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The smell hits you first - freshly cooked rice, lentils and spinach, served in ladles from steaming pots. 

Dozens of families - including mothers with babies - are lined up with plates to get a serving of what will likely be their only meal for the day, BBC reported.

"We are here because we are hungry," says Chandrika Manel, a mother of four. 

As she kneads a ball of rice with her hands, mixing it with the lentils and spinach before feeding it to one of her children, she explains that even buying bread is a struggle.

"There are times I [give them] milk and rice, but we don't cook any vegetables. They're too expensive."

Depleted foreign reserves and soaring inflation have devastated Sri Lanka's economy in recent months. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa - who pushed through tax cuts that shrunk the state's coffers and borrowed heavily from China to fund ambitious infrastructure projects - has been blamed for the crisis. The pandemic, which hit tourism, and the war in Ukraine, which sent oil prices rocketing, has only made the situation worse. 

But now Sri Lanka is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has told the BBC. 

The organisation found that 70% of the country's families have cut down on food since the start of the year, and stocks of fuel and essential medicines are also fast running out. 

'My children are miserable'

This is Ms Manel's first visit to a community kitchen as she found her options disappearing: "The cost of living is so high, we are taking loans to survive."

The kitchen is a month old - Pastor Moses Akash started it in a church hall in Colombo after meeting a single mother who lived off a jackfruit for three days.

"We get people who haven't had a second plate of rice for the last four months," Pastor Moses says. 

By his estimate, the number of people queuing up for food has grown from 50 to well over 250 a day. It's not surprising given that food prices in Sri Lanka went up by 80% in June alone. 

"I see a lot of children especially, most of them are malnourished," he says.

Sahna, a pregnant 34-year-old who goes by her first name only, is also in the queue with her three young children. She is due in September and anxious about the future. 

"My children are miserable. They're suffering in every possible way. I can't even afford a packet of biscuits or milk for my babies."

Sahna's husband, who is a labourer, earns just $10 (£8.20) a week to support the entire family. 

"Our leaders are living better lives. If their children are living happily, why can't my children?" she asks. 

A looming humanitarian crisis 

By the time Sahna's child is born, things are expected to get worse. 

The mayor of Colombo recently said that the capital has enough food only until September, BBC reported.

With shortages of fuel and cooking gas, and daily power cuts, families are unable to travel to buy fresh food or prepare hot meals.

"Families can't buy what they used to buy. They are cutting down on meals, they are cutting down on nutritious food. So we are definitely getting into a situation where malnutrition is a major concern," said Christian Skoog, Unicef's representative in Sri Lanka. 

"We're trying to avoid a humanitarian crisis. We're not yet at children dying, which is good, but we need to get the support very urgently to avoid that."

Unicef has appealed for urgent financial aid to treat thousands of children with acute malnutrition, and to support a million others with primary healthcare.

Acute malnutrition rates could rise from 13% to 20%, with the number of severely malnourished children - currently 35,000 - doubling, says Dr Renuka Jayatissa, president of the Sri Lanka Medical Nutrition Association.

The crisis has brought forth a sense of solidarity, with people often relying on the kindness of strangers. But even kindness and hope are becoming precious commodities. 

Dr Saman Kumara at Colombo's Castle Street hospital says that if not for the goodwill of donors, his patients - tiny newborns - would have been at great risk. 

He says his hospital is now "completely dependent on donations" for essential medicines and equipment, and urged more donors to come forward as patients' lives are in danger.

About 50,000 people have been urged to evacuate their homes as floods hit Australia's largest city for the third time this year, BBC reported.

Parts of Sydney have received about eight months of rain in four days.

Roads have been cut off, some houses are underwater and thousands have been left without power.

Widespread flooding across Australia - driven by a La Niña weather pattern - has killed more than 20 people this year, many in New South Wales (NSW). 

More than 100 evacuation orders have been issued across Greater Sydney for the current emergency.

People in another 50 areas have been warned to prepare to leave, as several major rivers flood. Severe weather is also hitting the nearby Hunter and Illawarra regions.

Some areas of NSW have seen 800mm of rain in four days, says the Bureau of Meteorology, almost a third more than the average rainfall Greater London receives in a year, according to BBC.

The downpour is expected to begin easing in Sydney on Tuesday, but gale-force winds are also forecast, bringing a risk of falling trees and powerlines.

"The emergency is far from over," NSW Emergency Services Minister Stephanie Cooke said.

Authorities are urging locals to heed evacuation warnings, after rescuers were called to save people who were ordered to leave two days earlier.

"Ultimately if you stay you're putting your life at risk," said NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet.

For many locals, it is their third flood this year.

Speaking after evacuating his partner from their house by kayak, Tyler Cassel said locals were tired of the constant threat to their homes and lives.

He moved into his home in the Sydney suburb of Windsor last year, and was told major flood events were supposed to be "one in 25 years, one in 50 years or whatever it was".

"Now it has been three in 2022," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"We've become experts around this area now... you are almost living on the edge."

Experts say the flooding emergency has been worsened by climate change and a La Niña weather phenomenon. A La Niña develops when strong winds blow the warm surface waters of the Pacific away from South America and towards Indonesia. In their place, colder waters come up to the surface, BBC reported.

In Australia, a La Niña increases the likelihood of rain, cyclones and cooler daytime temperatures.

A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in terror, police said, Associated Press reported.

Authorities said a man named as a person of interest in the shooting was taken into police custody Monday evening after an hourslong manhunt in and around Highland Park, an affluent community of about 30,000 on Chicago’s north shore.

The July 4 shooting was just the latest to shatter the rituals of American life. Schools, churches, grocery stores and now community parades have all become killing grounds in recent months. This time, the bloodshed came as the nation tried to find cause to celebrateits founding and the bonds that still hold it together.

“It definitely hits a lot harder when it’s not only your hometown but it’s also right in front of you,” resident Ron Tuazon said as he and a friend returned to the parade route Monday evening to retrieve chairs, blankets and a child’s bike that he and his family abandoned when the shooting began.

“It’s commonplace now,” Tuazon said of what he called yet another American atrocity. “We don’t blink anymore. Until laws change, it’s going to be more of the same.”

The shooting occurred at a spot on the parade route where many residents had staked out prime viewing points early in the day for the annual celebration. Dozens of fired bullets sent hundreds of parade-goers — some visibly bloodied — fleeing. They left a trail of abandoned items that showed everyday life suddenly, violently disrupted: A half-eaten bag of potato chips; a box of chocolate cookies spilled onto the grass; a child’s Chicago Cubs cap.

“There’s no safe place,” said Highland Park resident Barbara Harte, 73, who had stayed away from the parade fearing a mass shooting, but later ventured from her home.

Highland Park Police Chief Lou Jogmen said a police officer pulled over Robert E. Crimo III about five miles north of the shooting scene, several hours after police released the man’s photo and an image of his silver Honda Fit, and warned the public that he was likely armed and dangerous. Authorities initially said he was 22, but an FBI bulletin and Crimo’s social media said he was 21, according to Associated Press.

Police declined to immediately identify Crimo as a suspect but said identifying him as a person of interest, sharing his name and other information publicly was a serious step.

Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli said at a news conference “several of the deceased victims” died at the scene and one was taken to a hospital and died there. Police have not released details about the victims or wounded. 

Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people killed at the parade were adults, but didn’t have information on the sixth victim who was taken to a hospital and died there. One of those killed was a Mexican national, Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director for North American affairs, said on Twitter Monday. He said two other Mexicans were wounded. 

NorthShore University Health Center received 26 patients after the attack. All but one had gunshot wounds, said Dr. Brigham Temple, medical director of emergency preparedness. Their ages ranged from 8 to 85, and Temple estimated that four or five patients were children.

Temple said 19 of them were treated and discharged. Others were transferred to other hospitals, while two patients, in stable condition, remained at the Highland Park hospital.

“It is devastating that a celebration of America was ripped apart by our uniquely American plague,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference.

“I’m furious because it does not have to be this way... while we celebrate the Fourth of July just once a year, mass shootings have become a weekly — yes, weekly — American tradition.”

The shooter opened fire around 10:15 a.m., when the parade was about three-quarters through, authorities said, Associated Press reported.

Highland Park Police Commander Chris O’Neill, the incident commander on scene, said the gunman apparently used a “high-powered rifle” to fire from a spot atop a commercial building where he was “very difficult to see.” He said the rifle was recovered at the scene. Police also found a ladder attached to the building.

A new sub-variant of Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Nepal.

According to the Epidemiology and Infectious Disease Control Division director Dr Chumanlal Das, gene sequencing conducted at a lab of Kavrepalanchowk-based Dhulikhel Hospital confirmed the presence of the BA.5 sub-variant.

He said that the Division is conducting a further study about the virus and trying to identify its carrier.

Prior to this, the BA.2 Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was found and gene sequencing of the sample of infected is underway at the National Public Health Laboratory, Teku.

The COVID-19 infection rate is gradually increasing in the country.