8 h. ago Top economists call for halt to Sri Lanka debt repayments after Cyclone Ditwah

Group of 120 experts including Joseph Stiglitz urge fresh debt restructuring plan given scale of destructionA group of the world’s top economists – including the Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz – have called for Sri Lanka’s debt payments to be suspended as it tackles the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.More than 600 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed across the island, in what Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, called the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history”. Continue reading...

Economics

1 week ago Sri Lanka issues fresh landslide warnings as Cyclone Ditwah death toll crosses 600

Ongoing monsoon rains are hitting areas already devastated by cyclone and further destabilising hillsides

Events

2 w. ago Sri Lanka’s tourism season hit as locals count the cost of deadly floods

Cyclone Ditwah caused devastating flooding and claimed nearly 500 lives last week

Events

2 w. ago British women stranded by landslides in Sri Lankan mountains running out of food and water, daughter says

Friends Melanie Watters and Janine Reid have been trapped in Pussellawa since ThursdayTwo British women stranded by landslides in Sri Lanka’s tea mountains are running out of food and water, the daughter of one of them has said, as officials reported that the death toll of Cyclone Ditwah has reached 465.Melanie Watters, 54, and her friend Janine Reid, 55, both from London, were being driven through the mountains from Kandy in central Sri Lanka on Thursday when the road in front of them was swamped, sending a bus nearby over a cliff-edge. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Satellite images reveal scale of flood devastation in Sri Lanka as 366 killed

Sri Lankan leader says island battling ‘largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history’

Events

2 w. ago ‘We have to rebuild from scratch’: Sri Lankans relive the devastation of Cyclone Ditwah

Many uncertain about the future after losing everything in the country’s deadliest natural disaster for yearsWhen the rains began, Layani Rasika Niroshani was not worried. The 36-year-old mother of two was used to the heavy monsoon showers that drench Sri Lanka’s hilly central region of Badulla every year. But as it kept pounding down without stopping, the family started to feel jittery.Some relocated to a relative’s house, but her brother and his wife decided to stay behind to collect the valuables. As they were inside, a landslide hit the family home. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Cyclone Ditwah mapped: Red alert in India as powerful storm leaves at least 123 dead in Sri Lanka

Storm expected to trigger heavy to extremely heavy rain across much of southern India

Events

3 w. ago Death toll from floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka rises to 123, with 130 people still missing

Sri Lankan authorities say the death toll from heavy floods and mudslides caused by Cyclone Ditwah has risen to 123 with 130 people still missing

Events

3 w. ago Death toll reaches 69 as Sri Lanka is hit by rising flood waters

Heavy rain from Cyclone Ditwah has left people stranded, with more than 18,000 evacuated to temporary sheltersTroops in Sri Lanka were racing to rescue hundreds of people marooned by rising flood waters on Friday as weather-related deaths rose to 69, with another 34 people declared missing.Helicopters and navy boats carried out rescue operations, plucking people from treetops, roofs and villages cut off by flood waters. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Cyclone Ditwah mapped: At least 56 dead in Sri Lanka as powerful storm tracks towards India

Storm expected to trigger heavy to extremely heavy rain across much of southern India from Friday

Events