Dozens of Americans and Canadians are among hundreds of people who are missing following a deadly flash flood and mudslide near the Nepal-Tibet border, Nepali authorities say.More than 350 people are so far known to have died, according to the authorities.The US State Department said it was aware that Americans were impacted by Wednesday’s floods but did not provide numbers.It added that the US embassy in Nepal is working closely with local tour agencies and authorities to assist affected Americans, a spokesperson said.Canada’s foreign office said it was also monitoring developments and was ready to provide assistance if needed.According to Nepal police, more than 500 tourists are missing from 28 different countries – most of whom are foreign nationals.The Nepal Tourism Board has broken down the missing by nationality. Its latest announcement on Thursday morning said there are 65 people from the US and 25 from Canada.State media in China, which controls Tibet, reported three dead and at least 558 missing there. Among these are 260 foreign nationals, CCTV said. It is not clear if these figures overlap with Nepal’s.CCTV from Tibet showed a wall of water and mud hitting buildings at a border crossing.The US State Department did not provide figures or additional details regarding the Americans affected for privacy reasons.Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government was closely following the situation.The prime minister said all Canadians in the region should sign up for Registration of Canadians Abroad, a free service that lets the federal government contact and assist citizens during an emergency in other countries.Canada’s foreign affairs office said 820 Canadians are registered as being in Nepal and five Canadians are registered as being in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China, citing the Registration of Canadians Abroad system.The office emphasised that the numbers are only estimates as registration is voluntary and includes registrants that might not have made travel plans.“The Department is aware of Canadians who have been affected by the floods,” the Global Affairs Office said in a statement to the BBC.Initial reports from Nepal had suggested that an earthquake may have triggered the ice avalanche and landslide.But the US Geological Survey, which studies earthquakes, has now said that further analysis indicates “that the seismic energy was instead generated by a landslide” by itself.Landslides or avalanches can have various triggers. One possibility is that water – either from rainfall or melting ice – may have destabilised the ground or ice.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 in this specific event.The flash flooding swept away entire communities. Roads and bridges worth more than 15bn Nepalese rupees (£72.18m, $98.33m) were damaged by the floods, a government official told BBC Nepali, citing initial estimates.The US Embassy in Nepal said it remained in close contact with Nepali authorities.“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and devastation caused by the Bhote Koshi flood that struck Rasuwa district and communities downstream,” it said in a statement posted on social media. “We extend our sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and our thoughts are with all those affected by this disaster.”Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Paudel has called upon the government, political parties, social organisations, all agencies including security forces, and the general public to intensify rescue and relief efforts.“I urge everyone to remain vigilant and actively engage in necessary coordination and cooperation in the lower coastal areas,” he said.Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
Read briefing Uefa is preparing criminal legal proceedings against Fifa president Gianni Infantino over the now scrapped plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup and its other competitions to private investors. Documents seen by BBC Sport show an application has been made by European football’s governing body requesting access to evidence and documents for use in proceedings in Switzerland against the embattled president himself, who Uefa accuses of “criminal mismanagement”.Shortly after this summer’s World Cup, Infantino proposed creating a new company, Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would have sold off stakes in Fifa’s football competitions to private investors.In the application for evidence, Uefa claims that Infantino engineered the plan in order to enrich himself and the potential private investors.“In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from Fifa’s most valuable assets to the detriment of Fifa, its members, and other parties within the football family,” Uefa’s application says.“Infantino pushed the plan through internal Fifa approval only days earlier at a hastily convened meeting where a limited number of Fifa’s management officials and employees – some of whom had never heard of the plan – were given mere hours to sign off on an unprecedented multi-billion dollar scheme.” BBC Sport has approached Infantino and Fifa for comment.Uefa also claims that the valuation of the stakes to be sold were not independently verified and would have been offered too cheaply, calling the proposed sale “a fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit”.The application adds: “Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in Fifa’s commercial arm for $4.2bn, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20bn, a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer.”In the application, Uefa is applying to a court in Florida to attempt to access files held by two Fifa businesses – Fifa Americas and FWC2026 – to be used to pursue the criminal charges in Switzerland at a later stage.Uefa claims that its 55 member nations would have potentially been harmed by the sell-off plan, and that it may pursue criminal proceedings against other Fifa officials as well as Infantino.“Uefa and other interested parties are preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino and possibly other Fifa officials and advisors for criminal mismanagement,” the application states.“The secretive structuring, valuation, financing, and marketing inflicted direct and concrete injury on Fifa’s reputation, governance authority, and commercial relationships to the detriment of Fifa as well as its 211 members, including Uefa’s 55 member associations.”Uefa insists that the plan was concocted without the knowledge of them or other key stakeholders in football, and that it had been long in development.The applications says: “On July 28, 2026, without consulting the Fifa Council, Uefa, or any of the other confederations, or any of the 211 Fifa member associations, Infantino, purportedly acting on behalf of Fifa, publicly announced a plan to place the commercial rights to the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup into a new subsidiary: Fifa Forward Enterprise.“That announcement by Infantino was the public unveiling of a plan that he and a small circle of co-conspirators had conceived and reportedly been developing in secret for more than a year.”Uefa states in the document that there has been “an enduring history of corruption among Fifa officials” and claims that world football’s governing body only relents on its plans when pressure comes from outside the sport.“Fifa’s extraordinary power over world football has operated largely without meaningful internal constraint, with accountability coming principally through external forces, including political pressure, public scrutiny, and intervention through international criminal law enforcement,” the application adds.Fifa’s headquarters are in the Swiss city of Zurich, and Uefa says that its plan to eventually pursue criminal charges against Infantino is backed up by Swiss law.“Swiss counsel has confirmed […] that the proceeding is within reasonable contemplation for purposes of Swiss law and that Uefa has standing, as a complainant, to file a criminal complaint for criminal mismanagement against Infantino and potentially other Fifa officials as may be warranted.”Why has Infantino’s plan been so controversial? Infantino offered Fifa’s 211 member associations $40m (£30m) if they backed the proposal for private investment in its tournaments via FFE, including the men’s and women’s World Cups.The Swiss has faced calls to step down after he scrapped the controversial plan earlier this month. Uefa has led the backlash to the proposal, stating it had lost confidence in Infantino, and with its members voting to boycott World Cups unless the FFE plan was scrapped.
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