Indonesia’s Toll Rises to 62 from Deadly Sumatra Floods, 25 Still Missing 

Two women observe the aftermath of a flash flood through a hole in the wall of a house at Limo Kaum village, in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, on May 15, 2024. (AFP) 
Two women observe the aftermath of a flash flood through a hole in the wall of a house at Limo Kaum village, in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, on May 15, 2024. (AFP) 
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Indonesia’s Toll Rises to 62 from Deadly Sumatra Floods, 25 Still Missing 

Two women observe the aftermath of a flash flood through a hole in the wall of a house at Limo Kaum village, in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, on May 15, 2024. (AFP) 
Two women observe the aftermath of a flash flood through a hole in the wall of a house at Limo Kaum village, in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, on May 15, 2024. (AFP) 

The death toll from weekend flash floods and mud slides in Indonesia's West Sumatra province rose to 62 on Wednesday, authorities said, while rescuers were searching areas near rivers for 25 people who are still missing.

Officials said some of those earlier unaccounted for were found dead during the day, which lifted the toll from 58 reported in the morning.

A video shared by the national disaster management agency BNPB showed logs, rocks and mud strewn over roads, collapsed bridges and houses in Tanah Datar, one of the three districts in West Sumatra hit by the floods.

The disaster struck the area on Saturday evening when heavy rains unleashed flash floods, landslides, and cold lava flow - a mud-like mixture of volcanic ash, rock debris and water.

The cold lava flow, came from Mount Marapi, one of Sumatra's most active volcanoes. Its eruption in December killed more than 20 people and more eruptions have followed since.

BNPB will continue to search for the missing people and clean the main roads, its head Suharyanto said in a statement on Wednesday

Sisters Fitrawanis, 64, and Nurbaiti, 66, watched in tears the ruins of their brother's house in Tanah Datar. They said the brother, Rusdi, 60, was still missing after water swept him away when he tried to save his mother-in-law.

"I hope that his body can be found quickly, either alive or dead," Fitrawanis told Reuters. She said both in-laws and Rusdi's wife have been found dead.

At least 249 houses, 225 hectares (556 acres) of land, including rice fields, 19 bridges and most of main roads were damaged in three districts and one town.

Indonesia's meteorology agency BMKG said it planned to try to mitigate heavy rainfall expected for the next week in West Sumatra by "cloud seeding" to prevent rains in the worst affected areas.

Widely used in Indonesia, cloud seeding involves shooting salt flares into clouds to trigger rainfall in dry areas.



Palestinian Protest Leader Detained by US Misses Son’s Birth 

Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)
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Palestinian Protest Leader Detained by US Misses Son’s Birth 

Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)
Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil is seen at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus in New York, April 29, 2024. (AP)

Detained pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil missed the birth of his son on Monday after US authorities refused a temporary release, his wife said.

A graduate student at New York's Columbia University who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza, Khalil was arrested by immigration authorities on March 8.

He was ordered deported even though he was a permanent US resident through his American citizen wife, Noor Abdalla.

Abdalla said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied a request to release Khalil temporarily for the birth of their child.

"This was a purposeful decision by ICE to make me, Mahmoud and our son suffer," she said in a statement.

"My son and I should not be navigating his first days on earth without Mahmoud. ICE and the Trump administration have stolen these precious moments from our family in an attempt to silence Mahmoud's support for Palestinian freedom," she said.

She gave birth in New York. Khalil was transferred to the southern state of Louisiana in an apparent bid to find a judge sympathetic to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

Trump's advisors have accused pro-Palestinian protesters of promoting anti-Semitism and terrorism, charges the activists deny.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked a law approved during the 1950s Red Scare that allows the United States to remove foreigners seen as adverse to US foreign policy.

Rubio argues that US constitutional protections of free speech do not apply to foreigners and that he alone can make decisions without judicial review.

Hundreds of students have seen their visas revoked, with some saying they were targeted for everything from writing opinion articles to minor arrest records.

Immigration authorities last week arrested another Columbia University student active in the protests, Mohsen Mahdawi, as he attended an interview seeking to become a US citizen.