MORE THAN 96,000 hectares (237,221 acres) of agricultural land has been inundated in parts of an eastern Indian state hit by a powerful storm this week, officials said, a year after the coastal region was ravaged by a super cyclone.
Cyclone Yaas swept in from the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday (26), triggering storm surges that broke through embankments in West Bengal state, particularly hitting hard the ecologically sensitive Sundarbans delta that stretches into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Initial assessment by the West Bengal government showed that water had entered around 96,650 hectares of land that had standing crops, a state official said.
"Fresh flooding were reported from many areas during high tides as the embankments have been left with gaping holes," West Bengal's fisheries minister, Akhil Giri, has said.
In the Sundarbans, still reeling from the damage wrecked by Cyclone Amphan last year, residents said wide swathes of farm land and fresh water ponds used for small-scale fisheries had been inundated.
"The area is stinking with rotten fish and movement has become extremely difficult because of stagnant water," said Kanai Haldar, a resident of Raidighi in the Sundarbans, where spurs and dykes meant to hold back flood waters have been damaged.
With climate change pushing up sea surface temperatures, the cyclonic storms that barrel in from the Bay of Bengal have become fiercer and more frequent, particularly in the last decade, according to researchers.
Haldar, speaking to Reuters by telephone, said the damage caused by Yaas appeared more significant compared with last year's storm, because of the scale of sea water ingress, which often renders farm land temporarily unfit for cultivation.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has surveyed areas hit by the cyclone in West Bengal and neighbouring Odisha state, which was directly in the path of the storm but suffered less damage.
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)