The Hindu festival of Holi is back for another year of colours, food fun and celebrations.
Marking the coming of spring and the end of winter, the annual festival will be celebrated on Wednesday 8 March this year.
Also known as the “festival of love”, “festival of spring” and the “festival of colours,” Holi is celebrated in many South Asian communities, including India, Pakistan, Nepal and across the world.
The celebrations are often separated into two days, known as Jalanewali Holi and Rangwali Holi.
Typically, Jalanewali Holi is the day when friends and family gather after sunset to light a bonfire and sometimes throw grains, popcorn and chickpeas into the fire during rituals.
Image: Indians perform rituals around a bonfire during Holi festival celebrations
Rangwali Holi is the second day of the festival and celebrates the beginning of spring, in which people come together to play with coloured powder and water.
The story of Holi
The ancient festival also welcomes the triumph of good over evil and one of the legends that marks where Holi may originate from is the story of Holika and Prahlad.
As the legend goes, Holika was the sister of an evil king named Hiranyakashipu, who had powers that made him feel invincible.
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The king believed that the people in his kingdom should worship him – those that did not follow his orders would therefore be punished.
However, Hiranyakashipu’s son, Prahlad, did not want to worship his father and disobeyed the command.
Prahlad decided to worship a Hindu God named Vishnu instead.
Image: A portrait of Hindu god Vishnu
The king felt betrayed by his son and in a rage, decided to kill Prahlad with the help of Holika, who had a special cloak that protected her from fire.
After the king’s order, Holika started the fire and sat in the flames with Prahlad, in hopes of killing him.
The cloak however ended up protecting Prahlad rather than Holika, which led to her death.
On that day, the king was also defeated by Vishnu and evil was overthrown by good – therefore marking the day many now call Holi.
The festival of colours
Central to many people’s beliefs, the story of Krishna and Radha also plays a big role in the festival of colours.
The Hindu deity fell in love with his milkmaid but was too embarrassed by his blue skin, as Radha was more fair in complexion.
In a playful exchange, Krishna coloured Radha’s face during a game after throwing water and powder – said to be one of the origins of the festival.
Image: A mural of Hindu god Krishna
Their story has continued on for many years, with people throwing colours at one another to celebrate the special occasion and to remember the love between Krishna and Radha.
Who doesn’t like to indulge in a snack?
Food is also a big part of the celebrations during this time.
These small dumplings called Gujiya are a sweet-deep fried treat that many love to eat.
Image: Sweet Gujia’s take the shape of a half moon. Pic: iStock
Dahi Vada is a snack prepared with yoghurt and fried lentil balls – originating from Karnataka in India.
Image: Dahi Vada is a popular street food from North India. Pic: iStock
Known as the fried fritter, Pakoras are often made using potatoes, onions and gram flour batter.
Image: Pakoras are a central part of South Asian cuisine. Pic: iStock
Holi celebrations around the world
The fun doesn’t end there, as people from different parts of the world come together every year with friends, family and neighbours to brighten up the streets.
The colourful powders hold many different meanings.
Red signifies love and fertility, green marks new beginnings and yellow is seen as the colour of happiness and peace.
Blue is seen as the colour of calmness, pink means good health, orange is a sign of courage and purple is said to bring peace and wisdom.
People are advised not to use white and black powder because white is mainly used for funerals and black is believed to be connected with negativity and darkness.
India
Image: Women throw coloured powder on each other as they celebrate Holi
Nepal
Image: A man throws colour as traditional drums are played during the Holi festival
Pakistan
Image: Women from the Pakistani Hindu community put colours on each other’s faces to mark the occasion
Bangladesh
Image: Young people in Bangladesh throw coloured powder during the celebrations marking Holi
And that’s everything you need to know about the festival of colours.
Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has been named Canadian prime minister after winning the Liberal Party leadership race in a landslide victory.
Mr Carney, who also used to be the head of Canada’s central bank, emerged as the frontrunner in the contest as the country deals with the impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
He ended up winning 85.9% of the vote.
During his victory speech, he told the crowd: “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living.
“He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”
Mr Carney said Canada would keep retaliatory tariffs in place until “the Americans show us respect”.
Mr Trump’s tariffs against Canada and his talk of making the country America’s 51st state have infuriated Canadians.
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The American national anthem has been repeatedly booed at NHL and NBA games.
“Think about it. If they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life… America is a melting pot. Canada is a mosaic,” Mr Carney added.
“America is not Canada. Canada will never ever be part of America in any way, shape or form.”
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1:01
‘You can’t take our country or our game’
The 59-year-old will replace Justin Trudeau, who has served as prime minister since 2015.
US President Donald Trump has suggested Ukraine “may not survive” the war against Russia even if American support continued.
In an interview with Fox News channel’s ‘Sunday Morning Futures’, Mr Trump was asked about his controversial decision to pause support for Kyiv as it fends off Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Mr Trump, who had a disastrous meeting with Mr Zelenskyy at the White House last week, was asked about a warning from Polish President Andrzej Duda “that without American support, Ukraine will not survive”.
Asked if he was “comfortable” with that outcome, the US president said: “Well, it may not survive anyway.
“But we have some weaknesses with Russia. You know, it takes two,” Mr Trump added.
It comes as Mr Zelenskyy will visit Saudi Arabia for a Monday meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives will meet with a US delegation on Tuesday.
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Mr Trump’s latest remarks come amid global concern over the souring relationship between Ukraine and the US, which alongside the EU has been Kyiv’s main backer in its defence against Russia’s three-year land, air and sea invasion.
The US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy on 28 February descended into acrimony in front of the world’s media.
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Mr Trump ordered the pause as he attempts to put pressure on Mr Zelenskyy to negotiate a ceasefire deal with Russia.
Mr Trump has privately made it clear to aides that a signed minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv will not be enough to restart aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported earlier on Sunday.
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How are Americans feeling after nearly 50 days of Trump?
The 78-year-old president is said to want the deal signed, but also wants to see a change in Mr Zelenskyy’s attitude towards peace talks.
Officials have told NBC News that Mr Trump also wants Mr Zelenskyy to make some movement towards holding elections in Ukraine and possibly stepping down as his country’s leader.
Russian special forces crept through a disused gas pipeline for several miles to launch a surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s military and pro-Moscow war bloggers have said.
Footage circulating on the Telegram app claims to show the elite soldiers crouching as they make their way through the darkness of the pipe to the town of Sudzha.
Some can be heard cursing in Russian and complaining about the commanders who sent them on the mission.
One of the soldiers is heard saying: “F*****g hell, where the f*** are we, boys?”
Another says: “Where does the pipe go? To Sudzha, for f**** sake, that’s f***ing crazy.”
Later in the clip a soldier is heard saying: “We’ll get there of course, but indignantly, because we’re f*****g sick of the f*****g command.”
He later adds: “They took our f*****g assault rifles too.”
Two of the soldiers are seen smoking cigarettes while a separate image shared on Telegram shows an operative wearing a gas mask.
Image: The footage shows soldiers creeping through the pipeline
Image: Soldiers are seen smoking cigarettes
The special forces soldiers walked around nine miles (15km) through the pipeline which Moscow had until recently used to send gas to Europe, according to Telegram posts by Ukrainian-born pro-Kremlin blogger Yuri Podolyaka.
In the footage, the soldiers suggest the mission requires them to walk seven miles through the pipe.
Mr Podolyaka says some of them spent several days in the pipeline before striking Ukrainian units from the rear near Sudzha.
The operation formed part of efforts by Russia to recapture areas of Kursk which were seized by thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in a shock offensive in August last year.
Another pro-Russian war blogger, who uses the alias Two Majors, said a major battle is under way in Sudzha after Moscow’s special forces crept through the pipe.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff confirmed on Saturday that Russian soldiers had used the pipeline in an attempt to gain a foothold, but airborne assault forces promptly detected them, and they responded with rocket, artillery and drone attacks that destroyed Moscow’s units.
“The enemy’s losses in Sudzha are very high,” the general staff reported.
Image: A close-up image of one of the soldiers in the pipeline
Image: The soldiers crept through the tunnel for several miles
It comes as Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces shared a video on Telegram on Saturday which it claims shows Kyiv’s forces repelling Russian forces in Kursk with airstrikes.
Sky News has not independently verified the footage.
Months after Kyiv’s forces seized parts of Kursk, Ukrainian soldiers are weary and bloodied by relentless assaults of more than 50,000 Russian troops, including some from Moscow’s ally North Korea.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers run the risk of being encircled, open-source maps of the battlefield showed on Friday.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning that it had captured a settlement in Kursk and another in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
Russia also launched heavy aerial attacks overnight on Ukraine into Saturday – with at least 22 people killed, including 11 in the frontline town of Dobropilla in Ukraine’sembattled eastern Donetsk region.
The attacks come after the US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligencewith Ukraine this month after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Mr Zelenskyy descended into a confrontation in front of the world’s media.
The Trump administration’s stance on Ukraine and apparent favouring of Moscow has sparked concern among European leaders.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have been criticised after presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders on International Women’s Day.
Russia is often accused of throwing its troops into a “meat grinder” with little regard for their lives.
The local branch of government in the northwestern Russian town of Polyarniye Zori defended itself against the backlash, saying critics were making “callous and provocative interpretations” of the gifts.