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Niranjan Shrestha and Shristi Kafle, The Associated Press
Hundreds of people are missing “along the Nepal-China border after a catastrophic and deadly torrent of floods and mud swept through several communities” following a suspected glacial collapse, according to the Associated Press. The newswire says officials have reported 826 people missing in Nepal and 558 in Tibet – including hundreds of tourists – as well as at least 165 deaths in Nepal and three in China. CNN explains that a “powerful landslide” blocked the Bhote Koshi river, sending a torrent of water downstream from China to Nepal.
Much of the coverage focuses on untangling what caused the flooding, with New Scientist reporting that “initial analyses of satellite images and seismic data suggest that the collapse of a high glacier caused the disaster”. It adds that “this collapse could be a result of global heating”, due to warmer weather causing lots of snow and ice to melt. Wired focuses on “how rising temperatures likely contributed to Nepal’s deadly flood”. Reuters notes that there remains uncertainty about what caused the glacial collapse, adding that “Nepali officials have pointed to an earthquake in the region minutes earlier as a possibility”. [This has since been explained as the detected tremors being caused by the landslide rather than an earthquake.] BBC News reports that climate change is “known to be driving faster glacier melt in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, but scientists say it is too soon to pinpoint its role”. The Times explains that “contradictory accounts of the disaster’s cause” have emerged. The Nepali Times says the disaster “will bring up the issue of loss and damage that Nepal has been raising in international climate negotiations”, with property damage expected to cost billions.
China Daily says Chinese president Xi Jinping has issued “instructions” on the rescue effort, noting that China is at a “critical stage” of flood control. The Beijing News reports the mudslide was destructive enough to “wash away all the buildings” in the area. It added that villagers in the area had been evacuated, though most residential areas were largely “unaffected”. Chinese outlets including Southern Weekly, Jiemian and the Paper note that climate change may have played a role in causing the disaster.
ITV News
More than 40,000 heat-related deaths were recorded in England between 1988 and 2025, according to new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, covered by ITV News. [There were also 2,070 heat-related deaths in Wales over the same period.] The Daily Mirror explains that older people were most vulnerable, with London and southern England facing the highest risks. The Financial Times says “most of the deaths highlighted by the ONS were preventable”, as they were due to buildings that were “dangerously” ill-equipped for temperature extremes. The Guardian notes that the figures do not include this summer, adding that the estimated death toll for this year’s heatwaves is “almost double the figure for the whole summer in 2025”. New Scientist explains that, while cold weather has always killed more people than hot weather in England and Wales, “that's about to change” as summers get hotter – “fuelled by a warming climate”. The Times also focuses on this “narrow[ing” gap between cold- and heat-related deaths. In contrast, the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph leads its coverage on the fact that, overall, “three times more people” have died due to cold since 1988.
MORE ON HEAT
The southern US faces temperatures up to 46C this week as forecasters warn of “dangerous record-breaking” heat, according to the Financial Times. A “massive study of Chicago hospital and urgent care records” has found that various injuries and illnesses spike during heatwaves, including accidental gunshot wounds, kidney complaints and skin problems, according to the Associated Press. Le Monde reports that, in France, more than 140,000 people have declared themselves "climate victims" in a campaign that “aims to make visible the effects of global warming on the French population”. A “drought disaster” has been declared for many cities in Puerto Rico “as water woes deepen across the US Caribbean territory”, according to the Associated Press. Inside Climate News reports that New York’s power grid is “struggl[ing] to handle the heat”.
Carbon Pulse
A final decision at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) negotiations in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, is being “delayed by US-led opposition to climate change language”, according to Carbon Pulse. The outlet says this underscores “what one senior diplomat called a wider paralysis in UN multilateralism”. Euractiv says the EU has criticised “concerning” obstruction, after the US and Russia blocked discussion of migration, drought and NGO involvement. Radio France International explains that “one of the main sticking points is whether countries should tackle land degradation alongside climate change, biodiversity loss and water scarcity, rather than treating each problem separately”. Down to Earth has more details of the disputes, many of which centre on whether or not to establish an international drought “instrument” that is either binding or voluntary. It notes that the US opposes any kind of international instrument and says such matters should only be treated as domestic or regional issues.
Tom McIlroy, Josh Butler and Luca Ittimani, The Guardian
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has “backed down on demands that states must power new AI data centres entirely using renewable energy”, according to the Guardian. The newspaper explains that climate and energy minister Chris Bowen had previously said the federal government would override states resisting the rules. ABC News says Queensland and the Northern Territory had previously opposed the rules and will now be able to power data centres with coal or gas. Bloomberg quotes an official statement that says the federal and state governments will now work together “to develop consistent mandatory standards for data centre energy, water and land-use”.
Michael Sinkewicz, Fox Business
The US army is planning to build nuclear reactors at five military installations “as part of a multibillion-dollar effort to strengthen the military's energy security and reduce its reliance on potentially vulnerable power grids”, according to Fox Business. The planned microreactors are part of a wider Trump administration effort to “develop the next generation of nuclear power”, including billions in loans for reactors to power data centres.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Dr Adam Kalkstein is suing the US Military Academy at West Point, where he was a professor of geography and “the only climate scientist”, after being fired. The Seattle Times explains that, according to the lawsuit, Kalkstein was “suddenly ordered last year to cut from his curriculum information about the human causes of climate change”. The newspaper says the professor described this as “immoral and potentially illegal”. The Independent says Kalkstein was informed that the order came from the White House.
MORE ON US
The Associated Press reports that the first large site in the continental US for testing wave-power technologies has opened after “securing a key green-energy approval from the Trump administration”. The Guardian has an article titled “surviving in America’s wildfire smoke capital”, about a part of Oregon with the highest rate of wildfire smoke deaths in the US. Reuters reports that the White House has asked regulators to “allow the nation’s small oil refineries to blend less biofuels into their gasoline and diesel than initially projected as part of the administration’s efforts to ease pump prices”. Axios looks at the “stunning, yet stunningly speculative” high numbers for potential AI-driven gas-power construction in the US, over the coming years. Reuters: “US preparing to ease environmental reviews for Alaska oil and gas drilling.” The Financial Times: “What I learnt 800ft underground in an American coal mine.”
China News Net
State news agency China News Service reports that 669 weather stations across China have recorded torrential rain from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning, 19 of which reported “extreme torrential rain”. It adds that rain will “continue to fall heavily in the north in the coming days”. Southern China and coastal areas are preparing for “days of intense precipitation”, with tens of thousands of people evacuated amid Typhoon Narra, reports Reuters. It adds that heavy rainfall is “expected to persist…even as recent downpours have already pushed rivers over warning levels and inundated low-lying areas in Guangxi [province]”. Wei Ke, professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, writes for state broadcaster CGTN saying that climate change makes typhoons more frequent and intense, with “highly destructive extreme cyclones” occurring more often.
MORE ON CHINA
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