Foreign News
Eleven dead and dozens missing in two shipwrecks
At least 11 people have died and more than 60 are missing as a result of two shipwrecks off the coast of southern Italy, rescuers say.
German charity RESQSHIP said it picked up 51 people from a sinking, wooden boat and found 10 bodies trapped in the lower deck near the island of Lampedusa on Monday.
In a separate incident on the same day, more than 60 people were reported missing, with 26 of them feared to be children, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said.
The boats were carrying migrants who had set off from Libya and Turkey, UN agencies said.
Survivors of the shipwreck near Lampedusa were handed over to the Italian coastguard and taken ashore on Monday morning, while the deceased were being towed to the island, according to RESQSHIP.
The boat had set off from Libya, and was carrying migrants from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN children’s agency UNICEF said in a joint statement.
The other shipwreck was located about 125 miles off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy, the agencies said.
One of the surviving 12 people died after disembarking, the Italian coastguard said.
MSF’s Shakilla Mohammadi said she heard from survivors that 66 people were unaccounted for, including at least 26 children, some only a few months old.
“Entire families from Afghanistan are presumed dead. They left from Turkey eight days ago and had taken in water for three or four days. They told us they had no life vests and some vessels did not stop to help them,” she said in a statement.
The Mediterranean is the deadliest known migration route in the world.
More than 23,500 migrants have died or gone missing in its waters since 2014, according to UN data.
[BBC]
At least 31 people have died after a powerful cyclone struck Madagascar, says the disaster authority in the Indian Ocean island.
Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, hitting the island’s main port, Toamasina. Madagascar’s disaster management office said there was “total chaos” – reporting that houses collapsed in the impact zone, where the bodies were found.
Neighbourhoods were plunged into darkness as power lines snapped, while trees were uprooted and roofs ripped off.
“What happened is a disaster, nearly 75% of the city of Toamasina was destroyed,” the country’s military leader Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, told the AFP news agency.
“The current situation exceeds Madagascar’s capabilities alone,” he added.
The cyclone’s landfall is likely to have been one of the most intense recorded around the city in the satellite era, according to the CMRS cyclone forecaster on France’s Reunion island, AFP reports.
The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management said many were killed when houses collapsed. Cyclone Gezani hit Toamasina – the country’s second-largest city – with winds reaching 250 km/hour (155 mph).
“It’s total chaos, 90% of house roofs have been blown off, entirely or in part,” the head of disaster management at the Action Against Hunger aid agency, Rija Randrianarisoa, told AFP.
Madagascar’s disaster management office has evacuated dozens of injured people and hundreds of residents from a district around Toamasina, home to 400,000 people.
Residents in and around Toamasina described scenes of chaos as the cyclone made landfall. “I have never experienced winds this violent… The doors and windows are made of metal, but they are being violently shaken,” Harimanga Ranaivo told the Reuters news agency.
Gezani is the second cyclone to hit Madagascar this year. It comes 10 days after tropical cyclone Fytia killed 14 and displaced over 31,000 people, according to the UN’s humanitarian office.
Ahead of the cyclone’s arrival, officials shuttered schools and rushed to prepare emergency shelters.
Madagascar’s meteorological service said on Wednesday morning that Gezani had weakened to a moderate tropical storm and had moved westward inland, about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital, Antananarivo.
“Gezani will cross the central highlands from east to west today, before moving out to sea into the Mozambique Channel this evening or tonight,” the service said.
Cyclone season in the Indian Ocean around Madagascar normally lasts from November to April and sees around a dozen storms each year, AFP reports.
[BBC]
Nearly 127 million eligible voters are heading to the polls in Bangladesh, in a key test of the country’s return to democracy after a student-led uprising toppled longtime leader Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
The vote is a direct contest between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a Jamaat-e-Islami led coalition of 11 parties, which includes the National Citizens Party (NCP), formed by youth activists instrumental in ousting Hasina.
Corruption, inflation, employment and economic development are the main issues deciding the election in the world’s eighth most populous nation.
Besides the parliamentary election, the country is holding a referendum on the National Charter 2025 – a document drafted by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, setting the foundation for future governance.
[Aljazeera]
An airline in Somalia has praised one of its pilots after he crash-landed his passenger plane, which had suffered a technical fault, on the shoreline next to the capital’s international airport with all 55 on board surviving.
Starsky Aviation said the pilot’s quick thinking was crucial in saving the 50 passengers and five crew.
The crew of the aircraft, a Fokker 50, reported a problem shortly after take off from Mogadishu on Tuesday morning and requested that the plane return, Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.
It then touched down but failed to stop on the runway, overshooting the tarmac before coming to rest in shallow water, the CAA’s director Ahmed Macalin Hassan said.
It is not clear yet exactly what the issue was.
Footage posted on X appeared to show passengers leaving the aircraft and walking away from the wreckage on the shore of the Indian Ocean. No serious injuries have been reported.
The African Union’s mission in Somalia said UN and AU troops were “swiftly deployed” to help with rescue efforts. Somalia’s transport minister was also at the scene, its post on X added.
“We are relieved to confirm that all passengers and crew are safe. Investigations are under way to establish what caused the technical issue that led to the emergency landing,” Starsky spokesman Hassan Mohamed Aden said.
“The pilot’s swift and calm decision-making played a decisive role in ensuring the safety of everyone on board, and we commend him for how he handled the situation,” he added.
[BBC]
Namibia look to make a splash with India battling injury and illness
Powerful cyclone kills at least 31 as it tears through Madagascar port
US House votes to overturn Trump’s tariffs on Canada
Buoyed by strong support, Paudel’s Nepal search for two points against Italy
Bangladesh election 2026: Polls to open amid heavy security
Sri Lanka, minus Hasaranga, take on Oman at bogey venue
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
Features4 days agoMy experience in turning around the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) – Episode 3
-
Business5 days agoZone24x7 enters 2026 with strong momentum, reinforcing its role as an enterprise AI and automation partner
-
Business4 days agoRemotely conducted Business Forum in Paris attracts reputed French companies
-
Business4 days agoFour runs, a thousand dreams: How a small-town school bowled its way into the record books
-
Business4 days agoComBank and Hayleys Mobility redefine sustainable mobility with flexible leasing solutions
-
Business1 day agoAutodoc 360 relocates to reinforce commitment to premium auto care
-
Business5 days agoHNB recognized among Top 10 Best Employers of 2025 at the EFC National Best Employer Awards
-
Business5 days agoGREAT 2025–2030: Sri Lanka’s Green ambition meets a grid reality check