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11 Bodies Recovered after Volcanic Eruption in Indonesia

Volcanic ash spews from Mount Marapi during an eruption as seen from Batu Palano village in Agam on December 4, 2023. (Photo by ADI PRIMA / AFP)
Volcanic ash spews from Mount Marapi during an eruption as seen from Batu Palano village in Agam on December 4, 2023. (Photo by ADI PRIMA / AFP)
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11 Bodies Recovered after Volcanic Eruption in Indonesia

Volcanic ash spews from Mount Marapi during an eruption as seen from Batu Palano village in Agam on December 4, 2023. (Photo by ADI PRIMA / AFP)
Volcanic ash spews from Mount Marapi during an eruption as seen from Batu Palano village in Agam on December 4, 2023. (Photo by ADI PRIMA / AFP)

The bodies of 11 climbers were recovered Monday a day after a furious eruption of the Mount Marapi volcano in West Sumatra as Indonesian rescuers searched for 12 apparently still missing.
Marapi has stayed at the third highest of four alert levels since 2011, a level indicating above normal volcanic activity and prohibiting climbers or villagers within 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) of the peak, said Hendra Gunawan, the head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.
“This means that there should be no climbing to the peak,” Gunawan said, adding that climbers were only allowed below the danger zone, "but sometimes many of them broke the rules to fulfill their satisfaction to climb further.”
About 75 climbers had started their way up the nearly 2,900-meter (9,480-foot) mountain on Saturday and became stranded. Eight of those rescued Sunday were rushed to hospitals with burns and one also had a broken limb, said Hari Agustian, an official at the local Search and Rescue Agency in Padang, the West Sumatra provincial capital.
All of the climbers had registered at two command posts or online through West Sumatra’s conservation agency before they climbed, Agustian said. It was possible others took illegal roads or local residents were active in the area, but it couldn't be confirmed, he said.
Marapi spewed thick columns of ash as high as 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) in Sunday's eruption and hot ash clouds spread several miles (kilometers). Nearby villages and towns were blanketed by tons of volcanic debris. Volcanic dust and rain smeared the faces and hair of evacuated climbers, according to video on social media.
Falling ash blanketed several villages and blocked sunlight, and authorities distributed masks and urged residents to wear eyeglasses to protect them from volcanic ash. About 1,400 people live on Marapi’s slopes in Rubai and Gobah Cumantiang, the nearest villages about 5 to 6 kilometers (3.1 to 3.7 miles) from the peak.

West Sumatra’s Search and Rescue Agency head Abdul Malik said rescuers found 11 bodies of climbers as they searched for those who still missing and rescued three others Monday morning.

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World

Pakistan Military ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ on Iran-US Mediation

Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, October 30, 2026. (Reuters)
Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, October 30, 2026. (Reuters)
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Pakistan Military ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ on Iran-US Mediation

Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, October 30, 2026. (Reuters)
Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media and public relations wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, October 30, 2026. (Reuters)

Pakistan’s military is “cautiously optimistic” about its mediation between Iran and the United States, its spokesman said on Friday in his first interview since a high-level delegation visited Tehran this week.

Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir — Pakistan's chief mediator in its efforts to de-escalate the now eight-month-old Iran war — has been to Tehran twice this month, most recently on Monday alongside Saudi and Turkish officials.

“Why would the Field Marshal be going twice if it is not for some positivity? So yes, of course,” spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said when asked whether the trips were a positive sign.

“The word that we would use is always cautiously optimistic,” added Chaudhry, director general of Inter-Services Public Relations.

There were still "powerful spoilers and detractors," who believed conflict serves ‌them, he added ‌without naming them.

Speaking in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan's armed forces ‌are ⁠headquartered, Chaudhry ⁠declined to say what was discussed or whether the United States had backed the trip.

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin joined Munir in Tehran on Monday.

Their two countries signed the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement with Pakistan on August 7, saying an attack on any signatory will be treated as an attack on all.

While the three signatories say the agreement is aimed at collective deterrence and regional security, ⁠analysts see its evolution as closely tied to efforts by regional powers to manage the ‌fallout from the Iran-US confrontation.

After Monday’s talks, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary ‌of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said regional security should be ensured by regional countries without foreign intervention.

The wording of the ‌pact does not bar new members, Chaudhry said on Friday when asked whether Iran could join.

“Anyone who ‌has a shared vision of collective deterrence and regional peace, why not? Everyone is most welcome,” he said, adding that it was for the political leadership of the three principal parties to decide.

Asked whether more Pakistani troops were being sent to Saudi Arabia under the agreement, Chaudhry said that would depend on the situation and the decision of both countries’ political leadership.

He said ‌Pakistan was committed to defending Saudi Arabia and the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah.

World

Türkiye Nominates OSCE Chief Sinirlioglu for UN’s Top Job

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shakes hands with head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu. (UN)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shakes hands with head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu. (UN)
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Türkiye Nominates OSCE Chief Sinirlioglu for UN’s Top Job

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shakes hands with head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu. (UN)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shakes hands with head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu. (UN)

Türkiye has nominated Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu, leader of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to be the next UN secretary-general, the country's official Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday.

A nomination letter dated Friday from Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been submitted to the presidents of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, Anadolu said, citing Turkish foreign ministry sources.

The move came after a deadlock in the selection process, with the latest straw poll at the UN Security Council held on Friday returning an inconclusive outcome, the sources told the news agency.

The outgoing secretary-general, Antonio Guterres of Portugal, ends his second five-year term on December 31.

Even if a candidate earns the required nine votes from the 15 available in the Security Council, they must also avoid a veto by the five major powers, which are deeply divided.

Once a candidate clears those bars, their name will go to the General Assembly of all UN members for confirmation.

World

G20 Foreign Ministers to End Atlanta Meeting without Consensus on Key Issues

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chair of the African Union Executive Council Edouard Bizimana and others attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, US, October 30, 2026. REUTERS/Megan Varner/Pool
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chair of the African Union Executive Council Edouard Bizimana and others attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, US, October 30, 2026. REUTERS/Megan Varner/Pool
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G20 Foreign Ministers to End Atlanta Meeting without Consensus on Key Issues

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chair of the African Union Executive Council Edouard Bizimana and others attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, US, October 30, 2026. REUTERS/Megan Varner/Pool
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chair of the African Union Executive Council Edouard Bizimana and others attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, US, October 30, 2026. REUTERS/Megan Varner/Pool

Top diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies will wrap up two days of talks in Atlanta on Saturday without reaching consensus on several critical global security issues after divisions, notably over Russia's war with Ukraine, overshadowed the start of the meeting.

As a result, the group will not release a joint communique but will rather rely on a chairman’s statement summarizing the talks, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio will release at the conclusion, according to diplomats who attended.

Rubio, who opened the talks with an appeal for unity, had canceled the traditional group photo of the foreign ministers on Friday after European diplomats objected to the inclusion of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and threatened to boycott or walk out of the snapshot that often kicks off such gatherings, The Associated Press said.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who was representing his country for the first time as a guest at a G20 meeting, said Friday he was not surprised by the failure to reach consensus.

“We have wars going on, and we have participants in those wars around the table, so it’s very difficult to agree on a common line,” he told reporters.

Other participants in the meetings, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the closed-door talks, said all had agreed to try to overcome their differences despite the long odds and to work to make next month’s G20 leaders summit hosted by President Donald Trump in Florida a success.

These diplomats said a chairman's statement had long been the plan due to the deep differences among the attendees, including over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US-Israeli war against Iran, US tariffs and Chinese machinations in the South China Sea. All have contributed to spikes in the global cost of fuel as well as uncertainty about trade.

They described the opening session as cordial but said Russia’s position on Ukraine is unyielding — as is its opposition to Poland’s membership in the G20. And they said the disagreements also include the Trump administration’s not inviting G20 member South Africa over the objections of others.

Russia’s presence at G20 gathering roils Europeans

Some G20 countries had already expressed concern that the US invited Russia during its heightened attacks on Ukraine, especially after Trump pushed ties with Ukraine to new lows by waiving fresh sanctions on Moscow and temporarily limiting logistical and intelligence assistance.

However, the State Department announced Friday that it had approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of Patriot air defense interceptors for Ukraine.

Lavrov said Moscow will not allow a situation in which Ukraine poses a “military threat to legitimate security interests of the Russian Federation."

Lavrov has traveled only infrequently to NATO member states since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and resulting severe sanctions were imposed on Moscow, and it is unclear if Russian President Vladimir Putin will accept Trump’s invitation to attend the G20 leaders summit at his Miami golf club in December.

The Iran war hangs over the G20 event

The US has said a top priority for the meeting is resolving differences over issues related to freedom of navigation, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, the Black Sea and the South China Sea. The topic will include discussions on Iran, Russia-Ukraine and China and its smaller neighbors.

But hanging over the meeting is the prospect of new US military intervention in Iran, which has put the region on edge. Rubio met on the sidelines with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, as well as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country has been a key mediator.

The Associated Press has reported that US officials have told several Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military strikes against Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections and the possibility that Iran will retaliate against them.