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India’s Chief of the Army Staff, General Upendra Dwivedi, is set to visit Sri Lanka this week as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen bilateral defence relations and deepen military cooperation between the two nations.According to reports by The New Indian Express, the Indian Army confirmed that General Dwivedi will travel to Sri Lanka on January 7 and 8, following the completion of an official visit to the United Arab Emirates. Upon arrival, he will be formally welcomed with a Guard of Honour by the Sri Lanka Army.

During his stay, General Dwivedi is expected to meet with senior military and civilian officials, including the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, the Deputy Minister of Defence, and the Defence Secretary. Discussions will focus on areas of shared interest such as training collaboration, capacity enhancement, and regional security cooperation.

The Indian Army further noted that the visiting Army Chief will deliver an address to officers at the Defence Services Command and Staff College and engage with officers and trainees at the Army War College in Buttala. These engagements highlight India’s continued support for defence education and professional military exchanges with Sri Lanka.

In addition, General Dwivedi will pay tribute at the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) War Memorial. The visit underscores India’s commitment to building trust, improving interoperability, and reinforcing defence partnerships with friendly nations across the Indian Ocean Region and West Asia.

A top Venezuelan official declared on Sunday that the country’s government would stay unified behind President Nicolas Maduro, whose capture by the United States has sparked deep uncertainty about what is next for the oil-rich South American nation.

Maduro is in a New York detention center awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges. U.S. President Donald Trump, who went golfing on Sunday, ordered his seizure from Venezuela on Saturday and said the U.S. would take control of the country.

But in Caracas, top officials in Maduro’s government, who have called the detentions of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping, were still in charge.

“Here, the unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed, and here there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. Let no one fall for the enemy’s provocations,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in an audio recording released by the ruling PSUV socialist party.

Images of the 63-year-old Maduro, opens new tab blindfolded and handcuffed on Saturday stunned Venezuelans. The operation was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America, opens new tab since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.

Without providing specifics, Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino said on state television the U.S. attack killed soldiers, civilians and a “large part” of Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood.” Venezuela’s armed forces have been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said.

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez — who also serves as oil minister — has taken over as interim leader with the blessing of Venezuela’s top court, though she has said Maduro remains president.

Because of her connections with the private sector and deep knowledge of oil, the country’s top revenue source, Rodriguez has long been considered the most pragmatic member of Maduro’s inner circle. But she has publicly contradicted Trump’s claim she is willing to work with the United States.

Trump said Rodriguez may pay a bigger price than Maduro “if she doesn’t do what’s right,” according to an interview with The Atlantic magazine on Sunday.

The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that remark.

‘A QUARANTINE ON THEIR OIL’

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela’s next leader should be aligned with U.S. interests. Those include keeping Venezuela’s oil industry out of the hands of U.S. adversaries and stopping drug trafficking. He cited an ongoing U.S. blockade on tankers under sanctions as leverage.

“That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people are met,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The Venezuelan government has said for months Trump was seeking to take the country’s vast natural resources, especially its oil, and officials made much of his comment on Saturday that major U.S. oil companies would move in.

“We are outraged because in the end everything was revealed — it was revealed that they only want our oil,” added Cabello.

Once one of the most prosperous nations in Latin America, Venezuela’s economy tanked in the 2000s under President Hugo Chavez and nosedived further under Maduro, sending about one in five Venezuelans abroad in one of the world’s biggest exoduses.

MUTED STREETS

Some Maduro supporters gathered at a government-sponsored protest march on Sunday afternoon in Caracas.

Once ruled by Spain, Venezuela’s “people must not surrender, nor should we ever become a colony of anyone again,” said demonstrator Reinaldo Mijares. “This country is not a country of the defeated.”

Maduro opponents in Venezuela have been wary of celebrating his seizure, and the presence of security forces seemed, if anything, lighter than usual on Sunday.

Despite a nervous mood, some bakeries and coffee shops were open and joggers and cyclists were out as usual. Some citizens were stocking up on essentials.

“Yesterday I was very afraid to go out, but today I had to. This situation caught me without food and I need to figure things out. After all, Venezuelans are used to enduring fear,” said a single mother in oil city Maracaibo who bought rice, vegetables and tuna.

To the disappointment of Venezuela’s opposition, Trump has given short shrift to the idea of 58-year-old opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado taking over, saying she lacked support.

Machado was banned from standing in the 2024 election but has said her ally Edmundo Gonzalez, 76, who the opposition and some international observers say overwhelmingly won that vote, has a democratic mandate to take the presidency.

LOOMING QUESTIONS

It is unclear how Trump plans to oversee Venezuela and he runs the risk of alienating some supporters who oppose foreign interventions.

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the White House has failed to say how long the U.S. intends to be in Venezuela and how many American troops might be required.

“The American people are worried that this is creating an endless war — the very thing that Donald Trump campaigned against,” Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week.” He said lawmakers would weigh a measure to constrain further Trump administration action in Venezuela, though its prospects could be uncertain given that Congress is controlled by Trump’s Republicans.

While many Western nations oppose Maduro, there were many calls for the U.S. to respect international law and questions arose over the legality of seizing a foreign head of state.

In a statement on Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, echoing the message put forth by the Trump administration since Maduro’s capture, described the action as a “law enforcement mission” to force him to face U.S. criminal charges filed in 2020, including narco-terrorism conspiracy.

Maduro has denied criminal involvement.

The U.N. Security Council planned to meet on Monday to discuss the attack. Russia and China, both major backers of Venezuela, have criticized the U.S.

(Source:adaderana.lk)

The Attorney General has formally requested the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to provide information on further investigative work carried out by a CID team that visited the United Kingdom as part of a probe into the alleged misuse of public funds involving former President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

According to a report by The Sunday Times, the request seeks extracts of additional findings from the UK-based inquiries linked to allegations that Rs. 16.6 million in state funds were misappropriated during an overseas tour undertaken while Wickremesinghe was in office. The request was conveyed through a written directive addressed to the CID Director and signed by Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Perera.The Attorney General had earlier informed the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court of his intention to seek Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) from UK authorities under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act to support the investigation.

In the correspondence, the Attorney General also noted that the officer leading the investigation had failed to report to the AG’s Department despite being instructed to do so for the purpose of compiling relevant documentation. Additionally, the letter highlighted that the CID team had traveled to London without first securing an MLA request from the UK authorities.

The investigation remains ongoing as authorities review procedural and evidentiary aspects of the case.

Three out of four of Moscow’s airports shut to air traffic on Sunday (Jan 4) after Ukraine launched dozens of drones at the Russian capital, authorities said.

The attacks led to multiple flight delays, including at Moscow’s second-busiest airport, Vnukovo, Russian media reported.

Ukraine, which has itself endured waves of Russian drone strikes throughout the nearly four-year war, did not immediately comment.

A spokesman for Russian aviation regulator Rosaviatsia announced the closures between 1300 GMT and 1400 GMT. 

“The restrictions are necessary to ensure flight safety,” Artem Korenyako said on Telegram.

Each of the airports - Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky - partially reopened less than an hour later, he said in later posts.

Russian air defences downed at least 27 drones headed towards the capital on Sunday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced in a series of Telegram posts.

Russia, which launched a full-scale military assault on its neighbour in 2022, has repeatedly closed its airspace in response to the Ukrainian drone strikes.

The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, on the border with Ukraine, said a Ukrainian drone strike earlier Sunday on a car carrying a family killed one person and wounded two others, including a four-year-old.

(Source:Adaderana.lk)

Interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez invited U.S. President Donald Trump “to collaborate” and said she seeks “respectful relations” in a newly conciliatory message released Sunday night.

After delivering speeches projecting fierce defiance to the Trump administration this weekend, Rodriguez’s statement in English on her Instagram account marked a dramatic shift in tone.

“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” she wrote.

Her message comes shortly after Trump threatened that she could “pay a very big price” if she didn’t fall in line with U.S. demands.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not govern Venezuela day-to-day other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, a turnaround after President Donald Trump has insisted that the U.S. would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.

Rubio’s statements seemed designed to temper concerns that the assertive action to achieve regime change in Venezuela might lead the U.S. into another prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at nation-building.

They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the U.S. would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.

Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the U.S. would continue to enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power early Saturday and use that leverage as a means to press policy changes in Venezuela.

“And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking.”

The blockade on sanctioned oil tankers — some of which have been seized by the U.S. — “remains in place, and that’s a tremendous amount of leverage that will continue to be in place until we see changes that not just further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,” he added.

Leaders in Venezuela have so far pushed back, calling on the Trump administration to release Maduro.

Even before the operation that nabbed Maduro, experts questioned the legality of aspects of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro, including the deadly bombing of boats accused of trafficking drugs that some scholars said stretched the boundaries of international law.

Cuba on Sunday night announced that 32 Cuban security officers were killed in the U.S. operation in Venezuela, which Trump acknowledged: “You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday.”

“There was a lot of death on the other side,” Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “No death on our side.”

Trump still says U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela

The president’s vow, repeated more than half a dozen times at a Florida news conference on Saturday, sparked concerns among some Democrats.

It also drew unease from parts of his own Republican coalition, including an “America First” base that is opposed to foreign interventions, and from observers who recalled past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying Trump’s intent had been misunderstood.

“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” Rubio said. “This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.”

He also suggested the U.S. would give Maduro’s subordinates now in charge time to govern, saying, “We’re going to judge everything by what they do.” Though he did not rule out boots on the ground in Venezuela, Rubio said the U.S., which has built up its presence in the region, was already capable of stopping alleged drug boats and sanctioned tankers.

A day earlier, Trump had told reporters, “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

He later pointed to his national security team with him, including Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said it would be done for a period of time by “the people that are standing right behind me. We’re gonna be running it, we’re gonna be bringing it back.”

Despite Rubio’s seeking to tamp down that notion, Trump reiterated Sunday that the U.S. would control Venezuela, saying, “We’re going to run everything.”

“We’re going to run it, fix it,” he said Sunday. He added, “We’ll have elections at the right time” but didn’t say when that might be.

Maduro due in court Monday
A middle-of-the-night operation extracted Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas — an act Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

The dramatic seizure capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.

Rodríguez has called Maduro the country’s rightful leader, even as her nation’s high court named her interim president.

So did Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, who said the country’s armed forces “categorically reject the cowardly kidnapping” and will “maintain internal order and peace.”

Asked about Rodríguez comments in which she stands by Maduro, Trump said, “I don’t think it’s pushback” and suggested her calling what occurred a kidnapping of Maduro wasn’t “a bad term.”

Maduro is due to make his first appearance Monday in Manhattan’s federal court.

He and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.

Quiet falls in Venezuela after U.S. operation

Venezuela’s government kept operating as usual over the weekend as ministers remained in their posts.

The capital was unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around and convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses closed.

Maduro’s son, lawmaker Nicolás Ernesto Guerra, has not appeared in public since the attack. On Saturday, he posted on Instagram a government statement repudiating the capture of his father and stepmother.

The country’s incoming National Assembly is set to be sworn in at the legislative palace in Caracas. The unicameral assembly will remain under control of the ruling party.

Under Venezuelan law, Rodríguez would take over from Maduro. Rodriguez stressed during a Saturday appearance on state television that she did not plan to assume power, before Venezuela’s high court ordered that she assume the interim role.

Trump told The Atlantic in an interview Sunday that Rodríguez could “pay a very big price” if she doesn’t do what he thinks is right for Venezuela. Speaking to reporters later, Trump said Rodríguez is “cooperating” but reiterated the threat. He said he wanted her to provide “total access,” from major oil operations to basic infrastructure like roads, so all can be rebuilt.

His warning contrasted with his comments about Rodríguez on Saturday when he said Rubio had spoken with her and she was willing to do what the U.S. thinks is needed to improve the standard of living in Venezuela.

(Source: adaderana.lk)

The Department of Meteorology has forecast unsettled weather conditions across several parts of the country today, driven by a low-level atmospheric disturbance located to the southeast of Sri Lanka.

Periods of rain are expected in the Eastern and Uva provinces, as well as in the Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Polonnaruwa, and Mullaittivu districts. In certain locations within the Eastern Province and in Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Badulla, Polonnaruwa, and Mullaittivu, rainfall amounts could exceed 50 millimetres.The Met. Department also noted that districts including Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Vavuniya are likely to experience several rounds of showers throughout the day. Elsewhere, particularly in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in the Galle and Matara districts, showers or thundershowers may develop after 2.00 p.m.

In addition to rainfall, strong winds reaching speeds of up to 50 kilometres per hour may occur at times over the eastern slopes of the central hills, as well as in the Northern, North-Central, North-Western, and Eastern provinces. Similar windy conditions are expected in the Hambantota, Gampaha, Colombo, and Monaragala districts.The public has been advised to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions to reduce potential damage from sudden strong winds and lightning associated with thundershowers.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States might launch a second military strike on Venezuela following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro if remaining members of the administration do not cooperate with his efforts to get the country “fixed.”

Trump’s comments to reporters aboard Air Force One raised the possibility of further U.S. military interventions in Latin America, and suggested Colombia and Mexico could also face military action if they do not reduce the flow of illicit drugs to the United States.

“Operation Colombia sounds good to me,” Trump said. He also said that Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela, “looks like it’s ready to fall” on its own without U.S. military action.

Maduro is in a New York detention center awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges. His capture by the United States has sparked deep uncertainty about what is next for the oil-rich South American nation.

Trump said his administration will work with remaining members of the Maduro regime to clamp down on drug trafficking and overhaul its oil industry, rather than push for immediate elections to install a new government.

Top officials in Maduro’s government are still in charge and have called the detentions of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores a kidnapping.

“Here there is only one president, whose name is Nicolas Maduro Moros. Let no one fall for the enemy’s provocations,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in an audio recording released by the ruling PSUV socialist party.

Images of the 63-year-old Maduro, blindfolded and handcuffed stunned Venezuelans. The operation was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America, since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.

Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino said on state television the U.S. attack killed soldiers, civilians and a “large part” of Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood.” Venezuela’s armed forces have been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said.

The Cuban government said 32 of its citizens were killed during the raid.
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez — who also serves as oil minister — has taken over as interim leader with the blessing of Venezuela’s top court and has said Maduro remains president.

Rodriguez has long been considered the most pragmatic member of Maduro’s inner circle. But she has publicly contradicted Trump’s claim she is willing to work with the United States.

Trump said Rodriguez may pay a bigger price than Maduro “if she doesn’t do what’s right,” according to an interview with The Atlantic magazine on Sunday.
The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that remark.

‘A QUARANTINE ON THEIR OIL’

Trump’s administration has described Maduro’s capture as a law-enforcement mission to force him to face U.S. criminal charges filed in 2020, including narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro has denied criminal involvement.

But Trump also said U.S. oil companies need “total access” to the country’s vast reserves and suggested that an influx of Venezuelan emigrating to the United States also factored into the decision to capture Maduro.

“What really played (into the decision to capture Maduro) is the fact that he sent millions of people into our country from prisons and from mental institutions, drug dealers, every drug addict in his country was sent into our country,” Trump said.

The Venezuelan government has said for months Trump was seeking to take the country’s natural resources, especially its oil, and officials made much of a previous Trump comment that major U.S. oil companies would move in.

“We are outraged because in the end everything was revealed — it was revealed that they only want our oil,” Cabello said.

Once one of the most prosperous nations in Latin America, Venezuela’s economy tanked in the 2000s under President Hugo Chavez and nosedived further under Maduro, sending about one in five Venezuelans abroad in one of the world’s biggest exoduses.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Venezuela’s next leader should keep Venezuela’s oil industry out of the hands of U.S. adversaries and stop drug trafficking and cited an ongoing U.S. blockade on tankers.

“That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interest of the Venezuelan people are met,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

MUTED STREETS

Some Maduro supporters gathered at a government-sponsored protest march on Sunday afternoon in Caracas.

Once ruled by Spain, Venezuela’s “people must not surrender, nor should we ever become a colony of anyone again,” said demonstrator Reinaldo Mijares. “This country is not a country of the defeated.”

Maduro opponents in Venezuela have been wary of celebrating his seizure, and the presence of security forces seemed, if anything, lighter than usual on Sunday.

Despite a nervous mood, some bakeries and coffee shops were open and joggers and cyclists were out as usual. Some citizens were stocking up on essentials.

“Yesterday I was very afraid to go out, but today I had to. This situation caught me without food and I need to figure things out. After all, Venezuelans are used to enduring fear,” said a single mother in oil city Maracaibo who bought rice, vegetables and tuna.

To the disappointment of Venezuela’s opposition, Trump has given short shrift to the idea of 58-year-old opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado taking over, saying she lacked support.

Machado was banned from standing in the 2024 election but has said her ally Edmundo Gonzalez, 76, who the opposition and some international observers say overwhelmingly won that vote, has a democratic mandate to take the presidency.

LOOMING QUESTIONS

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the White House has failed to say how long the U.S. intends to be in Venezuela and how many American troops might be required.

“The American people are worried that this is creating an endless war — the very thing that Donald Trump campaigned against,” Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week.” He said lawmakers would weigh a measure to constrain further Trump administration action in Venezuela, though its prospects could be uncertain given that Congress is controlled by Trump’s Republicans.

While many Western nations oppose Maduro, there were many calls for the U.S. to respect international law and questions arose over the legality of seizing a foreign head of state.

The U.N. Security Council planned to meet on Monday to discuss the attack. Russia and China, both major backers of Venezuela, have criticized the U.S.

(Source:adaderana.lk)

Schools across the country are resuming academic activities today  with the commencement of the first phase of the first term of the 2026 academic year, the Ministry of Education announced.

The reopening applies to all government schools, government-approved private schools, and pirivenas, in accordance with the academic calendar outlined in a circular issued on December 9, 2025. The Ministry had previously concluded the 2025 academic year on December 22 for Sinhala and Tamil schools, while Muslim schools closed for the year on December 26.Under ongoing education reforms, revised curricula are scheduled to be introduced in stages. The new syllabus for Grade 6 will come into effect on January 21, 2026, followed by the updated Grade 1 curriculum beginning on January 29. Despite this timeline, administrative processes for admitting students to Grade 6 in other schools based on the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination results will commence today and continue throughout the week.

The Ministry also noted that several schools currently serving as temporary shelters for families displaced by Cyclone Ditwah will remain closed until further notice.The first phase of the first school term will run until January 9, 2026. Meanwhile, the remaining papers of the G.C.E. Advanced Level examination, which were postponed due to the cyclone, are scheduled to be conducted from January 12, 2026.

Former Minister Johnston Fernando appeared before the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) today (January 5) as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged improper use of a vehicle owned by Lanka Sathosa.

Police had earlier cautioned that legal action, including obtaining an arrest warrant, would be pursued if the former minister failed to present himself to investigators as directed. The inquiry focuses on claims that a Sathosa-owned lorry was misused, resulting in a substantial financial loss to the state.In a related development, Indika Ratnamalala, who served as the Transport Manager of Lanka Sathosa during Fernando’s tenure as Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade, was arrested yesterday (January 4). He was later produced before the Wattala Magistrate’s Court and ordered to be remanded until January 9.

According to investigators, Ratnamalala is accused of falsifying official documents at the request of the minister’s son, Johan Fernando. The alleged alterations were reportedly made to enable a Sathosa lorry to be used for operations at an ethanol company said to be linked to the former minister.

The season’s first heavy rains and snowfall ended a prolonged dry spell but triggered flash floods in several areas of Afghanistan, killing at least 17 people and injuring 11 others, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s national disaster management authority said Thursday.

The dead included five members of a family in a property where the roof collapsed on Thursday in Kabkan, a district in the Herat province, according to Mohammad Yousaf Saeedi, spokesman for the Herat governor. Two of the victims were children.

Most of the casualties have occurred since Monday in districts hit by flooding, and the severe weather also disrupted daily life across central, northern, southern, and western regions, according to Mohammad Yousaf Hammad, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.

Hammad said the floods also damaged infrastructure in the affected districts, killed livestock, and affected 1,800 families, worsening conditions in already vulnerable urban and rural communities.

Hammad said the agency has sent assessment teams to the worst-affected areas, with surveys ongoing to determine further needs.

Afghanistan, like neighboring Pakistan and India, is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, particularly flash floods following seasonal rains.

Decades of conflict, poor infrastructure, deforestation, and the intensifying effects of climate change have amplified the impact of such disasters, especially in remote areas where many homes are made of mud and offer limited protection against sudden deluges.

The United Nations and other aid agencies this week warned that Afghanistan is expected to remain one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises in 2026. The UN and its humanitarian partners launched a $1.7 billion appeal on Tuesday to assist nearly 18 million people in urgent need in the country.

(Source:adaderana.lk)

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Arun Hemachandra has stated that action is being taken through diplomatic channels in response to the seizure and destruction of a Sri Lankan fishing vessel within the maritime zone of Seychelles.

According to the Deputy Minister, Sri Lankan authorities are working in coordination with officials attached to the Sri Lankan High Commission in Seychelles after receiving information about the incident. The fishing vessel, identified as Ishani-1, had departed from the Wennappuwa Wellamankaraya Fishery Harbour on December 7, 2025, carrying six fishermen on board. It was taken into custody by Seychelles authorities on December 30, 2025.Subsequent reports indicated that the vessel was later set on fire and destroyed. Hemachandra noted that Sri Lanka has taken into consideration the official statement issued by Seychelles security forces and continues to maintain close communication with relevant authorities to closely follow developments.

He further confirmed that necessary consular support has already been extended to the Sri Lankan fishermen who were aboard the vessel, ensuring their welfare while diplomatic engagements continue.

Growing unrest in Iran is reported to have claimed more lives on a fifth day of protests over the soaring cost of living.

Both the semi-official Fars news agency and human rights group, Hengaw, said two people had died during clashes between protesters and security forces in the city of Lordegan, in south-western Iran. Three more people were killed in Azna and another in Kouhdasht, Fars reported, all in the west of the country.

On Thursday videos posted on social media showed cars set on fire during running battles between protesters and security forces.

Many protesters have called for ending the rule of the country’s supreme leader. Some have also called for a return to the monarchy.

As the day wore on more reports came in of unrest up and down the country, on the fifth day of the protests, sparked by a currency collapse.

Videos verified by BBC Persian show protests in the central city of Lordegan, the capital Tehran and Marvdasht in the southern Fars province taking place on Thursday.

Fars reported that in Lordegan two people were killed, citing an informed official. The report did not specify whether those killed were protesters or members of the security forces. It also reported the three deaths in Azna, in neighbouring Lorestan province, without specifying if there were protesters or security officials.

Rights group Hengaw said the two killed in Lordegan were protesters, naming them as Ahmad Jalil and Sajjad Valamanesh.

BBC Persian has not been able to independently verify the deaths.

Separately state media said a member of the security forces linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) was killed in clashes with protesters on Wednesday night in the city of Kouhdasht, in the western Lorestan province.

The BBC has not been able to verify this and protesters say the man was one of their number and was shot dead by the security forces.

A further 13 police officers and Basij members were injured by stone throwing in the area, the state media report said.

Schools, universities and public institutions were closed across the country on Wednesday after a bank holiday was declared by authorities in an apparent effort to quell the unrest.

It was ostensibly to save energy because of the cold weather, though it was seen by many Iranians as an attempt to contain the protests.

They began in Tehran - among shopkeepers angered by another sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency against the US dollar on the open market.

By Tuesday, university students were involved and they had spread to several cities, with people chanting against the country’s clerical rulers.

The protests have been the most widespread since an uprising in 2022 sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was accused by morality police of not wearing her veil properly. But they have not been on the same scale.

To prevent any escalation, tight security is now reported in the areas of Tehran where the demonstrations began.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his government will listen to the “legitimate demands” of the protesters.

But the prosecutor general, Mohammad Movahedi-Azad, has also warned that any attempt to create instability would be met with what he called a “decisive response”.

(Source:Adaderana.lk)