-
PSG eye becoming France's first 'Invincibles'
-
Late birdie burst lifts Ryder to Texas Open lead
-
Five potential Grand National fairytale endings
-
Trump purges national security team after meeting conspiracist
-
More work for McIlroy even with two wins before Masters
-
Trump hopeful of 'great' PGA-LIV golf merger
-
No.1 Scheffler goes for third Masters crown in four years
-
Where Trump's tariffs could hurt Americans' wallets
-
Trump says 'very close to a deal' on TikTok
-
Trump tariffs on Mexico: the good, the bad, the unknown
-
Postecoglou denies taunting Spurs fans in Chelsea defeat
-
Oscar-winning Palestinian director speaks at UN on Israeli settlements
-
With tariff war, Trump also reshapes how US treats allies
-
Fernandez fires Chelsea into fourth as pressure mounts on Postecoglou
-
South Korea court to decide impeached president's fate
-
Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island
-
E.T., no home: Original model of movie alien doesn't sell at auction
-
Italy's Brignone has surgery on broken leg with Winter Olympics looming
-
Trump defiant as tariffs send world markets into panic
-
City officials vote to repair roof on home of MLB Rays
-
Rockets forward Brooks gets one-game NBA ban for technicals
-
Pentagon watchdog to probe defense chief over Signal chat row
-
US tariffs could push up inflation, slow growth: Fed official
-
New Bruce Springsteen music set for June 27 release
-
Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's tariffs list
-
Zuckerberg repeats Trump visits in bid to settle antitrust case
-
US fencer disqualified for not facing transgender rival
-
'Everyone worried' by Trump tariffs in France's champagne region
-
Italy's Brignone suffers broken leg with Winter Olympics looming
-
Iyer blitz powers Kolkata to big IPL win over Hyderabad
-
Russian soprano Netrebko to return to London's Royal Opera House
-
French creche worker gets 25 years for killing baby with drain cleaner
-
UK avoids worst US tariffs post-Brexit, but no celebrations
-
Canada imposing 25% tariff on some US auto imports
-
Ruud wants 'fair share' of Grand Slam revenue for players
-
Lesotho, Africa's 'kingdom in the sky' jolted by Trump
-
Trump's trade math baffles economists
-
Gaza heritage and destruction on display in Paris
-
'Unprecedented crisis' in Africa healthcare: report
-
Pogacar gunning for blood and thunder in Tour of Flanders
-
Macron calls for suspension of investment in US until tariffs clarified
-
Wall St leads rout as world reels from Trump tariffs
-
Mullins gets perfect National boost with remarkable four-timer
-
Trump tariffs hammer global stocks, dollar and oil
-
Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
-
Tate Modern gifted 'extraordinary' work by US artist Joan Mitchell
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's new tariffs list
-
Tonali eager to lead Newcastle back into Champions League
-
Lesotho hardest hit as new US tariffs rattle Africa
Cyclone Biparjoy eases over Indian coast
Cyclone Biparjoy tore down power poles and uprooted trees Friday after pummelling the Indian coastline, but the storm was weaker than feared and there were only two confirmed deaths.
More than 180,000 people in the Indian state of Gujarat and Pakistan's neighbouring Sindh province fled the path of Biparjoy -- which means "disaster" in Bengali -- before it made landfall on Thursday evening.
The storm packed sustained winds of up to 125 kilometres (78 miles) per hour as it struck -- but weakened overnight, with Indian forecasters expecting it to calm into a moderate low-pressure system by late Friday.
Two men in Bhavnagar district died on Thursday evening after drowning in flood waters, the Gujarat state government said.
Another 23 people had been injured in the storm, relief director C.C. Patel told AFP.
Driving rain and howling winds continued to lash the state's coast on Friday despite the worst of the danger receding.
"There was no light, it was all pitch dark. The buffaloes were wailing," farmer Usman Karmi, 48, told AFP.
"I've never seen a storm like this in my life, it was very frightening."
State relief commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters that nearly 500 homes had been partially damaged after Biparjoy made landfall.
More than 1,000 villages around the coast were without electricity on Friday as the force of the storm knocked down power lines.
Rescue crews were working to clear trees knocked onto roads and restore access to villages.
In Gujarat, more than 100,000 people had been moved from the storm's path before it struck, the state government said, as well as 82,000 others in Pakistan.
Pakistan climate change minister Sherry Rehman said "no human lives were lost" on her side of the border.
"Thank God it did not directly hit the coastal areas of Pakistan," she told broadcaster Dunya.
- 'So far, so good' -
On Friday, shops and markets gradually reopened under drizzling skies and a cool ocean breeze in Thatta, a city around 50 kilometres inland.
"So far, so good," said 40-year-old government worker Hashim Shaikh. "We were pushed into a state of fear for the past several days, but now it seems to be over."
In the fishing port of Keti Bandar -- forecast to be hardest hit by the storm -- "there was zero damage", according to engineer Rahimullah Qureshi from the provincial irrigation department.
Cyclones are a regular and deadly menace on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean, where tens of millions of people live.
In 2021, the coast of Gujarat was hit by the more powerful Cyclone Tauktae, which killed more than 150 people and caused large-scale destruction.
More than 4,000 people died in India when another cyclone hit the same coastline in 1998.
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate researcher at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said cyclones derive their energy from warm waters, and that surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea were 1.2 to 1.4 degrees Celsius (34 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than four decades ago.
burs-gle/lb
P.Silva--AMWN