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The death toll from landslides and flooding in eastern Brazil has risen to 64, as authorities continue to search for survivors.

The update on Friday came days after a long period of heavy rain in the state of Minas Gerais, with the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba particularly hard hit.

The state’s fire department said five more people are still missing. More than 5,500 people have been forced to leave their homes.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s meteorology institute, Inmet, has warned of a “great danger” of more inclement weather in parts of Minas Gerais, as well as in the neighbouring states of Rio and Sao Paulo along Brazil’s Atlantic coast.

It also highlighted further risks of landslides, river overflows and major flooding.

On Saturday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to visit Minas Gerais to meet with local leaders, according to a statement from the presidential palace.

The statement said Lula “will fly over areas affected by heavy rains” and meet with the mayors of Juiz de Fora, Uba and Matias Barbosa.

The federal government has authorised the release of approximately 3.4 million reais ($660,000) for reconstruction efforts and humanitarian assistance.

Lula’s meeting with the mayors will take place in the city hall of Juiz de Fora, where about a quarter of the population – about 540,000 people – live in places identified as being at risk for natural disasters related to land and water, according to a 2023 report from the Brazilian government agency Cemaden.

Video footage taken Thursday evening showed brown water flowing through the tourist hot spot of Paraty, located in southeastern Brazil. Authorities told residents to steer clear of flooded areas and hillsides as well as to avoid sheltering under trees due to a risk of lightning strikes.

Scientists say extreme weather is happening more frequently due to human-caused climate change.

On Friday, Greenpeace Brazil posted on Instagram a call for action to better prepare cities for the ravages of extreme weather.

“Avoiding tragedies like the ones currently happening in cities in Minas Gerais and other states needs to be a priority,” the nonprofit said. “Disasters are also the result of political choices.”

Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders said they were willing to negotiate after Pakistan bombed a number of major cities, with Islamabad’s defence minister declaring the neighbours in “open war”, following months of tensions and tit-for-tat clashes.

Pakistan struck the Afghan capital Kabul and the city of Kandahar, where Taliban leaders are based, as well as other towns, on Friday, with fighting also continuing along the border. Both sides have reported heavy losses.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared an “all-out confrontation” with the Taliban government, posting on X: “Now it is open war between us and you.”

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban’s leaders were ready to negotiate with Pakistan in order to bring an end to the violence.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has always tried to resolve issues through dialogue, and now also we want to resolve this matter through dialogue,” said Mujahid.

The latest violence erupted after Pakistan’s air strikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered Afghan retaliatory attacks along the border on Thursday, escalating long‑simmering tensions over Pakistan’s claim that Afghanistan shelters Pakistan Taliban fighters. Afghanistan denies this.

Mujahid said Pakistani strikes hit parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia on Thursday night, and on Paktia, Paktika, Khost and Laghman on Friday.

That followed Afghan drone strikes that began late on Thursday on Pakistani military positions and installations in northwest Pakistan along their shared border.

Pakistan’s army spokesperson, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said Pakistani air and ground operations had killed at least 274 members of the Afghan forces and affiliated fighters, and wounded more than 400 others, while 12 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 27 others were wounded. One Pakistani soldier was missing in action.

Mujahid rejected the claims of a high number of Afghan casualties as “false”. He said that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed, with the bodies of 23 of them taken to Afghanistan. He also said “many” Pakistani soldiers were captured. Thirteen Afghan soldiers had been killed, he said, and another 22 wounded, while 13 civilians were also wounded.

Later on Friday, the Afghan government said that 19 civilians were killed and 26 others injured when Pakistan struck the provinces of Khost and Paktika in southeastern Afghanistan.

Casualty claims from both sides have not been independently verified by Al Jazeera.

Relations plunged

The operation was Pakistan’s most widespread bombardment of the Afghan capital and its first air strikes on the southern power base of the Taliban authorities since they returned to power in 2021.

Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based analyst on conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, says domestic factors in Pakistan constitute a significant constraint on its ability to initiate a full-scale war against Afghanistan.

“This limitation stems from the deep ties between the populations of both countries, particularly the tribes residing on either side of the Durand Line,” a 2,575-kilometre (1,600-mile) frontier that is internationally recognised as Pakistan’s border but which Afghanistan does not recognise as legitimate.

“Consequently, despite its substantial military capabilities, Pakistan cannot sustain the large-scale bloodshed that an armed conflict with Afghanistan would entail,” he told Al Jazeera.

Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.

Several rounds of negotiations between Islamabad and Kabul followed an initial ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkiye, but the efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement.

After repeated breaches of the initial truce, Saudi Arabia intervened this month, mediating the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured by Afghanistan in October.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the escalation of violence” between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the impact that is having on civilian populations, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a news briefing. Russia, Iran and Iraq are among the countries that have called for an immediate end to the fighting.

Authorities in Panama have reportedly searched and removed property from the subsidiary of a Hong Kong company that has been at the heart of recent tensions between the United States and China over the Panama Canal.

In a statement on Friday, the Panama Ports Company (PPC), part of the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison, said the Panamanian government “acted in disregard for the rule of law”.

It decried what it called “the latest steps to invade and ⁠take the property of PPC” during a search on Thursday. It also accused authorities of entering a private storage site without notice and ignoring requests to safeguard sensitive corporate data.

Panama Ports Company has been under increased scrutiny following US President Donald Trump’s claims that China was asserting too much influence over the arterial trade canal, which connects the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic.

Panama’s government has robustly denied Chinese control of the waterway.

But last month, the country’s Supreme Court annulled deals that gave the Panama Ports Company control over two canal ports. The court ruled that the concessions provided to the company were unconstitutional.

China has alleged that the court case was a reaction to “hegemonic” pressure.

It condemned Panama’s seizure of the ports as well as its decision to temporarily tap the Danish Maersk company and Switzerland-based MSC to run the ports until a new agreement is reached.

Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino, meanwhile, warned China to “be careful” in its manoeuvring.

“They need us more than we need them,” he said.

The two ports in question, the Balboa Port on the Pacific Ocean side and the Cristobal Port at the Atlantic end, handle about 39 percent of all of Panama’s container traffic.

The ports are located at the entrances of the Panama Canal, but they do not fall under the supervision of the autonomous Panama Canal Authority that operates the waterway.

Prior to taking office, Trump repeatedly said he wanted to take control of the Panama Canal, claiming that the US was being “ripped off” by its toll prices.

The canal had previously been controlled by the US, but it was handed over to Panama in 1999 under a 1977 treaty signed by then-President Jimmy Carter.

Prior to Friday’s raid, CK Hutchison had agreed to a $23bn sale of dozens of ports worldwide, including the Panamanian terminals, to a consortium led by the US multinational BlackRock and the Mediterranean Shipping Company.