Politics
Sri Lanka declares emergency as cyclone toll hits 132

- Over 15,000 homes destroyed, sending 78,000 to shelters.
- Military rescues 69 bus passengers, including German tourist.
- Govt appeals for international help to support communities.
Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Saturday and appealed for international assistance as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 132, with another 176 reported missing.
The extreme weather system has destroyed more than 15,000 homes, sending 78,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake invoked emergency laws, granting him sweeping powers to deal with the devastation after a week of torrential rain across the island.
“We have 132 confirmed dead and another 176 missing,” DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said, adding that relief efforts had been bolstered with the deployment of the army, navy and air force.
The military rescued 69 bus passengers on Saturday, including a German tourist, who were marooned in the Anuradhapura district after a 24-hour operation involving a helicopter and naval boats.
One of the passengers, speaking to reporters at a local hospital, said navy sailors had helped them climb onto the roof of a nearby home after using ropes to help them safely wade through flood waters.
“We were very lucky… while we were on the roof, a part of it collapsed… three women fell into the water, but they were helped back onto the roof,” Shantha said.
A helicopter had to abort an initial rescue attempt as the downdraft from the rotors threatened to blow away the roof they were perched on, he said.
They were later rescued by naval boats.
Roads in the central district of Badulla remained inaccessible, leaving many villages cut off and relief supplies unable to get through.
“We lost two people in our village… others are sheltering at a temple and a house that is still standing,” said Saman Kumara from the village of Maspanna in Badulla, one of the worst-affected districts.
No clean water
“We can’t leave the village and no one can come in because all roads are blocked by earth slips. There is no food and we are short of clean water,” he told media website News Center by telephone.
Officials said about a third of the country was without electricity and running water as power lines had collapsed and water purification facilities were inundated. Internet connections were also disrupted in many areas.
Cyclone Ditwah moved away from the island on Saturday and was heading towards neighbouring India to the north.
India’s Chennai Airport has cancelled 54 flights in view of the cyclone’s approach, with the weather department forecasting extremely heavy rainfall and strong winds over the next 48 hours.
Fresh landslides hit the central district of Kandy, 115 kilometres (71 miles) east of Colombo, with the main access road underwater at several locations.
The government has issued an appeal for international help and asked Sri Lankans abroad to make cash donations to support affected communities.
Officials said Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya had met Colombo-based diplomats to update them on the situation and seek assistance from their governments.
India was the first to respond, sending two plane loads of relief supplies, while an Indian warship already in Colombo on a previously planned goodwill visit donated its rations to help victims.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in Sri Lanka and said New Delhi was ready to send more aid.
Flooding in low-lying areas worsened on Saturday, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for those living along the banks of the Kelani river, which flows into the Indian Ocean from Colombo.
Rain had eased in most parts of the country, including the capital, but the island´s north was still experiencing showers due to the residual effects of Cyclone Ditwah.
The cyclone is Sri Lanka’s deadliest natural disaster since 2017, when flooding and landslides killed more than 200 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.
The worst flooding Sri Lanka has experienced since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.
Politics
White House briefly locked down after Secret Service shooting in Washington

The US Secret Service said on Monday it was on the scene of an officer-involved shooting in Washington in which one person was shot by law enforcement.
“US Secret Service personnel are on the scene of an officer-involved shooting at 15th Street and Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C. One individual was shot by law enforcement; their condition is currently unknown,” the Secret Service said in a statement on X. The White House was briefly locked down on Monday afternoon.
The DC Police Department said police were on the scene of the probe.
“The scene is secure. Avoid the area as roads will be closed for several hours,” police said in a statement.
Law enforcement agents have been on alert in recent days in the US capital following a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner late last month, over which a suspect has been arrested.
This is a developing story, and it is being updated with new developments.
Politics
UAE says air defences engage Iranian missiles, drones as flights diverted

- Iran denied targeting UAE.
- Attacks disrupt inbound UAE flights.
- Attacks injure three, reignite ME tensions.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said its air defences were engaging missile and drone threats on Monday evening as firefighters battled a blaze at a major oil industry zone following a drone attack which authorities said had originated from Iran.
The Gulf Arab state’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the attacks marked a serious escalation and posed a direct threat to the country’s security, adding that the UAE reserved its “full and legitimate right” to respond.
Multiple flights bound for the UAE diverted to Muscat in Oman, while other inbound aircraft circled over Saudi Arabia, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24, as the attacks caused widespread disruption to air traffic.
Iranian state media, citing a senior military official, said Iran had no plan to target the UAE, whose defence ministry said earlier on X that it had intercepted three Iranian missiles over its territorial waters and a fourth crashed into the sea.
The drone attacks shattered a period of relative calm in the region since a Pakistani-mediated ceasefire between Washington and Tehran took effect on April 8, pausing more than a month of intense fighting in the Gulf region.
Civil defence teams were deployed immediately to contain the blaze at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, the Fujairah Media Office said in a statement, adding that three Indian citizens were moderately injured in the attack and taken to hospital.
By Monday evening, the ministry said air defence systems were actively engaging further missile and drone threats.
“All airports in the UAE are closed for the time (being),” the captain on one inbound flight to Dubai told passengers, adding that aircraft would be diverted to the Omani capital.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy issued a map it said showed an expansion of areas under Iranian control near the Strait of Hormuz, encompassing the UAE ports of Fujairah and Khorfakkan as well as the coast of the Umm Al Quwain emirate, Iranian news agencies reported.
During the period of intense conflict earlier this spring, the UAE said it had intercepted and destroyed thousands of drones and missiles.
UAE authorities on Monday issued mobile phone alerts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi warning of the possibility of missile attacks.
Monday’s strike was not the first time Fujairah’s energy infrastructure had been targeted. A drone attack on March 14 had previously hit the Port of Fujairah, triggering fires and the suspension of some oil-loading operations.
Fujairah has been critical to UAE oil exports during the Iran war as it sits at the end of the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, which carries crude from inland fields to the Gulf of Oman, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
This has allowed the UAE to continue shipping oil to global markets even as the waterway remained under threat.
Politics
Iran says it forced US warship back from Strait of Hormuz

Iran said it had forced a US warship to turn back from entering the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, although US Central Command quickly denied a report of a missile strike.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters Iran had fired a warning shot and that it was unclear whether the warship had been damaged.
Oil prices jumped 5% on renewed concerns that the vital oil route, already shut for over two months at huge cost to the global economy, would remain blocked for considerably longer, with little sign of progress towards a negotiated resolution of Washington’s conflict with Iran.
Iran’s navy said it had prevented “American-Zionist” warships from entering the Strait area by issuing a “swift and decisive warning”.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said two missiles had hit the warship near the port of Jask at the southern entrance to the strait, but Centcom denied that any warship had been struck.
It said its forces were supporting President Donald Trump’s “Project Freedom”, which aims to “guide out” commercial ships stranded in the Gulf by the US-Israeli war on Iran, and were enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump gave few details of his plan to aid ships and their crews who have been confined to the vital waterway and are running low on food and other supplies. Shipping companies gave no sign of being ready to resume sailings.
“We have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site on Sunday.
Iranian military’s warning
In response to Trump’s announcement, Iran’s unified command told commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any movement that was not coordinated with Iran’s military.
“We have repeatedly said the security of the Strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be coordinated with the armed forces,” Ali Abdollahi, head of the forces’ unified command, said in the statement.
“We warn that any foreign armed forces, especially the aggressive US Army, will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has blocked nearly all shipping into and out of the Gulf apart from its own since the start of the war, cutting off around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas shipments and sending oil prices soaring by 50% or more.
Centcom said it would support Trump’s “Project Freedom” with 15,000 military personnel and more than 100 land- and sea-based aircraft, plus warships and drones.
“Our support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade,” Admiral Brad Cooper, the Centcom commander, said in a statement.
‘Convoys not a solution’
Hundreds of commercial vessels and as many as 20,000 seafarers have been unable to transit the strait during the conflict, the International Maritime Organisation says.
Container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd said on Monday its risk assessment was unchanged and that transit through the strait was still not possible.
Numerous executives from the shipping and oil industries have said they need an end to hostilities and some form of peace deal because military convoys alone are not enough to allow normal traffic to resume safely.
The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of attacking an empty crude oil tanker belonging to the Abu Dhabi state oil firm ADNOC with drones as it attempted to pass through the strait.
In a rare piece of good news, Pakistan said the US had handed over 22 crew from an Iranian container vessel that American forces had seized last month.
Islamabad, which has been trying to broker a peace deal, described the US move as a “confidence-building measure”.
The Trump administration has been seeking help from other countries to secure shipping in the Strait. Centcom said the latest effort announced by Trump would combine “diplomatic action with military coordination”.
It was not immediately clear which countries the US operation would aid or how the operation would work. It will not necessarily include US Navy ships escorting commercial ships, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said in a post on X.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump said any interference with the US operation would have to be “dealt with forcefully”.
Iran reviews US response to peace proposal
The United States and Israel suspended their bombing campaign against Iran four weeks ago, and US and Iranian officials held one round of face-to-face talks. But attempts to set up further meetings have failed.
Iranian state media said on Sunday Washington had conveyed its response to a 14-point Iranian proposal via Pakistan, and that Tehran was now reviewing it. Neither side gave details.
A senior Iranian official has confirmed that Tehran envisages ending the war on all fronts — including Israel’s attacks on Lebanon — and resolving the shipping standoff first, while leaving talks on Iran’s nuclear programme for later.
Washington wants Tehran to give up its stockpile of more than 400kg (900 pounds) of highly enriched uranium, which the United States says could power a bomb.
Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful, although it is willing to discuss some curbs in return for the lifting of sanctions. It had accepted such curbs in a 2015 deal that Trump abandoned.
Trump is under pressure to break Iran’s hold on the Strait of Hormuz to try to prevent soaring gasoline prices, causing a voter backlash against his Republican Party in midterm congressional elections in November.
-
Tech1 week agoA Brain Implant for Depression Is About to Be Tested in Humans
-
Tech1 week agoAlmost 90% of women leave tech industry within 10 years | Computer Weekly
-
Business1 week agoPakistan’s oil market is fuelling the crisis | The Express Tribune
-
Business1 week ago‘I had £20,000 stolen and had to fight a 13-month fraud reporting rule to get it back’
-
Sports6 days agoPro wrestling star Steph De Lander reveals how colleague’s advice helped lead her to title triumph at ACW
-
Entertainment1 week agoNorway joins Type 26 Frigate Programme to boost NATO naval power
-
Entertainment1 week agoMelania Trump says ABC should ‘take a stand’ on late-night host Kimmel
-
Tech7 days agoThis Ambitious Laptop Doesn’t Leave Much Room for Your Hands
