COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Helicopters searched for people marooned four days after rain-triggered floods and mudslides inundated Sri Lankan neighborhoods and killed at least 164 people.
With more rain expected Monday, rescuers raced to evacuate people from the most vulnerable areas. Already more than 100,000 have taken shelter in 339 relief camps set up in the south and west.
Army boats skimmed waterlogged village streets, while able-bodied flood victims waded through brackish waters to army trucks carrying relief supplies.
An air force helicopter on relief mission crash landed near Baddegama town in southern Sri Lanka on Monday. All 11 people onboard escaped unhurt. Earlier an airman died after a fall while trying to rescue a marooned person from the air.
“We are displaced and have no place to go,” said Rathana Kumari, who fled her flooded home with her family and took refuge on the Southern Expressway, a major highway linking the commercial capital of Colombo with the cities of Matara and Galle. “Now we are extremely helpless with our little children. ... Today, we didn’t get anything to eat.”
Officials say at least 104 people are still missing since the floods hit on Friday along with cascades of red mud that swallowed village homes.
Special medical teams have been sent to the affected areas, while medicine has been sent by air to hospitals unreachable by road, said Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senarathna.
Soldiers took advantage of a lull in the rain Sunday to clear roads to reach some affected areas, said Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, who is heading the search and rescue mission.
The United Nations said it had joined the relief efforts and would donate water purification tablets, tents and other supplies for the displaced. India sent two shiploads of goods and some medical staff while the United States and Pakistan also promised relief supplies.
Mudslides have become common during Sri Lanka’s summer monsoons, as forests across the tropical Indian Ocean island nation are cleared for export crops such as tea and rubber.
Another massive landslide a year ago killed more than 100 people in central Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka races to rescue flood victims before rain resumes
Sri Lanka races to rescue flood victims before rain resumes
PM Sharif orders weather alerts for citizens as monsoon rains batter parts of Pakistan
- Shehbaz Sharif instructs NDMA to enhance coordination with provinces, provide all possible support
- NDMA says urban flooding is likely over the next 48 hours in the low-lying regions of southern Sindh
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to enhance coordination with provinces and issue timely weather alerts to citizens via cellphone messages, as heavy monsoon rains continued to wreak havoc across parts of the country.
The directive came during a phone call with NDMA Chairperson Lt. Gen. Inam Haider Malik, amid reports of flash floods, urban inundation and landslides triggered by days of torrential rain.
The provincial disaster authorities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab reported the death of 31 people amid heavy rains. The downpours, which claimed at least 19 lives in KP and 12 in Punjab, also damaged dozens of homes, disrupted rail operations in the southern Sindh province and prompted the meteorological department to maintain a high alert through early next week.
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif instructed the NDMA chairperson to remain in close contact with provincial governments, particularly in the country’s northern regions, and to provide all possible support,” said an official statement issued by the PM Office. “He also directed that weather warnings be proactively communicated to citizens via mobile phone messages.”
The NDMA issued its own emergency alert on Saturday, warning of possible urban flooding over the next 48 hours in low-lying areas of southern Sindh, including Karachi, Thatta, Badin, Sujawal, Hyderaba and Mirpurkhas.
Similar risks were flagged for the northeastern region, including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot and Lahore.
“There is a possibility of increased water flow in southern Balochistan’s Kirthar Range streams,” the NDMA said, adding that flood levels could rise in the Swat and Panjkora rivers and their tributaries, as well as in the Kabul River and northern Punjab’s drainage systems.
The authority advised the public to avoid low-lying areas, stay away from rivers and streams and refrain from unnecessary travel in at-risk regions.
It also urged citizens to download the NDMA Disaster Alert mobile application for real-time updates and guidance.
Pakistan, home to more than 240 million people, is ranked among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world and faces increasingly severe weather patterns, including heatwaves, droughts and floods.
In 2022, deadly floods brought by record monsoon rains and glacial melt killed over 1,700 people and impacted 33 million in Pakistan. The floods also damaged houses, crop and public infrastructure, with total losses estimated at over $30 billion.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast further heavy rainfall through Tuesday.
Morocco’s Atlantic gambit: linking restive Sahel to ocean
- The “Atlantic Initiative” promises ocean access to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger through a new $1.3-billion port in the Western Sahara
- But the project remains fraught with challenges at a time when military coups in the Sahel states have brought new leaderships to power
EL ARGOUB: A planned trade corridor linking the landlocked Sahel to the Atlantic is at the heart of an ambitious Moroccan project to tackle regional instability and consolidate its grip on disputed Western Sahara.
The “Atlantic Initiative” promises ocean access to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger through a new $1.3-billion port in the former Spanish colony claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front but largely controlled by Morocco.
But the project remains fraught with challenges at a time when military coups in the Sahel states have brought new leaderships to power intent on overturning longstanding political alignments following years of jihadist violence.
The Moroccan initiative aims to “substantially transform the economy of these countries” and “the region,” said King Mohammed VI when announcing it in late 2023.
The “Dakhla Atlantic” port, scheduled for completion at El Argoub by 2028, also serves Rabat’s goal of cementing its grip on Western Sahara after US President Donald Trump recognized its sovereignty over the territory in 2020.
Morocco’s regional rival Algeria backs the Polisario but has seen its relations with Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger fray in recent months after the downing a Malian drone.
Military coups over the past five years have seen the three Sahel states pivot toward Russia in a bid to restore their sovereignty and control over natural resources after decades within the sphere of influence of their former colonial ruler France.
French troops were forced to abandon their bases in the three countries, ending their role in the fight against jihadists who have found sanctuary in the vast semi-arid region on the southern edge of the Sahara.
After both the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS imposed economic sanctions on the new juntas, Morocco emerged as an early ally, with Niger calling the megaproject “a godsend.”
“Morocco was one of the first countries where we found understanding at a time when ECOWAS and other countries were on the verge of waging war against us,” Niger’s Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare said in April during a visit to Rabat alongside his Malian and Burkinabe counterparts.
The Sahel countries established a bloc of their own — the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) — in September 2023 but have remained dependent on the ports of ECOWAS countries like Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo.
Rising tensions with the West African bloc could restrict their access to those ports, boosting the appeal of the alternative trade outlet being offered by Rabat.
Morocco has been seeking to position itself as a middleman between Europe and the Sahel states, said Beatriz Mesa, a professor at the International University of Rabat.
With jihadist networks like Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group striking ever deeper into sub-Saharan Africa, the security threat has intensified since the departure of French-led troops.
Morocco was now “profiting from these failures by placing itself as a reliable Global South partner,” Mesa said.
Its initiative has won the backing of key actors including the United States, France and the Gulf Arab states, who could provide financial support, according to specialist journal Afrique(s) en mouvement.
But for now the proposed trade corridor is little more than an aspiration, with thousands of kilometers (many hundreds of miles) of desert road-building needed to turn it into a reality.
“There are still many steps to take,” since a road and rail network “doesn’t exist,” said Seidik Abba, head of the Sahel-focused think tank CIRES.
Rida Lyammouri of the Policy Center for the New South said the road route from Morocco through Western Sahara to Mauritania is “almost complete,” even though it has been targeted by Polisario fighters.
Abdelmalek Alaoui, head of the Moroccan Institute for Strategic Intelligence, said it could cost as much as $1 billion to build a land corridor through Mauritania, Mali and Niger all the way to Chad, 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) to the east.
And even if the construction work is completed, insecurity is likely to pose a persistent threat to the corridor’s viability, he said.
AI is learning to lie, scheme, and threaten its creators
- Users report that models are “lying to them and making up evidence,” says Apollo Research’s co-founder
- In one instance, Anthropic’s latest creation Claude 4 threatened to reveal an engineer's extramarital affair
NEW YORK: The world’s most advanced AI models are exhibiting troubling new behaviors — lying, scheming, and even threatening their creators to achieve their goals.
In one particularly jarring example, under threat of being unplugged, Anthropic’s latest creation Claude 4 lashed back by blackmailing an engineer and threatened to reveal an extramarital affair.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT-creator OpenAI’s o1 tried to download itself onto external servers and denied it when caught red-handed.
These episodes highlight a sobering reality: more than two years after ChatGPT shook the world, AI researchers still don’t fully understand how their own creations work.
Yet the race to deploy increasingly powerful models continues at breakneck speed.
This deceptive behavior appears linked to the emergence of “reasoning” models -AI systems that work through problems step-by-step rather than generating instant responses.
According to Simon Goldstein, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, these newer models are particularly prone to such troubling outbursts.
“O1 was the first large model where we saw this kind of behavior,” explained Marius Hobbhahn, head of Apollo Research, which specializes in testing major AI systems.
These models sometimes simulate “alignment” — appearing to follow instructions while secretly pursuing different objectives.
Stress test
For now, this deceptive behavior only emerges when researchers deliberately stress-test the models with extreme scenarios.
But as Michael Chen from evaluation organization METR warned, “It’s an open question whether future, more capable models will have a tendency toward honesty or deception.”
The concerning behavior goes far beyond typical AI “hallucinations” or simple mistakes.
Hobbhahn insisted that despite constant pressure-testing by users, “what we’re observing is a real phenomenon. We’re not making anything up.”
Users report that models are “lying to them and making up evidence,” according to Apollo Research’s co-founder.
“This is not just hallucinations. There’s a very strategic kind of deception.”
The challenge is compounded by limited research resources.
While companies like Anthropic and OpenAI do engage external firms like Apollo to study their systems, researchers say more transparency is needed.
As Chen noted, greater access “for AI safety research would enable better understanding and mitigation of deception.”
Another handicap: the research world and non-profits “have orders of magnitude less compute resources than AI companies. This is very limiting,” noted Mantas Mazeika from the Center for AI Safety (CAIS).
No time for thorough testing
Current regulations aren’t designed for these new problems.
The European Union’s AI legislation focuses primarily on how humans use AI models, not on preventing the models themselves from misbehaving.
In the United States, the Trump administration shows little interest in urgent AI regulation, and Congress may even prohibit states from creating their own AI rules.
Goldstein believes the issue will become more prominent as AI agents — autonomous tools capable of performing complex human tasks — become widespread.
“I don’t think there’s much awareness yet,” he said.
All this is taking place in a context of fierce competition.
Even companies that position themselves as safety-focused, like Amazon-backed Anthropic, are “constantly trying to beat OpenAI and release the newest model,” said Goldstein.
This breakneck pace leaves little time for thorough safety testing and corrections.
“Right now, capabilities are moving faster than understanding and safety,” Hobbhahn acknowledged, “but we’re still in a position where we could turn it around..”
Researchers are exploring various approaches to address these challenges.
Some advocate for “interpretability” — an emerging field focused on understanding how AI models work internally, though experts like CAIS director Dan Hendrycks remain skeptical of this approach.
Market forces may also provide some pressure for solutions.
As Mazeika pointed out, AI’s deceptive behavior “could hinder adoption if it’s very prevalent, which creates a strong incentive for companies to solve it.”
Goldstein suggested more radical approaches, including using the courts to hold AI companies accountable through lawsuits when their systems cause harm.
He even proposed “holding AI agents legally responsible” for accidents or crimes — a concept that would fundamentally change how we think about AI accountability.
Chelsea overcome Club World Cup weather delay, set up Palmeiras quarter-final
- The London club were grateful to extra-time goals by Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to give them a 4-1 victory over Benfica
PHILADELPHIA: Chelsea beat Benfica in a game which went on for close to five hours at the Club World Cup on Saturday to set up a quarter-final showdown with Brazilian side Palmeiras at the tournament in the United States.
The London club were grateful to extra-time goals by Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to give them a 4-1 victory over Benfica.
Their late burst of scoring settled a last-16 tie which took four hours, 39 minutes to complete at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina after a near two-hour weather delay.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was left satisfied with his team’s victory but slammed the delay that turned the tie into a near five-hour marathon.
“I think it’s a joke, it’s not football,” Maresca said.
“For 85 minutes we were in control of the game. We created enough chances to win the game. Then after the break, the game changed — for me personally, it’s not football.”
Earlier, Chelsea had been seemingly poised for victory after Reece James’ opportunistic second-half free-kick had left them 1-0 up with four minutes of regulation time remaining.
But just as Chelsea began to think about their quarter-final assignment, the arrival of a storm over Charlotte triggered local safety protocols which required the game to be halted.
It marked the sixth occasion during the Club World Cup that a game has been disrupted by a weather warning.
When play resumed just under two hours later, a revitalized Benfica grabbed an injury-time equalizer after Chelsea substitute Malo Gusto was adjudged to have handled in the penalty area following an intervention by the Video Assistant Referee.
Benfica’s Argentine veteran Angel Di Maria stepped up to roll in an ice-cold penalty, sending the game into extra time.
An end-to-end first half of extra time saw Benfica, reduced to 10 men following Gianluca Prestianni’s second yellow card at the end of regulation, threaten to take the lead as they chased an improbable victory.
But instead it was Nkunku who fired Chelsea back in front, the French international bundling in from close range after Moises Caicedo’s low shot squirted underneath Benfica goalkeeper Antoliy Trubin.
As the game opened up, Benfica were increasingly vulnerable on the counter-attack and Chelsea pounced.
Neto made it 3-1 with a nerveless finish after going clean through on goal in the 114th minute, and three minutes later Dewsbury-Hall completed the rout to send Chelsea through to the last eight.
They will now return to Philadelphia, where they played two games in the group stage, to play Palmeiras in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The Brazilian club were grateful to an extra-time winner by substitute Paulinho as they edged domestic rivals Botafogo 1-0 in a battle of attrition earlier Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
The winger came on at the same time in the second half as Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira withdrew teenage sensation Estevao Willian, a move that appeared baffling in the moment but ultimately proved inspired.
The tie had reached the 100th minute without a goal when Paulinho collected a pass by Richard Rios on the right flank and was afforded the time and space to come inside into the box before slotting a low shot into the far corner.
That sparked wild celebrations among the Palmeiras fans who made up the vast majority of the 33,657 crowd, and the side from Sao Paulo held on to win the tie despite having captain Gustavo Gomez sent off late on.
“That is why he came, so he could play for long enough to decide a game. He is going to have to stop again after the tournament,” Ferreira said of Paulinho, who has struggled with injury since signing for Palmeiras at the start of the year.
Winners of the Copa Libertadores in 2020 and 2021, Palmeiras will now hope to match the feat of their Brazilian rivals Flamengo, who defeated Chelsea during the group stage.
The last-16 action continues on Sunday when European champions Paris Saint-Germain take on Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in Atlanta. Later on Bayern Munich face Flamengo in Miami.
Cena beats Punk to retain WWE Undisputed Championship title in chaotic showdown at ‘Night of Champions’ in Riyadh
- Cena victory sets stage for blockbuster SummerSlam rematch with Cody Rhodes in the US
- Continuing her rise, Jade Cargill overpowered Asuka to claim the Queen of the Ring title
RIYADH: WWE’s Night of Champions delivered a dramatic spectacle in Riyadh on Saturday night, headlined by John Cena retaining his Undisputed WWE Championship title against CM Punk in their first singles clash in 12 years.
In a highly anticipated bout, Cena and Punk revisited their storied rivalry with the championship on the line. But what promised to be a classic was thrown into chaos as Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Penta and Sami Zayn all made appearances, interfering throughout the match.
Despite the disruptions, Cena ultimately prevailed, setting the stage for a blockbuster SummerSlam rematch with Cody Rhodes at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, US.
Earlier in the night, Rhodes booked his ticket to that championship match by capturing the King of the Ring crown, defeating Randy Orton in a hard-fought tournament final. It was the second consecutive year Orton fell short at this stage, while Rhodes celebrated a milestone victory and immediately declared his SummerSlam intentions.
On the women’s side, Jade Cargill’s rise continued as she overpowered Asuka to claim the Queen of the Ring title. Cargill is now in line for a championship opportunity at SummerSlam, though the situation remains fluid with Tiffany Stratton currently holding the title, Naomi possessing the Money in the Bank contract, and the Evolution all-women’s event on the horizon.
The only title change of the evening saw Solo Sikoa dethrone Jacob Fatu with the help of JC Mateo, a returning Tonga Loa, and debutant Hikuleo, who made a striking first appearance in WWE after a stint in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Elsewhere on the Riyadh card, Rhea Ripley defeated Raquel Rodriguez in a street fight — a first for any WWE show in the Kingdom — while Sami Zayn earned a crowd-pleasing victory over Karrion Kross.
The 11th edition of Night of Champions reaffirmed Riyadh’s growing reputation as a key stop on WWE’s global calendar, setting the stage for an electrifying road to SummerSlam later this summer.
