More than 1,300 people are missing in Nepal and in Tibet after catastrophic flash floods swept through the region, killing at least 469. Plus: Six months of the war in IranDon’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Rescue operations have resumed in Nepal and Tibet after a pause when a lake at the border began to overflow. The lake was formed when a wall of mud and debris hit the hub of Gyirong in Tibet on Wednesday, causing catastrophic flash floods that thundered down valleys and obliterated villages.What could have caused this deadly flash floods? Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause, raising concerns that the climate crisis is destabilizing the geology of mountain and polar regions.This is a developing story. Follow our live coverage here.What did Kennedy purportedly lie about? A Guardian analysis of newly obtained documents found that the US health secretary had lied when he told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation that a 2019 visit to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines”. Continue reading...
Lake has formed at epicentre of flood, forcing rescue teams to withdraw, Chinese state media reportNepal flash flood – latest updatesNearly 1,400 missing, mostly tourists, and hundreds killedVisual guide: how the deadly flooding unfoldedTell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?China has paused rescue work at the epicentre of the catastrophic flooding in Tibet this week amid fears that a lake formed at the site was at risk of bursting, as the overall death toll in Nepal rose to 469 people, with more than 1,300 missing.A lake formed by immense piles of debris has begun overflowing towards the area where rescue teams were headed, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday. Continue reading...
At least 160 people have died, while officials believe 340 foreign nationals from India, the US, UK, Australia, Malaysia and Ukraine among those missing. Follow the latest newsFlash floods on Nepal-Tibet border leave scores dead and hundreds missingTell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?Authorities in Nepal and Tibet have said they fear the death toll from catastrophic flooding could be much higher than 160 people already killed, as search and rescue efforts to locate the hundreds missing continue.A huge wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border of Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, triggering the flash flood which washed away houses, roads and border crossings.Rescue teams are rushing on Thursday to find hundreds of people missing after the flood and landslides killed at least 160 people. Many of the missing were foreign tourists, officials said.Nepali police said they had recovered 157 bodies after “devastating floods”, with officers working to move families in flood-risk areas to safety. Chinese state media reported “major casualties” from a mudslide at a Tibet border hub, reporting three dead and another 265 missing. The overall death toll appears likely to rise.Tibet government officials mobilised nearly 800 emergency workers and 150 vehicles as well as sniffer dogs and speed boats to help the rescue efforts, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.At least 403 tourists – 341 of them foreigners – were unaccounted for several hours after the disaster struck on Wednesday morning, according to Nepal’s tourism ministry. The missing foreigners included 142 Indians, 33 from the UK, 47 from the US, 34 from Australia and 24 from Canada as well as others from South Korea, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Portugal and South Africa, the tourism board said. Nine South Koreans were missing, the country’s foreign ministry said.At least 28 Nepal police officials were missing, a police spokesperson said.Entire villages and markets were “wiped out”, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. It was dispatching emergency supplies including blankets, first aid kits, stretchers and body bags.United Nations chief António Guterres said UN teams and partners were mobilising supplies and personnel in Nepal to support affected communities.Surveillance video from the Chinese side of the border showed a raging wall of mud and debris crashing over a building several storeys high, engulfing it as dozens of people flee for their lives below. The surge sweeps away buses and cars.Experts warned that a lingering blockage upstream on the Nepal-China border river could produce a second flood.The cause of the flooding was not immediately clear. Nepalese foreign minister Shishir Khanal said an earthquake likely triggered a landslide, which in turn blocked a river, sending water gushing downstream. Nepal’s disaster authority said satellite data indicated a “snow-rock landslide” on the Nepal-China border may have caused the flood. Scientists say climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the region.Chinese leader Xi Jinping said “the most urgent task is doing everything possible to search for and rescue the missing people”, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.The US Geological Survey first reported a magnitude-4.4 earthquake early on Wednesday, about 66km (41 miles) north of Kathmandu, near the border. It later updated to call the shaking a 5.2-magnitude landslide. Continue reading...
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned EU leaders' "selfish" responses to a migrant crisis in Ceuta as the death toll continues to rise.
• The crisis has sparked internal EU division, leading Italy to temporarily suspend the Schengen border-free arrangement with Spain, a move supported by Denmark and Finland.
• U.S. President Donald Trump further escalated the situation by publicly branding the border breach as a "catastrophe."
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport in Bhogapuram, Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday.
• The Greenfield airport was developed via a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model with a total investment exceeding Rs 5,640 crore.
• Designed to enhance regional connectivity, the facility is capable of handling six million passengers annually during its initial phase.
Soldiers and emergency workers are combing through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivorsThe death toll from the major earthquake that hit Japan on Tuesday has risen to 17, as the search for trapped survivors inside a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses in the country’s south-west continues.The magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck the Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu has injured at least 62, the prefectural government said. That number has steadily grown, fanning fears it will rise. Continue reading...
Emergency workers are continuing their search for survivors in southern Japan after yesterday’s powerful earthquake ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missingEmergency workers are continuing their search for survivors in southern Japan after yesterday’s powerful earthquake left widespread devastation, with buildings collapsed, roads severely damaged and emergency teams digging through rubble.At least 13 people have been killed and many reported missing after the earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu with a magnitude of 7.1, according to the Japan meteorological agency. The US Geological Survey measured it at magnitude 6.8. Continue reading...
Military mobilises thousands of personnel after quake on southern Kyushu island that registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese shindo intensity scale At least five people have been killed, and nine are missing after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japan on Tuesday, injuring hundreds and knocking out power and water to tens of thousands.The quake – which registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese shindo intensity scale – hit at 4.27pm on Tuesday, centred on Kumamoto prefecture on the southern Kyushu island. Continue reading...
Bar owner in Thailand offers ‘deepest apologies for this tragic incident’ as police investigate whether exits were either blocked or hard to accessThe Bangkok pub that has become the scene of the city’s deadliest blaze in 17 years has said it will cooperate with an investigation into alleged negligence, as the death toll rose to 30.The local district office said on Tuesday that three more people died after the devastating fire that broke out in the early hours of Monday. An initial assessment by disaster officials found that an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner located in the ceiling caused the fire. Continue reading...
Nearly 17,000 injured and thousands more listed as missing amid calls by president Delcy Rodríguez and UN for financial helpThe death toll in Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes has passed 4,300, the government said on Saturday.At least 4,333 people were killed and 16,740 injured in the back-to-back quakes on 24 June that flattened entire districts in the coastal state of La Guaira, the Venezuelan parliament chief, Jorge Rodríguez, wrote on Telegram. Thousands more people are listed as missing. Continue reading...
President says ‘we always hold onto hope’ as discovery of earthquake survivors spurs fresh search efforts despite dwindling chances of survivalMortuary in Caracas ‘overwhelmed’ as Venezuela struggles to respond after earthquakesA man and his teenage son were found alive under the rubble in Venezuela on Sunday, in a town about 40km north of the capital Caracas, AFP journalists reported, as the death toll from last week’s twin earthquakes passed 1,450.The discovery of survivors in Caraballeda was made by French and American rescue teams nearly four days after back-to-back quakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck, completely destroying nearly 200 buildings in the area. Continue reading...
Search for survivors continues with nearly 70,000 people reported unaccounted for by their family membersThe death toll in the twin earthquakes which struck Venezuela earlier this week has risen to 1,430, according to one of the country’s top politicians Jorge Rodríguez.Another 3,200 people were injured and 3,100 left homeless by the disaster, the National Assembly president added, speaking on state television. Continue reading...
Delcy Rodríguez says foreign rescue teams are arriving but people are angry at official response and limited resourcesVenezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has vowed to fight to save “as many people as possible” as the official death toll from the country’s worst earthquake in more than a century almost doubled, but frustration was growing at the perceived sluggishness of the government’s response.Rodríguez said on Friday that the official death toll had risen to 589, with nearly 3,000 people injured. Speaking during a tour of La Guaira, the most devastated region, Rodríguez said foreign search and rescue groups were starting to arrive. Continue reading...
Buildings collapse after double quakes of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude. Plus, the apartment renters facing a tide of feesGood morning.Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has declared a state of emergency after the country was struck by two powerful earthquakes that collapsed dozens of buildings, killing at least 164 people and injuring 971 more, with experts predicting the death toll could rise still further.What do we know? The US Geological Survey (USGS) said Venezuela had been hit by two quakes: a magnitude 7.5 “mainshock” and a 7.2 “foreshock” 39 seconds earlier. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” the USGS said.How does the damage look on the ground? Rodríguez, who confirmed the death toll, said the airport had been closed after sustaining “severe damage” and added that the metro and train systems had been halted. A Guardian reporter saw at least three buildings that had collapsed in Altamira, an upmarket area of Caracas that is home to many foreign embassies, after the quakes hit shortly after 6pm on Wednesday.This is what the company said: In a statement, Greystar told the Guardian it disagreed with the allegations in the court actions and was “actively defending” the cases. In various court filings, the company has called tenants’ legal complaints factually deficient, implausible and “futile”.In other housing news: Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his plan to sign a bipartisan bill aimed at lowering the cost of housing on Wednesday, holding the bill – which passed both the House and Senate – hostage until Congress passes the Save America Act, which would impose new identification requirements on voters and curtail mail-in voting. Continue reading...
Two had been confirmed dead after tank containing ‘white liquor’ used in making paper pulp imploded last weekThe death toll from a chemical tank rupture in the US state of Washington climbed to 11 as crews recovered the bodies of all nine missing people, authorities said on Saturday.Two fatalities had been confirmed after the tank containing “white liquor” – a chemical solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide used in making paper pulp – imploded at a Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Three men killed in third attack this week amid Trump administration’s campaign against alleged drug boatsThe US military said it had carried out another strike Friday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the third attack this week and pushing the overall death toll above 200 people.US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the months-long campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence. Continue reading...
Three more people remain missing and are presumed dead, after tank containing chemical mixture collapsedThe confirmed death toll in the chemical tank explosion at a Washington state paper mill rose to eight on Thursday after crews recovered the remains of six workers, officials said.Three more individuals remain missing and are presumed dead. Eight other people were injured, including a firefighter responding to the incident. Continue reading...
Military claims boat targeted in second deadly attack this week was travelling along a known smuggling routeThe US military attacked what it called a drug trafficking boat on Wednesday in the eastern Pacific, killing two men, officials said.It was the second deadly attack in as many days in the Trump administration offensive that began last September and has now left almost 200 people dead. Rights groups say the attacks could amount to extrajudicial killings. Continue reading...
Xi Jinping urges authorities to ‘spare no effort’ in rescue efforts after blast at mine in northern Shanxi provinceThe death toll from a gas explosion at a coalmine in northern China’s Shanxi province has risen to at least 82, state media Xinhua reported on Saturday, with nine people still missing.The gas explosion happened late on Friday at the Liushenyu coalmine in Qinyuan county, while 247 workers were underground, Xinhua reported. Initial reports said eight people had been killed, while more than 200 people had been brought safely to the surface. Continue reading...
Military video shows boat moving swiftly in water before explosion leaves it in flamesThe US military said on Sunday three men were killed when it struck a boat it claimed was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.This latest strike – which follows dozens of similar attacks on alleged drug boats in recent months – brings the US campaign’s death toll to at least 185, according to a tally compiled by Agence France-Presse. Continue reading...
UN assists in emergency vaccination drive as country battles worst surge in cases in years amid fall in vaccination ratesBangladesh is battling its worse measles outbreak in years, with more than 100 children dead amid a rise in unvaccinated infants.The government, in partnership with the United Nations, has begun conducting an emergency measles-rubella vaccination drive for children across the country, after more than 900 cases were confirmed since March. Continue reading...
Rights group also reports at least 30 injured in Gran Grif raid on Artibonite farming region and almost 6,000 displacedAt least 70 people have been killed and 30 injured during an attack in Haiti’s breadbasket Artibonite region, significantly more than official estimates, a human rights group has said.Police initially reported 16 dead and 10 injured, while a preliminary report from civil protection authorities suggested 17 had died and 19 were wounded. Continue reading...
Finding suggests as many as 155,000 deaths, likely occurring outside of hospitals, not recognized at Covid relatedThe Covid-19 pandemic’s early death toll was much higher than the official US count, according to a new study that spotlights dramatic disparities in the uncounted deaths.About 840,000 Covid-19 deaths were reported on death certificates in 2020 and 2021. But a group of researchers – using a form of artificial intelligence – estimate that as many as 155,000 unrecognized additional deaths likely occurred in that time outside of hospitals. That would mean about 16% of Covid-19 deaths went uncounted in those years. Continue reading...
Experts query ‘mix-up of priorities’ as president plays golf, posts old pictures and repeats details of Bill Maher feudMore than two weeks into the US-Israel war on Iran, and the conflict appears at risk of spiraling out of control.Back home, Donald Trump’s behavior also appears chaotic. A foreign conflict typically brings somber reflection from leaders: in Trump’s case, it has brought a stream of behavior that has defied norms and raised eyebrows over his state of mind. Continue reading...
