Day News Recap: Nepal flood toll soars as Iran tensions, Gaza strikes and global diplomacy dominate

Nepal is facing one of its worst flood disasters in years, with the death toll rising above 900, more than 4,200 people missing, and remote areas still cut off as flash flooding and mudslides devastate parts of the country near the Tibet border. Rescue teams are also racing to reach 933 hydropower workers believed trapped in tunnels, while authorities in Chitwan are carrying out temporary burials of unidentified victims.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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Elsewhere in the region, a ferry capsized off Northern Cyprus, leaving eight people dead and 18 still missing as the search continued, while in the United States one person died and about 15 people were missing after flash flooding hit Grand Canyon National Park and evacuations continued.  🔗  🔗

Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated further after Iranian state media said two people were killed in US strikes on Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz, and the UAE said it intercepted a drone over its territorial waters after it approached from Iran. Washington is also preparing new sanctions on another bank over Iran ties, while Donald Trump said the US would respond and later called Iran a failed nation and said its leadership should be tried for war crimes.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Pressure on Iran is also spilling into trade and regional security, with a report saying a reinstated US naval blockade off Iran's southern coast has brought much of commercial activity to a virtual halt, and Pakistan saying it will not comply with the latest US sanctions and will keep trading with Tehran. In the wider Middle East, five people were killed in Israeli strikes west of Gaza City, and Syria is still pursuing diplomacy with Israel even as Israeli attacks on Syrian soil continue.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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In Europe and the Balkans, Hungary is investigating after an allegedly stolen Cessna entered restricted airspace near the Paks nuclear plant, while the UK has raised the detention of British activist Finn O'Keeffe in the occupied West Bank with Israeli authorities. Spain's Pedro Sanchez also accused Russia and Israel of spreading disinformation around the Ceuta migrant crisis, and Greece signed a $3.5bn air defence deal with Israel, its largest ever with the country.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Diplomatic activity continued elsewhere, with Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan due to hold their first post pact defence meeting in Istanbul, Algeria moving to reinstate the death penalty for arsonists after deadly forest fires, and Guinea Bissau beginning referendum vote counting on a constitutional overhaul that would shift power away from the presidency. In Libya, rival factions signed a deal to hold legislative and presidential elections within 24 months, and Syria and Libya agreed to reopen Syria's embassy in Tripoli after 14 years.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

In Asia Pacific, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit opened in Bishkek with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi among the leaders gathering as the bloc marks 25 years, while Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned NATO activity in the Arctic is a direct threat to Russia. Separately, Russian drone attacks on Kyiv and surrounding areas entered a fifth day, and Russian strikes in Ukraine have destroyed an estimated 12 million books and damaged printing and publishing facilities ahead of the school year.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

In Africa and the Americas, a strike disrupted flights for a second day at Kenya's main airport in Nairobi, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded, while in Mexico a car bomb outside a police station in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas wounded six people. Former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro also posted what appear to be his first photographs from a United States detention centre after what he described as his January abduction.  🔗  🔗  🔗

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In the US political and trade arena, Google updated its maps for users in the United States to show Lake America instead of Lake Ontario after Donald Trump's order to change the lake's name, and Trump also intensified tariff pressure on Canada, signalling a broader North American trade confrontation.  🔗  🔗

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