World
A glacier collapse along the Nepal-Tibet border triggered a flash flood that has killed more than 350 people and left over 1,000 missing. The disaster began Wednesday morning when a mass of glacier ice and rock fell into the Lhende Khola river, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, creating a natural dam that burst and sent a wall of water, mud and debris downstream. Water levels on the Trishuli river rose by as much as 9 meters in half an hour, according to experts at ICIMOD. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away in Rasuwa district and beyond. Authorities are now monitoring barrier lakes on both sides of the border, warning downstream residents to stay away from riverbanks while rescue teams search for the missing, including pilgrims on the Kailash Mansarovar route.
The Guardian
Politics
South Carolina Senator Darline Graham has won the Republican Senate runoff, defeating Representative Ralph Norman to secure the nomination for the seat once held by her brother, the late Lindsey Graham. Graham, who had never run for elected office before, was appointed in July after her brother died suddenly. President Donald Trump campaigned for her, and his super PAC spent more than $827,000 on phone calls and text messages in the race. Her victory is being read as proof that Trump's endorsement remains a decisive force in Republican primaries, after several of his backed candidates stumbled in recent weeks. South Carolina has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in decades, so Graham is now all but assured of winning a full term in November.
Politico
Business
President Donald Trump says he will raise tariffs on Canadian-made cars, trucks, auto parts and steel to 50 percent starting January 1, 2027, escalating a trade fight that erupted after talks between the two countries collapsed. A fresh round of 50 percent tariffs on some Canadian goods took effect on Saturday, and Canada has promised to match them dollar for dollar. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will retaliate to protect its workers and businesses. The new 50 percent levy would double the current 25 percent tariff on autos and would also cover steel. Automakers that build vehicles in Canada and sell them in the United States could face sharply higher costs. Trump said on social media that companies can avoid the tariffs by building in the United States.
AP News
Technology
Anthropic has begun adding invisible watermarks to text generated by its Claude models, along with signed metadata labels on AI-created image files. The company switched on the watermarking on August 2, quietly affecting every Claude user. The text watermark is woven into the output at the model level and travels with copied text, surviving some editing. For files such as PNG, JPG and SVG images, Claude attaches a cryptographically signed note using the C2PA open standard, the same system used by camera makers to record where an image came from. Anthropic says the labels identify that Claude was involved in producing the content but do not reveal user identity or change ownership. The move follows Anthropic's commitment to the EU AI Act code of practice on transparency of AI-generated content. The company has not yet published a public tool to detect the text watermark.
Anthropic
Science
Physicists at Harvard have shown that a steady stream of sound waves can shield a fragile quantum bit from the noise around it, nearly tripling how long the qubit holds information. The team, reporting in Nature Physics, used mechanical vibrations to protect quantum states that would otherwise decay quickly. In one demonstration, researchers applied all-mechanical coherence protection to a silicon-vacancy spin in diamond. The approach avoids the electromagnetic interference that can disturb delicate quantum systems and could pave the way for sound-based quantum networks on chips, as well as hybrid systems that combine different types of quantum technology. Quantum bits are the building blocks of future computers, but they lose their stored information quickly when disturbed by heat, vibration or stray fields. The new sound-shield method offers a simpler, more robust way to keep quantum data alive for longer.
Sci.News
Sports
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has agreed to an eight-year, $163.2 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid player in NHL history. The deal carries an average annual value of $20.4 million, the first time any player has reached $20 million per season. Makar, 27, was entering the final year of a six-year, $54 million deal and was set to become an unrestricted free agent. He has been a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman for six straight seasons. The Avalanche won the President's Trophy last season with a league-best 55 wins before falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. The extension locks up the team's cornerstone defenseman through the 2034-35 season and resets the market for elite NHL defensemen.
ESPN
Health
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Rasonque, also known as daraxonrasib, a once-daily pill for advanced pancreatic cancer. In a late-stage trial of 500 patients, the drug improved median overall survival to 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months for standard chemotherapy — roughly double. The drug, made by Revolution Medicines, targets a mutated protein called RAS that drives tumor growth in more than 90 percent of pancreatic cancer cases. It is the first biomarker-driven therapy to show an overall survival advantage in metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease and the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. The approval covers patients whose tumors no longer respond to at least one earlier treatment. A one-month supply will cost about $39,800.
FDA
Environment
Wildfires burning across Indonesia since July have blanketed West Kalimantan province on Borneo in thick smoke and ash, forcing schools to close and sending thousands of people to clinics with breathing problems. Residents in Kubu Raya say they have never seen a fire season this bad in 15 years. Health workers report a surge in bronchitis and other respiratory conditions, with pregnant women and children among the most vulnerable. The city of Pontianak is also facing a clean water crisis, with seawater being used for daily needs. Fire hot spots have nearly doubled overnight in some areas, and Indonesian authorities have charged 72 people in connection with the fires. The blazes have also threatened an orangutan rehabilitation center housing more than 60 critically endangered Bornean orangutans.
Al Jazeera