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The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said a peacekeeper was killed when a projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday (Mar 29).

Another peacekeeper was critically injured, it said in a statement early on Monday.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry said on Monday the deceased peacekeeper was one of its citizens and that three others were injured by indirect artillery fire in the vicinity of the Indonesian UNIFIL contingent’s position near Adchit al-Qusayr.

‘‘We do not know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of the circumstances,’‘ UNIFIL said.

UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel - an area that is at the heart of clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

The mission, which will be halted at the end of 2026, has been sporadically caught in the crosshairs of both Israel and Hezbollah over the last couple of years.

On Mar 6, Ghana’s armed forces said the headquarters of its UN peacekeeping battalion in Lebanon was hit by missile attacks, leaving two soldiers critically injured.

Israel’s military later acknowledged that its tank fire had hit a UN position in southern Lebanon that day, wounding the Ghanaian peacekeepers.

The military said its troops had responded to anti-tank missile fire from Hezbollah, which had moderately wounded two of its soldiers.

‘‘Once again, we call on all actors to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property at all times, including by refraining from actions that may put peacekeepers in danger,’‘ UNIFIL said.

Indonesia condemned the incident and said any harm to peacekeepers is unacceptable, while reiterating its condemnation ‘‘of Israel’s attacks in Southern Lebanon’‘.

Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on Mar 2 in solidarity with Tehran, two days after Iran was attacked by Israel and the US. 

Hezbollah’s attack prompted a new Israeli offensive against the group.

Source: adaderana.lk

The Department of Meteorology has forecast that warm weather conditions will continue to prevail across the island today (30).

According to the department, scattered showers or thundershowers may develop in parts of the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Northwestern provinces, as well as in the districts of Galle and Matara, mainly after 2.00 p.m.

In contrast, most other areas are expected to experience largely dry conditions throughout the day.

Misty weather is also likely during the early morning hours in parts of the Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces, along with Galle and Matara districts.

Authorities have urged the public to remain cautious and take necessary safety measures to reduce potential damage from sudden strong winds and lightning associated with thundershowers.

China’s flag carrier resumed direct flights between Beijing and North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang on Monday not long after the restoration of passenger train services between the capitals.

The Air China flight was welcomed by the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, and other diplomats, according to Chinese state media.

Passenger train service from China to North Korea had resumed March 12.

Flights and passenger trains to North Korea had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

North Korean carrier Air Koryo resumed flights between the capitals in 2023.

North Korea banned all foreign tourists during the pandemic but has started easing the restrictions, with a Russian tour group entering the country in 2024.

Chinese tour groups had made up 90% of all visitors to North Korea prior to the ban, and the delay on resuming Chinese tours surprised observers.

China is Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner and major ally, but Beijing has expressed disapproval over the years at North Korea’s test-launches of missiles that could be used to target South Korea and the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Beijing in September to attend a massive military parade, marking the first time a North Korean leader had been present at a Chinese military parade in decades.

Source:adaderana.lk

Pakistan’s foreign minister says both Iran and the US have ‘‘expressed confidence in Pakistan to facilitate’‘ talks.

He says Pakistan ‘‘will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days’‘.

However, there was no mention about whether Iran or the US had confirmed they would take part in peace talks.

Foreign minister Ishaq Dar made these comments following the first day of meetings in Islamabad between foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.

According to Dar, the group discussed possible ways to bring an early and permanent end to the war in the region. He expressed his profound gratitude to all three for their support to Pakistan’s efforts for peace in the region.

Dar also says he had spoken to the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Secretary General of the United Nations, both of whom expressed support for the peace initiative.

After a meeting earlier today between Pakistan’s prime minister and Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Pakistan released a separate statement saying Pakistan would ‘‘always stand shoulder to shoulder’‘ with Saudi Arabia and that Pakistan appreciated the ‘‘remarkable restraint’‘ exercised by the country.

Source: adaderana.lk

Donald Trump has been speaking recently on Air Force One, where he says the US believes it has achieved regime change in Iran, echoing comments made last week on Fox news, where he said, ‘‘You could really say we have regime change because they have been killed.’’

Speaking to reporters on board the plane, he says: ‘‘But we’ve had regime change if you look already because the one regime was decimated, destroyed, they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead, and the third regime we’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before, it’s a whole different group of people, so I would consider that regime change, and frankly they’ve been very reasonable.

‘‘So I think we’ve had regime change, I mean you can’t do much better than that.

‘‘The regime that was really bad, really evil ... the second was appointed, and they’re all gone, they’re all dead, other than one who may have a little life in him,’’ Trump says, citing the number of Iranian leaders killed in the month-long war.

He also says he believes Iran is likely to make a deal with the US.

‘‘I think we’ll make a deal with them, pretty sure, but it’s possible we won’t,’’ he says.

‘‘You never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them and then we have to blow them up,’’ he adds.

Source:adaderana.lk

Donald Trump has told the Financial Times he could ‘‘take the oil in Iran’’ and possibly seize the country’s major fuel hub of Kharg Island.

‘‘To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,’’ he said.

Trump suggested the move could mean taking Kharg Island. ‘‘Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,’’ Trump told the FT. ‘‘It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.’’

When asked about Iranian defence on the island he said: ‘‘I don’t think they have any defence. We could take it very easily.’’

The president’s comments come as a further 3,500 US troops arrived in the Middle East as fears grow that further escalation could expose American forces to Iranian attacks.

Trump added that indirect talks between US and Iran via Pakistan ‘‘emissaries’’ were progressing well, but declined to comment on whether a ceasefire deal could be reached soon.

‘‘A deal could be made fairly quickly,’’ he said.

Source:adaderana.lk

The US president Donald Trump is considering a military operation with the goal of extracting 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The operation ‘‘would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer’‘, according to the Journal, which cites unnamed security officials.

Trump has yet to make a decision, but ‘‘remains generally open to the idea, according to the officials, because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon.’‘

The BBC has reached out to the White House and the Pentagon for comment.

The New York Times reports that troops deployed to the region ‘‘could be used in a mission aimed at Iran’s highly enriched uranium at the Isfahan nuclear site’‘ but that they could also be used to seize Kharg Island or protect the Strait of Hormuz.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that Trump was ‘‘clearly considering’‘ an operation to ‘‘seize and destroy near-bomb-grade nuclear material believed to be largely stored deep under a mountain in Isfahan’‘.

Both outlets point out that the operation would be complicated and high-risk.

Source:adaderana.lk

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says the deaths of three journalists in Lebanon are “not only a deep loss for the media community in the region and the world, but also a serious wake-up call for the global conscience”.

Ali Shoeib, a reporter for Al Manar TV - a network run by the militant group Hezbollah - and Al Mayadeen reporters Fatima and Mohamed Fetoni were killed in an Israeli air strike in the town of Jezzine.

In a post on social media, Araghchi called the strikes “clearly a targeted assassination” and an attempt to “silence the voices of truth-tellers”.

Israel’s military has confirmed it killed Ali Shoeib in a strike, but accuses him of being a Hezbollah operative posing as a journalist.

This is the second time Israel has been accused of targeting journalists in Lebanon since the war began, writes our Middle East correspondent.

Meanwhile, Qatari news channel Al Araby has said that its Tehran office was damaged in an Israeli strike.

“An Israeli missile targets the Al Araby TV channel building in the capital, Tehran… extensive damage and the suspension of live broadcasting,” the channel said in a post on X.

Video posted by the channel showed the office strewn with broken furniture, its windows shattered.

The street outside was extensively damaged, with cars destroyed and debris over a wide area.

Source:adaderana.lk

Oil prices extended gains on Monday after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched over the weekend their first attacks on Israel since the ⁠start of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, widening the conflict in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures jumped $3.16, or 2.81%, to $115.73 a ⁠barrel by 2205 GMT after settling 4.2% higher on Friday.

U.S. West ⁠Texas Intermediate was at $102.77 a barrel, up $3.13, or ⁠3.14%, following a 5.5% gain ⁠in the previous session.

Source:adaderana.lk

Travelers stranded across the Gulf by airspace closures and airport disruptions are receiving crucial visa relief, as Saudi Arabia joins Qatar and Kuwait in extending deadlines and relaxing penalties for visitors whose permitted stays are expiring mid-crisis.

Coordinated Gulf Response to an Escalating Regional Crisis

The latest visa steps from Saudi Arabia follow earlier measures in Qatar and Kuwait, forming a patchwork of relief across the Gulf Cooperation Council as the conflict involving Iran, Israel and regional allies continues to disrupt aviation. Airspace closures, cancelled flights and damage or security scares at major hubs have left passengers stuck in transit cities with little warning and limited onward options.

Publicly available travel advisories and media coverage describe a sharp spike in cancellations and diversions from late February 2026 onward, particularly through Doha and Kuwait City, and increasingly through Saudi hubs as airlines reroute via Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam. In many cases, travelers arrived on short-stay visit visas that were never intended to cover week-long or open-ended delays.

Officials across the region have been under pressure to clarify whether stranded foreigners would face fines or immigration violations if their visas expired before they could secure a way out. Recent policy moves in Qatar, Kuwait and now Saudi Arabia indicate a shared attempt to prevent large-scale overstays from being treated as deliberate infractions when they are directly tied to the regional emergency, according to industry specialists.

The emerging Gulf approach mirrors ad hoc relief adopted by other countries outside the region, such as Sri Lanka and India, which have also issued temporary visa extensions and fee waivers for travelers trapped by Middle East flight cancellations.

Qatar’s Automatic One-Month Visa Extension Sets the Template

Qatar was among the first Gulf states to formally address the visa status of stranded visitors after its airspace was closed and commercial operations at Doha’s Hamad International Airport were heavily curtailed. Government notices and specialist immigration briefings indicate that, as of 28 February 2026, all categories of entry visas that had expired or were due to expire inside Qatar were granted an automatic one-month extension.

This automatic extension covers short-stay tourists, business visitors and many other temporary entrants who found themselves unable to depart.

Kuwait Offers Extra Time as Airport Operations Are Hit

In Kuwait, aviation and security incidents at Kuwait International Airport have produced their own set of complications for travelers. Media reports from late March describe a drone attack that triggered a fire near airport fuel facilities, prompting further cancellations and an extended period of reduced commercial operations. Combined with earlier disruptions linked to the broader regional conflict, these events have stranded both residents and visitors inside and outside the country.

Public discussion of Kuwait’s response references a temporary relaxation of residency and re-entry rules, including additional time for foreign residents who were unable to return before standard six-month cutoffs. Travelers and expatriates have circulated accounts of a three-month grace period being applied to those stuck abroad by flight unavailability, a significant buffer in a system that normally applies strict timelines.

Saudi Arabia Moves to Protect Stranded Visitors and Transit Passengers

Saudi Arabia, which has seen its own airports and land borders absorb diverted traffic and overland evacuees from Qatar and Kuwait, is now adopting targeted visa relief measures of its own. While the country has not closed its airspace to the same degree as some neighbors, reduced frequencies, regional detours and the influx of travelers seeking alternative routes have all combined to increase the number of foreign visitors staying longer than planned.

Recent travel-advisory summaries and regional news coverage indicate that Saudi authorities have introduced deadline extensions and fee relief for certain categories of visit visa holders whose authorized stays expired after the onset of the crisis. These measures reportedly focus on travelers whose exit plans were derailed by cancelled flights, closed transit hubs or suspended cross-border services, reflecting patterns seen in Qatar and Kuwait.

Source:adaderana.lk

Australia will halve the tax on fuel and diesel for three months in a push to bring down costs that have surged due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Prime Minister Anthony ⁠Albanese said on Monday.

The halving of the tax, known as the fuel excise, would reduce the cost of fuel by 26.3 Australian cents per litre, Albanese said.

‘‘We understand the cost pressures for people are very real ⁠as the impact of the war on the other side of the world plays out right here,’‘ Albanese told ⁠a press conference in Canberra.

The government would also pause the road user charge ⁠on heavy vehicles for three months.

The measures are expected to cost ⁠the government A$2.55 billion ($1.75 billion).

Source:adaderana.lk

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed gratitude towards Gulf nations for assistance to Indians residing there amid the West Asia conflict and noted that India is facing the global fuel crisis resolutely.

In the 132nd episode of his radio show Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi asked political parties and citizens not to politicise the West Asia conflict and avoid spreading rumours.

Noting the global turbulence amid the conflict between US-Israel and Iran, he said, ‘‘The month of March has been eventful at a global level. In the past, the entire world faced numerous problems for a long time due to the COVID. We all expected that after emerging through the COVID crisis, the world would move forward on the path of progress with a fresh start. But conditions of war and conflict continued to emerge in different regions of the world. Currently, a fierce war has been going on for a month in our neighbourhood. Relatives of lakhs of families reside in these countries, and particularly work in the Gulf countries. I am grateful to Gulf countries for providing every kind of assistance to over one crore Indians there.’‘

‘‘A crisis is developing around the world regarding petrol and diesel. Our global relations, the support we receive from various countries, and the strengths we have built over the past decade have enabled India to face these challenges resolutely. These are certainly challenging times. Today, through ‘Mann Ki Baat,’ I will once again urge all my countrymen that we must unite and overcome this challenge,’‘ the Prime Minister added.

Further, in a veiled jibe at the opposition, he said that there is ‘‘no place for self-serving politics.’‘

‘‘All those politicising the issue should not do it. This issue is connected to the interests of 140 crore Indians, and there is no place for self-serving politics. All those spreading rumours are causing great harm to the country. I would also like to appeal to all countrymen to remain vigilant and not be misled by rumours. Trust the constant information provided by the government and take action based on that,’‘ he said.

The conflict in West Asia began with Israel-US strikes on Iran on February 28, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As Iran retaliated, it widened the ambit of the conflict, affecting its neighbours in the region. While the crude oil prices increased in the global markets, the Centre has decided to slash the excise duty on petrol and diesel.

Amid the reported LPG crisis, the government has decided to move to Piped Natural Gas (PNG), fast-tracking the infrastructure for laying the pipelines.

PM Modi on Saturday held a telephonic conversation with Crown Prince and PM of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, during which both leaders discussed the ongoing conflict in West Asia. 

He has held conversations with several global leaders, including US President Donald Trump, amid the tensions in the region. 

Source: adaderana.lk