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India finally won an ODI toss after losing 20 in a row as stand-in skipper KL Rahul broke the scarcely believable jinx against South Africa on Saturday.Visiting captain Temba Bavuma called heads but the coin came down as tails for Rahul to celebrate with a fist bump as India’s curse of a million-to-one ended in Visakhapatnam.It was more than two years since India won the toss in a one-day match.The crowd roared and a smiling Rahul elected to bowl in the deciding third match of the series, which is level at 1-1.India’s players were quick to congratulate Rahul, who is leading the ODI team in place of the injured Shubman Gill.Rahul credited presenter Murali Kartik for his presence as a lucky charm as India won their first ODI toss since the World Cup semi-final in Mumbai against New Zealand on November 15, 2023.”You should do more tosses for us,” a beaming Rahul said.Former India batter Sanjay Bangar said Rahul’s ploy of flipping the coin with his left hand instead of the usual right did the trick.

Further heavy rain threatened Indonesia’s flood-ravaged island of Sumatra on Saturday as the governor of one hard-hit province warned that the death toll could climb beyond 883 because of starvation.A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has pummelled Southeast and South Asia, triggering landslides and flash floods from the Sumatran rainforest to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka.Some 1,770 people have been killed in natural disasters unfolding across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam since last week. Indonesia’s national weather agency said rain could return on Saturday to the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, where floods have swept away roads, smothered houses in silt and cut off supplies. Aceh governor Muzakir Manaf said response teams were still searching for bodies in “waist-deep” mud.However, starvation was one of the gravest threats now hanging over remote and inaccessible villages.”Many people need basic necessities. Many areas remain untouched in the remote areas of Aceh,” he told reporters.”People are not dying from the flood, but from starvation. That’s how it is.” Entire villages had been washed away in the rainforest-cloaked Aceh Tamiang region, Muzakir said. “The Aceh Tamiang region is completely destroyed, from the top to the bottom, down to the roads and down to the sea. “Many villages and sub-districts are now just names,” he said. Aceh resident Munawar Liza Zainal said he felt “betrayed” by the Indonesian government, which has so far shrugged off pressure to declare a national disaster. “This is an extraordinary disaster that must be faced with extraordinary measures,” he told AFP, echoing frustrations voiced by other flood victims.”If national disaster status is only declared later, what’s the point?”Declaring a national disaster would free up resources and help government agencies coordinate their response. Analysts have suggested Indonesia could be reluctant to declare a disaster — and seek additional foreign aid — because it would show it was not up to the task.Indonesia’s government this week insisted it could handle the fallout. – Climate calamity -The scale of devastation has only just become clear in other parts of Sumatra as engorged rivers shrink and floodwaters recede. AFP photos showed muddy villagers salvaging silt-encrusted furniture from flooded houses in Aek Ngadol, North Sumatra.Humanitarian groups fear that the scale of calamity could be without precedent, even for a nation prone to natural disasters. Indonesia’s death toll rose to 883 on Saturday morning, according to the disaster management agency, with 520 people missing. Sri Lanka’s death toll jumped by more than 100 on Friday to 607, as the government warned that fresh rains raised the risk of new landslides. Thailand has reported 276 deaths and Malaysia two, while at least two people were killed in Vietnam after heavy rains triggered a series of landslides. Seasonal monsoon rains are a feature of life in Southeast Asia, flooding rice fields and nourishing the growth of other key crops. However, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly throughout the region.Environmentalists and Indonesia’s government have also suggested logging and deforestation exacerbated landslides and flooding in Sumatra. 

Disaster-hit Sri Lanka has unveiled a major compensation package to rebuild homes damaged by a deadly cyclone, even as the island prepared Saturday for further landslides and flooding.The government has confirmed 607 deaths, with another 214 people missing and feared dead, in what President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has called the country’s most challenging natural disaster.More than two million people — nearly 10 percent of the population — have been affected.Survivors will be offered up to 10 million rupees ($33,000) to buy land in a safer location and build a new house, the finance ministry said in a statement late Friday.The government is also offering one million rupees as compensation for each person killed or permanently disabled.The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said more than 71,000 homes were damaged, including nearly 5,000 that were completely destroyed by last week’s floods and landslides.Around 150,000 people remain in state-run shelters, down from a peak of 225,000.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it was considering Sri Lanka’s request for an additional $200 million, on top of the $347 million tranche the country was already due to receive this month.”The IMF remains closely engaged with the Sri Lankan authorities during this challenging period, and is committed to supporting the country as it undertakes urgent efforts to recover, rebuild and promote resilience for the future,” the Washington-based lender said late Friday.Cyclone Ditwah devastated swathes of Sri Lanka as it was emerging from its worst economic crisis in 2022, following a four-year, $2.9 billion bailout loan from the IMF agreed in early 2023.Dissanayake told parliament on Friday that Sri Lanka’s economy had made a significant recovery, but was not strong enough to withstand the latest shock alone.Meanwhile, the DMC said more rain was expected in many parts of the country, including the worst-affected central region, triggering fears of more landslides.That has hampered clean-up operations.However, residents evacuated from the landslide-prone central hills have been told not to return immediately to their homes, even if they were unaffected by the slips.A fresh landslide alert was issued on Friday for areas not covered by previous warnings.

India’s aviation ministry on Friday rolled back a new policy of weekly rest for pilots after chaos caused by hundreds of flight cancellations by the country’s biggest airline, IndiGo.Airports across India have been in disarray since Monday, with the private carrier blaming the disruption on “unforeseen operational challenges”.On Thursday, IndiGo admitted to aviation regulators that “misjudgement and planning gaps” in adapting to new rules led to the operational meltdown, even though it had two years to prepare for the switch.The new rules came into effect last month with the aim of giving pilots more rest periods to enhance passenger safety.India’s civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the “Flight Duty Time Limitations” rules “have been placed in abeyance with immediate effect”.”Without compromising on air safety, this decision has been taken solely in the interest of passengers, especially senior citizens, students, patients, and others who rely on timely air travel for essential needs,” Naidu said in a statement. Naidu said his ministry expected that “flight schedules will begin to stabilise and return to normal by tomorrow”. IndiGo, which cancelled all domestic flights Friday from New Delhi and Chennai, apologised for “the immense inconvenience and distress” caused to travellers. In a video statement, the company’s CEO Pieter Elbers said late Friday the relaxation of the rules was “of great help” but there was “still lots of work in progress”. Friday was the “most severely impacted day” with “well over a thousand” cancellations, Elbers said.He added that the company expected cancellations to fall below 1,000 on Saturday ahead of a return to normal between December 10 and 15.IndiGo, which commands 60 percent of India’s domestic market, operates over 2,000 flights a day.Earlier on Friday, passengers vented their frustration online, including Singapore’s ambassador to India, Simon Wong, who said he was “lost for words”.”I joined the tens of thousands of passengers stranded by #Indigo… My sincere apologies to my young staff waiting for me to attend his #shaadi (wedding). Lost for words,” a post on the embassy’s official X handle said.A passenger at Delhi airport told broadcaster NDTV that he had received no update from the airline for the last 12 hours.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s main opponent, Rahul Gandhi from the Congress party, blamed the fiasco on the government’s “monopoly model”.”Once again, it’s ordinary Indians who pay the price – in delays, cancellations and helplessness. India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies,” he said in a post on X.The crisis is one of the biggest challenges faced by the no-frills airline, which has built its reputation on punctuality.Last week, 200 IndiGo planes were affected when Airbus issued an alert for an urgent upgrade for 6,000 aircraft worldwide.India is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets, hitting 500,000 daily flyers last month for the first time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he was ready to continue “uninterrupted shipments” of fuel to India, as New Delhi faces heavy US pressure to stop buying oil from Moscow.US President Donald Trump imposed punishing 50 percent tariffs on most Indian products in August, citing New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil — revenue Washington argues helps fund the war in Ukraine.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is hosting Putin at a summit in New Delhi dominated by energy, defence and trade talks, thanked the Russian leader for his “unwavering commitment towards India”.Putin, on his first visit to close partner India since the Ukraine war, was given a red-carpet welcome with an honour guard and 21-gun salute.”Russia is a reliable supplier of oil, gas, coal, and everything that is required for the development of India’s energy,” Putin told Modi after talks.”We are ready to continue uninterrupted shipments of fuel for the fast-growing Indian economy,” he added, according to an official translator.Modi said that “energy security has been a strong and important pillar of the India-Russia partnership”, and while he referenced nuclear power, he made no specific reference to oil.India emerged as a major buyer of Russian oil after the start of the Ukraine war, providing Moscow with a crucial export market as Europe sharply reduced purchases.In 2024, Russia supplied nearly 36 percent of India’s total crude imports, around 1.8 million barrels of discounted oil per day.New Delhi has recently reduced Russian crude imports under pressure.Putin on Friday said he had shared with Modi “a great deal of details about the events taking place in Ukraine” and the efforts Moscow is taking “together with some partners, including the United States, on a possible peaceful settlement”.Modi said that “India has always advocated for peace in relation to Ukraine”.- ‘Balancing acts’ -India is walking a diplomatic tightrope — relying on strategic Russian oil imports while trying not to provoke Trump during ongoing tariff negotiations with Washington.”Balancing acts are second nature to Indian foreign policy making,” Pankaj Saran, a former Indian envoy to Russia, wrote in the Times of India on Friday.Modi addressed “my friend” Putin and praised New Delhi and Moscow’s longstanding ties.”We have agreed on an economic cooperation program until 2030,” Modi told Putin, after officials exchanged a raft of agreements spanning jobs, health, shipping and chemicals.”This will ensure that our trade and investment are diversified, balanced, and sustainable.”Bilateral trade reached $68.7 billion in 2024-25 — almost six times higher than the pre-pandemic levels — but Indian exports accounted for only $4.88 billion.”This visit is part of India’s diversification strategy, both in terms of strategic and economic, especially at a time when the US tariffs have hurt India,” Ashok Malik of business consultancy The Asia Group told AFP.India is one of the world’s top arms importers, and Russia has long been a principal supplier.But New Delhi has also sought alternative suppliers, as well as boosting domestic production — with the Russian share of India’s arms imports falling from 76 percent in 2009-13 to 36 percent in 2019-23, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.Besides discussions around cutting-edge defence hardware, which includes air defence systems, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines, New Delhi will push for easier access to the wider Russian market.Defence ministers met as part of the talks, Indian foreign ministry official Vikram Misri said, but no final deal was struck.

Heavy rains triggered fresh landslide warnings in Sri Lanka’s worst-affected central hills on Friday, as the death toll from last week’s Cyclone Ditwah jumped to 607.The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), which monitors the stability of mountain slopes, said heavy rainfall could further saturate the hills and make them unstable.”Since rainfall within the past 24 hours has exceeded 150 millimetres, if the rains continue, evacuate to a safe location to avoid the risk of landslides,” the NBRO said in a statement.The latest deluge was brought on by the onset of the monsoon rains, although some of the earlier flooding that began last week has started to subside.The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 607 people had been confirmed dead, with many of those previously unaccounted for now presumed killed in the devastating mudslides.The number of missing was revised down from 341 to 214, while the number of people affected rose to just over two million.The number of people in state-run refugee camps fell further to 150,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded in and around the capital Colombo.Record rainfall triggered the floods and deadly landslides, which President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has described as the most challenging natural disaster in the history of the island.- Fresh IMF talks -Addressing parliament on Friday, Dissanayake said he had asked the IMF to delay the release of the sixth instalment of a $2.9 billion bailout loan in order to negotiate a bigger payout.”The IMF board was to sign off on releasing $347 million on December 15, but we have now asked them to put it off because we want time to negotiate a bigger instalment,” Dissanayake said.He said fresh talks with the Washington-based lender of last resort were essential, because the country’s economic situation had drastically changed following the disaster across the island.Friday’s new landslide alert covered areas not previously identified as high risk.Residents evacuated from the landslide-prone central hills have already been told not to return immediately to their homes, even if they were unaffected by the slips.In the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear mud and repair water damage.”We are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,” Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri told AFP at the Gate Jumma Mosque.”We have calculated that it takes 10 men a whole day to clean one house,” said a volunteer, who gave his name as Rinas. “No one can do this without help.”- Broom army -Sri Lanka’s military said it had deployed thousands of troops in flood-hit areas to assist with clearing operations.The top official in charge of the recovery, Commissioner-General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi, said reconstruction costs were estimated at between $6 billion and $7 billion.Dissanayake announced a raft of measures to offer generous compensation to the victims to rebuild their homes as well as livelihoods.While the government has sought donations to recover from extensive damage to roads, bridges, homes and industries, tourism authorities said hotels were back in business.Nearly 300 tourists who were stranded due to the disaster have been rescued by helicopter, the tourism ministry said.”We need tourism revenues to help rebuild,” Deputy Tourism Minister Ruwan Ranasinghe told reporters in Colombo.

Heavy rains triggered fresh landslide warnings in Sri Lanka’s worst-affected central hills on Friday, as the death toll from last week’s Cyclone Ditwah neared 500.The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), which monitors the stability of mountain slopes, said heavy rainfall within 24 hours could further saturate the hills and make them unstable.”Since rainfall within the past 24 hours has exceeded 150 millimetres, if the rains continue, evacuate to a safe location to avoid the risk of landslides,” the NBRO said in a statement.The latest deluge was brought on by the onset of the northeast monsoon, though some of the earlier flooding that began last week has started to subside.The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 486 people had been confirmed dead and another 341 were still unaccounted for.The number of people in state-run refugee camps has dropped to 170,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded in and around the capital, Colombo.Record rainfall had triggered the floods and deadly landslides, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake saying it was the most challenging natural disaster to hit the island in its history.Residents evacuated from the landslide-prone central hills have already been told not to return immediately to their homes, even if they were unaffected by the slips.Friday’s fresh landslide alert was issued for new areas that were not covered by previous warnings.In the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear mud and fix water damage.”We are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,” Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri told AFP at the Gate Jumma Mosque.”We have calculated that it takes 10 men a whole day to clean one house,” said a volunteer, who gave his name as Rinas. “No one can do this without help.”- Troops back clean-up-Sri Lanka’s military said it had deployed thousands of troops in flood-hit areas to assist with the clean-up.The top official in charge of the recovery, Commissioner-General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi, said authorities were paying 25,000 rupees ($83) per home for cleaning, with reconstruction costs estimated at between $6-7 billion.A further 2.5 million rupees ($8,300) is being paid to begin rebuilding destroyed homes. More than 52,000 houses had been damaged as of Friday morning, officials said.Chandrakeerthi’s office said nearly three-quarters of the electricity supply across the country had been restored, but some parts of the worst-affected Central Province were still without power and telephone services.While the government has sought generous donations to recover from the massive loss of roads, bridges, homes and industries,  tourism authorities said hotels were back in business.Nearly 300 tourists who were stranded due to the disaster have been rescued by helicopter, the tourism ministry said.”We need tourism revenues to help rebuild”, Deputy Tourism Minister Ruwan Ranasinghe told reporters in Colombo.

India’s aviation watchdog has rolled back its new policy of weekly rest for pilots, reports said Friday, after chaos caused by hundreds of flight cancellations by the country’s biggest airline, IndiGo.Airports across India have been in disarray since Monday, with the private carrier blaming the disruption on “unforeseen operational challenges”.On Thursday, IndiGo admitted to aviation regulators that “misjudgment and planning gaps” in adapting to new rules led to the operational meltdown, even though it had two years to prepare for the switch.The new rules came into effect last month with the aim of giving pilots more rest periods to enhance passenger safety.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Friday said it was withdrawing the new “weekly rest” policy immediately, the English-language Hindustan Times and other media reported. IndiGo, which cancelled all domestic flights Friday from New Delhi and Chennai, apologised for “the immense inconvenience and distress” caused to travellers. The airline, which commands 60 percent of India’s domestic market, operates over 2,000 flights a day.Passengers vented their anger online Friday, including Singapore’s ambassador to India, Simon Wong, who said he was “lost for words”. “I joined the tens of thousands of passengers stranded by #Indigo… My sincere apologies to my young staff waiting for me to attend his #shaadi (wedding). Lost for words,” a post on the embassy’s official X handle said.A passenger at Delhi airport told broadcaster NDTV that he had no update from the airline for the last 12 hours.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s main opponent, Rahul Gandhi from the Congress party, blamed the fiasco on the government’s “monopoly model”. “Once again, it’s ordinary Indians who pay the price – in delays, cancellations and helplessness. India deserves fair competition in every sector, not match-fixing monopolies,” he said in a post on X. The crisis is one of the biggest challenges faced by the no-frills airline, which has built its reputation on punctuality. Last week, 200 IndiGo planes were affected when Airbus issued an alert for an urgent upgrade for 6,000 aircraft worldwide. India is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets, hitting 500,000 daily flyers last month for the first time.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Russia’s President Vladimir Putin Friday, with defence and trade ties centre stage as New Delhi faces heavy US pressure to stop buying Moscow’s oil.Putin was given a red carpet welcome with honour guard and 21-gun salute at the presidential palace in New Delhi, before a formal summit meeting with Modi began.Big ticket defence sales and co-production ventures, energy purchases, and wider economic engagement are on the agenda, Putin’s first visit to India since the Ukraine war.Putin, sitting beside Modi at the start of talks, said he expected a “fruitful” day tackling a “a great number of documents”, including in areas of defence, technology, aircraft and space exploration.Both leaders will discuss the geopolitical situation in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and global trade disruptions triggered by tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.Modi welcomed Putin at the airport on Thursday with a warm hug, before the two rode together in the same car to a private dinner — mirroring a lift that Putin gave Modi when they last met in China in September.”India-Russia friendship is a time-tested one that has greatly benefitted our people,” Modi wrote in a post on social media, accompanying a photograph of them grinning together inside the vehicle.It was a symbolic show of friendship, after US President Donald Trump imposed 50-percent tariffs on most Indian products in August, citing Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil — revenue Washington argues helps fund the war in Ukraine.Putin on Friday said he had shared with Modi “a great deal of details about the events taking place in Ukraine” and the efforts Moscow is taking “together with some partners, including the United States, on a possible peaceful settlement”, according to an official translator.”Thank you for the attention and for your efforts in finding a solution to this situation,” Putin told Modi, who replied that India was “on the side of peace”.- ‘Balancing acts’ -India is walking a diplomatic tightrope — relying on strategic Russian oil imports while trying not to provoke Trump during ongoing tariff negotiations.”Balancing acts are second nature to Indian foreign policy making,” Pankaj Saran, a former Indian envoy to Russia, wrote in the Times of India on Friday.”This visit is part of India’s diversification strategy, both in terms of strategic and economic, especially at a time when the US tariffs have hurt India,” Ashok Malik of business consultancy The Asia Group told AFP.The leaders will also address business and industry leaders before Putin attends a state banquet hosted by Indian President Droupadi Murmu.India, the world’s most populous nation, has become a major buyer of Russian oil, saving itself billions of dollars and providing Moscow with a much-needed export market after it was cut off from traditional buyers in Europe because of the war.Putin also told India Today that Modi is “not someone who gives in to pressure”, when asked about the impact of US tariffs.The Russian share of India’s arms imports fell from 76 percent in 2009-13 to 36 percent in 2019-23, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.Besides discussions around cutting-edge defence hardware, which includes air defence systems, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines, New Delhi will push for easier access to the wider Russian market.Bilateral trade reached $68.7 billion in 2024-25 — almost six times higher than the pre-pandemic levels — but Indian exports accounted for only $4.88 billion.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at a summit on Friday, with defence and trade ties centre stage as New Delhi faces heavy US pressure to stop buying Moscow’s oil.Both leaders will also discuss the geopolitical situation in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and global trade disruptions triggered by tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.Big ticket defence sales and co-production ventures, energy purchases, and wider economic engagement are on the agenda, Putin’s first visit to India since the Ukraine war.Modi welcomed Putin at the airport on Thursday with a warm hug on a red carpet, before the two rode together in the same car to a private dinner — mirroring a lift that Putin gave Modi when they last met in China in September.”India-Russia friendship is a time-tested one that has greatly benefitted our people,” Modi wrote in a post on social media, accompanying a photograph of them grinning together inside the vehicle.It was a symbolic show of friendship, after US President Donald Trump imposed 50-percent tariffs on most Indian products in August, citing Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil — revenue Washington argues helps fund the war in Ukraine.In an interview with India Today, Putin said he was “very happy” to be meeting “my friend” Modi.”The range of our cooperation with India is huge,” he said in remarks translated by the broadcaster, citing ship and aircraft manufacturing, nuclear energy and space exploration.”This visit is part of India’s diversification strategy, both in terms of strategic and economic, especially at a time when the US tariffs have hurt India,” Ashok Malik of business consultancy The Asia Group told AFP.On Friday, Putin is due to be given an honour guard welcome at the presidential palace in New Delhi, before meeting with Modi.- ‘Balancing acts’ -India is walking a diplomatic tightrope — relying on strategic Russian oil imports while trying not to provoke Trump during ongoing tariff negotiations.”Balancing acts are second nature to Indian foreign policy making”, wrote Pankaj Saran, a former Indian envoy to Russia, writing in the Times of India.The leaders will also address business and industry leaders before Putin attends a state banquet hosted by the Indian President Droupadi Murmu.India, the world’s most populous nation, has become a major buyer of Russian oil, saving itself billions of dollars and providing Moscow with a much-needed export market after it was cut off from traditional buyers in Europe because of the war.Putin also told India Today that Modi is “not someone who gives in to pressure”, when asked about the impact of US tariffs.The Russian share of India’s arms imports fell from 76 percent in 2009-13 to 36 percent in 2019-23, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.Besides discussions around cutting-edge defence hardware, which includes air defence systems, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines, New Delhi will push for easier access to the wider Russian market.Bilateral trade reached $68.7 billion in 2024-25 — almost six times higher than the pre-pandemic levels — but Indian exports accounted for only $4.88 billion.The two countries are expected to announce an agreement on easier mobility of Indian workers into Russia.