Latest News
Forty-nine die after boat capsizes off Yemen – International Organization for Migration (IOM)
At least 49 people from the Horn of Africa have died after their boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Among the dead were six children and 31 women. Survivors told rescuers that the vessel, carrying 260 migrants, sank on Monday in strong winds.
The search continues for 140 people who are still missing.
The boat left Somalia at 03:00 (01:00 BST) on Sunday carrying 115 Somali nationals and 145 Ethiopians, part of a recent rise in migration from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, according to the IOM.
Local authorities in Rudum, east of Aden, said that those on board were migrants who use Yemen as a transit point to reach Gulf states.
According to the IOM, tens of thousands of people a year attempt the journey, crossing by sea from the Horn of Africa to Yemen and then travelling on to Saudi Arabia or other wealthier nations.
Hadi al-Khurma, the director of Rudum district told Reuters news agency the boat sank before it reached the shore.
Fishermen and residents managed to rescue survivors, who reported that more migrants were missing from the same boat, Mr al-Khurma said. “The search is still ongoing and the United Nations has been informed of the incident,” he said.
The IOM said the ongoing search and rescue operation has been challenged by a shortage of operational patrol boats. It said it was providing aid to 71 survivors, including six children, with eight migrants referred to hospital.
In a statement on Tuesday, IOM spokesman Mohammedali Abunajela said “this recent tragedy is another reminder of the urgent need to work together to address urgent migration challenges”.
According to the UN, 97,000 migrants arrived in Yemen from the Horn of Africa last year. They are motivated by political and economic instability, droughts and other extreme weather events in their own countries, the organisation said.
The number of migrants arriving to Yemen annually has tripled from around 27,000 in 2021 to more than 90,000 in 2023, the IOM said. The increase has occurred despite the war in Yemen and recent Houthi assaults on ships in the Red Sea.
The journey is perilous: Since 2014, the IOM has recorded 1,860 migrant deaths and disappearances along the route from East Africa and the Horn of Africa to the Gulf, including 480 people who drowned.
[BBC]
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]
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)
Asif Khan the UAE batter, has been banned for 15 months after admitting to having tested positive for a banned substance – “a metabolite of mesterolone” – in an out-of-competition test conducted in September 2025, the ICC said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement said that Asif, 36, “had admitted the violation” of Article 2.1 of the ICC’s anti-doping code and accepted the period of ineligibility “pursuant to a case resolution agreement entered into with the World Anti-Doping Agency and the ICC”, which means there is no right to appeal on the part of the player.
The sanction is effective from September 8, 2025 and will run until December 7, 2026.
“Asif may return to training with a team or use the facilities of a club or other ICC Member organisation from 8 October 2026 but will only be eligible to play from 8 December,” the statement added. “The player’s individual results from 8 September 2025 until his provisional suspension on 29 December 2025 have been disqualified, along with all resulting consequences, including the loss of any medals, points, prize money or prizes.”
Asif, a former Pakistan Under-19 cricketer, made his UAE debut in March 2022 in an ODI against Oman in the ICC’s Cricket World Cup League 2. He turned out in 38 ODIs and 56 T20Is between then and September 2025.
The last three of those T20Is, against India, Oman and Pakistan in the T20 Asia Cup in 2025, came after September 8, and will be removed from his record.
[Cricinfo]
More than 360 dead, 1,400 missing in Nepal and Tibet after Himalayan floods
Bosnian Serb convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic dies
Prince of Wales to celebrate 150th anniversary with six-a-side cricket
Unyielding Dinusha, spirited tail hold off India to save Colombo Test
US golfer Gogel gets six-month ban for betting
UAE’s Asif Khan handed 15-month ban for using a banned substance
‘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
-
News7 days agoCountry’s first woman Surveyor General appointed
-
Business6 days agoSriLankan Airlines makes ShakthiSAT Mission possible for talented Sri Lankan student
-
Features7 days agoMedical education in Sri Lanka: Then and now
-
Latest News6 days agoImran Khan moved to private hospital amid deteriorating health
-
Latest News7 days agoGovernment has declared 21, 22 and 23 August 2026 as national days of mourning
-
Features5 days agoMy secondary schooling after Royal Primary
-
Latest News6 days agoTharanga edges out Chopra in 88m javelin battle
-
News7 days ago22A: Opp. demands all available SC judges hear petitions