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India captain Virat Kohli says he does not feel he has to prove himself in his side's five-Test series against England.The tourists are the top-ranked Test side going into the series, which starts at Edgbaston on Wednesday.Kohli, second in the Test batsmen rankings, averaged just 13.40 on India's last tour of England in 2014."I want to score runs for the team and take Indian cricket forward, and that's my only motive," the 29-year-old said.

"I'm not in a frame of mind to prove myself in any country, I want to perform for the team."

India have not won a Test series in England since 2007.

They were beaten 3-1 in the five-match series in 2014, and lost their final two matches by an innings.

Kohli was among the batsmen who struggled - he scored 134 runs in 10 innings and was dismissed four times by pace bowler James Anderson.

However, since becoming captain at the end of 2014, he has taken India from seventh to first in the world rankings and has scored 14 Test hundreds.

"If you're an underdog it's not a given that the pressure will only be on the opposition," he said.

"If you're favourites it's not certain that the underdogs will just come out and be fearless the whole time.

"I think it's a balance that is required and we've played enough cricket at this level to understand that."

India will not name their XI for the match until Wednesday morning, although they are likely to select two spinners.

Regular spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a combined seven overs during India's warm-up match against Essex, while left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was hit for 24 runs from four overs.

"There's total honesty and total ownership all around the squad," Kohli added.

"We are very comfortable with where we stand as a team."

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A passenger plane has crashed in the capital of Mexico's Durango state, just moments after take-off.

All 103 passengers and crew on board the Aeroméxico flight survived the crash but 97 of them are injured.

State Governor José Rosas Aispuro said the plane was hit by a gust of wind, which caused a sudden descent. Its left wing then touched the ground and two engines came off.

Most of the passengers were able to walk away before it caught fire.

But the airline's chief executive, Andres Conesa, said the captain had sustained injuries.

"The flight captain is being operated on. What we know so far is that these aren't life-threatening injuries," he said.

The names and nationalities of those on board are currently unknown.

Aeroméxico flight AM2431 was flying from Guadalupe Victoria International Airport to Mexico City.

The airport operator, Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, said early data suggests bad weather was the cause, and that the plane had taken off during a heavy hailstorm before being forced to attempt an emergency landing.

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Nepal Airline Corporation’s second wide-body aircraft has arrived in Nepal. The A330-200 with registration ‘9N-ALZ’ is named ‘Makalu’.The first wide-body had arrived on June 28. The aircraft has since flown to New Delhi on its maiden proofing flight and is all set to oper­ate commercial flights to Qatar starting August 1.

The general manager of NAC Sugat Ratna Kansakar along with his team had flown to Toulouse, France for the purchase of the sec­ond aircraft.

This new aircraft has 272 seats, just like the first one, out of which 18 are business class and 256 are economy class seats.

These two wide-body aircrafts were purchased via a loan of Rs 12 billion from the Employees Provi­dent Fund and the Citizen Invest­ment Trust, with guarantee from Nepal Government. Each aircraft cost around $105 million.

The corporation believes these two aircraft will help make ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ a grand success. It has also made public its commercial plan of increasing its international flight market share from the cur­rent 9 percent to 17 percent.

Makalu plans to fly to des­tinations in Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea. In the first stage, it will fly to Japan, Korea and Saudi Arabia. NAC plans to provide direct flights to the US and Europe when it purchases a third aircraft.

Attend the exhibition “Health transformed by Art (HTA)” between 11 am-5 pm at Siddhartha Art Gallery. HTA is a community art project that aims to bring out the untapped therapeutic value of visual art in a hospital setting. Even artwork made out of hospital waste will be showcased. If you are an art lover, this is an event you should not miss. The exhibition ends on August 17.

Every Saturday, Simrik Yuva Pariwar organizes free mini Anapana meditation from 9 am-9:30 am. Anapana is the observation of your own nat­ural breathing. It makes your mind calm, relaxed and happy. It is simple yet scientific. So make sure to join a session this Saturday. Registration on the spot from 8:30 am onwards.

Venue: Simrik Yuva Pariwar, Swachhapu Gane­shthan, Chhatrapati

For details: 9841120007

 A suicide bomb and gun attack by militants on an Afghan government building in Jalalabad on Tuesday killed at least 15 people, some burned "beyond recognition", officials said, the latest in a series of assaults on the eastern city. 

On the other side of the country a roadside bomb apparently intended for security forces hit a passenger bus and killed 11 people, marking yet another bloody day for civilians who have borne the brunt of violence in Afghanistan. 

The attack in Jalalabad targeted the compound of the refugees and repatriations department. It ended after more than five hours of intense fighting between militants and security forces, said Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province. 

At least 15 people were killed and the same number were wounded, Khogyani said. Provincial health director Najibullah Kamawal said some of the dead were "burned beyond recognition". The raid began with a suicide attacker blowing up a bomb-laden car at the entrance as local representatives of foreign donors and agencies were meeting department employees inside the building. 

"About 10 minutes before the end of the meeting we heard an explosion and then gunfire," a government official told AFP. 

"We looked down and saw two attackers entering the building. I and a number of other people at the meeting escaped to a corner on the top floor. I don't know what happened to the others." 
The driver for one of the people at the meeting said he was on the third floor when the attack began. 

"People started screaming and running around," he told AFP. 
"I jumped from the third floor onto a wall and then into the lane." 
Several people were taken hostage by the attackers, said Zabiullah Zmarary, a provincial council member. 

"I saw a black Corolla car drop three armed men at the gate of the refugees and repatriations department," a witness told AFP. 

Khogyani said the two attackers who stormed the compound were killed. 
Security forces swarmed into the area, and a plume of thick black smoke rose into the sky above the compound. 

The Taliban denied involvement in the incident in a WhatsApp message sent to journalists. 
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which comes three days after militants raided a midwife training centre in Jalalabad. 

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, which left at least three people dead and several wounded. 

Jalalabad has been the scene of multiple attacks in recent months that have killed dozens, as US and Afghan forces continue offensives against militants. 

 Civilians under attack 
In the western province of Farah on Tuesday the bomb which hit the bus killed at least 11 people and wounded 31. 

"It was a bomb planted by the Taliban to hit security forces but... it got a passenger bus," Farah provincial police spokesman Muhibullah Muhib told AFP. 

There was no immediate confirmation from the Taliban that they were responsible. 
In a separate incident, 22 passengers travelling on a Kabul-bound bus in the eastern province of

Paktia were kidnapped by gunmen on Monday night. Officials blamed the Taliban for both incidents. Most of the attacks in Jalalabad have been claimed by IS, which has a relatively small but potent presence in Afghanistan, mainly in the east and north. 

It is not clear why the militants targeted the refugees and repatriations department, but government buildings are frequently hit. On July 11 gunmen raided an education department compound in Jalalabad, sparking an hours-long battle with security forces. 

At least 11 people were killed in that attack. All were employees of the education department branch and included the director. 

A suicide bombing claimed by IS on a crowd of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad on July 1 killed 19 people and wounded 21. 

IS emerged in Afghanistan in 2014 and quickly established a stronghold in Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. AFP

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KATHMANDU: The Tribhuvan Inter­national Airport’s only runway has been barely functional over the past four years. The Civil Engineer­ing Department under the airport authority has been spending around Rs 20 million a year patching it up. “With such a shoddy runway, there can be an accident anytime,” says Murari Bhandari, department direc­tor. “We are taking a big risk.” There is a risk of aircraft skidding during both takeoffs and landings. “Patch­ing it up on the surface is no solution since there is structural damage,” Bhandari says, adding that if there is a crash because of the runway, it would send out a troubling message to the rest of the world. UTTAM KAPRI

“Being born and liv­ing happily isn’t an achievement, but making others happy is,” is a mantra that keeps Juju Kaji Maharjan going. Maharjan, 35, is a social worker who founded ‘Heartbeat’ in 2006 and registered it as an NGO in 2009. The NGO was set up to advocate and campaign for the rights of street children and help them to become capable citizens. Born into a low-income fam­ily, Maharjan learned to live the hard way. He spent his childhood in a small cottage. His parents were uneducated and they earned their living by farming. Growing up, he had many hobbies but he could not continue any of them.

While in high school he started learning web design­ing. Studies never interested Maharjan. He soon dropped out of high school and started working as a web designer in a cyber café in New Road.

“There used to be many political events at Ratna­park those days. I often went there during my break to see the political leaders deliver speeches,” recalls Maharjan. “I was going nowhere with my life at the time. I had no skills and had quit studies. So I decided to join politics.” Maharjan then enrolled in the Lalitkala Campus, “not to study arts but to become a political leader,” he laughs.

But things did not go as planned. In 2006, he was at a social event held on the occa­sion of the International Youth Day, an event to help those in need. That visit proved to be life-changing and gave him a goal. “I then felt the urge to do something for the society,” he says. “As students of arts, we decided to raise money for social causes by exhibiting paintings and sculptures.”

With that intent, ‘Heartbeat’ was formed. Heartbeat’s ‘Art for Social Change’ continued raising money by exhibiting arts in various parts of Nepal. But after three years, many of his friends had to leave. “I was shattered but I kept going and with a few volunteers, I decided to register Heart­beat as an NGO and continue working,” says Maharjan.

Inspired by his father who managed to contribute his share to the society despite coming from a poor back­ground, Maharjan has dedi­cated more than a decade of his life to social work. “When I began, I spent three years on the streets to understand the situation of street children,” he says. “Now that I have aged, I feel I am still child­ish because of so much time spent with these children.”

Heartbeat started the “Tea for Change” campaign in which its volunteers would take to the streets and offer tea, biscuits and other edibles to street children to get up close with them and convince them that they were not total outcasts.

“Talking and treating them as friends made them feel accepted. When we drank tea with them they felt comfort­able and they slowly started sharing their experience with us,” Maharjan says. “Gradu­ally, we studied their phycol­ogy, and also their will and determination to change. With this knowledge, we started providing counselling in order to re-establish them in the society.” Heartbeat also rescued many street children during that period.

Working with streets chil­dren was not easy. There were many risks. Maharjan was once chased by a khuku­ri-wielding street kid who had been told that Maharjan was making money by exploiting street children. He was also taken into police custody once under suspicion of being a gang leader of street children involved in criminal activities. Police had noticed him inter­act with the street children.

Along with these lows, Maharjan has also had his moments of inspirations. “One time, in Hetaunda, a young boy ran up to me and said, ‘Hello motey (fat) sir, you fed me when I was on the streets,’” Maharjan recalls. “The boy was now working and earning well. Moments like these are my true rewards.”

Maharjan says Heartbeat is funded by his own money and aided by volunteers and stu­dents making small contribu­tions from their own pockets. Presently, Maharjan’s Heart­beat works to prevent chil­dren becoming a permanent part of the street.

A ‘Dream Center’ under Heartbeat is now helping more than 100 children who migrated to Kathmandu to fulfill their dreams but somehow ended up in the streets. The center provides for street children’s education and involves them in other activities like counselling, sports and skills training.

“Children are defined by their habits. We work to change their habits to make them capable and productive citizens,” says Maharjan.