday's votes across England, after Tory mayor Ben Houchen won in Tees Valley, northeast England -- albeit with a vastly reduced majority.

In a dismal set of results, Sunak's party finished a humiliating third in local council tallies after losing nearly 500 seats.

"People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour," its leader Keir Starmer said shortly after confirmation of Parker's victory.

He called the result "phenomenal" and "beyond our expectations".

Writing earlier in Saturday's Daily Telegraph, Sunak had conceded "voters are frustrated" but tried to argue Labour was "not winning in places they admit they need for a majority".

"We Conservatives have everything to fight for," Sunak insisted.

'Spirit and values'

Labour, out of power since 2010 and trounced by Boris Johnson's Conservatives at the last general election in 2019, also emphatically snatched a parliamentary seat from the Tories.

Starmer has seized on winning the Blackpool South constituency and other successes to demand a general election.

Sunak must order a national vote be held by January 28 next year at the latest, and has said he is planning on a poll in the second half of 2024.

Labour has enjoyed double-digit poll leads for all of his 18 months in charge, as previous Tory scandals, a cost-of-living crisis and various other issues dent his party's standing.
On Thursday, it was defending nearly 1,000 council seats, many secured in 2021 when it led nationwide polls before the implosion of Johnson's premiership and his successor Liz Truss's disastrous 49-day tenure.

In the end, they lost close to half and finished third behind the smaller centrist opposition Liberal Democrats.

Meanwhile Labour swept crunch mayoral races across England, from Yorkshire, Manchester and Liverpool in the north to contests across the Midlands.

In London, Khan netted 44 percent of the vote and saw his margin of victory increase compared to the last contest in 2021.

"It's truly an honour to be re-elected for a third term," he told supporters, accusing his Tory opponent of "fearmongering".

"We ran a campaign that was in keeping with the spirit and values of this great city, a city that regards our diversity not as a weakness, but as an almighty strength -- and one that rejects right hard-wing populism," he added.

'Change course'

If replicated in a nationwide contest, the council tallies suggested Labour would win 34 percent of the vote, with the Tories trailing by nine points, according to the BBC.

Sky News' projection for a general election using the results predicted Labour will be the largest party but short of an overall majority.

Speculation has been rife in Westminster that restive Tory lawmakers could use dire local election results to try to replace Sunak.

Despite the returns being at the worst end of estimates, that prospect has not so far materialised.

Ex-interior minister and Sunak critic Suella Braverman warned in the Sunday Telegraph that Sunak's plan "is not working and he needs to change course", urging a more muscular conservatism.

But she cautioned against trying to replace him, warning "changing leader now won't work: the time to do so came and went".

Meanwhile, polling expert John Curtice assessed there were some concerning signs for Labour, which lost control of one local authority and some councillors elsewhere reportedly over its stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

"These were more elections in which the impetus to defeat the Conservatives was greater than the level of enthusiasm for Labour," Curtice noted in the i newspaper.

"Electorally, it is still far from clear that Sir Keir Starmer is the heir to (Tony) Blair."

Udupi: Udupi became the second city on the Karnataka coast after Mangaluru to launch water rationing, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Commissioner of the Udupi City Municipal Corporation Rayappa said that the rationing system will come into force from Wednesday and will continue till the water in the reservoir reaches comfortable levels.

The dam built across the Swarna river at a place called Baje, which is the only source of water for Udupi city, recorded 3.25 meters of water as against the top level of 6.30 meters.

The decision of water rationing will be reviewed periodically until the reservoir regains its fullest levels, the official said.

The Mangaluru City Corporation resorted to water rationing on Saturday following declining water levels in the reservoir built across the Nethravati river at Thumbe. 

Forbes has released its ninth edition of the “30 Under 30 Asia” list, celebrating 300 young entrepreneurs, leaders, and trailblazers under 30 who are driving innovation and transforming industries across the Asia-Pacific region. 

Here's a list of Indians who made it to the Forbes list:

ENTERTAINMENT

Pavithra Chari
Pavithra Chari, a trained singer-composer, gained recognition as half of the duo Shadow and Light with Anindo Bose. Their collaboration with the Berklee Indian Ensemble earned a Grammy nomination in 2023. She is also part of the Anirudh Varma Collective, touring the US, and is skilled in Bharatnatyam dance. Ms Chari is also known for covering film hits.

Arpan Kumar Chandel (King)
Indian rapper Arpan Kumar Chandel, also known as King, became known worldwide when Nick Jonas remixed his hit song 'Maan Meri Jaan'. Mr King got famous on MTV Hustle in 2019 and has released many albums since. His latest, 'New Life', features artists like Nikhita Gandhi and Gucci Mane. He's also Sony Audio's ambassador and launched his fragrance, Blanko.

CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY

Kush Jain 
Kush Jain discovered the challenges faced by the visually impaired during a volunteering stint at a Bangalore school in 2018. Motivated to help, he co-founded ORama AI. Their innovative solution, a smart glove, helps the blind and those with reduced vision to learn Braille. The glove features an embedded camera and speaker, tracking finger movements and audibly identifying touched Braille dots.

Arth Chowdhary, Deyvant Bhardwaj and Oshi Kumari 
Arth Chowdhary, Deyvant Bhardwaj and Oshi Kumari co-founded InsideFPV, an Indian drone startup, in 2020. Their main product is an easy-to-use "plug-and-fly" drone, unlike others that require a complex setup. Based in Surat, the company also sells drones and parts online. 

Pranav Manpuria (Flux Auto)
Autonomous driving startup Flux Auto was co-founded by Pranav Manpuria in 2017. The company is working on creating self-driving software for forklifts and warehouse robots. They claim their technology can easily fit into existing systems of infrastructure.

Arun Sreyas and Gautham Maheswaran (RACE Energy)
In 2018, university friends Arun Sreyas and Gautham Maheswaran created RACE Energy. Headquartered in Hyderabad, the startup specialises in creating swappable battery packs tailored for the popular three-wheeled auto-rickshaws in India.

Harshit Jain and Abhik Saha 
Harshit Jain and Abhik Saha co-founded OnePlay, a cloud gaming startup in Mumbai in 2019. OnePlay allows users to play popular games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Palworld across multiple platforms without needing expensive hardware. 

ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY

Kunal Aggarwal
Kunal Aggarwal launched Credflow in 2019, offering cashflow management software for small and medium-sized enterprises. The platform analyses business data, sends automated payment reminders, and extends credit lines to eligible users. 

Gaurav Piyush, Mayank Varshney and Yash Sharma
Gaurav Piyush, Mayank Varshney and Yash Sharma came together to establish Blitz, a logistics startup, in 2020. Based in Gurugram, the company, formerly known as Grow Simplee, specialises in offering same- or next-day delivery services by using a network of warehouses and fulfilment centres.

Aditya Dadia
Aditya Dadia founded AIwrite in 2022, providing new digital software for India's insurance sector. Based in Mumbai, the startup uses machine learning to help insurance companies analyze risks and develop products faster. 

FINANCE AND VENTURE CAPITAL

Aalesh Avlani (CWC)
Aalesh Avlani, a Boston University graduate, co-founded Credit Wise Capital (CWC), a finance company specialising in providing loans for motorcycles. Founded in 2019, CWC received $6 million in startup funding the following year. They use technology like a WhatsApp bot to quickly assess creditworthiness, making it easier for people with no credit history to apply for loans.  

Srinivas Sarkar and Kushagra Manglik (Coupl)
Srinivas Sarkar and Kushagra Manglik co-founded Coupl, India's bank designed for couples of all types. Launched in early 2022, the startup helps couples, irrespective of marital status or sexual orientation, effectively manage their finances with joint accounts and linked ATM cards.

Aniket Damle
Aniket Damle works with Blackstone's private equity investment team in Asia, focusing on investments in India's healthcare, consumer, and industrial sectors. At just 23 years old, he made his first deal when Blackstone collaborated with Sona BLW to establish Sona Comstar, a technology platform company focused on electric vehicles, in 2018.

Yashvardhan Kanoi (Alter Global)
Yashvardhan Kanoi heads investments at Alter Global, a venture capital firm linking Silicon Valley with startups in emerging markets. Since 2019, he led investments in companies across Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America like Ula, BukuKas, and CoLearn.

Manish Maryada (Fello)
Manish Maryada co-founded Fello, a fintech startup based in India. Fello offers rewards to users to make investing enjoyable. When users invest a certain amount through the app, they receive a ticket to play in-house games and win rewards and prizes. Founded in 2021, Fello has been downloaded over a million times and has raised over $5 million in funding.

Anuj Srivastava and Priyesh Srivastava (OnFinance AI)
Anuj Srivastava and Priyesh Srivastava (not related) co-founded OnFinance AI, a Bengaluru-based startup. They developed NeoGPT, a ChatGPT-like service tailored for the finance industry, which helps analyse data, generate forecasts, and conduct financial market research.

HEALTHCARE AND SCIENCE

Karan Ahuja
Google research scientist Karan Ahuja will become an assistant professor of computer science at Northwestern University starting in September 2024. With a PhD in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon University, Mr Ahuja has focused on projects like body-movement sensing for smartwatches and gaze-tracking for smartphone control. His work has earned nearly 1,000 citations over the past five years. 

Aryan Chauhan
Aryan Chauhan, along with his mother Monika Chauhan, co-founded Zivov in 2021 with the aim of helping with diabetes treatment. Their solution involves a self-developed sensor that attaches to the skin to monitor blood sugar levels. Users can access the results through Zivov's smartphone app.

INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURING AND ENERGY

Akshit Bansal and Raghav Arora (Statiq)
Akshit Bansal, CEO of Statiq, got the idea for greener transportation while biking through Bengaluru's polluted streets. After a failed car-sharing venture with his friend Raghav Arora, they shifted their focus to electric vehicles. Their Gurgaon-based company, Statiq, now operates a nationwide network of charging stations for electric cars, buses, trucks, and three-wheelers. The company has raised $27.5 million from investors and expects to post its first operating profit in the next financial year.

Ankit Jain and Narayan Lal Gurjar (EF Polymer)
Ankit Jain and Narayan Lal Gurjar co-founded the agriculture startup EF Polymer in 2018. Their company has created a powder-like water-retention product made from biodegradable materials like bananas and orange peels. This product helps retain moisture in the soil and enhance crop yields by absorbing excess water and gradually releasing it.

Chirag Jain and Rama Krishna Mendu (EndureAir Systems)
Chirag Jain and Rama Krishna Mendu founded EndureAir Systems, a drone startup, in 2018. The Noida-based company has created three drone models for mapping, monitoring, and logistics. One of them is battery-powered and can carry up to 15 kg while travelling 15 km.  

Rahil Gupta (Hop Electric Mobility)
Rahil Gupta co-founded Hop Electric Mobility, an electric motorbike startup, in 2020. The company offers three products priced between ₹66,790 and ₹1,33,580. Their premium Oxo bike, for instance, can reach speeds of up to 95 km per hour and cover 150 km on a single charge

MEDIA, MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

Kavan Antani

Kavan Antani is one of the co-founders of IndieFolio, a Mumbai-based on-demand talent marketplace catering to creative professionals. Launched in 2014, the platform serves as a connection hub for designers, animators, content creators, and video producers with clients seeking talent. IndieFolio boasts a talent pool of over 70,000 individuals and counts major clients like Paytm, Ogilvy, and Domino's Pizza.