AFP Asia

The toll in deadly flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,000 on Monday as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel to help survivors.Separate weather systems brought torrential, extended rainfall to the entire island of Sri Lanka and large parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.The relentless rains left residents clinging to rooftops awaiting rescue by boat or helicopter, and cut entire villages off from assistance.Arriving in North Sumatra on Monday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said “the worst has passed, hopefully”.The government’s “priority now is how to immediately send the necessary aid”, with particular focus on several cut-off areas, he added.Prabowo has come under increasing pressure to declare a national emergency in response to flooding and landslides that have killed at least 502 people, with more than 500 still missing.Unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, he has also not publicly called for international assistance.The toll is the deadliest in a natural disaster in Indonesia since a massive 2018 earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Sulawesi.The government has sent three warships carrying aid and two hospital ships to some of the worst-hit areas, where many roads remain impassable.At an evacuation centre in North Aceh, 28-year-old Misbahul Munir described walking through water that reached his neck to get back to his parents.”Everything in the house was destroyed because it was submerged,” he told AFP.”I have only the clothes I am wearing,” he said, dissolving into tears.- Sri Lanka seeks aid -In Sri Lanka meanwhile, the government called for international aid and used military helicopters to reach people stranded by flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah.At least 340 people have been killed, Sri Lankan officials said on Monday, with many more still missing.Floodwaters in the capital Colombo peaked overnight, and with rain now stopped there were hopes that waters would begin receding.Some shops and offices began to reopen.Officials said the extent of the damage in the worst-affected central region was only just being revealed as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides.In Ma Oya, just north of the capital, Hasitha Wijewardena said he was struggling to clean up after the floods.”The water has gone down, but the house is now full of mud,” he told local reporters, appealing for military help to clean up.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster, vowed to build back.”We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” he said in an address to the nation. “Certainly, we will build a better nation than what existed before.”The losses and damage are the worst in Sri Lanka since the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami that killed around 31,000 people there and left more than a million homeless.- Anger in Thailand -By Sunday afternoon, rain had subsided across Sri Lanka but low-lying areas of the capital were flooded and authorities were bracing for a major relief operation.Military helicopters have been deployed to airlift stranded residents, and deliver food, though one crashed just north of Colombo on Sunday evening.Much of Asia is in its annual monsoon season, which often brings heavy rain, triggering landslides and flash floods.But the flooding that hit Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia was also exacerbated by a rare tropical storm that dumped heavy rain on Sumatra island in particular.Climate change has also increased the intensity of storms, and produced more heavy rain events because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.The waves of rain caused flooding that killed at least 176 people in southern Thailand, authorities said Monday, one of the deadliest flood incidents in the country in a decade.The government has rolled out relief measures, but there has been growing public criticism of the flood response, and two local officials have been suspended over their alleged failures.Across the border in Malaysia, where heavy rains also inundated large stretches of land in Perlis state, two people were killed.burs-sah/mtp

Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel on Monday to help victims of devastating flooding that has killed nearly 1,000 people across four countries in Asia in recent days.Separate weather systems brought torrential, extended rainfall to the entire island of Sri Lanka and large parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.Arriving in North Sumatra on Monday, Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto said “the worst has passed, hopefully”.The government’s “priority now is how to immediately send the necessary aid”, with particular focus on several isolated villages, he added.Prabowo has come under increasing pressure to declare a national emergency in response to flooding and landslides that have killed at least 442 people, with hundreds more missing.Unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, he has also not publicly called for international assistance.The toll is the deadliest in a natural disaster in Indonesia since a massive 2018 earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Sulawesi.The government has sent three warships carrying aid and two hospital ships to some of the worst-hit areas, where many roads remain impassable.- Sri Lanka seeks aid -In Sri Lanka meanwhile, the government called for international aid and used military helicopters to reach people stranded by flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah.At least 340 people have been killed, Sri Lankan officials said on Monday, with many more still missing.Floodwaters in the capital Colombo peaked overnight, and with rain now stopped there were hopes that waters would begin receding.Some shops and offices began to reopen.Officials said the extent of the damage in the worst-affected central region was only just being revealed as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides.In Ma Oya, just north of the capital, Hasitha Wijewardena said he was struggling to clean up after the floods.”The water has gone down, but the house is now full of mud,” he told local reporters, appealing for military help to clean up.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster, vowed to build back.”We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” he said in an address to the nation. “Certainly, we will build a better nation than what existed before.”The losses and damage are the worst in Sri Lanka since the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami that killed around 31,000 people there and left more than a million homeless.- Anger in Thailand -By Sunday afternoon, rain had subsided across Sri Lanka but low-lying areas of the capital were flooded and authorities were bracing for a major relief operation.Military helicopters have been deployed to airlift stranded residents, and deliver food, though one crashed just north of Colombo on Sunday evening.Selvi, 46, a resident of the Colombo suburb of Wennawatte, left her flooded home on Sunday, carrying four bags of clothes and valuables.”My house is completely flooded. I don’t know where to go, but I hope there is some safe shelter where I can take my family,” she told AFP.Much of Asia is in its annual monsoon season, which often brings heavy rain, triggering landslides and flash floods.But the flooding that hit Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia was also exacerbated by a rare tropical storm that dumped heavy rain on Sumatra island in particular.Climate change has also increased the intensity of storms, and produced more heavy rain events because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.The waves of rain caused flooding that killed at least 176 people in southern Thailand, authorities said Monday, one of the deadliest flood incidents in the country in a decade.The government has rolled out relief measures, but there has been growing public criticism of the flood response, and two local officials have been suspended over their alleged failures.Across the border in Malaysia, where heavy rains also inundated large stretches of land in Perlis state, two people were killed.burs-sah/mtp

The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose sharply to 334 on Sunday, Sri Lanka’s disaster agency said on Sunday, with many more still missing.It is the worst natural disaster to hit the island in two decades, and officials said the extent of damage in the worst-affected central region was only just being revealed as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides.The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said the death toll had risen to 334, up from 212 earlier on Sunday, with nearly 400 missing and more than 1.3 million people across the island affected by the record rains.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster, vowed to build back with international support.”We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” he said in an address to the nation. “Certainly, we will build a better nation than what existed before.”The losses and damage are the worst since the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami that killed around 31,000 people and left more than a million homeless.Rain had subsided across Sri Lanka but low-lying areas of the capital were flooded on Sunday and authorities were bracing for a major relief operation.A Bell 212 helicopter carrying food for patients stranded at a hospital just north of Colombo crashed into a river on Sunday evening. All five crew members were taken to a nearby hospital.Another helicopter sent from India rescued 24 people on Sunday, including a pregnant woman and a man in a wheelchair, marooned in the central town of Kotmale, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) northeast of Colombo, officials said.Pakistan was also sending rescue teams, the Sri Lankan Air Force said, while Japan will also send a team to assess Sri Lanka’s immediate needs and has pledged assistance.The air force said two infants and a 10-year-old child had also been rescued from a hospital in the northern town of Chilaw, which was submerged on Saturday.Authorities said flood levels in the capital would take at least a day to recede, while dry weather was also forecast. Cyclone Ditwah moved north towards India on Saturday.- ‘Completely flooded’ -Selvi, 46, a resident of the Colombo suburb of Wennawatte, left her flooded home on Sunday, carrying four bags of clothes and valuables.”My house is completely flooded. I don’t know where to go, but I hope there is some safe shelter where I can take my family,” she told AFP.Receding water levels in the town of Manampitiya, 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Colombo, revealed massive destruction.”Manampitiya is a flood-prone town, but I have never seen such a volume of water,” said 72-year-old resident S. Sivanandan.He told the local News Centre portal that businesses and property had been extensively damaged. A car had flipped upside down in front of his shop, he said.A woman in central Wellawaya said she heard a loud noise and went outside to see boulders rolling down a mountainside before stopping near her home.”I saw trees falling and moving with the boulders. We are afraid to go back to our homes,” she told reporters after moving to a shelter on safer ground.- Deadliest in years -The National Blood Transfusion Service said supplies were short even though there have been relatively few injuries.The National Building Research Organisation, which monitors the stability of hills, said there was a high risk of further landslides because mountain slopes were still saturated with rainwater.The worst flooding since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday his administration intends to maintain a pause on asylum decisions for “a long time” after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members near the White House, killing one of them. When asked to specify how long it would last, Trump said he had “no time limit” in mind for the measure, which the Department of Homeland Security says is linked to a list of 19 countries already facing US travel restrictions. “We don’t want those people,” Trump continued. “You know why we don’t want them? Because many have been no good, and they shouldn’t be in our country.” The Trump administration issued the pause in the aftermath of the shooting in Washington on November 26, that left 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom dead and another guardsman critically wounded.A 29-year-old Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has been arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with the incident. Lakanwal had been part of a CIA-backed “partner force” fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and entered the United States as part of a resettlement program following the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.Lakanwal had been granted asylum in April 2025, under the Trump administration, but officials have blamed what they called lax vetting by the government of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden for his admission to US soil during the Afghan airlift.Trump wrote after the shooting he planned to “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover.” Asked which nationalities would be affected, the Department of Homeland Security pointed AFP to a list of 19 countries — including Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran and Myanmar — which since June have all faced travel restrictions to the United States. 

The Afghan suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington may have been radicalized after entering the US, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said when questioned about his motive on Sunday talk shows.Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, faces a first-degree murder charge in the November 26 shooting that left a 20-year-old guardsman dead and another critically wounded.”I will say we believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country,” Noem said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we’re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members, who talk to them,” said Noem during a separate interview on ABC.Lakanwal entered the United States in 2021 as part of a massive airlift by then-president Joe Biden’s administration during the US military withdrawal and subsequent return to power of Taliban forces.A resident of the western US state of Washington, Lakanwal allegedly drove cross-country to carry out the shooting a few blocks from the White House — an attack that shocked Americans on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. Officials from President Donald Trump’s administration, which reportedly granted Lakanwal US asylum in April 2025, have blamed Biden’s administration for lax vetting during the Afghan airlift.Noem told ABC’s “This Week” that Lakanwal was “maybe vetted” after entering the United States but said it was “not done well.””Crooked Joe Biden, Mayorkas, and so-called ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris really screwed our Country by letting anyone and everyone come in totally unchecked and unvetted!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Sunday. Officials said that before coming to the United States, Lakanwal had served in a CIA-backed Afghan “partner force” unit fighting the Taliban. US government officials have since suspended visas for all Afghan nationals and frozen decisions in all asylum cases.

Star batsman Virat Kohli hit a record-extending 52nd one-day century to set up India’s 17-run win over a spirited South Africa in the first match on Sunday.Kohli’s 135 came off 120 balls and he shared a second-wicket partnership of 136 with fellow stalwart Rohit Sharma to set India on course for 349-8 in the eastern city of Ranchi.Number eight Corbin Bosch made a valiant 67 off 51 balls as South Africa fought until almost the end. Entering the 50th over, the visitors needed 18 for victory with one wicket left. Bosch fell on the second ball and South Africa were 332 all out.Matthew Breetzke, who made 72, and Marco Jansen, with 70, put on a fighting stand of 97 for the sixth wicket to revived the chase after South Africa slipped to 11-3 and then 77-4.Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav stood out with figures of 4-68 in the high-scoring contest.His double strike to remove Jansen and Breetzke in the space of three balls was the turning point for India who took 1-0 lead in the three-match series.The 37-year-old Kohli remained the hero with his 83rd ton across the three international formats after he raised his hundred with a boundary off Jansen and lifted his bat to a raucous home crowd.”If you’ve played 300-odd games and so much cricket, you know when you’re hitting balls in practice, you know the reflexes are there and the physical ability is there to bat long,” player of the match Kohli said.”As long as you’re hitting the ball well and playing good cricket, it’s about physically fit, mentally ready and excited.”- Kohli mania -An Indian fan breached security and raced to the pitch to touch Kohli’s feet before he was dragged away.Kohli has the most ODI hundreds, with Indian great Sachin Tendulkar second with 49.The Indian cricket star tops the list of hundreds in a single format with Tendulkar’s count in Tests being 51.Kohli and 38-year-old Rohit, who made 57, only play the 50-over format after they retired from T20 and Test cricket.Their presence boosted India, led by KL Rahul in the absence of the injured Shubman Gill, after a 2-0 Test whitewash against South Africa.Rohit lost fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal early for 18 but Kohli walked in to a huge roar from a 38,000-strong capacity crowd.The pair steadied the innings and then took on the bowlers before Rohit was trapped lbw by Jansen.Rohit hit three sixes in his 51-ball knock. That took him to 352 sixes in this format, overtaking Pakistan batter Shahid Afridi’s recird of 351.Kohli switched gears soon after reaching his first hundred since February. He hit off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen for two fours and two sixes in a 21-run 39th over.He finally fell to Nandre Burger, caught by Ryan Rickelton, after hitting 11 fours and seven sixes.Rahul kept up the attack with 60 off 56 balls, while Ravindra Jadeja made 32 off 20.In the end Bosch’s first ODI half-century made it a close contest and much to look forward ahead of the next match is Wednesday in Raipur.”Great to sit in the change room and watch the guys do their thing,” stand-in-skipper Aiden Markram said. “Never losing the belief that we can pull off a rabbit from the hat.”

Star batsman Virat Kohli struck an attacking 135 to power India to 349-8 against South Africa in the first of three one-day internationals on Sunday.Kohli’s 120-ball knock and his 136-run stand for the second wicket with fellow stalwart Rohit Sharma (57) steered India to a challenging total in Ranchi.The 37-year-old struck a boundary off Marco Jansen to raise his 52nd ODI century and lifted his bat to a raucous home crowd.An Indian fan breached security and raced to the pitch to touch Kohli’s feet before he was dragged away.Kohli has the most ODI hundreds, with Indian great Sachin Tendulkar second with 49.He and 38-year-old Rohit returned to the ODI team after retiring from T20 and Test cricket.Their presence boosted India, led by KL Rahul in the absence of the injured Shubman Gill, after a 2-0 Test whitewash against South Africa.Rohit lost fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal early for 18 but Kohli walked in to a huge roar from a 38,000-strong capacity crowd.They pair steadied the innings and then took on the bowlers before Rohit was trapped lbw by Jansen.He hit five fours and three sixes in his 51-ball knock.India lost a couple more wickets but Kohli stood firm, even though South Africa put the brakes on the scoring in the middle overs.Kohli switched gears soon after reaching his first hundred since February and hit off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen for two fours and two sixes in a 21-run 39th over.He finally fell to Nandre Burger, caught by Ryan Rickelton, after hitting 11 fours and seven sixes.Rahul kept up the attack with 60 off 56 balls, while Ravindra Jadeja made 32 off 20.Aiden Markram is standing in as captain after Temba Bavuma was rested in the opener.

Low-lying areas of Sri Lanka’s capital were flooded on Sunday after a powerful cyclone triggered heavy rains and mudslides across the island, killing at least 212 people and leaving many more missing.Officials said the extent of the damage in the island’s worst-affected central region was only just being revealed as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides.The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said at least 212 people had died following a week of heavy rains brought on by Cyclone Ditwah, while 218 people were missing.The northern parts of Colombo were flooded as the water level in the Kelani River rose rapidly since Saturday, when mandatory evacuation orders were issued.”Although the cyclone has left us, heavy rains upstream are now flooding low-lying areas along the banks of the Kelani River,” a DMC official said.A helicopter from India that joined the relief efforts rescued 24 people on Sunday, including a pregnant woman and a man in a wheelchair, marooned in the central town of Kotmale, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) northeast of Colombo.Pakistan was also sending rescue teams, the Sri Lankan Air Force said, while Japan will also send a team to assess Sri Lanka’s immediate needs and has pledged assistance.The air force also said it had rescued two infants and a 10-year-old child from a hospital in the northern town of Chilaw, which was submerged on Saturday.Authorities said flood levels in the capital would take at least a day to recede, while dry weather was also forecast. Cyclone Ditwah moved north towards India on Saturday.- ‘Completely flooded’ -Selvi, 46, a resident of the Colombo suburb of Wennawatte, left her flooded home on Sunday, carrying four bags of clothes and valuables.”My house is completely flooded. I don’t know where to go, but I hope there is some safe shelter where I can take my family,” she told AFP.Receding water levels in the town of Manampitiya, 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Colombo, revealed massive destruction.”Manampitiya is a flood-prone town, but I have never seen such a volume of water,” said 72-year-old resident S. Sivanandan.He told the local News Centre portal that businesses and property had been extensively damaged. A car had flipped upside down in front of his shop, he said.A woman in central Wellawaya said she heard a loud noise and went outside to see boulders rolling down a mountainside before stopping near her home.”I saw trees falling and moving with the boulders. We are afraid to go back to our homes,” she told reporters after moving to a shelter on safer ground.- Deadliest in years -The National Blood Transfusion Service said supplies were short even though there have been relatively few injuries.Its chief, Lakshman Edirisinghe, said their daily requirement was about 1,500 units of blood but weather-related disruptions had reduced supply to just 236 units on Saturday.”Because of floods and heavy rains, we were unable to conduct our mobile campaigns to collect blood,” he told reporters in Colombo. “We appeal to donors to visit the nearest blood bank.”The National Building Research Organisation, which monitors the stability of hills, said there was a high risk of further landslides because mountain slopes were still saturated with rainwater.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency on Saturday to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone and appealed for international aid.The extreme weather system has destroyed more than 25,000 homes and sent 147,000 people into state-run temporary shelters.Nearly a million people required assistance after being displaced by the floods, the DMC said.The cyclone is Sri Lanka’s deadliest natural disaster since 2017, when flooding and landslides claimed more than 200 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.The worst flooding since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.

Entire areas of Sri Lanka’s capital were flooded on Sunday after a powerful cyclone triggered heavy rains and mudslides across the island, with authorities reporting nearly 200 dead and dozens more missing.Officials said the extent of the damage in the country’s worst-affected central region was only just being revealed as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides.The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said at least 193 people had died following a week of heavy rains brought on by Cyclone Ditwah, while 228 people were missing.The northern parts of Colombo were flooded as the water level in the Kelani River rose rapidly, the DMC said.”Although the cyclone has left us, heavy rains upstream are now flooding low-lying areas along the banks of the Kelani River,” a DMC official said.Cyclone Ditwah moved away towards India on Saturday.Selvi, 46, a resident of the Colombo suburb of Wennawatte, left her flooded home on Sunday, carrying four bags of clothes and valuables.”My house is completely flooded. I don’t know where to go, but I hope there is some safe shelter where I can take my family,” she told AFP.Water levels in the town of Manampitiya, 250 kilometres (156 miles) north-east of Colombo, were receding, revealing massive destruction.”Manampitiya is a flood-prone town, but I have never seen such a volume of water,” said 72-year-old resident S. Sivanandan.He told the local News Centre portal that businesses and property had been damaged extensively. A car had flipped upside down right in front of his shop.- Deadliest in years -Although there have been relatively few injuries, the National Blood Transfusion Service said they were in short supply.The blood bank chief, Lakshman Edirisinghe, said their daily requirement was about 1,500 units of blood, but the weather-related disruptions had reduced supply to just 236 units on Saturday.”Because of floods and heavy rains, we were unable to conduct our mobile campaigns to collect blood,” he told reporters in Colombo. “We appeal to donors to visit the nearest blood bank.”The National Building Research Organisation, which monitors the stability of hillsides, said there was a high risk of further landslides because mountain slopes were still saturated with rainwater.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency on Saturday to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone and appealed for international aid.India was the first to respond, sending relief supplies and two helicopters with crew to carry out rescue missions. Two more choppers were due to join on Sunday, officials said.Pakistan was also sending rescue teams, according to the Sri Lankan Air Force. Japan said it would send a team to assess immediate needs and pledged further assistance.The extreme weather system has destroyed more than 25,000 homes and sent 147,000 people into state-run temporary shelters.Another 968,000 people required assistance after being displaced by the floods.Troops from the army, navy, and air force have been deployed alongside civilian workers and volunteers to assist with the relief effort.The cyclone is Sri Lanka’s deadliest natural disaster since 2017, when flooding and landslides claimed more than 200 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.The worst flooding since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.