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More than 900 are dead and thousands remain missing after a Himalayan glacial collapse unleashed catastrophic flooding across Nepal and China—and now rescuers are racing mud, water, and the clock to reach hundreds believed trapped underground.
Nepal-China Flood Death Toll Tops 900 as Rescuers Race to Reach Workers Trapped in Hydropower Tunnels
More than 900 people have been killed, over 4,700 are missing, and hundreds of hydropower workers may be trapped inside massive tunnels after catastrophic floods tore through Nepal and neighboring China. Families are hunting for loved ones while rescue crews confront buried infrastructure, washed-out roads, and an increasingly unforgiving clock.
Six days after the disaster, what began as a rescue operation is becoming a race against suffocation, hunger, and thirst.
Nepal’s disaster agency reported 903 deaths and 4,247 missing, including 592 foreigners, while Chinese authorities had reported 16 deaths and 546 missing. Nepal’s Independent Power Producers’ Association says at least 900 workers are unaccounted for from 12 damaged hydropower projects, with an estimated 500 possibly trapped in tunnels. Some workers reportedly made contact after the flooding began, giving rescuers hope that pockets of survivors could remain.
Geoscientist Jakob Steiner explained why: “There is enough place for people to take refuge safely inside and from what we understand they have managed to get oxygen to some of those stuck inside and are trying to rescue them now. It’s a race for time though as people need food and water.”
The scale of the search is brutal. At the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project alone, at least 576 people were missing, with roughly 300 believed trapped inside its tunnel. Meanwhile, families are conducting searches of their own. Maraval Nagappan traveled to Nepal looking for his son, Sathya Narayan, who had been leading 49 Indian pilgrims returning from Mount Kailash when floodwaters overwhelmed a Chinese immigration complex. “I haven’t heard from my son since then. I don’t know whether he is alive or dead,” Nagappan told AP.
Scientists traced the flash floods to a glacial collapse high in the Himalayas after bedrock beneath a glacier gave way, carrying part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was powerful enough to register as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event, sending rock and meltwater into valleys below and turning rivers into torrents capable of sweeping away buildings, bridges, and earth.
Editor: The Himalayas just delivered the nightmare version of infrastructure failure—hundreds underground, thousands missing, and rescue crews trying to beat a clock nobody can see.
Source: AP News
Congress is back from a five-week vacation with barely enough working days to keep the government open before the midterms—nothing says urgency quite like scheduling another break immediately after returning.
Congress Returns with One Big Job: Stop a Government Shutdown Before the Midterms
The House returns Monday with federal funding set to expire Oct. 1, leaving lawmakers a narrow window to prevent a government shutdown just weeks before the midterm elections. A Senate-approved stopgap could make that relatively painless, assuming Washington doesn’t rediscover its talent for turning routine governing into performance art.
The House has just three weeks in session before Election Day—and keeping the government running is the one deadline it absolutely cannot dodge—but it will give it the old college try anyway!
The immediate plan is to take up a Senate-passed measure extending government funding through Dec. 11. The Senate approved it 90-6, and the legislation largely keeps spending on autopilot while preserving SNAP and WIC food assistance and disaster relief.
It also restricts President Donald Trump’s ability to withhold federal grants from Democratic-led states that didn’t vote for him.
How stupid does that sound?
House leaders are expected to fast-track the measure under suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority. It should pass comfortably unless Trump introduces last-minute demands.
Congress also has some housekeeping of the distinctly uncomfortable variety. The House could vote to censure Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina after the bipartisan Ethics Committee concluded he “engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.” Edwards, who has abandoned his re-election campaign and disputes the findings, has been lobbying colleagues against censure. His defense includes this memorable line: “An affectionate friendship is not a sexual proposition.” The House could also consider contempt resolutions stemming from the ethics investigation of former Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.
Beyond funding and ethics fights, lawmakers may eventually tackle a Senate-approved sanctions package targeting Russia and Iran. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, named for the late senator, passed the Senate 86-11 and would target major purchasers of Russian oil and gas while opening the door to sanctions against Russian officials, oligarchs, and their families.
Editor: Congress has three weeks of actual work before Election Day, a shutdown deadline bearing down, and an ethics mess waiting on the floor. Good thing everybody got those five weeks off first. They should be well-rested.
And, by the way, it feels like the government runs just fine without the House. Maybe we should just shut them down.
Source: NBC News
The U.S. has struck a 25-year deal for access to 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil—more than America’s own proved reserves—and apparently decided the boring details like legality, operators, and transparency could be sorted out later.
Trump’s Venezuela Oil Deal Puts 65 Billion Barrels Under U.S. Control—and Lawyers Have Questions
A sweeping U.S.-Venezuela agreement would give Washington control over 65 billion barrels of recoverable Venezuelan crude while promising $100 billion in investment, but energy experts and lawyers are already questioning whether the deal is legal, transparent, or even workable. That’s quite a collection of unresolved issues for an agreement involving more oil than the United States currently has in proved reserves.
Washington may have just secured one of the biggest oil deals on Earth without telling anyone exactly who will drill it, how the arrangement was awarded, or whether it can survive a courtroom.
President Donald Trump announced the agreement Friday, with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez confirming a deal expected to last at least 25 years. The oil would come from 17 fields, primarily in the enormous Orinoco Belt and around Lake Maracaibo. Rodriguez says Venezuela would receive $209.3 billion in royalties and taxes, while the U.S. would hold a 55% participation in the partnership. But the negotiations were conducted privately without a competitive process, and Washington hasn’t disclosed which companies would operate the fields.
Columbia University energy scholar Luisa Palacios warned: “If the goal was to try to reduce the risk of investing in Venezuela, the United States might be doing the exact opposite with this transaction: Further weakening the country’s already fragile institutional framework.”
Then there’s the legal problem. Venezuelan experts question whether Washington can select the operating model and participating companies under the country’s hydrocarbons laws, while critics say the announced tax take appears unusually low.
Juan Carlos Apitz, head of the Central University of Venezuela’s law faculty, warned that “Despite being formally recognized by the U.S., the agreement can be brought to court in the future.”
Venezuela’s oil ministry and state-owned PDVSA didn’t respond to Reuters, while the White House referred questions to the Energy Department, which also didn’t respond.
The prize is enormous if the agreement holds together. The fields contain an estimated 63.7 billion to 65 billion recoverable barrels, although extracting all of it could take more than 25 years and require major infrastructure investment. Trump says additional Venezuelan crude could help refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has fallen to about 290 million barrels, near a 44-year low, while more Venezuelan supply could also matter politically as gasoline prices rise amid the conflict with Iran.
Editor: Sixty-five billion barrels, $100 billion in promised investment, and a quarter-century commitment—and somehow “who exactly is running this thing?” remains an outstanding question. That’s not fine print. That’s the plot.
But you can bet your ass somebody related to Trump will be running the show.
Source: Reuters
The Trump administration is considering giving up an interest in a strip of Yosemite National Park so a private developer can build a shortcut to an 83-acre property—reviving an access fight the government spent decades saying no to.
Trump Administration Pushes Yosemite Land Deal for Private Developer after Decades of Rejections
The National Park Service has been working on a potential land exchange that could give a private developer access through Yosemite National Park, an extraordinary proposal backed by top Interior Department officials despite the federal government repeatedly rejecting similar efforts for more than 20 years. Apparently “protect every acre” comes with a real-estate footnote.
If the deal happens, a developer that bought the property for $4 million could gain something exceedingly rare: Private access through one of America’s most protected national parks.
Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital controls an 83-acre property outside Yosemite known as Sanctuary at Yosemite, formerly Hazel Green Ranch. CEO Jeff Pori wants a short road connecting it directly to a major Yosemite thoroughfare, dramatically reducing travel time between the property and Yosemite Valley. In exchange for an interest in roughly a quarter-mile strip inside Yosemite, the Park Service would receive land of equivalent value elsewhere in California. No final decision has been made, and the Park Service says any proposal would face applicable federal requirements, including environmental review and public notification.
Kingsbarn attorney Lanny Davis defended the proposal: “The road we’re building is a direct pathway that does not endanger any endangered species, and is simply a road.”
There’s plenty of history behind that “simply a road.” A previous owner tried for years to secure essentially the same access, ultimately suing the government and losing in federal district court and again on appeal in 2012. Yet sources told NOTUS that political officials are now pushing Park Service employees to advance the exchange, with staff providing regular progress reports and sometimes being criticized for moving too slowly.
Former Yosemite superintendent Cicely Muldoon put the larger issue plainly: “Our basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations, not letting go of that for the purpose of private profit.”
The proposal has also attracted opposition from California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and the National Parks Conservation Association, and it could face a legal challenge if completed. The controversy is sharpened by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s 2025 confirmation-hearing pledge that national parks should “support and protect every single inch,” as well as President Trump’s recent statement that his administration is committed to “protecting every acre of our lands.”
Of course, they both LIED.
Editor: When the government rejected essentially this road for decades and courts rejected the previous owner’s claim, calling the latest attempt “simply a road” is doing heroic work. In Yosemite, the shortcut is the story.
Source: NOTUS
One person is dead and about 15 remain unaccounted for after flash floods ripped through the Grand Canyon’s inner canyon, destroying bridges and forcing helicopter evacuations—proof that half an inch of rain can become a very big deal when gravity gets involved.
Grand Canyon Flash Flood Kills One, Leaves About 15 Missing as Bridges and Trails Are Destroyed
A 46-year-old man was found dead and about 15 people remained missing Monday after violent flash floods tore through Grand Canyon National Park, destroying footbridges, damaging critical infrastructure, and forcing dozens of people to evacuate. The search continues as forecasters warn that more thunderstorms could send another round of dangerous water through the already saturated canyon.
For some visitors, the difference between evacuation and disaster came down to about 10 minutes.
At least 62 people were evacuated from hard-hit areas after roughly half an inch to an inch of rain fell in just 30 minutes, sending water, boulders, and debris roaring through Bright Angel Canyon. Nearly all footbridges across Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, according to the National Park Service, while Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, the North Kaibab Trail, and several other areas were closed. The flooding also knocked the Transcanyon Waterline out of operation, leaving the park with limited water reserves and prompting conservation measures.
The speed of the flooding produced some extraordinarily close escapes. Gabe Bergemann and his family were among roughly 60 people ordered out of the Phantom Ranch area as brown-black water loaded with debris surged through the canyon.
Fellow traveler David Gregory said the footbridge they used was destroyed roughly 10 minutes after they crossed it. “I don’t think we would have made it out alive … I think it would have been game over.”
Hours later, the group was flown to safety by helicopter.
The danger isn’t over. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch across northern and central Arizona through Monday evening, warning that saturated soils and deep monsoonal moisture could produce additional flash floods, debris flows, and rockfalls. Its warning didn’t bother with delicate language: “Raging killer currents will be possible in side canyons and narrow slot canyons.”
Editor: Ten minutes between crossing a bridge and watching it disappear is the kind of margin that makes “the ranger says evacuate” a complete sentence.
Source: CBS News
Milo Yiannopoulos spent years orbiting MAGA politics and hardline immigration rhetoric, only to be deported by the Trump administration after ICE said he overstayed his legal status—politics does occasionally write its own punchlines.
ICE Deports Milo Yiannopoulos to Britain After Former Trump Ally Overstayed in U.S.
Milo Yiannopoulos, the British far-right provocateur who rose to prominence during Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, has been deported to the United Kingdom after ICE arrested him at the New Orleans airport for allegedly overstaying his legal status. The former Trump booster had become increasingly critical of the president, adding another layer to an already deeply weird political homecoming.
The man who once rode the MAGA wave into American political celebrity just got a one-way flight out courtesy of the Trump administration.
The Department of Homeland Security said Yiannopoulos legally entered the United States in 2019 but subsequently overstayed. An immigration judge issued a final removal order July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to appear for an immigration hearing, according to DHS. ICE arrested him Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and DHS announced Saturday that he had been deported to Britain.
Yiannopoulos became nationally prominent as a Breitbart editor during Trump’s 2016 rise, but controversy repeatedly followed him. He later attempted to rebrand himself, worked as an unpaid intern for then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and served as chief of staff for (Kan)Ye’s Yeezy. His relationship with Trump-world also deteriorated. Yiannopoulos claimed responsibility for inviting white supremacist Nick Fuentes to Ye’s infamous 2022 dinner with Trump, later saying he did it “just to make Trump’s life miserable.” More recently, he appeared with Trump critics Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.
Then there’s Laura Loomer. The MAGA activist told The Washington Post she had repeatedly contacted ICE, DHS, and the FBI about Yiannopoulos since 2024 and claimed his detention happened “100 percent” because she called attention to his immigration status. DHS did not confirm her account.
Editor: Milo Yiannopoulos spent a decade turning political provocation into a career, only to discover that immigration enforcement makes a particularly unforgiving final act. Somewhere, the irony department just requested overtime.
Source: The Washington Post (free)