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In a significant development marking a thaw in strained relations, over 2,100 Indian Sikh pilgrims crossed into Pakistan on Tuesday, the first major border crossing since deadly clashes in May. The pilgrims were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival celebrating the 556th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. The Wagah-Attari border, the only active land crossing between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, had been closed to general traffic following the May conflict, which saw over 70 casualties in missile, drone, and artillery exchanges. AFP journalists observed pilgrims queuing on the Indian side, some carrying luggage on their heads, before being welcomed by Pakistani officials with flowers and rose petals. The pilgrims will visit sacred sites, including Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak’s birthplace, and Kartarpur, where he is buried. Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi emphasized that the visa issuance aligns with efforts to promote inter-religious harmony. However, the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free route opened in 2019, remains closed since the conflict. The May clashes erupted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack on tourists in Kashmir, a claim Pakistan denied. Sikhism, a monotheistic religion originating in the 15th century in Punjab, has its most revered shrines in Pakistan, a legacy of the 1947 partition that divided British India into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Typhoon Kalmaegi has wreaked havoc in the central Philippines, claiming at least five lives and displacing hundreds of thousands of residents. The storm, which made landfall on Tuesday, brought torrential rains that flooded entire towns on the island of Cebu. Videos verified by AFP show cars, trucks, and even massive shipping containers being swept away by muddy floodwaters. In the 24 hours preceding the typhoon’s arrival, Cebu City received 183 millimetres of rain, far exceeding its monthly average of 131 millimetres. Provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro described the situation as ‘unprecedented,’ emphasizing that floodwaters posed the greatest danger. Local disaster official Ethel Minoza reported the recovery of two children’s bodies in Cebu City, where rescue operations are ongoing. Three other fatalities were confirmed, including an elderly resident who drowned in Leyte province and a man struck by a falling tree in Bohol. Don del Rosario, a 28-year-old Cebu City resident, recounted the rapid rise of floodwaters, calling it the worst disaster he has experienced in his lifetime. Scientists attribute the increasing intensity of storms like Kalmaegi to human-driven climate change, which warms oceans and increases atmospheric moisture. Hundreds of residents still living in tent cities following a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in September were forcibly evacuated for their safety. Nearly 400,000 people were pre-emptively relocated from the typhoon’s path, according to Rafaelito Alejandro of the Office of Civil Defense. As of 2:00 pm local time, Kalmaegi was moving westwards through the Visayan island chain with winds of 130 kilometres per hour. The Philippines, which faces an average of 20 storms annually, has already reached that number this year, with three to five more storms expected by December’s end. Miriam Vargas, a 34-year-old single mother in Dinagat Islands, described the terrifying experience of enduring the storm in darkness after losing electricity. The country was previously hit by two major storms in September, including Super Typhoon Ragasa, which caused significant damage and fatalities in Taiwan.