• Rain, floods kill 1,790 in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam.
• Deforestation causes landslides, floods in Indonesia, say environmentalists.
• People not only dying from the flood, but also from starvation: state media.
  

Ruinous floods and landslides have killed more than 900 people on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra, the country’s disaster management agency said on Saturday, with fears that starvation could send the toll even higher.

A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has pummeled Southeast and South Asia, triggering landslides and flash floods from the Sumatran rainforest to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka.

More than 1,790 people have been killed in natural disasters unfolding across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam over the past week.

In Indonesia’s provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, floods have swept away roads, smothered houses in silt, and cut off supplies.

Aceh governor Muzakir Manaf said response teams were still searching for bodies in “waist-deep” mud.

However, starvation was one of the gravest threats now hanging over remote and inaccessible villages.

“Many people need basic necessities. Many areas remain untouched in the remote areas of Aceh,” he told reporters.

“People are not dying from the flood, but from starvation. That’s how it is.”

Entire villages had been washed away in the rainforest-cloaked Aceh Tamiang region, Muzakir said.

“The Aceh Tamiang region is completely destroyed, from the top to the bottom, down to the roads and down to the sea.

“Many villages and sub-districts are now just names,” he said.

Aceh Tamiang flood victim Fachrul Rozi said he had spent the past week crammed into an old shop building with others who had fled the rising waters.

“We ate whatever was available, helping each other with the little supplies each resident had brought,” he told AFP.

“We slept crammed together.”

Aceh resident Munawar Liza Zainal said he felt “betrayed” by the Indonesian government, which has so far shrugged off pressure to declare a national disaster.

“This is an extraordinary disaster that must be faced with extraordinary measures,” he told AFP, echoing frustrations voiced by other flood victims.

“If national disaster status is only declared later, what’s the point?”

Declaring a national disaster would free up resources and help government agencies coordinate their response.

Analysts have suggested Indonesia could be reluctant to declare a disaster — and seek additional foreign aid — because it would show it was not up to the task.

Indonesia’s government this week insisted it could handle the fallout.

Climate calamity

The scale of devastation has only just become clear in other parts of Sumatra as engorged rivers shrink and floodwaters recede.

AFP photos showed muddy villagers salvaging silt-encrusted furniture from flooded houses in Aek Ngadol, North Sumatra.

Humanitarian groups worry that the scale of the calamity could be unprecedented, even for a nation prone to natural disasters.

Indonesia’s death toll rose to 908 on Saturday, according to the disaster management agency, with 410 people missing.

Sri Lanka’s death toll jumped on Friday to 607, as the government warned that fresh rains raised the risk of new landslides.

Thailand has reported 276 deaths and Malaysia two, while at least two people were killed in Vietnam after heavy rains triggered a series of landslides.

Seasonal monsoon rains are a feature of life in Southeast Asia, flooding rice fields and nourishing the growth of other key crops.

However, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly throughout the region.

Environmentalists and Indonesia’s government have also suggested that logging and deforestation exacerbated landslides and flooding in Sumatra.

• Canada says sanctions lifted in line with decisions taken by allies
• Ottawa listed Syria as a “state supporter of terrorism” in 2012.
• Canada keeps sanctions on 56 individuals tied to Assad era.
  

Canada on Friday removed Syria from its list of states that support terrorism, and revoked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) designation as a “terrorist entity,” joining a list of countries to ease sanctions on Damascus.

The moves come after HTS ousted former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last December and took control of the government.

“These decisions were not taken lightly,” Canada’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The steps were “in line with recent decisions taken by our allies, including the United Kingdom and the United States, and follow the efforts by the Syrian transitional government to advance Syria’s stability,” it said.

Canada listed Syria as a “state supporter of terrorism” in 2012, as Assad’s crushing of pro-democracy protests plunged the country into civil war.

HTS had been widely sanctioned over its links to Al-Qaeda, but several Western states have delisted the group to allow for better collaboration with the new Syrian government and its president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.

Canada is maintaining sanctions on 56 Syrian individuals, including former officials from the fallen Assad regime and members of the Assad family, the foreign ministry said.

Saudi authorities have announced new timings and procedures for visiting Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) Roza (tomb) in Al Masjid-e-Nabawi and offering nawafil (voluntary prayers) in Riazul Jannah, with separate schedules for men and women and access regulated through the Nusuk platform.

The Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques said permits must be obtained via Nusuk, with booking generally allowed once every 365 days or through the “Instant Track” option when worshippers are near the Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque. 

Entry to the Noble Roza-e-Rasool is designated through the southern courtyards, in front of Makkah Gate 37, while elderly visitors are allowed to enter using a manual wheelchair.

For men, on regular days, the time for the visit will be from 2:00am until the Fajr prayer and again from 11:20am until the Isha prayer. 

On Fridays, male visitors will have three slots: from 2:00am until Fajr, from 9:20am to 11:20am, and from after the Jummah prayer until Isha, according to the Presidency of the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques.

For women, on regular days, the time for the visit will be from after Fajr until 11:00am, and from after Isha until 2:00am. 

On Fridays, women will be able to perform the ziyarah (visit) from after the Fajr prayer until 9:00am, in addition to the regular night slot from after Isha until 2:00am, Saudi authorities said.