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Explosions hit Syrian capital – local media
Explosions have hit Damascus, the Syrian capital, according to local reports.
There were also “plumes of smoke” seen across different sites in the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Videos, which the BBC has not verified, showed a large cloud of smoke and buildings destroyed.
It comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East since the Israel-Gaza war. There were reports of casualties in the explosion, which is understood to have taken place the Mazzeh neighbourhood, south-west Damascus. The Mazzeh area is home to a military airport, as well as the UN headquarters in Damascus, embassies and restaurants.
A resident told AFP news agency that they saw “explosions” in the western Mazzeh area and “a large cloud of smoke”. “The sound was similar to a missile explosion, and minutes later I heard the sound of ambulances,” he added.
The Middle East has been on heightened alert since 7 October, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,300 people, mainly civilians, and taking 240 hostages back to Gaza. More than 132 hostages are thought to still be held in the territory.
More than 24,900 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israel says its ground and air operation in Gaza is aimed at destroying Hamas.
The conflict has raised concerns about a wider war spreading around the region, particularly between fierce rivals Israel and Iran. Tehran has a host of supportive groups operating in the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. It also supports groups in Iraq and Syria.
Last month a suspected Israeli air strike just outside Damascus killed a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
(BBC)
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Sun directly overhead Kokkuvil, Nallur, Kodikamam and Nagar Kovil at about 12.11 noon today (28)
The sun is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 28th of August to 07th of September due to its apparent southward relative motion.
The nearest places of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (28) are Kokkuvil, Nallur, Kodikamam and Nagar Kovil about 12.11 noon.
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More than 360 dead, 1,400 missing in Nepal and Tibet after Himalayan floods
Some 360 bodies have been recovered and more than 1,400 people are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after a huge collapse of mud and rock into a Himalayan river triggered catastrophic flooding across local towns and valleys, authorities have said.
Rescue teams waded through mud on Thursday searching for the missing, as authorities in Nepal said at least 359 people have been killed there.
At least three people have died in the neighbouring Tibet region.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived at the mudslide site in Tibet on Thursday afternoon to “guide emergency rescue and relief work” a day after the disaster, state media reported.
Nepalese police and tourism officials said that more than 500 foreigners were among 910 people missing in Nepal.
Among the missing are tourists from more than two dozen countries: 177 are from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 25 from Canada.
Beijing’s foreign ministry also said nearly 100 Chinese nationals were among the missing in Nepal.
In Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people are reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Search and rescue operations are proving to be a “massive challenge” as just simply “getting to the affected areas … to try and recover the survivors”, is proving to be extremely difficult as the roads and bridges there have suffered extensive damage, said Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
[Aljazeera]
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India 503/9 decl (Devdutt Padikkal 117, Dhruv Jurel 115; Asitha Fernando 4-106, Prabath Jayasuriya 2-132) drew with Sri Lanka 290 (Sonal Dinusha 103, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and 429/9 f/o (Sonal Dinusha 133*, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 92; Ravindra Jadeja 3-94, Manav Suthar 3-121)
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