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Sri Lanka Seeks Foreign Help as Cyclone Toll Hits 123

People wade through a flooded road after heavy rainfall in Kaduwela on the outskirts of Colombo on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)
People wade through a flooded road after heavy rainfall in Kaduwela on the outskirts of Colombo on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)
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Sri Lanka Seeks Foreign Help as Cyclone Toll Hits 123

People wade through a flooded road after heavy rainfall in Kaduwela on the outskirts of Colombo on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)
People wade through a flooded road after heavy rainfall in Kaduwela on the outskirts of Colombo on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance on Saturday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing.

The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.

Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the army, navy and air force.

"We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing," Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo.

Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island Saturday and was heading towards neighboring India to the north, but it had already left massive destruction in its wake.

"Relief operations with the help of the armed forces are underway," Kotuwegoda said.

Fresh landslides hit the central district of Kandy, 115 kilometers (72 miles) east of Colombo, with the main access road under water at several locations.

"Fiber optic cables have snapped at many places and mobile phones are not working because base stations have been flooded," a DMC official told AFP.

He said a special unit had been deployed to restore communication lines, as several remote areas remained inaccessible by road after mudslides in tea-growing mountainous regions.

The government issued an appeal for international help and asked Sri Lankans abroad to make cash donations to support nearly half a million affected people.

Officials said Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya had met with Colombo-based diplomats to update them on the situation and seek the help of their governments.

India was the first to respond, sending two planeloads of relief supplies, while an Indian warship already in Colombo on a previously planned goodwill visit donated its rations to help victims.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in Sri Lanka and said New Delhi was ready to send more aid.

"We stand ready to provide more aid and assistance as the situation evolves," Modi said on X.

Flooding in low-lying areas worsened on Saturday, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for those living along the banks of the Kelani River, which flows into the Indian Ocean from Colombo.

The Kelani burst its banks on Friday evening, forcing hundreds of people into temporary shelters, the DMC said.

Rain had eased in most parts of the country, including the capital, but parts of the island's north were still experiencing showers due to the residual effects of Cyclone Ditwah.

DMC officials said they expected flood levels to exceed those recorded in 2016, when 71 people were killed nationwide.

This week's weather-related toll is the highest since June last year, when 26 people were killed following heavy rains. In December, 17 people died in flooding and landslides.

The worst flooding Sri Lanka has experienced since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed.

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World

China Conducts Patrol Around Disputed South China Sea Shoal

This aerial photo shows the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea during an aerial reconnaissance flight. (AFP/Getty Images)
This aerial photo shows the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea during an aerial reconnaissance flight. (AFP/Getty Images)
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China Conducts Patrol Around Disputed South China Sea Shoal

This aerial photo shows the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea during an aerial reconnaissance flight. (AFP/Getty Images)
This aerial photo shows the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea during an aerial reconnaissance flight. (AFP/Getty Images)

China conducted naval, air and coast guard patrols around the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Sunday, its military and Coast Guard said.

The shoal is in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone but China also claims it ‌as part ‌of its territory.

The ‌patrols came ⁠after Beijing and ⁠Manila restarted high-level talks last week over the disputed waters and discussed oil and gas cooperation in the area.

The talks were also ⁠the first broader discussion ‌on bilateral relations ‌since March 2023, aimed at ‌confidence building among others, the Philippine ‌foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Recent maritime confrontations have heightened tensions, with Manila accusing Beijing of "dangerous maneuvers" and deploying ‌water cannon to interfere with its resupply missions in ⁠contested ⁠areas.

"Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to cope with all sorts of rights-violation and provocative acts," the Chinese military's Southern Theater Command said in a statement on Sunday.

The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

World

High Hopes at China's Gateway to North Korea as Trains Resume

The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP
The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP
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High Hopes at China's Gateway to North Korea as Trains Resume

The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP
The sun rises over the North Korean town of Sinuiju, behind the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge (L) and the Yalu River Broken Bridge (R), as seen from the border city of Dandong, in China's northeast Liaoning province on March 26, 2026. GREG BAKER / AFP

Now retired, Wang Meili wants to see the world -- including North Korea, the reclusive nation that lies across the river from her lifelong home in northeastern China.

North Korea has long kept tight control over foreign visitors, and effectively sealed its borders at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, AFP said.

It has since partly reopened and restored daily passenger train services with China this month, but has not yet resumed issuing tourism visas to Chinese citizens, who once made up the bulk of its overseas visitors.

"We'd like to get visas to go. I've already got my passport," said 68-year-old Wang, who grew up in the border city of Dandong.

In another apparent sign of North Korea's reopening, Air China is set to resume flights to Pyongyang on Monday.

But for now, only those with work or study visas can go.

AFP journalists in Dandong, the main gateway for cross-border travel and trade, saw a mostly empty passenger train rattle over a bridge into North Korea this week.

Nearby, tourists on another bridge, partly destroyed by US bombs during the Korean War, posed for photographs and peered through binoculars at the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the opposite shore.

Tour boats took curious sightseers to gaze at North Koreans cycling along the Yalu river separating the two countries or cleaning boats on the bank. Uniformed guards stood at regular points along the boundary.

Li Shuo, the manager of a Dandong-based travel agency, said the resumption of passenger train services had had "no impact" on his business.

Unable to run tours into North Korea, he has been offering trips through border areas so customers can catch glimpses into the secretive state from a distance.

"We can only wait for news" on tourism visas, Li said, adding that they "would be a good thing for domestic tourists".

"Many people want to go," he said.

- 'The people are brainwashed' -

Others were less keen.

One Chinese tourist from the northeastern city of Shenyang told AFP that a peek at North Korea from Dandong was close enough for him.

"It's totalitarian over there, the people are brainwashed," he said, declining to provide his name given the sensitivity of the topic and his public-sector job.

"Actually, there's brainwashing here in China too, but it's not as severe," he said.

AFP also spoke to tourists from outside mainland China -- including Hong Kong, Japan and Australia -- all drawn to Dandong for a rare view of the country it borders.

Louis Lamb, a 22-year-old nurse from Brisbane, told AFP that travelling into North Korea was "a bucket-list item".

"You can see (North Korea) from a certain perspective in what we see from our media," said Lamb, adding that he would like to experience the country for himself.

Although stretches of the opposite riverbank appeared "desolate", he said, "it's a lot more developed than I thought".

China is a major backer for diplomatically isolated North Korea, though Pyongyang has notably drawn closer to Russia since the start of the Ukraine war.

But trade with China, much of it through Dandong, is a key lifeline for North Korea's moribund economy, under UN sanctions because of its nuclear weapons program.

Cross-border shipments swelled to $2.7 billion last year and have nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, according to Chinese customs data.

AFP journalists saw a steady stream of trains and freight trucks hauling cargo from Dandong to Sinuiju.

- 'Going home soon' -

For some in Dandong, North Korea's tentative reopening kindled hope of returning home.

Thousands of North Koreans are thought to reside in the city of two million people, despite sanctions banning them from working overseas.

North Korea's abrupt border closure in 2020 stranded many of them abroad for years, and Pyongyang later beefed up defenses along the frontier to dissuade illegal crossings.

Staff at a North Korean restaurant in Dandong forbade AFP journalists from filming or taking photos of a large screen showing a patriotic music and dance performance.

One waitress from Pyongyang told AFP she had been in China for over six years without returning home.

Western experts say such workers endure miserable living and working conditions, have their movements restricted and see most of their wages commandeered by the North Korean state.

But after a long wait, travel between the two nations now seemed to be getting easier, the waitress said, declining to give her name.

"I'll be going home soon."

World

Report: Pentagon Preparing for Weeks of Ground Operations in Iran

US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
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Report: Pentagon Preparing for Weeks of Ground Operations in Iran

US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
US Marines join in the Cobra Gold US-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, the Washington Post reported Saturday, ‌citing US ‌officials.

The plans ‌could ⁠involve raids by ⁠Special Operations and conventional infantry troops, the Post reported. Whether President Donald Trump would approve ⁠any of those ‌plans ‌remains uncertain, according to ‌the Post.

The Trump ‌administration has deployed US Marines to the Middle East as the ‌war in Iran stretches into its ⁠fifth ⁠week, and also has been planning to send thousands of soldiers from the US Army's 82nd Airborne to the region.