Medicine, food and other supplies are the urgent priority. But the rising risks from shrinking glaciers must be faced too
Thousands of people in Nepal and Tibet are in desperate need of emergency assistance following Wednesday’s disaster. With 360 people confirmed dead, more than 1,300 others are still missing as search and rescue operations continue. The precise sequence of events linking glacier collapse to flash floods is yet to be confirmed. But there is no doubting the enormous destructive power of the brown torrent that can be seen on video clips surging down the steeply sided Himalayan valleys, sweeping away everyone and everything in its path.
Testimony from survivors about terrifying near-escapes and losses is reminiscent of previous disasters, including the 2004 tsunami. With some of the worst-affected areas still cut off and accessible only by helicopter, there is a high level of uncertainty about the total number of people who have died or homes that have been destroyed. Existing medical, food, shelter and sanitation supplies will need to be replenished. Pledges of help for locally led relief efforts from foreign governments and agencies, following reports that hundreds of those missing were tourists or pilgrims, must lead to swift action. People need basics including electricity and clean water before they can start to rebuild and recover.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/27/2026 - 12:40
08/27/2026 - 12:39
Soaring prices are plunging struggling families into debt. The government must support them in the short term as it invests in a clean energy future
Fuelled by the consequences of Donald Trump’s disastrous war on Iran, household energy debt in Britain is continuing to soar, rising to a record £6bn by the end of June. That figure is set to hit £7bn by the end of the year, as the government’s cap on gas and electricity prices goes up to a three-year high in October. The human cost among the less well off will be more people regularly choosing whether to skip meals, ignore other bills or stay cold this winter.
Such is life at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, which Andy Burnham has made it his priority to address since arriving in Downing Street. The day after he became prime minister, Mr Burnham announced that VAT would be removed from electricity bills from the beginning of October. But the Middle East-related rise in the price cap, announced on Wednesday, more than wipes out the effect of his cut. In an era of geopolitical volatility, high energy costs have become the new normal.
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08/27/2026 - 11:47
Hundreds of people are missing or have been killed after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday. Entire villages have been destroyed, many of which are popular pilgrimage and trekking destinations for tourists. Lucy Hough talks to global editor Devika Bhat about how the devastating event unfolded
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08/27/2026 - 10:00
Thermal drone footage shows a Microsoft-backed AI datacenter powering its operations with dozens of unpermitted generators
The largest planned AI datacenter in New Jersey is being accused of violating federal law after a visual investigation found the site running dozens of unpermitted gas-powered generators.
Thermal drone footage captured by the non-profit newsroom Floodlight last week showed the partly completed DataOne facility in Vineland was operating at least 45 of the site’s 62 generators at the time.
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08/27/2026 - 09:28
Forty flood alerts issued by Environment Agency across Midlands, Yorkshire and south-east of England
Dozens of homes have been damaged by flood water as the Met Office issued warnings for thunderstorms and heavy rain after most of England and the whole of Wales was declared in drought.
The Met Office said thundery showers across England and Wales could cause 75mm of rain in just 12 hours in some areas after a summer that saw five heatwaves hit the UK.
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08/27/2026 - 08:27
Bag, camera and pipe belonging to 86-year-old are latest relics uncovered as glaciers melt due to global heating
An 86-year-old mountaineer has been reunited with his backpack and climbing equipment after the kit emerged from a melting glacier in Austria – more than 60 years after he was forced to leave them there.
Items including an ice axe, camera and a pipe dating from the 1950s or 1960s were discovered on the Sulztalferner glacier in Austria’s Tyrol region, at an altitude of 2,955 metres (9,700ft) above sea level, by a hiker in July.
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08/27/2026 - 07:05
Reform and the Conservatives are willing to mislead the public, but as environment secretary, I believe we must be honest – and act boldly
This long, hot summer has brought our third drought in five years and the driest July in almost two centuries. We’ve seen wildfires burn down homes and now face the risk of flash floods as we move into autumn. It should be a wake-up call for those saying that concerns about the climate crisis are overblown; that we should simply sit back and do nothing; or row back on attempts to restore our natural environment. As the new environment secretary, I won’t let that happen.
No one who has experienced this summer in the UK should be in any doubt that our climate is already changing. We know the future holds warmer, wetter winters, hotter, drier summers, and more extreme weather.
Angela Eagle is the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs
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08/27/2026 - 04:02
From humpbacks learning the latest songs to sperm whales’ ‘clan codas’, drones and AI learning are helping reveal another dimension to the concept of culture
In 2015, the whale researcher Valeria Vergara pitched a small tent at the icy water’s edge on Somerset Island in the remote Canadian high Arctic, shrouded in a freezing fog so thick she struggled to see her own hands. She trailed a cord out to the coast and plopped a hydrophone into the water to record the calls of belugas.
As many as 1,000 of the whales, accompanied by their newborn calves, frequented the surrounding bay. Belugas’ ceaseless chatter, made up of dozens of unique sounds, is crucial to keeping these creatures connected in the dim, turbid waters of the Arctic.
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08/27/2026 - 01:51
Entire villages swept away after glacial collapse triggers flood in mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims
Nepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updates
Have you been affected by the flash floods?
Rescuers are searching for nearly 1,400 people, most of them tourists, who are missing after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and Tibet, thundering down valleys, obliterating entire villages and killing at least 356 people.
Efforts to locate those missing – including hundreds of people from India, the US, UK, Australia and Canada – have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and almost 25 miles (40km) of roads in the mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims.
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08/27/2026 - 00:00
Horticulturalists begin moving and propagating plants before the rusty and warped Palm House begins renovation – but some are too tall to save
It will be a gut-wrenching moment for the horticulturalists at Kew Gardens when some of the magnificent trees in the Palm House have to be felled.
“There are some sad moments ahead,” said Palm House manager, Will Spoelstra, who knows all the plants inside the cathedral-like greenhouse.
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