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Aerial footage shows flooding on Nepal-Tibet border

BBC News

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Hundreds of travellers are missing, including at least 291 foreign tourists, after a flash flood swept away buildings on the Nepal-Tibet border. Aerial footage showed multi-storey buildings partially submerged by the muddy floodwaters, and a valley filled with dust and smoke. Nepal's foreign minister says preliminary reports show it may have been caused by an earthquake triggering an avalanche, which lead to flash floods. China's President Xi Jinping is urging all-out search efforts for the missing, as well as stronger monitoring and early warning systems to prevent secondary disasters.


Why India is sharing missile secrets with its private sector

Al Jazeera

Did Pakistan shoot down five Indian jets? India has taken a major step towards opening one of its most sensitive areas of defence production to private companies. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the transfer of technologies developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for all conventional missile systems to Indian industry for domestic production, the country's Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday. Private companies will be able to compete for the technology and production rights, subject to technical qualifications, certifications and other regulatory requirements, the ministry said. The Narendra Modi-led government says the aim is to move missiles from development into mass production faster, increase domestic manufacturing and reduce India's dependence on imports.


Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

The Guardian

A pro-Israel messaging website badged with the name of a thinktank that does not exist has published more than half a million words in nine days, built on a commercial platform that promises to optimize content so that AI chatbots will cite it. The site gives Israel's position on subjects including the torture of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli war crimes and whether Israel has deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza, all presented as neutral research. The site publishes in the name of the Hanover Institute for Public Policy, which apparently does not exist as a legal entity in any jurisdiction, has no physical address, and carries no named staff and no bylines on any of its reports. Its own terms of use are governed by the laws of "the state in which the Institute is established", which they decline to name. The existence of the site was first reported on 14 August.


Trump's Economic D-Day can hammer Iran, but will Tehran ever surrender?

FOX News

Scott Bessent called his maximum pressure Iran sanctions campaign an 'Economic D-Day.' But D-Day was not victory — it began the final campaign toward one.


Two killed, refinery on fire in Russia's Krasnodar after drone attack

Al Jazeera

Is the war entering a new phase? Two killed, refinery on fire in Russia's Krasnodar after drone attack Share Two killed, refinery on fire in Russia's Krasnodar after drone attack on social media A fire broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia's Krasnodar region following a drone attack, local authorities have said, while two employees at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were injured in another Ukrainian drone attack. At least two people were killed, and two others were injured, due to falling drone debris at the Afipsky railway station, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Tuesday. Russian-installed management did not provide details on any damage caused by the attack. Ukraine has been targeting Russia's oil refineries and other infrastructure, attempting to undermine Moscow's war efforts and reduce financial revenue.


Nvidia, Supermicro employees charged over export of AI servers to China

Al Jazeera

Taiwanese authorities have indicted nine people, including employees of Nvidia and Super Micro Computer, over their alleged involvement in the illegal export of artificial intelligence servers to China. Eight of those indicted, including one employee of Nvidia's Taiwan unit and two employees of Supermicro's Taiwan unit, were charged with breach of trust and document forgery in connection with the illegal export of high-end AI servers, prosecutors in the port city of Keelung said in a statement on Monday. An additional 56 servers were seized at Taiwan's border, the statement said. Three of the defendants have been charged with embezzlement. Semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is the world's largest producer of advanced chips used in AI applications.


US removes Syria from list of state sponsors of terrorism

BBC News

The US has removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after 47 years, lifting what it said was the final major barriers for private sector investment in the country and its reintegration into the global economy. US Secretary Of State Marco Rubio said the move was in recognition of the Syrian government's positive actions to fully distance itself from acts of international terrorism. The Trump administration has embraced Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former militant who once had an American bounty on his head as the leader of an al-Qaeda off-shoot. His Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was also removed from the US list of global terrorist organisations. HTS, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, was al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until Sharaa severed ties with the jihadist network in 2016.



Manga-inspired theme park to be built near Paris

BBC News

Three theme parks will be built near Paris as part of a €6bn (£5.13bn) deal agreed between France and Saudi Arabia. The new development is expected to include a manga-themed park, inspired by the popular Japanese franchise Dragon Ball Z. French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the move as on a scale not seen since Disneyland Paris, and added you know my interest for manga. An opening date for the parks - which will be built near Cergy-Pontoise - has not set by the Élysée Palace, but they will open in stages and construction is expected to take years. The project was given the green light during a two-day state visit to France by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It stemmed from a previous discussion between Macron and bin Salman about their shared passion for Japanese comics, in particular Dragon Ball Z, advisers to the president told reporters on Monday.