Flash floods kill at least 165, over 1,000 missing on Nepal-Tibet border

This is the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing, for Thursday, the twenty-seventh of August, twenty twenty-six. Here is what matters now.

Catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border have killed at least one hundred and sixty-five people and left more than one thousand others missing, the majority of them tourists, as search and rescue operations continue. Officials warn the death toll is likely to rise. Entire populated areas were swept away after a glacial collapse sent a wall of water roaring down Himalayan river valleys, according to the U S Geological Survey and Nepali authorities. Officials believe about three hundred and forty foreign nationals from India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia and Ukraine are among the missing, alongside border officials, port workers and other tourists. The floods have devastated regions in northern Nepal and parts of Tibet, sending muddy torrents through the Trishuli River and leaving streets buried in debris. Experts have linked the disaster to climate change, noting the region's acute vulnerability to extreme weather, while monsoon rains from June to September regularly trigger deadly floods and landslides across South Asia. Rescue teams are still searching for survivors, and authorities have urged residents to stay alert.

In United States politics, Darline Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham and a candidate backed by Donald Trump, has won the Republican nomination for the U S Senate seat her brother long held, defeating five-term congressman Ralph Norman in a runoff. She had been temporarily filling the seat and will now appear on the November ballot, where she is expected to be heavily favored. Trump offered full-throated support for Graham's candidacy, rallying on her behalf and pressing allies to endorse her; a super P A C run by his advisers spent nearly eight hundred thousand dollars on the campaign. Graham overcame concerns about her lack of legislative experience to secure the nomination and will face the Democratic nominee in the general election.

Meanwhile, in the courts, a federal judge in Boston has lifted a nationwide block on U S Postal Service work tied to President Trump's order limiting mail-in voting for the midterm election, allowing the effort to proceed for now. The Supreme Court had earlier let the administration continue its plans to curtail mail-in voting while the legal challenges move forward. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have sued to block the Postal Service's new rule, arguing it violates the Constitution and federal law, and Democratic attorneys general have mounted additional challenges that could still produce a new court block. The fast-moving litigation means the rules remain temporary and subject to further judicial action.

In Texas, a federal judge has, for the second time, struck down a Texas law that banned drag performances in settings where children might be present, ruling that the state cannot enforce the measure because it improperly restricts speech. U S District Judge David Hittner told people offended by drag performances, "Just don't go." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it a profoundly flawed decision that endangers children and an affront to Texas values.

Elsewhere in the U S, Meta has agreed to pay up to seventeen point one billion dollars and to make major changes to Facebook and Instagram as part of a landmark settlement with forty-seven U S states, the District of Columbia and U S territories over claims that the platforms endangered children and contributed to social-media addiction. The deal includes new safety measures.

In security news, the U S Secret Service said it is aware of an Iranian threat against Barron Trump, the president's youngest son. An I R G C-affiliated broadcast claimed a ten million dollars bounty on him and said his movements were "fully monitored."

In entertainment and culture, Dolly Parton, the country-music singer-songwriter, actor, philanthropist and cultural icon, has died at the age of eighty after a brief battle with cancer, her team announced. Her death was first announced by her nephew, Brian Seaver, on Instagram. Over a six-decade career she wrote an estimated three thousand songs, won multiple Grammys, sold more than one hundred million records and built an empire spanning music, film and theme parks. Tributes have poured in from artists and public figures including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Paul McCartney, many of them praising her philanthropy, literacy campaigns and advocacy for L G B T Q+ rights. Fans gathered in Nashville and her hometown of Sevierville, while New York's Empire State Building was lit pink in her honor.

Also in entertainment, Tim Curry, the actor whose flamboyant performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show made him a cult icon, died at eighty. He was also celebrated for his roles in the original screen adaptation of Stephen King's It, as well as the films Legend and Clue, and enjoyed a prolific career on stage, screen and television.

In the art world, Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist known for her immersive polka-dot paintings, phallic sculptures and vast installations inspired by hallucinations, has died at the age of ninety-seven. Her studio announced in a statement on her website that she died in a Tokyo hospital on fourteen August. Kusama rose from outsider status to global superstar after decades living in a psychiatric hospital.

In Europe, a worker at Frankfurt airport has died after contracting malaria from a mosquito thought to have arrived on a plane, an airport spokesperson said. Five other airport workers are being treated in what authorities described as a rare outbreak at Germany's busiest airport.

That was the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing. Read the complete briefing and explore its supporting coverage at one news page dot com.