The overall death toll in Nepal has risen to 538 people, with more than 1,500 still missing, AFP report, citing the disaster authority. Earlier this morning, it was 469.
The families of an Australian defence force member and two Sydney boys who went missing with their parents in Nepal remain hopeful they will be found safe. Dozens of Australians are missing after devastating flooding on the Nepal-Tibet border. Nepal police on Friday said more than 1,500 people remained missing and 469 have been confirmed dead after massive flash floods and landslides tore through the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river basins. One Australian woman contacted her family on Friday morning that she had survived the flood, the first of those reported missing to be confirmed safe. Among the missing Australians is Karan Bhardwaj, a 40-year-old Brisbane-based member of the Royal Australian air force who was travelling in Nepal with Kailash Journeys. “Karan is a dad to my beautiful seven-year-old nephew, as well as a brother, uncle and brother in law,” said his family member Jen, who did not want her surname published. “He is so desperately loved by his family and right now we are desperately praying, hoping and believing that Karan is safe, alive and somehow making his way back to us.” Shylaja Muralitharan, 42, her husband, Chandrasekaran Muralitharan, 47, and their two sons Ashwin, 14, and Aarush, 11, were taking part in a pilgrimage when the flood hit on Wednesday. Shylaja’s younger sister, Vaishnavi, said that she had lost contact with the family shortly after breakfast on the morning of the flood. The family of four planned to head towards an immigration checkpoint on the Tibet-Nepal border soon after, as part of the group of 15 Australians trekking with the Himalayan Glacier Adventures tour. “Just like everyone else that’s part of that group, we’re really worried, but hopeful,” Vaishnavi said. “Hopeful that they’re safe and just waiting to be rescued. “It’s a very difficult time for our whole family … I just want to make people aware that they’re there, and we’re waiting, and we just want them to return.” Vaishnavi, who asked that her surname not be published, confirmed the family were close with other members of the group who had also travelled from Sydney for the Hindu pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The family had been training together for the long walk, she said. “They had been planning for some time, and preparing, because it’s quite a trek. “They were all working very hard together to make sure they could successfully complete it. “We just didn’t expect anything like this.” Vaishnavi said it was difficult to get clear information about what was being done to find those missing. She has spoken with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials. “We do want to know what efforts are being made … we’re not aware of what is actually happening there.” Australian woman Sumi Adhikari was at an immigration office at the Gyirong Post crossing when the flood waters hit. She was travelling with an Isha Foundation pilgrimage to the region. Her husband, Nava Pandey, has travelled to Nepal and is desperately seeking information about her whereabouts. “She was in the same area when the flood happened,” said a flyer produced by Adhikari’s family, and published with their permission. “If anyone has seen her or has any information about her, please contact the family immediately.” Bharat Mangwani, 42, was travelling with the Isha Foundation as part of a pilgrimage to Lake Manasarovar when his family lost contact with him on Wednesday morning. He was last seen at Gyirong before the group was set to depart for Kathmandu and then Delhi, his close friend Kushagra Tiwari said. Mangwani’s family, including his nine-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, have travelled to India with a family friend, while his wife has gone on to Kathmandu to look for any information. “All of us are praying for him and hopefully he comes back to us soon,” Tiwari said. Suhasini Kandimalla, a mother of two from Springfield, near Brisbane, has also been reported missing. Her sister, Supreethini Kandimalla, said that she was doing the hike with another Springfield local. While she was a New Zealand citizen, Suhasini had been approved for Australian citizenship, her sister said. She had planned to attend a citizenship ceremony for it to be granted soon after she returned. “I don’t know if it was a religious calling for her to do it,” Supreethini told the Guardian. “But she certainly loved the treks in New Zealand too, and would go on lots of long hikes.” A Brisbane man, Narayan Panthi, is also missing in the region. According to Nepal police, he was travelling with Kathmandu Holiday but he has also been conducting charity work in the capital with an education fund, the NeNas Foundation. Panthi’s cousin, Amrit Bhusal, said his family was devastated but “holding on to hope and praying for positive news”. “We are still hoping,” Bhusal said. “We are still searching. We are still praying for Narayan to come home safely.” Bhusal said Panthi was “helping disadvantaged children in Nepal reach their full potential through education”. New South Wales couple Venkatraman Balakrishnan, 52, and his wife, Chitra Venkatraman, 46, were also among the 15 Australians travelling to Mount Kailash. So too were Sreedharan and Lakshmi Iyer, and their adult sons Rishab, 23, and Rudhra, 20. The brothers played cricket for West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club in Sydney’s north-west. “WPHCCC is aware of the reports that two of our players, Rishab and Rudhra Iyer, along with their family members and other Australians, are unaccounted for in the ongoing floods in Nepal,” the club said in a statement. “We continue to live in hope, and our thoughts are currently with them, their loved ones and all affected by this tragedy in Nepal.” The University of Newcastle’s vice-chancellor, Alex Zelinsky, said Rishab and Rudhra were both medical students the at the university. “We are thinking of them, their families, their fellow students and teaching staff, as well as the many people who have been impacted by this devastating event and we hope that both students can be located soon,” Zelinsky said in a statement. Separate groups of Australians – 11 travelling with Trekkers Society and six with Kailash Journeys – are also unaccounted for. Both tour companies have been contacted for comment. Several other Australians were travelling with other tour groups. It is understood the majority of missing Australians are from New South Wales, but there are also some from Victoria and Queensland. The founder and chief executive of Himalayan Glacier Adventures, Sagar Pandey, said he had lost all contact with his tour group of 47 people, which included the 15 Australians. Pandey told the Guardian on Thursday he had flown by helicopter over the Rasuwa area, where the tour was staying, since the flood and had little hope they survived. “To be honest … you would think there was no human civilisation there at all. “The flash flood swept away everything, everything. You couldn’t see any human creations. “Still, I have a hope.” The Isha Foundation confirmed that 11 Australians were among a group of 80 missing pilgrims who had been in an immigration building when the flood hit. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said on Friday that the Australian government was “rapidly mobilising consular and humanitarian support in response” to the flooding. Wong said the government would send an initial team of three humanitarian response specialists “within the next 48 hours’” to help Australian staff already on the ground. “The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery.”
Dozens of Australians remain missing two days after a deadly flash flood tore through valleys on the Nepal-Tibet border, obliterating towns and killing more than 400 people. A major search-and-rescue mission has been mounted by Nepal’s government, army and police, but roads and bridges have been washed away, access to helicopters is limited and weather conditions are poor. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, said on Friday morning 39 Australians were missing, an increase from 35 on Thursday evening. As of Friday evening, 38 Australians were missing after one woman made contact with her family. Anthony Albanese said Australia was sending crisis and humanitarian response specialists to help in the aftermath. “Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those affected as we urgently work to confirm the welfare of missing Australians,” the prime minister said. “People would have seen the footage, which is a truly horrific event. At this point, Nepal is a developing country. It doesn’t have the resources that an event like that would have in Australia, so information is difficult.” Wong called it a “catastrophic event”. “We are urgently working to ascertain [the missing Australians’] whereabouts and their wellbeing,” Wong said. “Australian officials are working urgently to confirm their welfare and provide assistance to those affected.” More than 1,500 people remain missing, and 469 have been confirmed dead after massive flash floods and landslides tore through the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river basins. Those figures are likely to fluctuate in coming days as rescue efforts continue and a clearer picture of the devastation emerges. Dr Soniya Rijal, a Nepali postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney, who has expertise on disaster management and community response, said it was impossible at this stage to know how many people had been affected by the disaster. “It’s possible the impact could be even more devastating than the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015,” she said. “I’ve heard people were notifying neighbours to leave before the flooding hit but, because there was no rain leading to the flash floods, many of these warnings weren’t taken seriously. What makes this disaster unusual is that it was so sudden, coming without warning.” Rijal said local knowledge would be critical in finding and rescuing survivors safely. “Nepal is a very collective society and locals will have a better idea of how to locate missing people than those without local knowledge.” Speaking on ABC radio, Wong said the four additional Australians missing had been travelling separately to the Himalayan Glacier Adventures tour and Kathmandu Holiday Tours and Travel group. She said a further increase in the number of Australians missing was an “unfortunate possibility”. “I know this is an extremely distressing time for those who have loved ones unaccounted for and we are thinking of them,” she said. In her earlier statement, Wong also said the government was “rapidly mobilising consular and humanitarian support in response to the catastrophic floods along the Nepal-China border, including through a $5m assistance package for affected communities”. She said the government would send an initial team of three humanitarian response specialists “within the next 48 hours” to help 20 Australian staff already on the ground. “The extraordinary scale of this disaster and the remoteness of the affected region mean immense challenges lie ahead for the response and recovery.” Of the $5m Wong said $2m would go to the World Food Programme, $2m to Australian NGOs through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership “to provide support such as emergency shelter, hygiene kits, blankets, medical support and psychosocial support”, and $1m to the Emergency Action Alliance to support locally led recovery. Overnight, former Australian race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan was among members of the Nepali community who gathered at the Australian Nepalese multicultural centre to grieve the disaster. Families gathered for prayers and held a minute’s silence for those lost to the floods, laying candles beside a hand-crafted display of dyed rice reading “pray for Nepal”. “Today, all Australians are Nepalis because our grief is yours,” Tan said. The diaspora was “united in grief, hope and prayer”, the secretary of the centre, Sudhir Shakya, told the event, held north-west of Melbourne. “Behind every number is a person – a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a relative, a friend, and someone deeply loved,” he said. Australia’s Nepali diaspora – more than 200,000 people across the country – are planning a series of vigils. Governments, councils, NGOs and community organisations have led an outpouring of condolences. Merri-Bek city council in Melbourne’s northern suburbs is home to the largest Nepali community in Victoria. “Council extends its deepest sympathies to the families, friends and communities of the Australians who have lost their lives, and to everyone affected by this tragic event,” the council said in a statement. “We also acknowledge the profound impact on people across our community with connections to Nepal … and people who are worried about family, friends and loved ones.” Australians in need of emergency consular assistance have been advised to contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s consular emergency centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).
King Harald V of Norway, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, has died aged 89, the royal palace in Oslo has announced. He will be succeeded by his son King Haakon VIII. “It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University hospital on Friday 28 August 28 at 6.35am,” the palace said in a statement. The new king, whose wife, Mette-Marit, has come under heavy recent scrutiny for her much-criticised association with the late US child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will formally inform the government of his father’s death later on Friday. Flags around the country were lowered to half-mast and church bells were to ring out at midday. The palace had announced on Thursday that Harald’s health had deteriorated and that he was in an “extremely serious” condition. Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said he had received the news of Harald’s death “with deep sadness … A whole nation is in mourning, and the people of Norway are left with a deep sense of gratitude for a long life in the service of Norway.” The prime minister added: “For more than three decades as monarch, Harald V demonstrated an unwavering faith in the Norwegian people. He helped us to see the best in ourselves – and in one another.” King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden said: “Throughout the years, King Harald has been a good friend to me, my family, and to Sweden … I wish my dear godson Haakon, who now succeeds his father as head of state, success and good fortune.” Britain’s King Charles mourned the loss of his “dear cousin”, paying tribute to a “towering figure” who guided his country with “warmth and humility” and served it with “unwavering dedication”. Norway’s ceremonial head of state since 1991, Harald was being treated in Oslo’s University hospital since 17 August for haemolytic anaemia, a condition caused by an abnormally rapid destruction of the body’s red blood cells. The king had numerous recent health problems– he had an operation for bladder cancer in 2003 and a pacemaker fitted in 2024 – but always ruled out abdicating, saying he had taken a lifelong oath before the Norwegian parliament. His death comes amid a turbulent period for Norway’s royal family. Documents published in the US in January showed that Mette-Marit corresponded with Epstein between 2011 and 2014, long after he was convicted. The files appeared to contain almost 1,000 mentions of Mette-Marit, including intimate exchanges. They drew fierce public criticism, with Støre accusing her in unprecedented comments of “poor judgment”. Mette-Marit subsequently released a statement via the royal household expressing her “deepest regret for my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein” and apologising for “the situation that I have put the royal family in, especially the king and queen”. Marius Borg Høiby, 29, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, has also been in the spotlight after being sentenced in June to four years in prison for two rapes and 32 other charges, including violence against a former partner. He has appealed. Mette-Marit, 53, who has a serious lung disease and had a transplant in July, was a single mother to Høiby, who was four years old when her engagement to Norway’s crown prince was announced in late 2000. The marriage, which marked the first time in modern European history that a direct heir to a throne had brought a stepson into a royal family, caused huge controversy in Norway but was strongly backed by King Harald and Queen Sonja. Mette-Marit openly acknowledged having what she described as a rebellious youth and prior drug use, holding an emotional press conference a week before the wedding in which she expressed regret for her choices and strongly condemned drug use. Public backing for Norway’s monarchy has suffered after the crown princess’s latest scandals, with a February poll finding support down to 54% from 72% in 2024. Several polls found nearly half of the population felt Mette-Marit could not become queen. Harald is seen as the Norwegian monarchy’s great moderniser, revamping the crown estates and changing the way the court is run. He married Sonja, a commoner, in 1968 and welcomed two others, Mette-Marit and Ari Behn, as the spouses of his children. A great-great-grandchild of Britain’s Queen Victoria, he succeeded his father, Olav V, aged 54 after studying at Oxford and representing his country in sailing events at the Tokyo, Mexico City and Munich Olympics, and was appreciated in Norway for his unassuming lifestyle and efforts for national unity. In an emotional speech in 2011 after the far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 in two terror attacks, he told his subjects that “freedom is stronger than fear” and as “a father, grandfather and spouse, I can only begin to sense some of the pain you feel. As king of the nation, I feel for every one of you.” In 2016, he lauded diversity, tolerance and LGBTQ+ rights, saying Norwegians came from Afghanistan and Pakistan, believed “in God, in Allah and in nothing”, and included “girls who love girls, boys who love boys and girls and boys who love each other”. In February he was admitted to hospital with an infection and dehydration in Tenerife, where he was on a private trip with the queen. Sonja, 89, was herself briefly treated for heart problems in hospital in Norway three months later.
An Australian woman has made contact with her family, more than two days after she was reported missing in flash flooding in Nepal. At least 469 people have been killed and more than 1,500 are missing after a catastrophic flash flood hit the China-Nepal border on Wednesday. Cara Severino, 25, is the first of 39 Australians reported missing in the tragedy to have been confirmed safe. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email But she is still hiking away from the disaster zone, attempting to reach Kathmandu on foot with a group of Nepali hikers – a trek of more than 110km. Her parents, Debbie and Frank Severino, confirmed in a statement that she had no phone reception, and her own phone had a flat battery, but that she had contacted them on Friday morning to say she was safe. “She was hiking the Langtang trek and was stranded,” they said in a statement. “With communications down we had no contact.” “This morning she was able to call us from Gosainkunda where she has been able to reach along with some other [Nepali] hikers. We understand that they are attempting to reach Kathmandu on foot. “We eagerly await more information about her safe return. We praise God that she has been able to make this brief contact with us. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families awaiting news.” As of Friday evening, 38 Australians were missing. Of the 35 missing Australians whose details were released by Nepali police, Severino was the only one not listed as travelling with a tour agency. The others were from four other groups, many of them organised to take part in the Mount Kailash Hindu pilgrimage in the region.
A dolphin has died from H5 bird flu in South Australia, marking the second native mammal species known to have contracted the virus. On Friday afternoon, the Tasmanian government said it was assessing the discovery of about 100 dead little penguins on King Island but it was unable to test them for H5 bird flu due to their “decayed condition”. It comes as the federal government announced it would withdraw researchers from the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island research station due to the “psychosocial risk” of witnessing potential mass seal deaths from H5N1 during the upcoming seal breeding season. The common dolphin was found recently deceased near Goolwa on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula. State tests confirmed the animal was positive for H5N1, with samples sent to the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness for further analysis. It follows two earlier detections in long-nosed fur seals in SA at Beachport and the Pages Islands and a case in a red fox – a feral pest species – near Port Adelaide. The federal government’s risk assessment rated common dolphins at high risk from bird flu, meaning they potentially face severe population declines where the virus takes hold. “While the detection in the common dolphin is a new development in Australia, there is evidence of dolphins and porpoises catching H5 bird flu overseas,” a spokesperson for SA’s Department of Primary Industries and Regions said. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email “Dolphins would not commonly eat birds but it is not unusual for them to sometimes interact.” In Tasmania, the state government said about 100 dead little penguins were found at Stokes Point, the southern tip of King Island, during wildlife monitoring activities. The government has labelled the deaths a mass mortality event but said the cause had not been established. The natural resources and environment department said the birds were not considered suitable for H5 bird flu testing due to their decayed condition. Brendon Clark, north-west regional manager for the state’s parks and wildlife service, said authorities were working to “assess the circumstances surrounding the discovery and determine whether any further management actions are required”. “Any loss of wildlife is concerning, and we recognise this discovery will be upsetting for residents, visitors and others who care deeply about Tasmania’s unique wildlife. “While assessments of the site have identified injuries on many of the birds, it is not possible to definitively determine the cause of death from the information currently available.” He said monitoring of the site would continue. The federal government said on Friday it would withdraw 24 expeditioners based at the research station on Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean about 1,500km south-east of Tasmania. While bird flu had not yet been detected on the island, it was home to large elephant seal populations close to station buildings. Expert assessments had predicted “a high likelihood of a significant mortality event during the upcoming breeding season”. “While the risk to humans remains low, a significant mortality event during the upcoming seal breeding season could expose expeditioners to prolonged psychological stress and other workplace impacts,” the department said. The department’s deputy secretary, Sean Sullivan, said: “This is an unusual measure, but is the most appropriate course of action, based on our assessments of risk, and operational realities. “Our first priority is the health and safety of our expeditioners. While the risk to humans of H5 bird flu is considered low, we can’t ignore the psychosocial risks of living near potentially large numbers of affected animals.” Sullivan said the researchers lived and worked in one of the world’s most remote and challenging environments. “We’ve seen what this disease can do, based on our experience at Heard Island and McDonald Islands.” Drone surveys detected more than 13,000 dead southern elephant seal pups on Australia’s Heard Island in 2025 and 2026. Sullivan said the decision had been made to minimise the risks to researchers and “across the whole Antarctic program” in advance of any mass mortality event. He said Macquarie Island was unique in that thousands of elephant seal pups were born close to the station every spring. “No other Australian Antarctic station is in this position, and there are no elephant seal colonies on mainland Australia,” he said. Sullivan said the government was exploring options for monitoring the situation on Macquarie Island, with a view to “returning expeditioners to the station in coming seasons”. The SA government said on Friday it would move to confirming H5 bird flu cases in the state through local laboratories. Until now, state-based test results have required verification by the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong. The state government said improvements to its testing processes meant confirmation of H5N1 cases could now be done locally. The New South Wales government also announced its plans to vaccinate wild populations of little penguins at Manly and Barunguba Montague Island. The government also said “trial cohorts” of some captive bird populations, including little penguins, Carnaby’s black cockatoos and red-tailed black cockatoos, had received the first vaccinations at Taronga zoo this week.
Good morning. It was supposed to be Meta’s big tobacco moment, but the tech company’s share price barely flinched on Wednesday – and fluttered upwards, even – after it settled a landmark lawsuit. The case was brought by 29 US states who accused the company of harming children with addictive and dangerous products. Against a rising tide of popular backlash, this legal action in the American courts pushed Meta to self-impose a level of regulation that Congress had repeatedly failed to, with a series of reforms now incoming to better protect children on Meta platforms. Some critics have argued the changes don’t go far enough. Around the globe, and sometimes out of the media glare, Meta is facing a tranche of lawsuits. For today’s First Edition, we look to some of these others battles to hold the tech leviathan to account, with the Guardian’s global technology reporter Aisha Down. But first the headlines. Five big stories Nepal | The international community was scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet on Thursday as authorities warned that a lake formed at the site where the deadly torrents occurred was rising and at risk of bursting. Russia | Russia has said it could retaliate against the UK for its support of Kyiv by striking military targets inside and outside Ukraine, amid reports that the director of the CIA warned the Kremlin against attacking Nato during a secretive visit this week. UK news | Seven people charged with vandalising Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland have been accused of malicious damage “having a terrorist connection”. Europe news | Ratko Mladić, the infamous Serbian general who was serving a life sentence for genocide committed during the Bosnian war, has died in prison in The Hague, a UN official and his lawyer confirmed. Climate crisis | The only climate scientist teaching at West Point, the US army’s military academy, was fired after he resisted an order to stop teaching about the human causes of the climate emergency. In depth: ‘Our lives do not matter to them’ It looks to be a monumental moment. On Wednesday, Meta agreed to pay up to $18bn (£13.3bn) to a coalition of US states suing it over the harm Facebook and Instagram has caused young people. But more significantly, given the company’s trillion-dollar-plus valuation, Meta agreed to make changes to its platforms. The company is now framing this as a precedent for other social media companies to follow, calling on competitors like TikTok and YouTube to fall in line. The changes largely apply to under 18s and crucially will be turned on by default, marking a major shift from the previous opt-in system for parental controls and teen safety features. These include a two hour use limit per day, no access between midnight and 6am and no push notifications overnight or during school hours. Only parents will be able to disable these features. Adults will also be able to change their children’s feeds to a non-personalised one (which should better protect them from potentially harmful content) and switch off autoplay on videos. But none of these changes are worth the candle if Meta doesn’t also institute rigorous age verification – and the experience thus far of Australia’s social media ban has found platforms falling short with kids bypassing checks. While these new standards only apply in the US, optimists believe they could set new global minimum guardrails for social media safety. They mirror many of the limits the UK and Australian governments are already imposing, and on Thursday the UK government called on Meta to roll out the court-agreed protections to British children, as did the European Commission. But across the globe, Aisha tells me, “there are plenty of other suits waiting in the wings”. Here’s a rundown of a few of them. *** Ethiopia – Fuelling violence Abrham Meareg is four years into a case against Meta which has still not been heard. He claims Facebook failed to act on posts inciting violence and civil unrest. His father, Meareg Amare Abrha, a respected chemistry professor in Northern Ethiopia, was murdered after his address and threatening posts were published on Facebook in 2021 during civil war in the country. “It’s a matter of numbers to them, a matter of statistics,” Meareg said of Meta. “It has been proven multiple times that our lives do not matter to them.” Meareg is bringing the $2.4bn lawsuit in the Kenyan courts, accusing the Facebook owner of inflaming violence in Ethiopia. “Their position is that the algorithm actively promoted these inflammatory posts for weeks,” says Aisha, “displaying Meareg Amare Abrha’s name and personal details while calling for his death. These posts went viral and Facebook didn’t have moderators in these languages. People died.” This is not the first case of its kind. In 2021, a US court dismissed a class action brought by Rohingya refugees claiming that Facebook’s negligence facilitated the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar after algorithms amplified hate speech and the platform failed to remove inflammatory posts. “As a global tech reporter, I should underscore this is not confined to Myanmar or Ethiopia,” Aisha tells me. “This spread of misinformation is everywhere.” *** Scotland via Delaware – Wrongful death “We know what we’re up against”. That’s what Ros and Mark Dowey told me as they launched a wrongful death suit against Meta. Their 16-year-old son Murray took his own life after he fell victim to an Instagram sextortion gang. Since Murray’s death in 2023, the couple have repeatedly called out social media companies – and Meta in particular – for their inaction in the face of overwhelming evidence of harm. “It’s time [they] took accountability for what they’ve done to our young people.” The lawsuit was filed in Delaware, where Meta is incorporated, by the US-based Social Media Victims Law Center acting on behalf of the Doweys, as well as the family of Levi Maciejewski, a 13-year-old from Pennsylvania who was also a victim of sextortion before taking his own life. Their case argues that both deaths were “the foreseeable result of Meta’s design decisions and repeated refusals to implement affordable, available and identified safety features due to Meta’s prioritisation of engagement over user safety.” Meta said at the time that “we support law enforcement to prosecute the [sextortion] criminals … and we continue to fight them on our apps on multiple fronts.” *** The Netherlands – Censorship Repro Uncensored, an NGO tracking digital censorship, has initiated formal legal action against Meta in the Netherlands. Together with other affected organisations, it is arguing the company’s moderation systems have unfairly targeted LGBTQ+ accounts and violated European digital rights laws. “They’ve highlighted over one hundred cases worldwide of accounts belonging to queer groups and abortion access providers being removed or restricted,” says Aisha. Repro Uncensored is also aiming to pursue regulatory action in Latin America, where Meta has “shadow banned” (quietly restricted the visibility of) content from accounts offering women’s health services. *** European Commission – Addictive design Earlier this year, the European Commission accused Meta of breaching the EU’s Digital Services Act, citing what it described as “addictive design” on the company’s platforms. If the ruling is confirmed, the company could be fined up to 6% of its total annual turnover. Last month, the EU also accused Meta of disregarding available data on the amount of time children spend on Instagram and Facebook at night, and how features like reels and stories could lead to compulsive use. Many of the design changes EU officials want Meta to make – scrapping autoplay and infinite scroll as default settings, for example – have just been agreed in this week’s US settlement. We might well see Meta change tack on this European front, given the EU is actively considering a social media ban for under 16s. *** But the algorithm lives on … At stake in the US case was the possibility that Meta might be forced to change its algorithm. This would have entirely upended their business and the content we all see. Although the US settlement will lead to some changes for minors in this regard, “it’s hard to see this concession changing the equation in war zones or creaking democracies,” Aisha says. “At base level, the algorithm is what has poisoned our information ecosystem.” Without a transformation of the algorithm itself, Aisha says, cases like those listed here will keep coming. “Meta promised the digital commons and they continue to let those commons be filled with misinformation and calls to murder people.” Have your say We’d still like to hear your thoughts about the newsletter – what you enjoy, what we could do better, subjects you’d like to read more of – so please do fill out our short survey. It should take around five minutes, and your feedback will help us shape First Edition for the future. Take the survey here What else we’ve been enjoying The Guardian’s reader interviews are always well worth your time, and this week’s iteration, with Full Monty actor Robert Carlyle, is no exception. Michael I like to browse the Heritage Crafts’ red list from time to time (silk ribbon making, Highland thatching) so was delighted to read Lauren Almeida’s interviews with young workers turning to these “AI-proof” trades. Libby Frances Ryan is unflinching in her column on politicians and their perks: MPs criticising Farage’s finances must also alight from the gravy train. Michael I always enjoy the Glasgow Bell’s deep dives into the cultural eccentricities of my city, and this lightly-drawn piece on the closure of one of our most infamous pubs does not disappoint. Libby All you need to know is how this story begins: “I was naked in our tent at Burning Man last year when all hell broke loose …” Michael Sport Football | Danny Welbeck scored his first goal for Chelsea in their 2-0 win over Luton in the Carabao Cup second round, but Enzo Fernández was left out. Cricket | Seamer Mohammad Abbas claimed four wickets for the tourists while Jordan Cox and Jamie Smith led England’s resistance in the second Test at Lord’s. Football | Arsenal face mouthwatering assignments against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as they bid to go one better than last season’s agonising near miss and win a first Champions League title. Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now TV Dalliance | ★★★★☆ The wonderful Dalliance is an Australian six-parter beautifully written by Pip Karmel and directed with requisite subtlety by Emma Jackson. It stars Hugo Weaving as bonhomous retired cameraman Billy, who is the catalyst for the reunion of enough old friends – all in their 60s – to provide viewers with a feast of storylines, hilarious and heartbreaking by turns, and all suffused with the kind of irreverence and honesty that makes you instantly devoted to the whole endeavour. Dalliance is not about plot. There are no murders nor mysteries to be investigated or suspects to be harangued. It’s a mood piece and an array of portraits of characters who have actually lived some life, been formed by meaningful experiences and come out the other side. Lucy Mangan Music Billy Strings: So Much for Goodbyes | ★★★★★ Billy Strings has been feted by everyone from Bob Dylan to Post Malone to Willie Nelson, the latter describing him as “the John Coltrane of bluegrass”. His guitar picking is every bit as astonishingly dextrous as his devotees claim; his equally impressive backing quartet are particularly talented at working up a ferociously propulsive head of steam, given that their ranks don’t include a drummer. Strings is equally capable of writing songs so perfectly rooted in tradition that you might be forgiven for assuming Light the Way or Lay Me Down were covers dating back to the 1940s or 50s, and of throwing his listeners a curveball that indicates the breadth of his musical tastes. His penchant for jam band improv is only lightly sketched here, his love of heavy metal is underlined on Burn the Other End, while a devotion to heartlands rock is reflected in the Springsteen-ish narrative of Mill Town Flood. What cuts through is the lingering thought of how rich and powerful the album you’ve just heard is. Alexis Petridis Film De Gaulle: Résistance | ★★★★☆ Perhaps because it is based on a biography by an Englishman – Julian Jackson’s A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle – this very enjoyable and gallopingly eventful biopic has an element of amused detachment. The first of two parts, it offers a good-humoured, though naturally sympathetic, perspective on France’s great wartime hero, played with martyred and faintly preposterous hauteur by Franco-Armenian actor Simon Abkarian. De Gaulle is the lofty exile in London, refusing to accept the dishonour of the Vichy government and its capitulation to the Nazis. For reasons that will later become clear, De Gaulle’s own story is mysteriously intertwined with that of a hothead young patriot. A tiny touch of comedy is part of what makes this resemble an old-fashioned 60s war film, although it has evidently taken until 2026 for French cinema to come to terms with its contentious national icon. Peter Bradshaw Game Vholume (PC) | ★★★★☆ Vholume’s an on-foot racing game in which you hoof it through spectacularly odd environments, moving from one beam of concrete to the next. You’re clipping your wall-runs and power-slides together to bridge seemingly impossible gaps between buildings, forever in search of the next stretch of track, the next turn, the next jump that gets you to the level’s exit and the worldwide leaderboards. And once that’s done, you have a choice: onwards to another gauntlet, or back to the start of this one again to slice a few microseconds off your score? Or maybe you’d rather head over to multiplayer to race against the ghosts of others? This quickly becomes utterly compelling, and at the heart of it all is the realisation that Vholume is surprisingly accommodating to players of all abilities. Christian Donlan The front pages “Race to get aid to Nepal and Tibet amid warnings of further floods”, is the Guardian’s front page today. The Times leads with “Nepal death toll climbs amid fears of new flood” and the Mail says “Faces of Britons missing in Nepal”. The Telegraph’s headline is “Police surge to tackle Northern gang wars”, the Mirror’s take is “Under siege”, and the Sun asks “How did UK town become a war zone?”. The i Paper’s splash is “Caught on camera in the UK: China Embassy guards using their electroshock weapons to threaten protesters”. Metro leads on “Hotel migrant numbers halved”, the Express has “21,294 criminal who should be deported still on streets”, and the FT says “Uefa primes criminal lawsuit against Infantino Fifa stake sale debacle”. The Latest ‘Tsunami from the sky:’ floods leave trail of devastation in Nepal and Tibet Hundreds of people are missing or have been killed after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday. Entire villages have been destroyed, many of which are popular pilgrimage and trekking destinations for tourists. Lucy Hough talks to global editor Devika Bhat about how the devastating event unfolded. Cartoon of the day | Rebecca Hendin The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Music festival lineups have always suffered from gender imbalance – a 2025 report found that women accounted for just 21.6% of headliners across nine major festivals. Thankfully, a long line of women-led music festivals have tried to redress the balance while raising money for good causes, and this Saturday, singer Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields joins that lineage. Featuring chart-toppers such as Chappell Roan, newer acts such as Eli, and artists who have influenced Rodrigo, such as Stevie Nicks, 100% of its net proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and similar organisations. “Olivia gives me hope that we can lead our generation and generations to come to a harmonious earth filled with strange girls and happy hearts,” says Eli. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
Etiquette, manners and consideration for others are integral pillars of Japanese society but there are times when they might go a step too far, according to one city’s emergency services. The fire department in the central city of Kanazawa has urged people not to tidy up the shoes that paramedic crews have taken off when entering a house, warning it could hinder their ability to get in or out quickly, particularly when carrying someone on a stretcher. In an Instagram video that has amassed more than half a million views since it was posted on 5 August, the firefighters demonstrate how paramedics leave their shoes positioned at entrances in precise spots so that three stretcher bearers can step straight into them without shaking the patient around, or risking dislodging their oxygen mask. It is customary for anyone entering a Japanese home to shed their footwear, and for homeowners to rearrange the shoes of guests or customers to face the doorway so that they can slip them on easily when they leave. Interviewed by TBS News Dig this week, firefighter Daisuke Yamashita said, “Emergency crews decide the direction of their shoes according to their roles, so if someone changes their position out of kindness, it can interfere with putting them back on and delay the transport of the patient. From our experience, it can result in a loss of about 30 seconds. “We do appreciate the kindness behind straightening the shoes,” added Yamashita in the video. “During an emergency, it is extremely helpful if people instead prepare the patient’s My Number card [a social security number] or another form of identification in advance.” Most of the comments underneath the video expressed gratitude at the advice. “I didn’t know this. I will remember this for the future!” wrote one. Another user attracted more than 800 likes for suggesting that strict etiquette could perhaps be forsaken at such times: “It’s an emergency. I would just tell them: ‘Please step inside with your shoes on!’”