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Electrician V. K. Muthukrishnan ran to help when a lightning-fast mudslide flattened his neighbour’s home in rural Sri Lanka — only to see his own house swept away minutes later.A friend whom he directed to the disaster site to aid rescue efforts was also killed in the second cascade of mud and boulders.”I have nightmares, thinking that I sent my friend to his death,” a tearful Muthukrishnan said as he showed AFP reporters the wreckage of his modest home, destroyed on November 27.”But it could have been more.”AFP was among the first news outlets to enter the stricken central province of Kandy, where the main road had been cut off for over a week due to falling boulders and landslides.Reporters managed to get in when the road opened briefly on Thursday, before it shut again for urgent repairs.In picturesque Hadabima village, surrounded by mountains on one side and a river on the other, 24 people were buried in last week’s mudslides.That is a fraction of the national toll of 481 deaths, more than half in the tea-growing central hills. Heavy rains triggered by Cyclone Ditwah had saturated the mountainsides and made them unstable.- ‘A cemetery now’ -Tailor Adish Kumaran, 41, said his sister and brother-in-law were buried when they rushed to rescue a neighbour whose home was damaged.”They were also caught up in a second slide,” Kumaran told AFP, adding that six bodies had not yet been recovered.”This is a cemetery now. We don’t want to live in this village anymore,” he said.Nationwide, some 345 people remain missing, according to official figures.The government has said about 25,000 houses have been damaged or completely destroyed and has promised state help to rebuild.But the main agency dealing with the recovery effort says Sri Lanka will need up to $7 billion for the task, much of it from international donors.It is a vast sum for the island of 22 million people, still reeling from an economic meltdown in 2022.Tea factory worker Mariah Sivakumar, 39, said her immediate priority was her three school-going children.”All their books and clothes have been lost in the floods,” she said from a relative’s home after authorities warned her own house was at risk from a landslide.She said there was no way she and her husband — also a tea factory worker — could afford to buy new uniforms and textbooks for the children, let alone build a new house.- Unprecedented floods -In the nearby town of Gampola, dozens of young volunteers worked to clear up after the river burst its banks.Hundreds of families were sleeping at a local mosque, going out during the day to clean their homes, said cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri.”We have seen floods before, but nothing this severe,” he said.The state is providing shelter for over 170,000 people, while additional private donations pour in.A. M. Chandraratna, 70, owned a bed and breakfast overlooking the river in the town of Peradeniya.But his restaurant had been completely washed away, and he was left trying to salvage what he could.”I was born and brought up here,” he told AFP. “I thought I knew how this river behaves.”

Rain forecasts on Thursday raised fears of more damage in flood-hit Indonesia and Sri Lanka, after earlier deluges killed more than 1,500 people in four countries.In Indonesia, the weather agency warned the three hard-hit provinces on the island of Sumatra would see “moderate to heavy” rain between Thursday and Friday.The downpour started overnight and while it has not reached the same intensity as last week, it has frayed nerves in a region traumatised by flash floods and landslides.”We are afraid that if it rains suddenly, the flood will come again,” 54-year-old Sabandi told AFP at a shelter in Pandan, North Sumatra.The death toll in Indonesia rose to 836 on Thursday, with the majority killed in North Sumatra and Aceh provinces, national disaster mitigation agency spokesman Abdul Muhari told a press briefing.More than 800,000 people are displaced and over 500 remain missing, with patchy communications and electricity making it hard to confirm their whereabouts, the spokesman added.Sabandi, who goes by one name, said she was stranded on her roof for two days without food or water before she could evacuate.”My house was filled with mud,” she said — so high she couldn’t enter.- Losing sleep -Seasonal monsoons bring rainfall that farmers across Asia depend on, but climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly.Two separate weather systems drenched all of Sri Lanka, Sumatra, parts of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.The scale of the disaster has made relief efforts challenging.In Indonesia’s Banda Aceh, an AFP reporter said the line for fuel at one gas station extended four kilometres (2.5 miles).The provincial governor led a relief group to the devastated Aceh Tamiang region late Wednesday, delivering 30 tons of necessities including drinking water, rice, instant noodles, biscuits, eggs and medicine, according to a statement.In nearby Langsa city, 49-year-old Erni sheltered with her family in an Islamic prayer hall after floods devastated their home.They had received enough drinking water and food aid to last a few days, but power outages and irregular access to clean water were making it difficult to clean up, Erni said.”The wardrobe, table, refrigerator — all are ruined,” she told AFP.”We honestly can’t sleep, constantly thinking about what if the flood comes again.”Elsewhere, survivors reported food shortages, price gouging and looting.- ‘This village is a cemetery’ -In Sri Lanka, forecasters said the northeast monsoon was due to arrive from Thursday afternoon.Landslide alerts were renewed for some of the worst-hit areas of the central Kandy region, and residents were advised not to return home as the saturated slopes could collapse under more rainfall.But some were searching for the missing on Thursday in the village of Hadabima, where 18 bodies have been pulled out of six homes flattened by landslides, survivor VK Muthukrishnan told AFP.Six people remained unaccounted for, the 42-year-old electrician said.”We can’t live here anymore because this village is now a cemetery,” Muthukrishnan said.At least 479 people have been killed in Sri Lanka, and hundreds remain missing, with the president appealing for international support.Authorities estimate they will need up to $7 billion to rebuild homes, industries and roads, a tough ask for a country still emerging from its worst-ever economic crisis three years ago.burs-sco/ami

Russian President Vladimir Putin was due in India on Thursday for a two-day visit aimed at deepening defence ties, as New Delhi faces heavy US pressure to stop buying oil from Moscow.Putin, on his first visit to India since the Ukraine war, is accompanied by his Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, with possible deals on fighter jets and air defence systems expected to be discussed.In an interview with India Today ahead of his trip, Putin said he was “very happy” to be meeting “my friend” Prime Minister Narendra 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.Modi is due to host Putin for a private dinner on Thursday evening, followed by a summit meeting on Friday.Beyond defence, trade relations are expected to feature prominently as India walks a diplomatic tightrope — relying on strategic Russian oil imports while trying not to provoke US President Donald Trump during ongoing tariff negotiations.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talks to expand the supply of Russia’s advanced S-400 air defence systems had an “important place on the agenda”.Indian media reports suggested Moscow may also offer co-production of Russia’s Su-57 fighter jets.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.- Energy imports -Putin’s visit comes after 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.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.But Delhi has recently cut down on crude imports under pressure from sanctions on Russia’s top oil producers Rosneft and Lukoil.The Indian government fears any fresh energy or defence deals with Russia could irk Trump, with possible ramifications on trade negotiations with Washington.Peskov said Russia was not concerned about US tariffs.”What concerns us is how we are going to maintain and increase the volume of our bilateral business with India, without allowing anyone to interfere,” he said Tuesday at a briefing for Indian media organised by Sputnik India.Nandan Unnikrishnan, of the New Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation, told AFP: “There may be some reduction in energy purchases — under US pressure — but the overall direction of the ties will be maintained because both countries need each other at the strategic level.”- ‘Critical moment’ -A senior Indian foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a need to address the trade imbalance “one way or the other”.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.Delhi has been pressing Moscow for expanded market access for its key industries including pharmaceuticals, automobiles and the service sector.Harsh V Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College London, said the visit was an attempt by “to reset their relationship at a critical geopolitical moment for both”.”For India, the optics is a statement of intent for strategic autonomy, and Putin, who rarely travels, is sending a message about the importance of the relationship by travelling here,” Pant told AFP.The Indian foreign ministry official described the ties between Moscow and Delhi as the “most stable relationship in modern times”.The official acknowledged the global geopolitical significance, but insisted that the meeting should seen in the context as “just another annual summit”.

India are all in a spin after losing a scarcely believable 20 coin tosses in a row in one-day internationals — at odds of more than a million-to-one.Stand-in captain KL Rahul admitted he was flummoxed at the run of bad luck that goes all the way back to the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, when Rohit Sharma was in charge.”I’ve been practising, but clearly it’s not working,” said Rahul after losing the flip again in the second one-day international against South Africa in Raipur on Wednesday.The odds against losing 20 consecutive coin tosses are 1,048,576 to one, a statistical anomaly that Rahul wants to end in the third and final South Africa ODI on Saturday in Visakhapatnam.”Honestly, that’s the most pressure I’ve had because we haven’t won a toss in a long time,” Rahul said after seeing opposite number Temba Bavuma call correctly, yet again.Three Indian captains — Rohit, regular ODI skipper Shubman Gill and Rahul — have all tried and failed to win a toss since the last correct call against New Zealand on November 15, 2023, at the World Cup semi-final in Mumbai.”Rahul said that he’d been practising, but how do you know what the opposition captain is going to call?” batting great Sunil Gavaskar told broadcaster JioStar.”Because you know, for the first game, it was Aiden Markram who was captain. “So Markram might be a person who likes opting for ‘heads’, and Temba Bavuma might be a captain who likes to opt for ‘tails’.”Former South Africa pace bowler Dale Steyn said Faf du Plessis once asked Bavuma to toss for him after a lengthy losing sequence.”It’s the first time I have ever seen a captain ask one of the other players to come and do a toss,” said Steyn.”Temba also lost that toss.”

President Vladimir Putin is set to begin a two-day visit to India on Thursday, seeking to deepen defence ties even as New Delhi faces growing US pressure to stop buying Russian oil.The Russian leader, making his first trip to India since the start of the Ukraine war, will be accompanied by a delegation that includes his Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, with media reports saying a fighter jet deal may be on the table.Putin is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday for a private dinner, followed by a summit meeting and a business gathering the next day.Beyond defence, trade relations are expected to be on the agenda as Delhi treads a tightrope, relying on strategic Russian imports while seeking to avoid angering US President Donald Trump amid ongoing tariff negotiations.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the supply of Russia’s advanced S-400 air defence systems had an “important place on the agenda”.India currently has three S-400 units, with delivery of two more pending under a 2018 deal stalled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ensuing Western sanctions.Media reports in India suggested Moscow may also offer co-production of Russia’s Su-57 fighter jets.India is one of the world’s top arms importers, with Russia being one of its main suppliers historically, but Delhi in recent years has sought to boost domestic production.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.- Energy imports -Putin’s visit comes after Trump slapped 50 percent tariffs on most Indian products in August as punishment for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which Washington claims helps finance the war in Ukraine.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.But Delhi has recently cut down on crude imports under pressure from sanctions on Russia’s top oil producers Rosneft and Lukoil.The Indian government fears any fresh energy or defence deals with Russia could irk Trump, with possible ramifications on ongoing trade negotiations with Washington.Peskov said Russia was not concerned about US tariffs.”What concerns us is how we are going to maintain and increase the volume of our bilateral business with India without allowing anyone to interfere,” he said Tuesday at a briefing for Indian media organised by Sputnik India.Nandan Unnikrishnan of the New Delhi-based think-tank Observer Research Foundation told AFP: “There may be some reduction in energy purchases — under US pressure — but the overall direction of the ties will be maintained because both countries need each other at the strategic level.”Even if Delhi cuts back on its Russian energy purchases, Moscow would still remain a critical source of spares for the bulk of its legacy military hardware.- ‘Critical moment’ -A senior Indian foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a need to address the trade imbalance “one way or the other”.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.Delhi has been pressing Moscow for expanded market access for its key industries including pharmaceuticals, automobiles and the service sector.Unnikrishnan said the visit by Putin — who last travelled to India in December 2021 — would provide the two leaders an opportunity to discuss the “global situation, as well as what is happening in Ukraine”.Harsh V Pant, a professor of international relations at King’s College London, said the visit was an “attempt by the two sides to reset their relationship at a critical geopolitical moment for both”.”For India, the optics is a statement of intent for strategic autonomy, and Putin, who rarely travels, is sending a message about the importance of the relationship by travelling here,” Pant told AFP.The Indian foreign ministry official described the ties between Moscow and Delhi as the “most stable relationship in modern times”.The official acknowledged the global geopolitical significance, but insisted that the meeting should “be seen in its bilateral context”.”This is just another annual summit between two countries with a steady relationship.”

New Delhi recorded more than 200,000 cases of acute respiratory illnesses at six state-run hospitals between 2022 and 2024, government numbers showed, highlighting the adverse effects of toxic air on health.Delhi, with its sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents, is regularly ranked among the world’s most polluted capitals.India’s health ministry told parliament on Tuesday that air pollution was one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments.”Analysis suggests that increase in pollution levels was associated with increase in number of patients attending emergency rooms,” junior health minister Prataprao Jadhav said in a written reply.  More than 30,000 people with respiratory illnesses had to be hospitalised in the three years.Acrid smog blankets Delhi’s skyline each winter, when cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic.Levels of PM2.5 — cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream — sometimes rise to as much as 60 times the UN’s daily health limits.A study in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.The United Nations children’s agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.The health ministry, however, added that air pollution could not alone be blamed for the hospitalisations.  “Health effects of air pollution are synergistic manifestation of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc,” it said. 

Officials in Indonesia and Sri Lanka battled Wednesday to reach survivors of deadly flooding in remote, cut-off regions as the toll in the disaster that hit four countries topped 1,500.In Indonesia, survivors expressed growing frustration about the slow pace of rescue efforts and aid delivery, as humanitarian groups warned the scale of the challenge was almost unprecedented, even in a country that has faced no shortage of natural disasters.Monsoon rains paired with two tropical storm systems dumped record deluges across Sri Lanka, and parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.In Indonesia, 770 were confirmed dead, the country’s disaster management agency said on Wednesday, revising the toll down from 812 it announced earlier in the day. Another 463 people are also missing.  Information is only trickling in as many regions remain physically cut off by flood damage, isolated by electricity and communications failures, or both.”It’s very challenging logistically to respond,” said Ade Soekadis, executive director of aid group Mercy Corps Indonesia.”The extent of the damage and the size of the affected area is really huge.”The group is hoping to send hygiene equipment and water both from Jakarta and locally.He said reports of food and water shortages were already “very concerning” and the situation will be “more problematic as time goes by”.- ‘Like an earthquake’ -At an evacuation centre in Pandan, 52-year-old Reinaro Waruwu told AFP he was “disappointed” in the government’s immediate response and the slow arrival of aid.”Some waited a day and night before receiving help, so they couldn’t be saved,” he said, surrounded by evacuees sitting on mats on the floor in the hall-turned-shelter.”I am frustrated, it doesn’t need to be said twice,” he added.He described the floodwaters and landslides as unprecedented.”It came like an earthquake… I thought ‘Well, if I am going to die, then so be it,'” he said, beginning to sob heavily.Traumatised, he could not even eat on arrival, and food has only been patchily available, though vegetables arriving on Tuesday offered a “semblance of hope”, he said.Nearby, Hamida Telaumbaunua, 37, described watching her entire kitchen swept away by floodwaters.”My heart… this was the first time I experienced such a flood,” she said. Her home was lost entirely, along with everything but the few possessions she took when she left.”It’s hard to think about what lies ahead. Maybe as long as we’re still here, it’s okay, but later… I don’t know what will happen.”In North Aceh, 30-year-old M. Atar said some areas were only just becoming accessible as roads were cleared.”We are in dire need of clean water. Very much in need,” he said.The weather system that hit Indonesia also brought heavy rains to Thailand, killing at least 267 people, authorities said Wednesday, and Malaysia, where two people were killed.- Sri Lanka ‘open’ for tourists -Though floods are common in Asia during monsoon season, climate change is making heavy rain events more frequent because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.Warmer oceans can also turbocharge storm systems.A separate weather system, Cyclone Ditwah, brought torrential rain and deadly floods and landslides to much of Sri Lanka last week.At least 474 people were killed, and authorities have estimated the disaster’s cost at up to $7 billion.Another 356 people are unaccounted for, including in some of the hardest-hit regions that remain largely inaccessible.Officials said laws that allow a person to be declared dead only after being missing for six months could be shortened to expedite the issuance of death certificates.The government has said it will offer 25,000 rupees ($83) to families to help clean their homes. Those who lost homes will receive up to $8,000.On the outskirts of Colombo, R.M.V. Lalith was beginning the clean-up at his two-storey home.”We managed to salvage some furniture by moving it upstairs, but the kitchen is a mess,” he told AFP, as a relative helped push mud out of the living room.Despite the disaster, the tourism-reliant country welcomed a luxury cruiseliner to Colombo port on Tuesday, authorities said.The arrival sends “a clear message to the world: Sri Lanka is safe, open, and ready to embrace visitors once again”, the country’s tourist board said.burs-sah/ceg

Survivors of Cyclone Ditwah that has ravaged Sri Lanka in recent days began returning to their devastated homes on Wednesday, faced with a massive clean-up as they start rebuilding their lives.The powerful storm brought record rains that triggered landslides and floods across the island country, killing at least 474 people, according to disaster officials, with another 366 still unaccounted for.Soma Wanniarachchi, 69, had stayed behind as long as she could, “but when the water level reached about eight feet (2.5 metres), I decided to leave,” she told AFP.Back in her village of Kotuwila, near the capital Colombo, she was shocked to see the damage to her catering equipment rental business.Chafing dishes and woks have disappeared, and “my stainless steel utensils are now probably in the Indian Ocean,” she said.”At least three buffet sets have gone,” added the business owner, who has asked neighbours for help with the daunting clean-up.Inside the house, there was still about a foot of flood water.IT lecturer Sanjaya Tissara, 31, returned to his two-storey house in Angoda, on the eastern outskirts of Colombo, to find a muddy mess and oily sludge.”I had several electronic components for my computer business I operate when I am not teaching. Some of the equipment was saved because I had time to move it upstairs, but a lot was lost in the floods,” he told AFP.He said that when the Kelani River overflowed last week in the area of the capital, it was worse than a major flood in 2016 that killed 71 people.”We experienced a big flood in 2016, when the water levels here were about four feet, but this time it went to above six feet,” Tissara said.His neighbour, oil company executive R. M. V. Lalith, 51, has called on relatives to help clear layers of mud on everything that survived the floods.”It’s not possible to do this clean-up alone,” Lalith told AFP.”We managed to salvage some furniture by moving it upstairs, but the kitchen is a mess.”He said local volunteers had provided cooked food, which was distributed by boats, some operated by the security forces.The government said it was increasing clean-up assistance, giving each household 25,000 rupees ($83) due to the scale of the devastation.Following previous floods, the standard government allowance was 10,000 rupees.Prabath Chandrakeerthi, Sri Lanka’s commissioner general for essential services and the top official in charge of recovery, said authorities were also handing out up to 2.5 million rupees for rebuilding homes.”Our initial estimate is that we will need about six to seven billion dollars for the reconstruction,” Chandrakeerthi told reporters.Some of the worst-affected areas in the central hills, hit by deadly landslides, remain inaccessible, and authorities were working to clear roads and restore communications.

India’s rupee fell to a fresh record low of over 90 per dollar Wednesday, extending recent declines, with traders partly blaming the delay in striking a trade deal with the United States.The rupee is among Asia’s worst forex performers this year, pressured by India’s current account deficit and foreign outflows.New Delhi’s early trade negotiations with Washington sparked optimism that foreign capital would flow into the world’s fifth-largest economy — helping push the rupee to a nearly six-month-high of 83.75 against the dollar in May.But setbacks in trade talks and weak corporate earnings have caused overseas investors to offload well over $16 billion in Indian shares this year so far.On Wednesday morning, the rupee weakened as much as 0.35 percent to a symbolic new low of 90.19, according to Bloomberg data.Dilip Parmar, an analyst at HDFC Securities, told AFP the rupee’s fall was “first and foremost” an “imbalance of demand and supply” with foreign fund outflows and trade deal uncertainty adding fuel to the fire.But another key factor, Parmar added, was a lack of “big and impactful” intervention from India’s central bank.Analysts say the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has this year sporadically defended the rupee through aggressive dollar sales to support key levels, but also appears of late to be allowing greater currency flexibility.”Defending a specific level in the current macro backdrop would be costly and counterproductive,” Raj Gaikar, research analyst at SAMCO Securities, told AFP.”With inflation running well below earlier expectations, the policy priority has shifted toward supporting growth rather than expending reserves to hold an artificial line,” he said.The central bank was intervening only to ease volatility, not to reverse a trend driven by fundamentals, Gaikar added.He expects the rupee to settle in a “88-92 range”.”This more hands-off approach signals a transition to a market-aligned regime rather than a rigid defence of symbolic levels,” he said.

Sri Lankan authorities said Wednesday they would need some $7 billion to rebuild homes, industries and roads destroyed by Cyclone Ditwah, which has left at least 465 people dead so far.Hopes have faded for the 366 other people unaccounted for after mudslides and floods triggered by the cyclone, which brought record rains across the island last week.”Our initial estimate is that we will need about six to seven billion dollars for the reconstruction,” said Prabath Chandrakeerthi, the Commissioner-General of Essential Services who is leading the massive recovery effort.Chandrakeerthi added that the government was providing 25,000 rupees ($81) to each family to help clean their homes, while those who lost their homes would receive up to 2.5 million rupees ($8,100).President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said foreign assistance was essential to finance the recovery, as the country was still emerging from its worst ever economic crisis three years ago.Dissanayake declared a state of emergency on Saturday and has vowed to rebuild with international support.”We were just coming out of the economic crisis when we were hit by this disaster, which is the biggest challenge faced by any government,” Dissanayake told his top officials on Tuesday.Sri Lanka declared a sovereign default on its $46 billion external debt in April 2022 after the country ran out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, such as food, fuel and medicines.The country secured a $2.9 billion bailout loan from the IMF, which has said the economy has since stabilised, but Sri Lanka must maintain its reforms, including austerity measures.The crisis in 2022 led to months of street protests which forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.Floodwaters in the capital Colombo were receding Wednesday after major flooding over the weekend.Over 1.5 million people in the country have been affected by the natural disaster, with some 200,000 in state-run shelters.Some of the worst-affected areas in the central hills remain inaccessible, and authorities were working to clear the roads and restore communication lines.Despite the disaster, the tourism-reliant country welcomed a luxury cruiseliner to Colombo port on Tuesday, authorities said.The arrival sends “a clear message to the world: Sri Lanka is safe, open, and ready to embrace visitors once again,” the country’s tourist board said.