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Sri Lanka’s government announced plans on Thursday for $1.6 billion in extra spending in 2026 to fund the country’s recovery from Cyclone Ditwah, which killed more than 640 people.The natural disaster affected 2.3 million people, more than 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population, and floods and landslides caused by the cyclone left extensive damage throughout the country.The government convened parliament on Thursday, interrupting a month-long recess, to discuss what President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has described as the most challenging natural disaster to hit the island.Dissanayake presented a request for an additional 500 billion rupees ($1.66 billion) for rebuilding devastated homes, roads, bridges and railways, as well as for cash handouts to help people regain lost livelihoods.”We need to allocate an additional 500 billion rupees for disaster relief and reconstruction over and above the money allocated for government spending in calendar 2026,” Dissanayake told parliament.The national assembly, where his party holds a more than two-thirds majority, is expected to approve the mini-budget on Friday.However, Dissanayake said the government does not intend to raise its borrowing limit to meet the additional expenditure.He previously said he was banking heavily on foreign grants, and the finance ministry on Wednesday announced that it would call an international donor conference early next month.The government has already asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $200 million from a rapid relief fund and has secured World Bank agreement to repurpose $120 million from an ongoing project for disaster recovery spending.On Tuesday, Sri Lanka also secured a $200 million loan from the Asian Development Bank to finance water management, the first such funding since the cyclone.The finance ministry said the funds would be used to complete a canal network in the North-Central Province (NCP), which was among the worst affected by flooding last month.”The objective of the project is to enhance agricultural productivity, farmer incomes and climate resilience in the NCP,” the ministry said in a statement.The World Bank has said it is in the process of assessing the damage caused by the cyclone, while Colombo has said preliminary estimates suggest it may need up to $7 billion to rebuild.The cyclone struck as the country was emerging from its worst ever economic meltdown in 2022, when it ran out of foreign exchange reserves to pay for essential imports such as food, fuel and medicines.Following a $2.9 billion bailout from the IMF approved in early 2023, the country’s economy has stabilised.

The fourth T20 international between India and South Africa was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to dense fog in the northern Indian city of Lucknow on Wednesday.The toss was scheduled for 6:30pm local time (1300 GMT) but never took place despite several pitch inspections at the Ekana Stadium. The umpires eventually called off the match at 9:30pm.T20 world champions India lead the five-match series 2-1 ahead of the final match on Friday in Ahmedabad.The series is part of the build-up for the T20 World Cup which starts in February in India and Sri Lanka.A statement said, the match “has been abandoned due to excessive fog, making playing conditions unsafe”.Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was seen wearing a mask to trigger online discussions on deteriorating pollution levels.Levels of cancer-causing PM 2.5 microparticles hit 78 micrograms per cubic metre in parts of Lucknow, according to monitoring organisation IQAir, more than five times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.But recently pollution levels have been found to be much worse in northern India, including in capital Delhi where the PM 2.5 microparticles rose to more than 20 times the WHO levels during football star Lionel Messi’s visit on Monday.Acrid smog blankets parts of northern India, when cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic.Players first went through their drills at the ground before moving indoors for most of the inspections as disappointed fans made their way out of the venue.

Nepal launched on Tuesday nationwide tiger census, a key step in conservation efforts to aid the recovery of the big cats that once faced near extinction in the Himalayan nation.The survey will be conducted in four national parks in Nepal’s forested southern plains, covering more than 8,000 square kilometres (3,000 square miles) of protected areas and adjoining forests, officials said.More than 2,300 motion-sensitive camera traps will be deployed, with over 250 conservation staff mobilised for the operation covering the Chitwan, Banke, Bardiya and Shuklaphanta national parks.Results are expected by July 2026.Ecologist Haribhadra Acharya, coordinator of the National Tiger Census Technical Committee, said cameras helped scientists isolate individual animals with their unique stripe patterns, identifying them to prevent double counting.”We have adopted capture and recapture methodology with camera traps,” Acharya told AFP.Around 800 cameras will be installed in Chitwan National Park from Thursday, according to Abinash Thapa Magar of the park authority.”The survey is aimed at tracking the status of the tiger — their habitat and status of prey availability, and conflict with humans,” Magar told AFP.Deforestation, habitat encroachment and poaching have devastated tiger populations across Asia, but Nepal has been widely praised for its conservation efforts.A 2022 survey found that the country’s tiger population had tripled to 355 since 2010, while numbers of one-horned rhinoceros have risen from around 100 in the 1960s to 752 in 2021.Conservation success has extended beyond tigers. A first nationwide survey released in April estimated nearly 400 snow leopards.

Football superstar Lionel Messi ended his whirlwind tour of India on Monday with a lap of honour in New Delhi, thrilling thousands of fans and thanking them for “all the love and support”.The 38-year-old Argentine great greeted chanting supporters at a nearly packed Arun Jaitley Stadium, usually home to cricket, with fans dressed in Argentina jerseys waving flags and shouting his name.”It was beautiful to receive all the love and support. I knew it was there, but to receive it first-hand was, well, amazing”, Messi told the crowd, speaking in Spanish, saying he will “definitely be back”.Clad in a pink jersey and black trousers, Messi enthralled the audience with his charm as he kicked footballs into the crowd and obliged star-struck delegates and fans with selfies.Messi and his fellow stars played football with children before being presented with a T20 World Cup ticket and an Indian jersey by the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Jay Shah.India — a nation of 1.4 billion — are a cricket powerhouse, but struggles on the football pitch and are 142nd on the FIFA rankings.Former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia took the stage with Messi, who signed Argentine jerseys for the Indian star and his family.His final stop in India went smoothly after a chaotic opening day on Saturday, when fans vandalised a stadium in the city of Kolkata, where his brief presence left the crowd frustrated.Heavy security left fans struggling to catch a glimpse of him. Many had paid more than $100 for tickets, and they broke down barricades and stormed the pitch after the superstar abruptly left the arena.In New Delhi on Monday, thousands of excited fans dismissed hazardous choking air pollution to see their hero. “I’m very excited to see Messi, I have been watching him since my childhood”, said 29-year-old fan Sumesh Raina.New Delhi, and its wider sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents, is regularly ranked among the world’s most polluted capitals, due to a deadly mix of emissions from power plants, heavy traffic, as well as the burning of rubbish and crops.Levels of cancer-causing PM 2.5 microparticles hit more than 300 micrograms per cubic metre in parts of New Delhi on Monday, according to monitoring organisation IQAir, 20 times the World Health Organization’s recommended daily maximum.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.Messi, who is in India as part of his so-called GOAT Tour along with his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul, seemed unperturbed by the toxic air.He looked in good spirits as he kept up his energy with fans and football enthusiasts in his 35-minute stay at the stadium.Messi had also visited the cities of Hyderabad and Mumbai, where he met cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and Indian football star Sunil Chhetri.The footballer won his second consecutive Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player award last week after propelling Inter Miami to the MLS title and leading the league in goals.The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward will spearhead Argentina’s defence of the World Cup in June-July in North America.

Bangladesh’s interim government said it would fly a leader of the 2024 uprising, a candidate in upcoming elections, for treatment in Singapore after he was critically wounded in an assassination attempt.Masked attackers shot student leader Sharif Osman Hadi on Friday as he left a mosque in the capital Dhaka, wounding him in the ear.The shooting took place one day after authorities announced a date for the first elections since the student-led uprising that overthrew the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.In a statement late Sunday, the interim government said it will pay for Hadi to “be flown to Singapore for better treatment”, and that an “air ambulance and a team of doctors are on standby.”Hadi is a senior leader of the student protest group Inqilab Mancha and has been an outspoken critic of India — Hasina’s old ally where the ousted prime minister remains in self-imposed exile.Hundreds of protesters gathered in Dhaka on Monday to condemn the shooting.”It’s an attack on our political solidarity,” Gazi Sadia, a 21-year-old student, told AFP.Hadi’s Inqilab Mancha was represented at the rally alongside supports of Bangaldesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party (NCP), which was formed by others students who spearheaded last year’s uprising.Police said they had launched a manhunt for the attackers who shot Hadi, releasing photographs of two key suspects and offering a reward of five million taka (about $42,000) for information leading to their arrest.Dhaka police spokesman Muhammad Talebur Rahman also said that “border security has been put on high alert.”- ‘Derail the election’ -Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading Bangladesh until the February 12 elections, said on Saturday that the shooting was a premeditated attack carried out by a powerful network, without providing a name.”The objective of the conspirators is to derail the election. This attack is symbolic — meant to demonstrate their strength and sabotage the entire electoral process,” he said.”We must resist such attempts”.The government on Sunday said it would bolster security for all candidates, ordering that “all political leaders, candidates, their residences, offices, movements, rallies and online spaces will be protected.”The Muslim-majority country of 170 million will directly vote for 300 lawmakers for its parliament, with another 50 selected on a women’s list.A referendum on a landmark democratic reform package will be held on the same day.Tensions are high as parties gear up for the polls, and the country remains volatile.Hasina, convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, refused to return to attend her trial. She remains in hiding in India, despite Dhaka’s repeated requests for New Delhi to hand her over.Veteran journalist Anis Alamgir was arrested on Monday for alleged “anti-state activities”, accused of promoting Hasina’s now-banned Awami League party.Rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra condemned the arrest as “an attack on freedom of expression”.The last elections, held in January 2024, gave Hasina a fourth straight term and her Awami League 222 seats, but were decried by opposition parties as a sham.The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by three-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is widely tipped to win the upcoming vote.Zia is in intensive care in Dhaka, and her son and political heir Tarique Rahman is set to return from exile in Britain after 17 years on December 25.

Football icon Lionel Messi’s second day in India passed smoothly Sunday, after a chaotic opening to his three-day tour, as the World Cup winner kicked balls into the crowd and met cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.Messi greeted excited fans decked out in Argentina football jerseys at a packed Wankhede stadium in India’s financial hub Mumbai, as supporters chanted his name.The 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami superstar took centre stage in the presence of India’s sporting royalty including Tendulkar and football star Sunil Chhetri.Messi along with his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul are part of a so-called GOAT Tour of a cricket-crazy nation.Cricket great Tendulkar presented Messi with his iconic number 10 jersey from India’s 2011 World Cup triumph at the same venue.”I have spent some incredible moments here,” said batting star Tendulkar. “Mumbai is a city of dreams and number of dreams have seen the finish line here on this very venue and without your support we could never have seen those golden moments in 2011.”And today having all three greats of game here is indeed a golden moment for Mumbai, Mumbaikars and India.”Although a cricket powerhouse, the nation of 1.4 billion struggles on the football pitch and are 142nd on the FIFA rankings.”Thank you for being here and encouraging youngsters,” said Tendulkar. “I hope football here in India also reaches the heights that we all aspire.”The Mumbai event went smoothly compared to Saturday’s in the eastern city of Kolkata where heavy security left fans struggling to catch a glimpse of Messi.Frustrated fans, many having paid more than $100 for tickets, broke down barricades and stormed the pitch after the superstar abruptly left the arena.Spectators also ripped out stadium seats and hurled water bottles onto the track.  One person has been arrested for the incident. Before the chaos erupted, Messi unveiled a 21-metre (70-foot) statue which shows him holding aloft the World Cup in 2022. The footballer was in Hyderabad city later on Saturday where he addressed the crowd briefly in Spanish. Messi wraps up his India tour on Monday, with a possible meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The footballer won his second consecutive Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player award this week after propelling Inter Miami to the MLS title and leading the league in goals.The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward will spearhead Argentina’s defence of the World Cup in June-July in North America.

Truck driver Muhammad Afzal was not expecting to be stopped by police, let alone fined, as he drove into Islamabad this week because of the thick diesel fumes emanating from his exhaust pipe.”This is unfair,” he said after being told to pay 1,000 rupees ($3.60), with the threat of having his truck impounded if he did not “fix” the problem.”I was coming from Lahore after getting my vehicle repaired. They pressed the accelerator to make it release smoke. It’s an injustice,” he told AFP.Checkpoints set up this month are part of a crackdown by authorities to combat the city’s soaring smog levels, with winter months the worst due to atmospheric inversions that trap pollutants at ground level.”We have already warned the owners of stern action, and we will stop their entry into the city if they don’t comply with the orders,” said Dr Zaigham Abbas of Pakistan’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as he surveyed the checkpoint at the southeast edge of the capital.For Waleed Ahmed, a technician inspecting the vehicles at the site, “just like a human being, a vehicle has a life cycle. Those that cross it release smoke that is dangerous to human health”.- ‘Self-inflicted crisis’ -While not yet at the extreme winter levels of Lahore or the megacity Karachi, where heavy industry and brick kilns spew tons of pollutants each year, Islamabad is steadily closing the gap.So far in December it has already registered seven “very unhealthy” days for PM2.5 particulates of more than 150 microgrammes per cubic meter, according to the Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir.Intraday PM2.5 levels in Islamabad often exceed those in Karachi and Lahore, and in 2024 the city’s average PM2.5 reading for the year was 52.3 microgrammes — surpassing the 46.2 for Lahore.Those annual readings are far beyond the safe level of five microgrammes recommended by the World Health Organization.Built from scratch as Pakistan’s capital in the 1960s, the city was envisioned as an urban model for the rapidly growing nation, with wide avenues and ample green spaces abutting the Himalayan foothills.But the expansive layout discourages walking and public transport remains limited, meaning cars — mostly older models — are essential for residents to get around.”The capital region is choked overwhelmingly by its transport sector,” which produces 53 percent of its toxic PM2.5 particles, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative, a research group, said in a recent report.”The haze over Islamabad… is not the smoke of industry, but the exhaust of a million private journeys — a self-inflicted crisis,” it said.- ‘Her basic right’ -Announcing the crackdown on December 7, EPA chief Nazia Zaib Ali said over 300 fines were issued at checkpoints in the first week, with 80 vehicles impounded.”We cannot allow non-compliant vehicles at any cost to poison the city’s air and endanger public health,” she said in a statement.The city has also begun setting up stations where drivers can have their emissions inspected, with those passing receiving a green sticker on their windshield.”We were worried for Lahore, but now it’s Islamabad. And that’s all because of vehicles emitting pollution,” said Iftikhar Sarwar, 51, as he had his car checked on a busy road near an Islamabad park.”I never needed medicine before but now I get allergies if I don’t take a tablet in the morning. The same is happening with my family,” he added.Other residents say they worry the government’s measures will not be enough to counter the worsening winter smog. “This is not the Islamabad I came to 20 years ago,” said Sulaman Ijaz, an anthropologist.”I feel uneasy when I think about what I will say if my daughter asks for clean air — that is her basic right.”

Angry spectators broke down barricades and stormed the pitch at a stadium in India after football star Lionel Messi, who is on a three-day tour of the country, abruptly left the arena.As a part of a so-called GOAT Tour, the 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami superstar touched down in the eastern state of West Bengal early Saturday, greeted by a chorus of exuberant fans chanting his name. Hours later, thousands of fans wearing Messi jerseys and waving the Argentine flag packed into Salt Lake stadium in the state capital Kolkata, but heavy security around the footballer left fans struggling to catch a glimpse of him.Messi walked around the pitch waving to fans and left the stadium earlier than expected.Frustrated fans, many having paid more than $100 for tickets, ripped out stadium seats and hurled water bottles onto the track.  Many others stormed the pitch and vandalised banners and tents.”For me, to watch Messi is a pleasure, a dream. But I have missed the chance to have a glimpse because of the mismanagement in the stadium,” businessman Nabin Chatterjee, 37, told AFP. Before the chaos erupted, Messi unveiled a 21-metre (70-foot) statue which shows him holding aloft the World Cup. He was also expected to play a short exhibition game at the stadium. Another angry fan told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that people had spent “a month’s salary” to see Messi.”I paid Rs 5,000 ($55) for the ticket and came with my son to watch Messi, not politicians. The police and military personnel were taking selfies, and the management is to blame,” Ajay Shah, told PTI.  Javed Shamim, a senior police official in the state, told reporters that the event’s “chief organiser” had been arrested, without giving any further details. “There is total normalcy,” he said, adding that authorities would look into how organisers could refund money to those who bought tickets. State chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she was “disturbed” and “shocked” at the mismanagement. “I sincerely apologise to Lionel Messi, as well as to all sports lovers and his fans, for the unfortunate incident,” she said in a post on X, adding that she had ordered a probe into the incident. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it was not involved in the “organisation, planning, or execution” of the “private event”. “Furthermore, the details of the event were neither communicated to the AIFF, nor was any clearance sought from the Federation,” a statement said.  Messi will now head to Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi as part of the four-city tour. His time in India also includes a possible meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Messi won his second consecutive Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player award this week after propelling Inter Miami to the MLS title and leading the league in goals.The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain attacker will spearhead Argentina’s defence of the World Cup in June-July in North America.

Political heavyweight and aspiring Bangladesh prime minister Tarique Rahman will return to the country later this month after 17 years in exile in Britain, his party announced on Friday. Rahman, 60, has lived in London since 2008, saying he fled political persecution under former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.He is heir to the longtime ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by his ailing mother, 80-year-old former prime minister Khaleda Zia.Rahman has said he will run in the general elections slated for February 12 next year and remains a favourite to be the next prime minister.”Our Acting Chairman Mr. Tarique Rahman will arrive among us on the soil of Dhaka on the 25th of December,” BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters.”The day is also a very good one, as it’ll be the Christmas holiday. A fantastic day.”The elections will be the first since a mass uprising ended the 15-year hardline rule of Hasina last year.Long groomed for leadership, Rahman’s political career has been dogged by several allegations.He was arrested on corruption charges in 2007 and says he was tortured in custody.Freed later that year, he flew to London in 2008 for medical treatment and never returned.Since Hasina’s fall, Rahman has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him — a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a political rally, which he always denied.Zia, who is critically ill, is in intensive care in the capital Dhaka, after she was admitted to hospital last month.