Evacuation

More than 170,000 people in the two countries were evacuated to safety before the arrival of Cyclone Biparjoy.

Forecasters say it could be the area's worst storm in 25 years and warned it threatens homes and crops in its path.

The cyclone is due to barrel through parts of India's Gujarat state and Sindh province in Pakistan.

Cyclone Biparjoy - meaning "disaster" in Bengali - is forecast to hit the coast near Jakhau port, between Mandvi in Gujarat and Keti Bandar in Sindh.

Riding lorries and buffalo-drawn carriages, people living within the "permanent danger zone" or six-kilometre radius fled to shelters.

Known for its "perfect" conical shape, Mayon started spewing lava last week.

But evacuations only began over the weekend as volcanic activity intensified, setting of alerts.

More people could be evacuated if Mayon's unrest intensifies in the coming days, said Teresito Bacolcol, the country's chief volcanologist.

The weather station on Observatory Hill in the CBD has recorded 822mm of rain so far this year.

That's about 70 percent of the amount that would normally fall in a year, or what would have accumulated by August.

The wet start has broken the previous record of 783mm up to 8 March, which was set in 1956.

The third wettest start to the year was recorded in 1990, when 754mm of rain fell.

Reprieve from the weather is forecast for Thursday as the east coast low moves offshore.

Most people trapped in the port city are sleeping in bomb shelters to escape more than six days of near-constant shelling by encircling Russian forces that has cut off food, water, power and heating supplies, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

The civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion on 24 February stood at 364, including more than 20 children, according to the United Nations on Sunday, with hundreds more injured.

Eighteen aircraft will transfer people to third countries from safe sites outside Afghanistan, the Pentagon said.

Many thousands of Afghans are crowded outside Kabul airport, desperate to flee the country after the Taliban swept to power on 15 August.

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the US had evacuated nearly 28,000 people in the past week.

"There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and the heart-breaking images you see," Mr Biden told reporters at the White House, adding: "We have a long way to go and a lot can still go wrong."

Players are said to fear for their lives following the Taliban's takeover of the Afghan capital Kabul.

Players' organisation Fifpro is also calling for help.

The union said it was working with governments to establish an evacuation plan, adding: "The ambition is to bring as many people to safety as possible."

Fifa said the situation in Afghanistan "remains unstable and very worrying".

New Zealand imposed a two-week travel ban on arrivals from and through China on Monday and also warns its citizens to leave China fast.

Australia, the United States and seven other countries including Fiji, Russia, Japan and Indonesia, have also imposed entry restrictions on people from China, in an effort to limit contagion of the coronavirus from its source in Wuhan.

New Zealand's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said preparations for the evacuation were well under way.

The government has asked New Zealand and Australian governments to help quarantined the returrnees in their countries despite the fact these Tongans do not hold arrival permits into their countries.

According to Kaniva News reports, the Tongan sport teams and students in Wuhan are expected to return home next week or as soon as possible and they will face 14 days quarantine.

The evacuations followed a volcanic eruption on the island which has covered it in ash.

The newspaper The National reported the minister responsible for National Disaster Management, Kevin Isifu, saying previous reports of the island having only 700 people was based on eligible voters in the electoral roll.

Kadovar's population was moved to neighbouring islands, but Mr Isifu said there was a plan to permanently resettle them on the mainland in East Sepik.

An evacuation of Terminal 8 was under way while police searched for a suspect, New York City television station WPIX reported.

A representative of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, could not immediately be reached for comment.