World
Massive flash flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border has left nearly 400 people confirmed dead, with more than 1,300 still missing, authorities said Thursday. The floodwaters struck on Wednesday after heavy rain triggered landslides in the Himalayan border region. Nepal's tourism board said 66 American citizens are among the missing, with two already rescued. Rescue teams are searching for survivors, and drone footage shows entire villages swept away. Experts say the speed of the flash floods likely overwhelmed the region's warning systems. The disaster has also complicated damage assessments because Chinese authorities control information on the Tibetan side of the border. Both governments have pledged search and rescue support as international aid groups begin to arrive.
ABC News
Politics
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America. The order came after negotiations between the United States and Canada collapsed last week, when the two countries failed to reach a trade agreement. Canada quickly rejected the new name. A Canadian maritime attorney said, "The Americans can call it whatever they want to call it. It is Lake Ontario." The renaming is the latest escalation in a trade dispute that has pushed the two neighbors toward a full-blown trade war. Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 50 percent on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts, and steel beginning in January. The two sides have since resumed talks, with Trump pausing new tariffs for three days.
The New York Times
Business
President Trump has paused new tariffs on Canada for three days, saying the two sides are close to a deal. The pause comes after the United States threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts, and steel to 50 percent starting January 1. Earlier talks collapsed when the two countries failed to reach a trade agreement. Trump said both sides are now finalizing documents to avert import taxes on a range of Canadian goods. Canada was the only country besides China to retaliate against the earlier U.S. tariffs. Markets reacted positively to the news, while economists warned that a full trade war would still hurt automakers and consumers on both sides of the border. The three-day window will test whether the two neighbors can avoid a full-blown trade war.
BBC News
Technology
Groq, the AI chip company known for its ultra-fast inference processors, has raised $350 million in new funding to pivot toward the neocloud market. The company will build and operate its own cloud services for AI workloads instead of only selling hardware. Groq's chips are designed to run large language models at high speed with lower power use. The shift reflects a broader trend in the AI industry, where hardware makers are moving up the stack to capture more revenue. Neocloud providers lease AI computing power by the hour to startups and enterprises. The funding round comes as demand for AI compute continues to outpace supply. Groq says the new capital will expand its data center footprint and bring down the cost of running AI models for customers.
TechCrunch
Science
Physicists at Harvard have found that a steady stream of sound waves can shield a fragile quantum bit from its noisy surroundings. The technique nearly tripled how long the qubit held information in experiments. The team used acoustic waves to create a protective barrier around a silicon-vacancy spin in diamond, a common type of qubit. The findings open a path toward sound-based quantum networks on chips and hybrid quantum systems that combine different kinds of qubits. Quantum computers rely on qubits that are easily disturbed by heat, vibration, and electrical noise. Keeping qubits stable for longer is one of the biggest challenges in the field. The Harvard team published its results in Nature Physics. Researchers say the approach could be combined with other error-correction methods to build more reliable quantum computers.
Sci.News
Sports
American hurdler Masai Russell broke the women's 100-meter hurdles world record at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich on Thursday. Russell crossed the line in 12.09 seconds, improving the old mark by 0.03 seconds. The previous record had stood for years and was seen as one of the toughest marks in the sport. Russell ran a clean race despite a slight headwind and pulled away over the final three hurdles. It was the first world record set at the Zurich meeting in a decade. Russell celebrated by pointing at the clock and waving to the crowd. She now heads into next month's world championships as the heavy favorite. Her coach said the record came from a long-term plan built around strength and rhythm training.
AP News
Health
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for pancreatic cancer that has been shown to improve survival in clinical trials. The approval is the first for a new pancreatic cancer treatment in nearly a decade. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, with a five-year survival rate of around 12 percent. In a late-stage trial, patients who received the new treatment lived longer than those on standard chemotherapy. Doctors called the approval a step forward for a disease that has seen few new options. The drug will be available to patients with advanced pancreatic cancer that has not responded to earlier treatment. The manufacturer said it will launch the drug at a price within reach of most insurance plans, and patient assistance programs will cover the rest.
AP News
Environment
The world's oceans are warmer than ever recorded, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Daily global sea surface temperature has reached its highest level since records began, as a strong El Niño adds to long-term warming. The agency said the ocean is under unprecedented strain. Warmer oceans fuel stronger storms, bleach coral reefs, and speed up sea level rise. Marine heat waves have hit the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Mediterranean this year. Scientists say the combination of greenhouse gas emissions and El Niño is pushing the climate system into new territory. The record comes weeks after several countries reported their hottest months on land. Researchers warn that ocean heat is a warning signal for the whole planet, because the sea absorbs most of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases.
Live Science