Category World News

At least 34 people have died as a result of floods and landslides caused by torrential rain in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, according to authorities, with rescue efforts being hampered by what an official called a “total cutoff” of roads and communications.

At least 52 people are still missing as of Thursday, according to North Sumatra regional police spokesman Ferry Walintukan, according to Detik news website.

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As Southeast Asia grappled with deadly flooding, a rare tropical cyclone blew across Indonesia’s Sumatra island, flooding the nearby Malacca Strait and causing floods and landslides, according to the country’s meteorological agency on Wednesday.

Up to 8, 000 people have been evacuated across North Sumatra, according to Abdul Muhari, a spokesperson for the country’s disaster mitigation agency, and roads are still blocked by landslide debris. Aid is currently being distributed via helicopter, according to Muhari, a spokesperson for the country’s disaster mitigation agency.

Sibolga and Central Tapanuli, according to Yuyun Karseno, a representative from the agency’s North Sumatra division, were among the hardest hit areas, with communications and power being hampered, according to Yuyun Karseno.

When Yuyun was questioned about the rescue efforts, Yuyun responded, “There is no more access, due to a total cutoff.” We haven’t spoken to people in Sibolga and Central Tapanuli as of yet.

According to the search and rescue agency in Indonesia, one family was among the dead, according to the deceased.

A baby was seen in a plastic container on a roof in Central Tapanuli in a video shared by radio station Elshinta on its social media page.

The agency’s shared images and footage of rapid currents that are overflowing with water, leaving buildings and structures ruined in their wake as rescuers visit the flooded homes of residents.

West Sumatra and Aceh provinces were also affected by flooding and landslides, according to authorities. Ten of Aceh’s 23 cities and districts have been submerged, according to Indonesia’s official news agency Antara.

According to the meteorological agency, extreme weather is expected to cause more flooding in several other Sumatran provinces, including Aceh and Riau, over the next two days.

elsewhere in Asia is there flooding.

One of a number of disasters that have been affecting Southeast Asia this week is the flooding in Indonesia.

The island of Simeulue off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia was struck by a magnitude 6. 6 earthquake on Thursday morning, according to the US Geological Survey.

Residents of Simeulue Island rushed outside in a rush of rain at 11:56am (04:56 GMT) at a depth of 25 kilometers (15.55 miles). No casualties or a potential tsunami have been reported right away.

In recent days, floods have caused more than 30 casualties in Thailand and Malaysia, with waters levels high enough to submerge hospitals.

As Israel’s ongoing genocidal conflict against Gaza continues unabated, Israeli forces have launched a number of air strikes in southern and central Gaza, including in areas beyond the so-called yellow line, where they are supposed to remain withdrawn despite a string of ceasefire violations.

According to Al Jazeera’s correspondents on the ground, some of the strikes on Thursday morning targeted buildings in the Bureij camp in central Gaza and in Khan Younis.

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They add to the hundreds of attacks carried out by Gaza’s civil defense as flagrant violations of the fragile seven-week ceasefire.

Additionally, the Israeli military carried out a new wave of raids and arrests throughout the occupied West Bank, including in Qalqilya, Tubas, Hebron, Tulkarem, and Nablus.

According to a local Palestinian Red Crescent official who was quoted by the Wafa news agency, Israeli forces conducted field interrogations and assaulted at least 25 people who needed medical treatment while conducting their raid in Tubas.

Release of additional Palestinian detainees

On Wednesday, the first phase of the Gaza truce came closer to being realized when Israel handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners to Gaza authorities. The body of another Israeli captive was also handed over by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Wednesday.

The remaining 26 of the 28 captives that were ordered to be transferred have now been returned to Palestinian armed groups after being released from custody.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, described the most recent handover as evidence of the organization’s “steady commitment to fully finish the exchange process and its ongoing efforts to finalize it despite significant difficulties.”

Israel, on the other hand, has released 345 prisoners’ bodies, many of whom showed signs of torture, mutilation, and execution, for freeing nearly 2, 000 Palestinian prisoners.

However, the ceasefire is still plagued by significant obstacles, including the presence of 20 Hamas fighters who are reportedly being killed along Israel’s border in southern Gaza in the past week in tunnels along the Israeli-occupied side of the yellow line.

On Wednesday, Hamas pleaded with mediators of the ceasefire to pressure Israel into granting them safe passage. The group claimed that Israel had violated the ceasefire by attacking “besieged in the Rafah tunnels” of its fighters.

In a statement, Hamas said, “We hold (Israel) completely responsible for the lives of our fighters and demand that our mediators take immediate action to pressure Israel into allowing our sons to return home.”

Will phase two of the ceasefire be reached?

In the interim, discussions are being started about how to move forward with the second phase of the ceasefire, which will include creating an international body to temporarily govern the Gaza Strip and oversee reconstruction.

The second phase was discussed by mediators from Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt, according to Reuters. However, significant questions still linger over Israel’s commitment to carry out the plan’s nearly every component.

Pope Leo will make his first international visit as the leader of the Catholic Church, making stops in Turkiye and Lebanon, where he is expected to make appeals for peace in the Middle East, which are at the center of conflict, and encourage unity among the divided Christian churches.

The pontiff’s first speeches abroad and visits tense cultural sites will be closely watched as he prepares a crowded three-day itinerary in Turkiye starting on Thursday and then travels to Lebanon.

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Foreign travel has grown to be a significant component of the modern papacy, with popes attracting attention from around the world by leading events with crowds of up to 100,000, giving speeches on foreign policy, and running international diplomacy.

Leo, 70, will travel to Turkey’s capital, Ankara, where he will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and address political leaders, on Thursday at around 06:40 GMT. He was scheduled to leave with his entourage from Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

The landmark early church council in Turkiye, where the Nicene Creed is still revered by the majority of Christians around the world, is where the first pontiff from the United States will travel.

The world’s cardinals elected Leo in a conclave in May to succeed Pope Francis. Before his election, Leo, a relative stranger on the global stage, spent decades as a missionary in Peru before acclimating to the Vatican in 2023.

Francis had planned to travel to Turkiye and Lebanon, but his health was preventing him from doing so.

Leo will then make a brief stop in Istanbul on Thursday evening, which was previously known as Constantinople, the Roman Empire’s capital.

The #PapaLeoneXIV is a continuation of the #Turchia #Türkiye, the first apostolico-first viaggio.
The Italian city of Fiumicino is known for its romanesque architecture, and italy Airlines giungered an image for the film. twitter.com/yHd6oMWLkx

Pope Leo will make his first apostolic trip to Turkiye, according to translation. He is seen arriving at the Fiumicino airport in Rome, where he will board an Italian Airways flight to Ankara.

Leo is the only pope to visit Turkiye after Paul VI in 1967, John Paul II in 1979, Benedict XVI in 2006, and Francis in 2014. In Istanbul, the city’s largest Catholic church at St. Anthony Padua Parish, preparations are in progress.

Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the 260 million Orthodox Christians in the world, resides in Istanbul.

Orthodox and Catholic Christians split in the East-West Schism in 1054, but they have generally made efforts to reunite in recent years.

Leo and Bartholomew will travel to Iznik, a city 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul, on Friday, where the Nicene Creed, which outlines what are still held by the majority of Christians today, was created. There, it was once called Nicaea, which was 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Istanbul.

Leo is expected to speak English in his speeches in Turkiye in a change from what is customary for popes to speak Italian on official occasions.

Leo will travel to Lebanon, a religiously diverse country, on Sunday after being devastated by an economic and political crisis since 2019 and the target of numerous Israeli bombings in near-daily violations of an agreement reached a year ago to end the war.

Since the breakaway of the truce, Israel has killed more than 330 Lebanese.

In an airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday, Israel carried out the murder of Haytham Ali Tabatabai, the Lebanese government’s chief of staff.