Global Pulse

分类： world

  • Iran reports $7.5bn in oil revenues amid US naval blockade

    Iran reports $7.5bn in oil revenues amid US naval blockade

    Six months into the US-Israeli military conflict with Iran and amid a crippling US naval blockade disrupting its key oil exports, Tehran has hit nearly all of its first four-month oil revenue projections for the current Iranian calendar year, transferring $7.5 billion in oil earnings to the country’s central bank, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported Saturday. Citing official data from Iran’s oil ministry, Fars noted that the accumulated $7.5 billion will cover all of the Iranian government’s planned foreign currency expenses for the six-month period from July through December.

    Between March 21 and July 22, the opening four months of Iran’s 1404 calendar year, total oil revenue reached 99 percent of the target outlined in the country’s annual national budget, the outlet confirmed. The milestone comes as Washington’s naval blockade has severely disrupted Tehran’s oil exports and broader maritime trade, with the status of the Strait of Hormuz — the strategic waterway that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil consumption — emerging as the core flashpoint in ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.

    Iran has restricted transit through the key chokepoint since the conflict began, while the US has demanded full reopening to guarantee unimpeded navigation. A landmark June Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached to de-escalate the US-Israeli war on Iran included two core provisions: lifting the US naval blockade and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to full commercial traffic. But Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized that Tehran will not fully reopen the waterway until Washington fulfills all its commitments under the MoU, which also include releasing billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets and rolling back sweeping international sanctions.

    In recent comments, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged the heavy toll US sanctions have inflicted on Iran’s domestic economy, pushing back against public claims that the restrictions have had no meaningful impact. “Some say sanctions have no effect at all; to those people, I really don’t know what to say,” Pezeshkian told Iranian state television in an interview. “We are in a war situation, and we must accept these wartime conditions.”

    Tehran Governor Mohammad Sadeq Motamedian echoed that assessment Saturday, telling a televised panel that the combined pressure of the naval blockade, intensified sanctions, and targeted attacks on critical domestic infrastructure have created unprecedented challenges for governing the country, per remarks carried by the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA). “The blockade imposed on our country in the maritime domain meant that managing the country took place under truly exceptional and unique conditions,” he said.

    Motamedian added that US-Israeli strikes have heavily focused on infrastructure across Iran, particularly in the capital Tehran, but quick response teams have restored most damaged services rapidly. More than 1,200 electricity infrastructure sites across Tehran province have been targeted in attacks, he confirmed, though power services were restored within a short timeframe after each strike. Water infrastructure also sustained damage but was quickly repaired, while telecommunications and natural gas distribution facilities also suffered disruptions, he added. Intensified international sanctions imposed during the conflict have piled additional economic pressure on the country, the governor noted.

    The US-Israeli military campaign against Iran launched on February 28, with initial strikes targeting military sites, nuclear facilities, and critical civilian infrastructure across the country. Tehran responded with coordinated missile and drone strikes targeting Israeli territory and US military bases across the Middle East, escalating the regional conflict. The June MoU was designed to open negotiations for a permanent ceasefire and broader peace agreement, but those talks have since stalled over intractable disagreements on security guarantees and rules for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

    As the standoff continues, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) released an update Friday warning that hundreds of commercial vessels and thousands of seafarers remain stranded in the Persian Gulf six months after the conflict began. “While some ships and their crews have been able to leave the Gulf, up to 400 ships carrying around 6,000 seafarers have been unable to depart safely since the conflict began,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement. Dominguez also warned that the ongoing disruption to global fuel and fertilizer supply chains stemming from the closure carries “grave” consequences for vulnerable communities and national economies around the world. This report is compiled from original independent coverage by Middle East Eye.

  • Deadly strike on Kyiv warehouse prompts evacuations

    Deadly strike on Kyiv warehouse prompts evacuations

    A devastating missile strike on a commercial warehouse in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has claimed the lives of more than 30 people, triggering urgent large-scale evacuations across the affected area of the city. In his on-the-ground reporting from Kyiv, veteran Ukraine correspondent Dan Johnson has confirmed the grim human toll of the attack, which unfolded amid ongoing Russian military strikes targeting civilian and infrastructure sites across Ukraine.

    Local emergency services rushed to the scene immediately after the strike hit, deploying search and rescue teams to comb through the rubble of the damaged warehouse for survivors. Authorities have implemented mandatory evacuation orders for neighborhoods surrounding the attack site amid fears of secondary structural collapses and residual hazard risks from unexploded ordnance. The attack marks one of the deadliest single strikes on Kyiv in recent weeks, escalating tensions across the capital and heightening concerns over rising civilian casualties in the 18-month-long Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

  • Tens of thousands mourn King Harald V in Oslo as Norway enters a new royal era

    Tens of thousands mourn King Harald V in Oslo as Norway enters a new royal era

    OSLO, Norway — One day after Norway’s longest-reigning monarch King Harald V died at the age of 89, tens of thousands of grieving Norwegians gathered outside the Oslo Royal Palace on Saturday to lay flowers, leave condolence messages and pay their final respects to the beloved former head of state. By midday, Slottsplassen, the public square fronting the palace, had transformed into a vast, colorful sea of blooms, with a steady, quiet stream of mourners filing past the tributes to honor the king’s decades of service.

    Local public broadcaster NRK reported that palace staff made careful efforts to preserve the outpouring of public affection: a palace gardener removed excess bouquets along the palace’s southern edge to keep pedestrian pathways clear, while workers collected hundreds of condolence cards that had been soaked through by overnight rain, drying them to archive the messages for future generations.

    The national moment of mourning extended far beyond the capital. Across Norway, city halls and churches opened their doors specially on Saturday to allow citizens to light memorial candles and sign official condolence books to share their reflections on the late king. Harald V’s coffin was transported from Oslo’s National Hospital — where he passed away on Friday morning — to the royal palace on Friday evening, in a quiet procession that drew small crowds of respectful onlookers.

    For many attendees, the visit to the palace was a deeply personal act of gratitude. “It’s special, intimate, and lovely. I’m placing my right hand on my chest in gratitude to him and the royal family,” 46-year-old Roni Ervik told NRK during his visit, adding that he was also paying tribute on behalf of his entire extended family based in western Norway.

    With Harald V’s passing, his 53-year-old son, former Crown Prince Haakon, has formally ascended the throne as King Haakon VIII. The new monarch has adopted the royal motto “All for Norway,” a phrase first used by his great-grandfather that echoes a commitment to national service that dates back more than a century. Haakon’s wife Mette-Marit is now Queen of Norway, while his eldest daughter, Ingrid Alexandra, has become Crown Princess and first in line to the Norwegian throne.

    Haakon is no stranger to royal duties: as his father’s health gradually declined over the past decade, he repeatedly stepped in as regent to carry out the ceremonial functions of the monarchy on Harald V’s behalf. Later on Saturday, NRK confirmed that a choir would perform for mourners gathered in the palace square, and the new king was scheduled to hold formal introductory audiences with key Norwegian leaders: the speaker of the Storting (Norway’s parliament), the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and the presiding bishop of the Lutheran Church of Norway, with Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra in attendance. Haakon is expected to deliver his first public address to the Norwegian people either later Saturday or in the coming days.

    The new king will face early challenges in unifying public support for the monarchy, after recent controversies emerged over his wife Queen Mette-Marit’s past contacts with deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the rape conviction of her son (Haakon’s stepson). No official date for King Harald V’s funeral has been announced, but Norway has entered an official period of national mourning, and many Norwegians have voluntarily postponed joyous events including weddings and child baptisms until the period of mourning concludes.

    The Norwegian monarchy traces its unbroken lineage back to King Harald Fairhair in the 9th century, making it one of Europe’s oldest continuous royal institutions. When Norway regained full independence from Sweden in 1905, a national public plebiscite saw 75% of voters endorse the restoration of the monarchy. While the modern Norwegian royal family holds no governing power — all legislative authority rests with the country’s elected parliament — the institution remains widely popular, and the royal family serves as a prominent cultural ambassador for the wealthy Nordic nation on the global stage.

  • At least 27 dead after Russian strike on depot near Kyiv

    At least 27 dead after Russian strike on depot near Kyiv

    In an escalation of the months-long exchange of long-range strikes between Moscow and Kyiv, a Russian drone attack on an industrial depot in the western outskirts of Kyiv early Saturday has left at least 27 people dead, triggered massive explosions and a large blaze that damaged nearby civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian authorities have opened a criminal investigation focused on potential safety negligence over the storage of explosive materials at the site, located in the small town of Myla, just outside the capital.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the casualties in a post on social media platform X, noting that among the dead was Taras Didych, head of the local Dmytrivka community, who died while evacuating and rescuing residents. The blast caused extensive damage to adjacent residential neighborhoods, as well as a care facility for elderly and disabled residents, Zelenskyy added. The president emphasized that ammunition and explosive materials should never be stored in close proximity to civilian residential areas, and said any parties found responsible for safety lapses must face accountability.

    AFP correspondents on the scene reported seeing a towering plume of black smoke rising over Kyiv’s western suburbs, with local authorities ordering the evacuation of hundreds of residents from the high-risk area surrounding the depot. Officials have not yet publicly confirmed whether the facility was operated as a military or civilian enterprise.

    Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office outlined the scope of its ongoing investigation, confirming the strike took place around 8:10 pm local time (1710 GMT) on August 28. Investigators will examine whether the storage of explosive objects at the site complied with national safety regulations, and whether the unnamed facility owner held all required permits and approvals for the activity.

    Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (corrected from original misnomer) harshly criticized what he called repeated and unlearned mistakes, noting that a similar deadly strike on a Kyiv-region munitions depot in July already revealed severe regulatory violations by a state-owned company, which failed to follow rules requiring safe distance from residential buildings. “In the fifth year of the full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes over and over is criminal negligence,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram. “Everyone responsible, without exception, must face severe punishment so that such situations never happen again.”

    The Myla depot strike was part of a sweeping wave of Russian air attacks across Ukraine between late Friday and early Saturday. Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched at least two missiles and 266 drones in the assault. Additional strikes across the country left one person dead in the southern Odesa region and a 14-year-old girl killed in Boryspil, another Kyiv suburb, regional officials confirmed.

    The coordinated wave of attacks extended into Russian territory as well, where reciprocal Ukrainian strikes left three people dead in the Belgorod region and sparked a major fire at a warehouse operated by major Russian online retailer Ozon. Russian-appointed officials in Sevastopol, Crimea, also reported one fatality from a Ukrainian strike on the city.

    The latest escalation comes amid a months-long stalemate in U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, which is Europe’s deadliest since World War II. Russia has demanded extensive territorial and political concessions from Ukraine, terms Kyiv has repeatedly rejected as equivalent to total surrender. The rising tensions follow an unannounced visit by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow earlier this week, occurring as the conflict enters its fifth year of full-scale hostilities.

  • At least 27 dead and hundreds evacuated after strikes near Kyiv

    At least 27 dead and hundreds evacuated after strikes near Kyiv

    In a devastating wave of overnight Russian drone attacks across Ukraine, at least 28 civilians have been killed and dozens more wounded, triggering new urgent calls from Kyiv for strengthened international support against Moscow’s aggression. The deadliest strike hit the Bucha district of Kyiv region, where regional governor Tymur Tkachenko confirmed 27 fatalities and 42 injured people — including four children. As of Saturday morning, emergency response teams had already evacuated 381 residents from damaged and at-risk neighborhoods, with search and rescue operations still underway to locate survivors trapped in destroyed residential structures.

    In a separate strike targeting the Boryspil district of Kyiv region, Tkachenko confirmed the death of a 14-year-old civilian, denouncing the attack as one more addition to the long list of casualties from what he labeled “Russian terror.”

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released an official statement extending his deepest condolences to the families of all those killed in the attacks. He noted that more than 300 first responders have been deployed across strike zones to conduct rescue operations and assess structural damage. Beyond the Kyiv region, Zelensky confirmed that additional overnight Russian strikes targeted Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions, expanding the scope of the assault across multiple parts of the country.

    In his message posted to the Telegram messaging platform, Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine cannot repel these regular large-scale drone attacks alone. He expressed gratitude to global partners that have provided military support packages and imposed harsh economic sanctions on Russia to curb its war capabilities. The Ukrainian military announced that its air defense systems successfully intercepted and shot down 233 Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during the overnight assault, preventing an even higher civilian death toll.

    The latest round of attacks comes amid a steady escalation of cross-border strikes between Russia and Ukraine in recent months. Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian economic infrastructure in its own operations, while Russia has ramped up its drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy sites. In the 24 hours preceding Saturday’s strikes, Moscow reported Ukrainian attacks on its own Belgorod and Rostov regions. Rostov governor Yuri Slusar confirmed that seven people were injured in those strikes, mirroring the pattern of rising civilian casualties on both sides of the ongoing conflict.

  • Niger’s security forces battle mutinuous soldiers at a strategic base, presidency district

    Niger’s security forces battle mutinuous soldiers at a strategic base, presidency district

    NIAMEY, Niger – Fresh instability has erupted in the West African nation of Niger, where a faction of soldiers launched an apparent mutiny against senior leadership at a critical military installation in the capital Niamey, leaving the country’s year-old ruling military junta facing one of its most severe domestic challenges to date, government authorities confirmed Saturday.

    Overnight clashes that stretched into Saturday left the capital ringing with sustained gunfire and loud explosions, with targeted attacks hitting two high-stakes locations: Base 101, the military air wing hosted at Niamey’s Diori Hamani International Airport, and the Plateau administrative quarter, home to the presidential palace and all of the country’s core governing institutions. Defense Minister General Salifou Mody confirmed in an official statement that mutineering soldiers had taken a number of senior officers hostage at the base before carrying out shootings at the sensitive urban sites, actions he labeled a deliberate violation of military discipline and regulatory protocols.

    Mody noted that rapid deployment by regular defense and security forces allowed troops to intervene and begin re-establishing control over the contested sites, though full confirmation that the situation was fully stabilized was not immediately available. Security forces quickly established cordons around the airport and the administrative district, closing a major arterial highway leading into the capital and prompting most Niamey residents to shelter in their homes for safety.

    This latest incident marks the third time since the start of 2024 that the airport base, one of the most strategically important military sites in the country, has come under attack. The two prior assaults were carried out by jihadi insurgent groups that have waged an ongoing insurgency across the Sahel region. Beyond its role as a domestic air force hub, the airport also houses the headquarters of the tripartite military alliance formed by Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, three Sahel states now all governed by military juntas.

    State-owned national broadcaster RTN temporarily suspended its live programming on Saturday morning amid the unrest, before resuming normal broadcasts later in the day. The ruling junta, formally called the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, issued a public call for national unity in a post to its official Facebook page. “Our Defense and Security Forces are mobilized for the defense of the Fatherland. Let us remain united, vigilant and supportive,” the statement read. Local lawmaker Bana Wagana Ibrahim described the mutiny as a “cowardly attack” and claimed that security forces had fully brought the situation under control.

    The mutiny comes at a time of escalating pressure on Niger’s junta, led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, who seized power in a July 2023 coup that ousted the country’s elected civilian government. In the months following the takeover, the junta cut off long-standing security partnerships with Western nations and aligned Niger closely with Moscow, a shift that has upended regional counterterrorism efforts. The country has also been battered by deepening economic hardship after Western donors cut off billions in critical development aid following the coup.

    Jihadist violence has continued to spread across Niger despite the junta’s new security alignment, leaving large swathes of rural territory ungovernable and a growing number of attacks reaching population centers. The wider Sahel region, a vast arid belt stretching across Africa south of the Sahara Desert, has faced a cascade of military takeovers since 2020, with juntas now holding power in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea. Prior to the 2023 coup, Niger had been viewed as the last reliable Western partner in the region’s fight against al-Qaida and Islamic State-linked insurgents, making the current instability a major concern for global security across the Sahel.

  • A Russian attack hits Ukraine’s Kyiv region, killing at least 27

    A Russian attack hits Ukraine’s Kyiv region, killing at least 27

    KYIV, UKRAINE – A Russian strike on the Bucha district on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has left at least 27 civilians dead, Ukrainian officials confirmed Saturday, in an attack that has sparked accusations of official negligence over improper weapons storage near residential areas and triggered renewed escalation of hostilities amid the ongoing full-scale invasion.

    Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s regional military administration, announced that roughly 50 residential structures suffered damage in the strike, which ignited a large blaze that spread across multiple private homes and a local restaurant. In a public address following the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that the strike hit an ammunition warehouse in the village of Myla, resulting in a massive secondary detonation that extended damage to surrounding civilian infrastructure.

    Zelenskyy noted that a care facility for elderly residents and people with disabilities, alongside multiple apartment blocks and private homes, were damaged in the blast. He added that criminal investigations into official negligence have already been launched, referencing longstanding regulations that prohibit storing ammunition in close proximity to residential communities. As of Saturday afternoon, more than 370 residents have been evacuated from affected areas, with evacuation operations continuing to move at-risk civilians to safer locations, according to the president.

    Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi echoed Zelenskyy’s criticism of internal missteps, drawing a parallel to an earlier strike on an ammunition depot in the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve earlier this month. That attack killed 22 people, set off massive secondary blazes, and destroyed dozens of nearby homes. “Unfortunately, the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson,” Koretskyi said. “In the fifth year of a full-scale invasion, repeating the same mistakes is criminal negligence. All those guilty, without exception, must be severely punished so that such situations do not happen again.”

    Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued its own confirmation of the strike, stating that the targeted warehouse in Myla was being used to store components and launch boosters for Ukrainian long-range attack drones. The Russian military added that it also carried out coordinated strikes on the Black Sea ports of Mykolaiv and Izmail, alongside a separate logistics center and ammunition warehouse storing parts for Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles elsewhere in the Kyiv region.

    The strike on Myla comes amid three consecutive days of near-constant air raids across Kyiv, which have choked the capital’s local economy and upended daily civilian life more than four and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    In additional violence across the country Saturday, separate Russian attacks in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region killed two civilians and wounded 27 others, including one child, regional administration head Oleksandr Prokudin confirmed. Prokudin added that multiple residential homes and apartment buildings suffered damage in the strikes. Earlier this week, Prokudin warned that Russia had sharply intensified its attacks on critical energy and civilian infrastructure across Kherson, roughly 70% of which remains under Russian occupation. He urged tens of thousands of remaining residents to relocate to safer parts of Ukraine, warning that the region could face prolonged power and heating outages through the coming winter months that put civilian lives at severe risk.

  • Flood rescue enters fourth day in Nepal-China border as weather hampers air operations

    Flood rescue enters fourth day in Nepal-China border as weather hampers air operations

    Four days have passed since catastrophic flash floods tore through mountainous border regions shared by Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, leaving hundreds dead and thousands more unaccounted for, and adverse weather conditions on Saturday brought a halt to critical aerial rescue efforts that have been running nonstop since the disaster struck.

    The deadly disaster, triggered by a sudden glacier collapse that unleashed torrents of water and debris across the high Himalayan landscape on Wednesday, has already claimed an overwhelming number of lives. As of Friday, Nepal’s official disaster management authority recorded 579 fatalities, while local police later updated the confirmed death toll to 553. On the Chinese side of the border, official reports raised the confirmed death count to seven by Friday, with large-scale village evacuations underway and top political leaders leading on-the-ground relief coordination.

    Across Nepal alone, the number of people listed as missing has nearly doubled in recent days to 1,924, after registration officials added hundreds more unaccounted-for local residents to the official tally. China’s official state media has reported 554 people missing on its side of the border. Among the missing are hundreds of foreign nationals, who were in the region for work on infrastructure projects, high-altitude trekking, or religious pilgrimage to the area’s sacred mountain peaks. To date, more than 3,700 people trapped by the floodwaters have been pulled to safety across Nepal.

    Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet, spokesperson for the Nepali Army, confirmed Saturday that all helicopter rescue operations would remain suspended until inclement weather clears enough to allow safe flight operations. Even before the pause, search and rescue teams faced extreme, overwhelming obstacles to reach trapped survivors. At the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, a major infrastructure construction site in Nepal’s Rasuwa District, authorities believe more than 100 workers remain trapped inside a construction tunnel that has been completely filled with thick, heavy mud. Rescuers have only been able to reach a small number of people at the site using makeshift systems of baskets and ropes, but progress remains glacial: up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) of dense mud covers the entire area, and there are almost no suitable landing spots for rescue helicopters to deploy personnel and equipment.

    Search operations are ongoing across multiple high-risk sites on both sides of the border, including the flood-ravaged Gyirong border crossing, which suffered extensive damage in the initial disaster. On Saturday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV released new on-site footage showing rescue teams reaching the damaged Gyirong Port crossing, with crews accessing remote cut-off areas on foot, via inflatable rafts, and even by being lowered from drones deployed into the disaster zone. The footage showed rescuers calling out “Anyone, anyone?” as they searched rubble and debris for any trapped survivors, with no immediate confirmation of how many people were in the border checkpoint compound when the floods hit.

    In addition to challenging terrain and bad weather, rescue teams have also faced persistent secondary risks: authorities have been on high alert for a second catastrophic flood, triggered by a new glacial lake that formed high in the Himalayas after the initial glacier collapse that sparked Wednesday’s disaster. Experts issued urgent warnings that the new lake was at risk of overflowing, which would send a second wave of floodwaters down into the already devastated valley. However, latest monitoring data from China’s Ministry of Water Resources, released late Friday, showed the lake has shrunk considerably, with water levels dropping more than 10 meters (32 feet) from their peak Thursday morning, reducing the risk of a repeat disaster. Even so, Basnet noted that rescue teams have had to temporarily relocate operations multiple times as new flood warnings are issued for at-risk areas.

    The disaster has sparked urgent international attention, with United Nations agencies warning that more than 17,000 children in affected areas are in immediate need of life-saving assistance, and families of missing foreign nationals — including dozens of relatives of missing people from the United States — have publicly called for accelerated rescue efforts to locate their loved ones. This reporting was a collaborative effort by Associated Press journalists across multiple locations in South Asia and the United States.

  • The missing in Nepal-Tibet flash floods

    The missing in Nepal-Tibet flash floods

    On Saturday, official data confirmed that catastrophic flash floods and landslides that swept across the Nepal-Tibet border region have left at least 2,478 people unaccounted for and roughly 600 others dead, with authorities warning that casualty numbers could shift further amid ongoing post-disaster chaos. The total count of missing people jumped by more than 1,000 in just 24 hours, driven by a sharp upward revision from Nepal’s disaster management agency, which raised its missing count for the Nepali side of the border to 1,924 on Friday. China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday morning that 554 people remain missing on the Tibetan side of the border, with seven confirmed fatalities there.

    Cross-border tallies show at least 777 foreigners are among the missing, including international tourists and foreign workers stationed in the popular mountain cross-border region. Nepal’s tourism authorities confirmed that 121 tourists have already been pulled to safety, but full data on the total number of rescued people, including local residents and foreign laborers, has not yet been released. On the Nepali side, the total confirmed death toll reached 586 as of Friday’s update.

    Discrepancies have emerged in some missing person counts between Nepali authorities and foreign diplomatic missions, as response teams continue to sort through incomplete and conflicting data. Nepal’s Tourism Board currently lists 622 people missing on Nepali territory: 149 are Nepali nationals traveling in the area, while the disaster agency puts the domestic missing count at 127, with hundreds of local residents still unaccounted for.

    Major nationalities of missing people on the Nepali side include 98 Indians (with 85 rescued), 65 Americans (with two rescued, no reported fatalities per U.S. officials), 61 Ukrainians, 51 Malaysians, 41 Australians, 33 British citizens, 29 Latvians, and 25 Canadians – Canada’s foreign ministry notes 30 Canadians are missing across both Nepal and Tibet. Other missing foreign nationals include nine South Koreans, nine Singaporeans, nine Russians, eight Germans, six South Africans, five Japanese, five New Zealanders, four French, three Spanish, three Hungarians, three Portuguese, three Italians, three Kazakhs, and multiple other nationalities with one or two people unaccounted for. Several citizens from these countries have already been confirmed safe.

    Chinese officials previously confirmed that 260 foreigners are missing on the Tibetan side of the border, but no breakdown of their nationalities has been published to date. Details on the nationalities of non-tourist missing people on Nepal’s side also have not been released by authorities, as search and rescue operations continue across the rugged, flood-ravaged border landscape.

  • Number of missing in Nepal, China floods soars past 2,400

    Number of missing in Nepal, China floods soars past 2,400

    Three days after a devastating tsunami-style surge of water and debris tore through cross-border Himalayan communities, rescue teams in Nepal and China’s Tibet Autonomous Region continued their frantic search for thousands of unaccounted-for people on Saturday. By Friday, official counts put the total number of missing people at more than 2,400, with rescuers having already recovered 586 fatalities — several of which washed downstream as far as northern India. The catastrophic disaster has reshaped lives across the border region, leaving survivors with nothing and forcing agonizing waits for news of loved ones.

    The high-altitude Himalayan border region is dotted with large-scale hydropower and energy infrastructure projects, and Nepal’s national disaster management authority confirmed that 933 workers from local hydropower facilities had been added to the growing missing persons list. They join hundreds of trekkers and Hindu pilgrims who were en route to Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash, one of the region’s most popular religious destinations, when the flood struck.

    Survivors recount scenes of total destruction, with entire riverside settlements washed away in a matter of minutes. “All the settlements near the river were swept away. There is nothing left,” survivor Buddhi Ram Dangol told Agence France-Presse. For families of the missing, uncertainty has turned into days of agonizing waiting. Samjhana Thing, who has not heard from her brother since the flood hit, said, “We don’t know anything. Hopefully he is in a safe place.”

    The International Committee of the Red Cross described the scale of trauma from Wednesday’s disaster as “enormous”, estimating that as many as 93,000 people across the region have been displaced or otherwise affected. Officials warn the final death toll will almost certainly rise as search teams reach more remote cut-off areas. Widespread destruction has severed supply routes, leaving emergency teams and trapped survivors facing dwindling stockpiles of clean drinking water and food. Compounding the already dangerous search mission is the persistent threat of secondary flooding. The initial surge of ice and mud created large new natural debris dams across mountain valleys, creating unstable temporary lakes that continue to threaten response teams. On Friday, Nepali police issued an urgent order for all rescuers to evacuate high-risk zones immediately after receiving reports that a new debris dam on the Tibetan side of the border had burst. In Tibet, Chinese authorities paused rescue operations in the worst-hit Gyirong county due to the risk of new flooding, before announcing the threat had eased. State news agency Xinhua reported Saturday morning that two trapped villagers had been pulled from the debris in the area.

    On the Nepali side of the border, military teams are working to extract dozens of trapped workers from the tunnel of the Trishuli 3A hydropower project, one of the largest energy facilities in the flood zone. Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP that two rescue helicopters have been deployed to the site, but treacherous conditions and destroyed access routes have made locating the tunnel entrance extremely challenging. So far, 350 workers and local residents have been evacuated to safety from the area, but more than 100 people remain trapped, he added.

    Workers rescued from other hydropower projects along the Trishuli Valley described a disaster that unfolded with terrifying, unexpected speed. Buddha Tamang, a dam worker who was airlifted to safety Thursday after being stranded for more than 24 hours, said he only survived because he was inside a tunnel at the time the flood hit. “The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away,” Tamang said.

    By Friday, Nepal’s official death toll stood at 579, with 1,924 people — including 517 foreign nationals — still unaccounted for, a near-doubling of the previous missing count of 977. Across the border in Tibet, which remains closed to most foreign journalists, state-run Xinhua reported seven confirmed deaths and 555 missing people as of Saturday. Chinese authorities have already evacuated 555 stranded tourists and 499 local residents from high-risk flood zones in Tibet. India has recovered seven bodies from rivers that originate in Nepal, all believed to be victims of the cross-border disaster.

    Dozens of international Hindu devotees are among the missing, as many were traveling along the popular pilgrimage route to Mount Kailash. Sivaranjani Muthunathan, a 46-year-old pilgrim, was traveling by bus with 56 other devotees toward the Chinese border when the group stopped, initially assuming they were caught in a routine traffic jam. “Then there was fog, smoke, something that seemed to suddenly engulf us,” Muthunathan told AFP Friday, sharing mobile footage she recorded of a raging torrent of mud and water surging toward her vehicle. One by one, vehicles around the bus were swept away or buried under falling debris. “One by one, we also climbed out through the driver’s side,” then scrambled up a nearby hillside to safety, she said.