Flash

• A devastating flash flood in the Nepal-Tibet region has left numerous foreign nationals missing or killed, affecting tourists, pilgrims, and workers. • The NTB reports a wide range of missing persons, including three citizens each from Belgium and Spain, and two each from Italy, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Ireland, and the Netherlands. • Additionally, 10 other individuals are missing, with one person each from Belarus, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia, and Sweden.

The catastrophic flash flood has killed at least 389 people and left more than 1,300 missing, with hundreds of tourists unaccounted forNearly 1,400 missing, mostly tourists, and hundreds killedVisual guide: how the deadly flooding unfoldedTell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?Chinese authorities have warned that an artificial lake formed after a catastrophic flash flood hit the China-Nepal border on Wednesday faces a “high risk of breaching and sending flood waters downstream”, according to state media.“According to forecasts, inflows into the lake could reach about 3 million cubic meters over the next three days amid continued rainfall, increasing the risk of a breach that could send flood waters downstream and potentially cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port and elsewhere downstream”, state news agency Xinhua reported late Thursday.Rescue teams and military helicopters are searching for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous Nepal-Tibet border after a huge torrent of water and mud swept through communities following a glacier collapse on Wednesday.More than 390 people were killed, authorities in Nepal and China said, and more than 1,400 were missing, including hundreds of foreign citizens and pilgrims.More than 500 foreign citizens were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism ⁠officials said. Among those unaccounted for were 177 from India, 90 from the US, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.Chinese state media said at least 558 were missing on the Tibet side of the border, of whom at least 260 were foreign nationals.UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said he ordered the release of $2m from the UN’s central emergency response fund to help with medical care, shelter and water.US president Donald Trump said the flooding was terrible to see, describing how “strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks”.Nepalese officials said dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 40km of roads damaged, complicating search efforts.The Nepalese army had rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, an army spokesperson said. Army teams also evacuated people trapped inside facilities linked to the Trishuli hydropower project, he said.Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for medical care.Rescuers found bodies in Nepal’s Chitwan district, hundreds of kilometres downstream from the hardest-hit areas.The Nepal Red Cross Society said the agency has shifted its focus from rescue to large-scale relief operations in the flood-hit districts.China’s premier, Li Qiang, arrived on Thursday in Gyirong to direct rescue efforts, alongside 500 military and paramilitary personnel. Continue reading...

• Massive flash floods in central Nepal have resulted in numerous deaths and left over 750 people missing, including 133 Indian nationals. • Indian authorities report that at least 290 Indian citizens currently remain "uncontactable" following the deluge. • Both Nepal and China have issued warnings regarding fresh flood risks, indicating that the region remains under significant threat.

• Flash floods have devastated communities in Nepal near the Tibet border, resulting in more than 150 deaths. • The disaster caused widespread destruction across the region, triggering large-scale emergency rescue operations to locate survivors. • This event highlights the extreme vulnerability of border communities to sudden climate-driven weather events and geological instability.

• A glacier collapse triggered a devastating flash flood along the Bhote Koshi river near the Nepal-Tibet border, resulting in at least 17 confirmed deaths. • Search and rescue operations are underway for several missing persons, including two British teenagers caught in the disaster. • The event highlights the extreme vulnerability of Himalayan regions to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) caused by climate change.

Rescue teams are searching for nearly 1,500 missing people, mostly tourists, after floods kill at least 165Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updatesRescue teams in Nepal are searching for at least 33 British nationals who are among those missing after flash floods ravaged its border with Tibet, killing at least 165 people.Nearly 1,500 people are missing, the majority of them tourists, authorities have said, after a glacier collapse triggered devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet, roaring down valleys and razing entire villages. Continue reading...

Nepali tour operator fears 15 Australians who had been on a trekking tour near border with China have died after devastating floodingA Nepali tour operator says he fears that 15 Australians trekking with his company in a valley ravaged by flash flooding have died.Sagar Pandey, the founder and chief executive of Himalayan Glacier Trekking, said he has lost all contact with his tour group of 47 people, which included 15 Australians. 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...

Powerful floods in Himalayan border area sweep away houses, roads and bridgesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDozens of Australian tourists are reportedly missing in the deadly flash floods that swept through the Nepal-Tibet border, as the Australian government says it is urgently working to confirm their welfare.According to the Nepal Tourist Board, as reported by Press Association, at least 403 people have been reported missing, with 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for. Continue reading...

Powerful floods in Himalayan border area sweep away houses, roads and bridges. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDozens of Australian tourists are reportedly missing in the deadly flash floods that swept through the Nepal-Tibet border.According to the Nepal Tourist Board, as reported by Agence France Presse, at least 291 foreigners were among the missing. Continue reading...

More than 400 travellers are said to be missing after flood on Tibet border, including 33 BritonsFlash floods on Nepal-Tibet border – latest updatesThirty-three British citizens including a 13-year-old girl are among more than 400 travellers missing after a flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border, according to Nepal’s tourism board.The sudden flood happened on the Tibetan side of the Bhote Koshi River at about 8.30am local time on Wednesday. The 33 UK citizens are among at least 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for. Continue reading...

Death toll of nine likely to rise as floods and mudslide sweep away houses, roads, bridges and power projectsTorrential floods ⁠in the Himalayan border areas of ⁠Nepal and in ​Tibet in China have killed at least nine people and destroyed roads, bridges and power projects, as authorities in both countries braced for more casualties.Houses and roads were swept away ⁠in Nepal while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties” with some missing in the county of Gyirong after a mudslide hit a land crossing between the neighbours. Continue reading...

• Veteran market strategist Jim Paulsen warns that the S&P 500's rapid pace of earnings growth may be nearing an end. • Paulsen identifies five specific signals suggesting a slowdown, noting that cyclical stock performance historically serves as a leading indicator for profit trends. • This warning matters as investors rely on earnings growth to justify current market valuations and sustain the ongoing rally.

• DeepSeek claims its refreshed V4-Flash model outperforms the V4-Pro preview in coding tasks while costing only a third of the price. • In a real-world test involving three coding jobs, V4-Flash proved to be the superior model in terms of performance. • Despite the lower per-token cost, V4-Flash consumed significantly more tokens than V4-Pro, resulting in nearly identical final bills.

• A key stock market valuation indicator has flashed a warning signal not seen since the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. • The metric tracks the price of a stock index relative to its average inflation-adjusted earnings over the preceding 10 years. • This development suggests that current stock prices may be significantly overvalued compared to historical earnings trends.

• Over 1,290 employees from frontier AI labs signed an open letter urging for a more paced approach to artificial intelligence development. • Nvidia established the Open Secure AI Alliance, notably excluding major industry players such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic from the initial launch. • Cybersecurity experts warned that while individual AI agent techniques are mundane, their autonomous speed and scale create a dangerous new class of threats.

In today’s newsletter: The past week shows how quickly images, rumours and ​right-wing political opportunism can eclipse the facts on the groundGood morning. Last week, an estimated 72,000 migrants began crossing into a tiny Spanish enclave on the tip of Morocco. Within 24 hours, most of them had headed home. At least 88 people died after attempting the crossing, according to local officials. This isn’t the whole story of what happened over the last week, but the facts are worth remembering.At an emergency meeting yesterday, EU interior ministers sought to draw a line under Ceuta, insisting that the passport-free Schengen area had never been at risk from the arrival of migrants at this scale. Despite this, much of the media coverage has suggested that events in Ceuta represent a territorial threat to Europe, sparking calls for greater security across the region’s borders.Environment | Eight of the biggest oil companies amassed profits of more than $90bn (£67bn) in just three months as the Iran conflict sent energy prices soaring and the emissions-fuelled climate crisis caused deadly heatwaves.UK politics | Women should not feel pressurised into experiencing an “ideal birth”, the new health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said, promising a root-and-branch reform of standards after several damning maternity scandals.Middle East | Jordan is convening an emergency meeting over an “imminent” threat of an Israeli takeover of the most important Muslim site in Jerusalem, with the potential to “trigger a religious conflict”.Ukraine | Russian strikes in and around Kyiv killed at least 14 people, ⁠injured 27 and ⁠damaged warehouses, ​emergency service officials said. Some reports put the death toll at 15.Ceuta | Hundreds of people have gathered in the northern Moroccan town of Fnideq, near the border with Spain’s Ceuta, flashing photos of their missing loved ones to passersby in the hope of tracking them down. Continue reading...

• DeepSeek officially released its V4-Flash model on Friday, positioning it as the world's cheapest AI model to operate. • The launch is a strategic effort by the company to regain market momentum by leveraging its specialty in providing ultra-low-cost AI alternatives. • This move comes as DeepSeek faces intense competition from Chinese rivals including Moonshot, MiniMax, Z.AI, ByteDance, and Alibaba.

• Approximately 50,000 people attempted to cross from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, resulting in dozens of deaths during the chaotic migration surge. • The incident has triggered a political crisis for the Spanish government and created deep divisions within the EU, with right-wing critics blaming Spain's policy of legalizing irregular migrants. • In response, France has tightened its borders with Spain, and Italy's far-right government has called for Spain's suspension from the Schengen free-movement zone.

• Research firm Artificial Analysis reports that DeepSeek's V4-Flash is significantly more affordable to operate, costing approximately 3 cents per test compared to $3.15 for Claude Fable 5. • The model enters a highly competitive Chinese AI market where DeepSeek is facing intense pressure from rivals including Moonshot, MiniMax, Z.AI, ByteDance, and Alibaba. • This price war is driven by a strategic push for global adoption and a desire to attract businesses seeking cost-effective ways to deploy AI at scale.

Lightning kills a New Jersey man as rescues, power outages and travel disruption hit regionBands of deadly, extreme weather including torrential rain and high winds sparked flash flooding and tornado warnings in several north eastern US states Tuesday night and into Wednesday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people and playing havoc with travel.A 32-year-old man was killed on Tuesday afternoon in a lightning strike in Monroe township, New Jersey, authorities said. Continue reading...

From Afghanistan to Taiwan, unprecedented deluge highlights devastating impact of climate breakdown“It rained for 10 days and 10 nights, non-stop – I’d never seen anything like it,” says Anar Gul, a construction worker who lives in the remote district of Dur Baba in eastern Afghanistan.The houses in his village are built from stone and mud, which makes them extremely vulnerable to heavy rains. After days of rain, Gul’s kitchen collapsed and his neighbour, Sayed Afsar Sadat, saw a large part of his house completely destroyed. “Rains like this are coming heavier and earlier each year,” says Sadat. “They are destroying the roads and washing away our crops. It’s impacting us directly.” Continue reading...

• Investors are monitoring how the Middle East crisis may trigger oil price spikes, potentially forcing the U.S. Federal Reserve to delay interest rate cuts and strengthen the U.S. dollar. • Japan and South Korea face significant currency risks as they raise domestic interest rates to combat inflation driven by oil shocks originating in the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi Arabia. • This dynamic is critical because raising the cost of capital does little to offset currency exposure to dollar-priced commodities, creating a volatile environment for Asian markets.

Search and rescue operations continue as troops deploy across state after torrential rain caused floods and damageAbout 500 national guard members have been deployed across West Virginia after torrential rain caused flash floods in parts of the state this week, and as emergency crews continue search and rescue operations.Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, West Virginia’s governor, Patrick Morrisey, said that the state remained in a “phase of search and rescue” with teams working to “identify any individual who we might be able to save”. Continue reading...

• AI startups are shifting their focus from "flashy" viral demos to sustainable, revenue-generating technology to ensure survival in a high-stakes market. • A San Francisco-based startup, founded by ex-Meta researchers Anand Kannappan and Rebecca Qian, is pivoting from factual accuracy and copyright tools to developing "digital world models." • Having raised $20 million from backers like Lightspeed Venture Partners, the company is now building replicas of internal systems to test AI agents' ability to perform real-world tasks, such as booking flights.

• Indian markets are expected to remain volatile with a positive bias as investors focus on June quarter earnings and the impact of renewed West Asia tensions on oil prices and the rupee. • Global attention will shift to the European Central Bank's policy meeting on July 23, where economists generally expect interest rates to remain unchanged. • Investors will also monitor Japan’s inflation data and flash PMI figures to gauge future interest rate directions and economic health.

Victims were Provo’s fire captain, his wife and their three sons, who were hiking in Bicknell amid heavy rainsFive family members who had set out for a day of hiking were killed after a flash flood swept through canyons of southern Utah on Friday, law enforcement officials said.The victims were a captain in the Provo fire department, his wife and their sons, according to fire officials. A daughter who was not on the trip survived. Continue reading...

• The Monsoon Session of Parliament is beginning with a legislative agenda featuring seven bills, including the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026. • Key proposed measures include tightening rules for delayed birth and death registrations, imposing stricter penalties for disrespecting national symbols, and improving ease of doing business for small enterprises. • The session is expected to be volatile as the Opposition is likely to protest the absence of critical bills regarding delimitation and women's reservation from the government's agenda.