Himalayan flood deaths kept climbing overnight, Gulf mediators piled into Tehran, and a convicted Balkan war criminal died in The Hague. Ten stories as of Thursday, August 27.
1. NepalâTibet border. Nepal police said Thursday that more than 360 people have been killed after a glacial collapse and debris flood tore through the NepalâChina border Wednesday, with Chinese state media still reporting three dead in Tibetâs Gyirong county. Nearly 1,500 people remained missing across both sides, including hundreds of foreign tourists and pilgrimsâfigures that may overlap and are still rising. The BBC reported that the U.S. Geological Survey revised an early quake reading and said the seismic signal came from the landslide itself. Helicopters and thousands of Nepali security personnel searched Rasuwa, Nuwakot and downstream districts; a debris-dammed lake upstream raised fresh flood warnings.
2. Tehran / Strait of Hormuz. Qatarâs prime minister was due in Tehran on Thursday to press for de-escalation and conditions for U.S.âIran dialogue, after Omanâs foreign minister and Pakistanâs army chief held separate high-level meetings earlier in the week. Iranian officials said Tehran and Muscat had sketched a temporary joint navigation corridor in the Strait of Hormuz, but Iran still ties any reopening to sanctions relief. President Trump told Al Jazeera he is ânot in a hurryâ to resume talks. Reuters reported the United States would begin returning some evacuated Middle East embassy staff next week.
3. The Hague. Ratko MladiÄ, the Bosnian Serb wartime commander convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, died Thursday aged 84 in the United Nations prison hospital in The Hague. Serbian state television reported it; his lawyer and a UN official confirmed the death to Reuters. He had been serving a life sentence upheld on appeal in 2021. MladiÄ commanded forces blamed for the Srebrenica massacre of about 8,000 Bosniak men and boys and for the siege of Sarajevo. Srebrenica survivors told Reuters his death does not close the graves.
4. Ukraine. Russia bombarded nine Ukrainian cities overnight into Thursday with missiles and drones, the Russian Defense Ministry calling it a âmassiveâ strike on industrial, energy and port targets. Ukrainian officials said a 78-year-old woman was killed in Zaporizhzhia and another person in Kharkiv, with at least 14 wounded; Kyiv police reported damage to homes, a school and a medical facility, and explosions continued around the capital into the morning. The barrage came two days after CIA Director John Ratcliffeâs unannounced Moscow visit, which U.S. reporting said included a warning not to attack NATO members.
5. Lebanon and Syria. Israeli forces kept hitting southern Lebanon and parts of Syria overnight into Thursday despite U.S.-backed diplomatic tracks. Lebanonâs National News Agency reported air and artillery strikes on several southern towns plus demolitions; drones flew over Beirut. In Syria, witnesses described shelling near Beit Jinn and a raid in the Quneitra countryside days after SyrianâIsraeli contacts in Jordan. Lebanonâs health ministry has put deaths since March 2 at 4,350 killed and 12,310 wounded.
6. Caribbean Sea. U.S. Southern Command said a Tuesday strike on a go-fast boat along Caribbean trafficking routes killed four people it labeled ânarco-terrorists,â without releasing public evidence of a drug cargo. An AP tally put at least 227 people dead in 68 such strikes since the campaign began nearly a year ago. The Trump administration frames the boats as an armed conflict with cartels; UN experts and rights groups have called the strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings.
7. Papua New Guinea / Bougainville. Papua New Guineaâs parliament was due Thursday to begin debating whether to ratify Bougainvilleâs 2019 referendum, when 97.7 percent of voters chose independence. Under the 2001 peace agreement, national MPs have the final say; a three-quarters majority threshold applies. Prime Minister James Marape called it a grave constitutional decision and urged calm. The Autonomous Bougainville Government still aims to declare independence around 2030 if economic preparations advance.
8. Niger State, Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu ordered the armed forces, police and intelligence services to mount a coordinated rescue after gunmen attacked mosques and villages in Borgu last Friday. Local residents and a circulating hostage video have put abductees near 600; officials caution that the number is still being verified. A Borgu district official told reporters about 30 people were killed and buried. Mass abductions have surged in north-central Nigeria ahead of next yearâs presidential vote.
9. Iceland. Two days from Saturdayâs referendum on whether to resume EU accession talks, polls remain knife-edgeâone survey put yes at about 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent no. The ballot is not membership itself; any later deal would need a second vote. Talks were frozen in 2013; living costs, Ukraine, Arctic security and fishing rights dominate the campaign. Officials say restarted talks could move faster than a full fresh accession if voters say yes.
10. Strait of Magellan / ChileâArgentina. After Chilean protests over Argentine Air Force chief Gustavo Javier Valverdeâs podcast remarks on âMagallanes, the south and the Drake,â Argentinaâs foreign ministry reiterated that the 1881 and 1984 treaties remain fully in force and recognize Chilean sovereignty over the strait. Santiago had said it would send a formal protest note. Both sides stressed South Atlantic and Antarctic cooperation.
Sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, Al Jazeera (MladiÄ), Al Jazeera (Hormuz), AP, Al Jazeera (Lebanon), RNZ, France 24.