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From a collapsing Himalayan glacier to a collapsing political calendar, this morning’s stories share one theme: the ground is moving faster than anyone can keep up with. Here’s everything you need to know.
More than 900 people are confirmed dead and over 4,700 remain missing after a glacial collapse unleashed catastrophic flooding across Nepal and China, trapping hundreds of hydropower workers inside tunnels that have become their only shelter and their biggest threat. Nepal’s disaster agency counts 903 deaths and 4,247 missing, including 592 foreigners, while China reports 16 dead and 546 missing. Nepal’s Independent Power Producers’ Association believes roughly 500 workers may be trapped in tunnels at damaged hydropower projects, with the Upper Trishuli-1 site alone accounting for an estimated 300 possibly trapped. Some survivors have made contact from inside, giving rescuers a narrow window before food, water, and oxygen run out. Scientists traced the disaster to bedrock beneath a glacier giving way high in the Himalayas, a collapse powerful enough to register as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event. Source: AP News
Congress is back from a five-week recess with exactly one non-negotiable task: keep the government funded before voters head to the polls. Federal funding expires October 1, and the House has only three weeks in session before Election Day to deal with it. The plan is to fast-track a Senate-passed stopgap, approved 90-6, that extends funding through December 11 while protecting SNAP, WIC, and disaster relief, and limiting the president’s ability to withhold grants from Democratic-led states. But Washington also has uglier business waiting: a possible censure vote against Rep. Chuck Edwards over misconduct findings involving young female staffers, contempt resolutions tied to a separate ethics case, and a Russia-Iran sanctions package named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham still sitting in the wings. Source: NBC News
A sweeping U.S.-Venezuela agreement would put Washington in control of 65 billion barrels of recoverable crude, more oil than America currently holds in proved reserves, and energy lawyers are already questioning whether it’s legal. President Trump announced the 25-year deal Friday, with Venezuela’s interim president confirming it. The U.S. would hold 55% participation while Venezuela collects an estimated $209.3 billion in royalties and taxes, but the arrangement was negotiated privately with no competitive bidding, and nobody has said which companies will actually operate the 17 fields involved. Venezuelan legal experts question whether the U.S. even has authority to select an operating model under the country’s hydrocarbons law, and critics warn the deal could still be challenged in court. Source: Reuters
The National Park Service is quietly advancing a land exchange that would give a private developer road access through Yosemite National Park, reviving a fight the federal government has rejected for more than two decades. Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital wants a short road connecting its 83-acre “Sanctuary at Yosemite” property directly to a major park thoroughfare, and would trade the Park Service land of equivalent value elsewhere in California in exchange for a strip inside Yosemite. A previous owner sued for similar access and lost, both at trial and on appeal in 2012, but sources say political officials are now pushing staff to move the new proposal forward faster. The plan has drawn opposition from Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, plus conservation groups, especially given Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s pledge to protect “every single inch” of the parks. Source: NOTUS
A flash flood tore through the Grand Canyon’s inner canyon, killing one person and leaving roughly 15 unaccounted for after destroying footbridges and knocking out the park’s water supply. About half an inch to an inch of rain fell in just 30 minutes, sending debris-choked water roaring through Bright Angel Canyon and forcing the evacuation of roughly 62 people. Nearly all footbridges across Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, and one hiking group later learned the bridge they had crossed was swept away just 10 minutes after they used it. The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch through Monday evening, warning that saturated soils could trigger more flash floods and rockfalls. Source: CBS News
Milo Yiannopoulos, the British far-right provocateur who rose to fame during Trump’s first campaign, has been deported back to the United Kingdom after ICE arrested him for allegedly overstaying his legal status. DHS says he entered the U.S. legally in 2019 but overstayed, and an immigration judge issued a final removal order in July after he skipped a hearing. He was arrested at a New Orleans airport and deported days later. Once a Trump-world fixture, Yiannopoulos had grown openly critical of the president in recent years, and MAGA activist Laura Loomer claims she repeatedly flagged his immigration status to federal authorities before his arrest. Source: The Washington Post (free)
Six stories, six reminders that the ground can shift—literally, politically, or diplomatically—faster than anyone’s ready for. We’ll be back tomorrow with whatever comes next.
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