Dozens Dead as Floods Ravage Southeast Asia

An aerial view shows a home surrounded by flood waters in Kangar in northern Malaysia's Perlis state on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP)
An aerial view shows a home surrounded by flood waters in Kangar in northern Malaysia's Perlis state on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP)
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Dozens Dead as Floods Ravage Southeast Asia

An aerial view shows a home surrounded by flood waters in Kangar in northern Malaysia's Perlis state on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP)
An aerial view shows a home surrounded by flood waters in Kangar in northern Malaysia's Perlis state on November 28, 2025. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP)

The toll from days of flooding in Southeast Asia rose on Friday, with at least 90 dead in Indonesia, and a hospital in southern Thailand announcing its morgue was full.

Heavy rains across Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Thailand have inundated cities, trapped thousands and caused deadly landslides.

Authorities were scrambling to reach people stranded in floodwater-filled homes or cut off entirely by debris that has blocked roads and taken out communications and electricity.

On Indonesia's Sumatra island, officials said flooding and landslides this week have killed at least 90 people, with dozens more missing.

North Sumatra police spokesman Ferry Walintukan said authorities were focused on "evacuation and providing assistance".

Access to some areas and communication was still cut off, he told AFP.

"Hopefully, the weather will clear up so we can move the helicopter to the (worst-hit) locations."

In North Sumatra's Medan, an AFP photographer saw murky brown floodwaters at hip level, and residents asking drivers passing their inundated homes to drive slowly to avoid splashing them.

Some residents donned rain ponchos and motorbike helmets to protect themselves from the rain as they traversed flooded streets.

In West Sumatra, 53-year-old Misniati described a terrifying battle against rising floodwaters to reach her husband at home.

Returning from early morning prayers at a local mosque, "I noticed the street was flooded."

"I tried to run back to my house to tell my husband, and the water was already reaching my waist," she told AFP.

She battled currents that nearly knocked her off her feet, and arrived home to find the water at chest level.

"We didn't sleep at all last night, we just monitored the water," said Misniati, who only uses one name.

The annual monsoon season, typically between June and September, often brings heavy rains, triggering landslides and flash floods.

It has been exacerbated by a tropical storm in the region in recent days.

Climate change also has impacted storm patterns, including the duration and intensity of the season, leading to heavier rainfall, flash flooding and stronger wind gusts.

A warmer climate holds more moisture, producing more intense rain events, while warmer oceans can turbocharge the strength of storm systems.

Among the hardest-hit areas in the region is southern Thailand, where flooding left residents of Hat Yai clinging to rooftops awaiting rescue by boat.

At least 55 people have been killed in the surrounding Songkhla province, and the region's main morgue said Friday it had no more room to receive bodies and was now relying on refrigerated trucks.

"The morgue has exceeded its capacity, so we need more," Charn, a morgue official at Songkhla Hospital who only gave his first name, told AFP.

An AFP journalist filmed white refrigerated trucks parked outside the hospital's main building.

Residents on Thursday described floodwaters rising rapidly.

"The water rose to the ceiling of the second floor," Kamban Wongpanya, 67, told AFP, explaining that she had to be rescued by boat.

Shopowner Chayaphol Promkleng thought at first that his business would be spared because flooding was "only ankle-deep".

He returned the following day to find his shop "flooded to waist-deep level".
"There was nothing I could do. I left the shop to save my life."

The government said Friday it had suspended Hat Yai's district chief over an alleged failure to respond to the flooding.

In Malaysia, two people have been killed in flooding caused by heavy rain that left stretches of northern Perlis state underwater.

The same weather system that passed through Indonesia, now downgraded from a tropical storm to a depression, made landfall early on Friday morning, dumping more rain on the already-sodden region.



Trump Seeks $152 Mn to Revive Alcatraz as Federal Prison

FILE PHOTO: A view of Alcatraz prison complex located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay near San Francisco, California, US July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of Alcatraz prison complex located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay near San Francisco, California, US July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
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Trump Seeks $152 Mn to Revive Alcatraz as Federal Prison

FILE PHOTO: A view of Alcatraz prison complex located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay near San Francisco, California, US July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of Alcatraz prison complex located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay near San Francisco, California, US July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

US President Donald Trump asked Congress on Friday for $152 million to begin rebuilding the notorious Alcatraz prison, pressing ahead with his vision to return the former island lockup to active use.

The funding request, included in the White House's proposed 2027 budget, would cover the first year of converting the San Francisco Bay site into what officials describe as a "state-of-the-art secure prison facility."

Trump has pushed for reopening Alcatraz since last year, portraying it as a symbol of a tougher approach to crime, said AFP.

In a social media post at the time, he called for a "substantially enlarged and rebuilt" facility to house the country's most dangerous offenders.

The proposal comes as part of a broader Justice Department budget that emphasizes prison investment and law enforcement, though such requests are ultimately subject to approval by Congress.

Political news outlet Axios, citing administration officials, reported that any "supermax" prison complex at the site would have to be built from scratch -- putting the total cost at somewhere around $2 billion.

Alcatraz, which opened as a federal penitentiary in 1934, was once considered among the most secure prisons in the United States due to its isolated island location and the strong currents surrounding it.

It held a relatively small number of prisoners, including high-profile inmates such as Al Capone.

The island fortress entered American cultural lore after a 1962 escape by three inmates, which became an inspiration for the film "Escape from Alcatraz" starring Clint Eastwood.

It was closed in 1963 after officials determined it was too costly to maintain.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, operating expenses were nearly three times higher than at other federal facilities, largely because all supplies -- including fresh water -- had to be transported to the island.

Since the early 1970s, Alcatraz has been managed by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and has become one of San Francisco's most popular tourist attractions, drawing more than a million visitors annually.

The White House argues that rebuilding the site would help modernize the federal prison system and expand capacity for high-risk inmates.

But critics have questioned both the practicality and cost of the plan, noting that the island's infrastructure would likely require extensive reconstruction.

Feasibility studies have already been conducted by federal agencies to assess whether a modern correctional facility could be established on the site, though no final decision has been made.

Any move to proceed could face political resistance given competing budget priorities and the site's current status as a major tourism and historical landmark.


French, Japanese Ships Cross Strait of Hormuz in First Since War

A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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French, Japanese Ships Cross Strait of Hormuz in First Since War

A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)

One French- and another Japanese-owned vessel are among a handful of vessels to have crossed the war-torn Strait of Hormuz, maritime tracking data showed Friday.

The passage, a vital maritime route for oil and liquified natural gas, has been virtually blocked by Iran since the start of the war, said AFP.

But both ships made the crossing on Thursday, according to ship tracking company Marine Traffic's website.

The Maltese-flagged Kribi belonging to the French maritime transport group CMA CGM crossed the waterway to leave the Gulf on Thursday afternoon, Marine Traffic's data showed.

By early Friday, it was off Muscat, Oman, still broadcasting the message "owner France" on its transponder system in the field usually used to give the destination.

The vessel's navigation data showed it had crossed via an Iranian-approved route through its waters, dubbed the "Tehran Toll Booth" by leading shipping journal Lloyd's List.

- Southern route -

In addition, three tankers -- including one co-owned by a Japanese company -- crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday by taking an alternative, southern route.

They hugged close to the shore of Oman's Musandam Peninsula -- a first in nearly three weeks according to Lloyd's List.

Before the war, which started more than a month ago, about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passed through the Strait.

All three ships signaled they were an "OMANI SHIP" in the message broadcast by their transponder as they crossed the strait.

The Sohar LNG, which was empty when crossing, is co-owned by Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K.

That makes it the first Japanese vessel to exit the Gulf since the start of the war, according to a company statement quoted by Japanese media.

The Hong-Kong flagged New Vision, which crossed the strait on March 1 right after the war started, is expected in the French port of Le Havre on Saturday evening.

Since the conflict started however, that has dwindled to a trickle as Iran selectively attacks ships and energy facilities throughout the Gulf in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks.

A few commercial ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz recently have passed through the Iranian-approved route in the north of the waterway.

- Down to a trickle -

Just 221 commodities vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since March 1, some more than once, according to Kpler data up to Friday morning.

In peacetime, the same waterway handles around 120 daily transits, according to Lloyd's List.

Of the vessels that made the crossing, 60 percent either came from Iran or were heading there.

It was not clear from the data how many had been cleared to make the crossing by Tehran.

But it did show that, among the 118 crossings by ships carrying cargo, 37 had left the Gulf carrying crude oil.

Most of those oil tankers -- 30 of them -- came from Iran or sailed under the Iranian flag. And most ships carrying Iranian oil did not specify their destination on their transponder.

Of those who did, all but one reported they were heading to China.

In the early days of the war, transponder data showed dozens of ships broadcasting messages such as "Chinese crew" or "Chinese owner" in the field usually used for their destination.

This appeared to be an attempt by the ships to avoid being targeted by Iran.


Iran Executes Two Linked to Opposition Group

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
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Iran Executes Two Linked to Opposition Group

Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP
Executions in Iran have surged in recent years - AFP

Iran on Saturday executed two men it said were convicted of links to an opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of ‌Iran, and ‌of carrying out armed ‌attacks, ⁠domestic media reported.

The ⁠executions were the latest in recent days of individuals with PMOI links.

The PMOI confirmed ⁠Saturday's executions, saying ‌in ‌a statement that Iran was "trying ‌to hide its ‌weakness by executing political prisoners, especially PMOI members and supporters." Four PMOI ‌members were executed earlier this week, ⁠it ⁠said.

The group said the two men executed on Saturday were arrested in January 2024 and had their death sentences upheld in December 2025.