A rapidly expanding dammed lake above a Nepal-Tibet flood zone poses a severe new threat to Gyirong Port, where hundreds of people remain unaccounted for following an initial catastrophic surge.
Formed by mudslides near the junction of two rivers, the blockage sits about 11 miles upstream of Rasuwagadhi and has created a 27-acre lake, according to Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). China's Ministry of Water Resources estimated on Aug. 27 that the lake currently holds roughly 2 million cubic meters (528 million gallons) of water. Fueled by incoming rain, it is expected to absorb another 3 million cubic meters (793 million gallons) over the next three days.
A 27-acre lake was formed roughly 18km upstream of the Rasuwagadhi border point, following mudslidesThe situation is increasingly precarious. The ministry warned that the lake is already overflowing and faces a high risk of a sudden release that could once again inundate Gyirong Port and communities downstream. Drone reconnaissance conducted by fire and rescue personnel - and reported by the state-run Xinhua News Agency on Aug. 27 - confirmed the danger, revealing that the lake's surface continues to expand with water levels visibly higher than the day before.
In response to the mounting threat, Nepalese authorities have urged all residents, travelers, and rescue personnel along the Bhote Koshi River corridor to completely avoid riverbanks and other high-risk zones.
This secondary crisis emerges as the toll from the first flood continues to rise.
đšđšđš#China alerts new barrier lake forms at #Nepal rivers confluence, posing high breach risk over next 3 days.
A significant barrier lake has formed near the confluence of the Chhochen Khola and Purepu Tsangpo rivers in Nepal, with its water volume estimated at 2 million⊠pic.twitter.com/XtMiX3YUvs
An Aug. 27 update from the NDRRMA confirmed that 359 bodies have been recovered in Nepal, with another 910 individuals still out of contact. Meanwhile, across the border, the Gyirong disaster command reported three confirmed deaths and 558 people missing in Tibet - including 260 foreign nationals - as of 8 a.m. on Aug. 27.
As the Epoch Times notes, the new lake is still rising...
The new lake formed in debris left by the disaster near the confluence of the Cuojian River and Purepuqiang Zangbo, upstream of Gyirong Port.
Nepalâdeki sel felaketinin nasıl meydana geldiÄini gösteren bir simĂŒlasyon:
Himalayalarâda bir buzul kĂŒtlesinin koparak vadiye dĂŒĆmesiyle buz, kaya ve toprak nehir yataÄına sĂŒrĂŒklendi. OluĆan devasa su ve moloz dalgası, kısa sĂŒrede nehir yataÄı boyunca ilerleyerek önĂŒne çıkan⊠pic.twitter.com/UtVuJvonR3
Chinese authorities on Aug. 27 found that the broader landslide area had not expanded, but the lake surface continued to grow.
Water was already passing over the natural barrier rather than remaining contained behind it. Authorities described the condition as overflowing, not a full breach.
Natural dams are formed suddenly from loose rock, soil, and other debris rather than engineered materials.
According to National Cheng Kung University resource-engineering professor Huang Jing-sheng, water penetrating such debris can increase internal water pressure and reduce the friction helping hold the blockage together.
Historical records compiled by Taiwan's Agriculture Ministry identify erosion from water flowing over the top as one common failure mechanism for natural dams.
The agency cautions that historical cases cannot predict how a particular lake will behave.
New Hazard Complicates AccessThe dammed lake sits above an area already heavily damaged by the first flood.
The edge of the debris flow was located about 1.6 miles from Gyirong Port, with deposits approaching 5 feet thick in places, Xinhua reported.
An engineering team was using drones and 3D laser scanners to survey the blockage and measure its shape, surrounding rock, and water flow, according to Chinese rescue authorities, who said the upstream threat had to be addressed before crews could safely clear the large debris field closer to the port.
On the Nepal side, the new danger extends directly into the rescue corridor.
The NDRRMA and Nepal's hydrology authorities urged residents, travelers, and rescue personnel along the lower Bhotekoshi to remain away from riverbanks and other exposed areas.
That warning is tied to the newly formed lake, not the initial flood surge.
More Water ForecastChina's National Meteorological Center continued to forecast additional rainfall around Gyirong through Aug. 29.
Gyirong Port was expected to see light rain overnight on Aug. 27 and into Aug. 28, with moderate rain at times.
Rain was forecast to intensify on Aug. 29, with light to moderate rain and periods of moderate to heavy rain.
Along the corridor from Gyirong Port toward Nepal, the China Meteorological Administration's public weather service forecast moderate to heavy rain on Aug. 27, moderate rain on Aug. 28, and moderate to heavy rain again on Aug. 29, with possible thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.
A Chinese Water Ministry hydrological assessment put inflow into the lake at about 15 cubic meters per second (4,000 gallons per second) and said the volume was still increasing.
Based on the rainfall forecast, the ministry estimated that the lake could receive another 3 million cubic meters (793 million gallons) of water over the next three days.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 18:00Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates warned Wednesday that artificial intelligence (AI) will permanently eliminate many white- and blue-collar jobs and called for taxes on AI and robots along with protections reserving certain jobs for humans.
Bill Gates in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 9, 2026. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images"Many jobs will disappear forever," Gates wrote in an essay published on his Gates Notes website. He said AI could become "the greatest equalizer ever invented" or "the worst source of injustice," and governments are not adequately preparing for the disruption.
Gates said comparisons between AI and earlier technological changes are misleading. The shift from agricultural to office work occurred over generations and created jobs requiring human thought. AI now can replace human cognition and can operate through devices and systems already in use.
AI will affect law, customer service, medicine, software, and manufacturing over roughly a decade, Gates predicted. Entry- and mid-level positions face the greatest immediate danger, while robots will eventually threaten construction, hospitality, and other physical jobs.
Gates proposed creating a category called "Human Reserved" for work that society decides should continue to be performed by people even when machines become capable of doing it.
Examples could include delivering a terminal medical diagnosis, education, and mental health care, although Gates acknowledged that governments would face difficult decisions about which jobs to protect.
Gates also proposed taxing AI tokens and robots. Employers pay payroll taxes when they hire workers but can often deduct robots as business expenses, creating an incentive to replace labor, he said. A tax could slow that process and provide revenue for retraining displaced workers and strengthening the social safety net.
Gates also said AI could make fraud, cyberattacks, bioterrorism, surveillance, and disinformation easier. He expressed particular concern about children forming relationships with AI companions and relying on the technology in ways that weaken critical-thinking skills.
Despite those dangers, Gates said AI could accelerate medical research, improve diagnoses, expand educational opportunities, and help address problems involving agriculture, energy, and climate change.
He called for new national and international institutions to manage AI's effects, saying cooperation between the United States and China will be necessary.
"This unprecedented technology demands an unprecedented global response," Gates wrote.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) supported the idea of taxing AI.
"Even tech billionaires like Bill Gates are saying we need an AI token tax to prevent mass unemployment," Casar posted on X on Wednesday. "I introduced the first and only bill in Congress to do it." The Cato Institute's Adam Michel pushed back in June on some of Gates's ideas, including taxing the robots that replace jobs done by humans.
"Empirical research consistently finds that investment in new technologies is complementary, primarily augmenting, not replacing, work," Michel wrote in an article.
"For workers to succeed in an AI economy, they will need more investment in newer and better tools, not less. Taxing the capital behind those tools would slow the very process that can raise wages and expand opportunity."
Pedro Domingos, a professor emeritus of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, compared Gates to Dario Amodei in a post on X on Wednesday.
Amodei, an AI entrepreneur and CEO of Anthropic in Silicon Valley, has been labeled a "doomsayer" on AI and unemployment by the media.
"Training AI to imitate humans is not the path to superintelligence," Domingos posted on X.
University of Washington professor emeritus Oren Etzioni said in a post he wrote for GeekWire that Gates correctly identified AI-driven job displacement but his solutions were "mostly wrong."
Etzioni supports a tax on AI but said a proposed tax on tokens would only increase the cost of American AI and send consumers to cheaper versions made by China.
Etzioni said AI isn't causing layoffs; it is causing jobs to never be posted. Etzioni's solution is to encourage AI literacy and move displaced workers into the caregiving industry.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 17:40Ukraineâs President Volodymyr Zelensky's Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov has been named as part of a major corruption case involving Zelensky's former Deputy Chief of Staff Iryna Mudra, who was arrested and is currently center of a top corruption court case, local outlet Hromadske reported Wednesday, citing court documents.
Mudra, who was Zelensky's #2 staffer before being dismissed and detained, stands accused of hiding assets and money laundering. The whole saga has placed an uncomfortable spotlight on the presidential office, and is proving to be an embarrassment for Zelensky himself, who has sought to distance himself as scandal runs straight through the highest government offices of Kyiv.
Zelensky named former GUR chief Kyrylo Budanov as his top aide in January 2026. via AFPNational media says that not only did Mudra receive significant regular monthly off the books income, but the prosecutor has alleged there is at least $4 million among other undeclared assets.
Now, more names and potential future cases could come out of court proceedings centered on Mudra's case. Hromadske identifies how presidential chief of staff Budanov - who is still in his position - factors in [machine translation]:
In these materials, in addition to Iryna Mudra, another official of the President's Office appears, to whom the investigation assigns the role of organizer. In the conversations cited by the investigation, he is mainly called "Kyril" and "Kyril Alekseevich". According to the materials of suspicion, he was supposed to receive cash under control from Timur Mindich and members of his criminal group, organize its storage and the mechanism for transferring funds, as well as provide financial rewards to all persons involved.
According to Hromadske's sources, this may actually be the head of the President's Office, Kirill Budanov. Budanov's name can also be seen in the petition materials themselves.
Budanov appears in audio recordings made by investigators, with his voice being captured in at least one key conversation, also with investigator transcripts explicitly naming him.
The below outline has been put together by prominent national outlet Kyiv Post on Thursday:
An explosive report by @hromadske alleges President Zelenskyâs chief of staff, war hero and former intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, organised a money laundering scheme to bypass Ukraineâs own sanctions on Zelenskyâs former business partner, Timur Mindich.
The money wasâŠ
Budanov himself has newly commented on the case to Hromadske, and appears somewhat defensive but without giving a full-throated denial of emerging media allegations [machine translation]:
âLet the court sort it out," he said. "You know, it (his name) comes up in a lot of places,â Budanov said when asked about alleged references to him in the tapes.
He also said he had spoken to Mudra after her dismissal amid the NABU searches at her premises last week.
âFirst, dismissal is a legal process," he said. "Second, as a matter of principle, I never turn my back on people until there are definitive conclusions. If the court finds her guilty, thatâs a different matter."
At a court hearing on Aug. 25, a lawyer for Sense Bank CEO Oleksiy Stupak, one of the suspects in the latest case, publicly cited NABU tapes referring to âKyrylo Oleksiyovich" â a person whose first name and patronymic coincide with Budanovâs. He did not specify his last name.
âListen, Kyrylo Oleksiyovich called and asked whatâs going on with Sense Bank,â Mudra said, according to the tapes cited by the lawyer.
According to more from the tapes:
In the alleged transcripts, Budanov thanked ex-lawmaker Maksym Mykytas, a suspect in the case, for his work.
âIâm with Kyrylo Oleksiyovich,â Mudra told Mykytas. âI put it on speaker.â
âThank you, hello,â Budanov allegedly replied. âThanks a lot.â
According to the alleged transcripts, on June 9 Mudra and Myktytas discussed a request by Timur Mindich, a suspect in the Energoatom case and a close Zelensky associate, to take over Sense Bank's cash flows.
âMindich approached Kyrylo," Mudra allegedly said in an apparent reference to Kyrylo Budanov. "To take control of it... Wait, there are some serious money flows there... Thereâs no one to take them over right now. Do you understand? And once Gera (an apparent reference to ex-Justice and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko) gets out, heâll get his hands on those flows again. So we need to bargain for something for ourselves before that happens.â
Mudra and Mykytas are accused of laundering Hr 150 million ($3.4 million) and transferring the funds through Sense Bank to post bail for Halushchenko.
Halushchenko was charged in February in the Energoatom case.
According to the alleged transcripts, Mudra said that Sense Bankâs management was prepared to follow instructions from Kyrylo â an apparent reference to Budanov.
âTheyâre ready to do anything," she allegedly said. "I mean, wherever Kyrylo tells them to bring (the money), theyâll take it... Theyâll do whatever he says.â
"Let the courts decide...":
âLet the courts decide what people might have misheard. We hear all sorts of things,â stated Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, responding to reports that his voice was captured on investigative wiretaps in the âForrest Gumpâ corruption probe.⊠pic.twitter.com/xptthkYYOk
â BlackSky.info (@BlackSkyINFO) August 27, 2026The timing of all of this is very sensitive, given that with the Russia-Ukraine war now well past four-years, Kiev is awash in direct Western aid - with billions in weaponry and cash having steadily flowed in.
The current investigations also follows on a series of prior very public probes by NABU and SAPO into corruption at the highest levels of government, which has taken down many officials and been an ongoing source of embarrassment for Ukraine.
These investigations tended to get spun as if 'heroic' Zelensky is on a mission to root out corruption and destroy the rot from within.
Zelenskyâs presidential office deputy is being led out in handcuffs.
Not the first office head with proven corruption.
Whoâs next? pic.twitter.com/kgo6rovqP5
Journalist, Mark Ames has pointed out the following trend: Every shocking Zelensky corruption scandal - and they keep getting worse - is PRâd away as âproof that Ukraine is a functioning western democracy fighting corruptionâ, as if itâs always one corruption scandal away from turning the corner & becoming Denmark.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 17:20Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times,
A coalition of 16 state attorneys general is investigating the "Big Four" accounting firms, alleging that they may have pushed climate accounting on client companies.
Climate change activists hold signs during a press conference with members of the House of Reps. Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 13, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times"The Big Four's climate commitments force clients to make burdensome climate-related disclosures that drive up the costs of their services and place onerous requirements on farmers and small businesses," Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who co-led the coalition, said in a statement.
"These costs will ultimately be passed onto consumers, who will be forced to bear the burden of increased prices for food, energy, and other everyday products."
These accounting firms - Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers - together provide an estimated 80 percent of all public company audits, according to Becker, an education organization for professionals.
The AGs' letter states that the accounting firms "appear to have violated their professional duty of independence by committing to push for climate-related disclosures in financial reporting, contrary to professional standards of materiality, neutrality, and error avoidance."
The letter also highlights the accounting firms' former membership in the U.N.-sponsored Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance (NZFSPA), in which members pledge to align their products and services with the Paris Climate Agreement's net-zero goals.
In addition, the AGs stated that climate-related disclosures could become a significant financial burden for smaller firms, and that "the highly speculative nature of climate-related disclosures" could expose all firms that produce such reports to "frivolous and costly litigation."
Consequently, the accounting firms could be exposed to charges of conflict of interest and be in violation of state laws against "deceptive acts and practices," the letter warned.
The NZFSPA, which formerly operated as part of a network of financial alliances under the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), included ratings agencies, data and index providers, proxy advisors, auditors and stock exchanges.
In January, the NZFSPA announced that it was reorganizing, with member companies "now pursuing activities independently."
Other former members of GFANZ-sponsored net-zero alliances included JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo, BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street and some of the world's largest insurance companies.
Starting in 2024, however, these alliances began to shut down as members quit amid charges of collusion and antitrust activity from conservative lawmakers, state treasurers, and attorneys general.
Since taking office in 2025, the Trump administration has also worked to repeal climate policies put in place under the Biden administration.
In March 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it would not defend the Biden-era climate disclosure rules, which mandated that publicly traded companies audit and disclose their climate-related risks and greenhouse-gas emissions, and which plaintiffs had challenged as overreach.
In May of this year, the SEC formally rescinded the mandate altogether.
In addition, in January, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from more than 60 U.N. climate-affiliated organizations, declaring them "contrary to U.S. national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty."
Despite the efforts of the Trump administration, however, companies are still required to report greenhouse gas emissions due to mandates in Europe and California.
Since 2023, the European Union has imposed such mandates on companies that do business or list there.
Accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimates that about 50,000 companies worldwide will have to comply with the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.
Similarly, companies that do business in California and that have annual revenues of $1 billion or more must also report greenhouse gas emissions, according to the California Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, passed in 2023.
The Epoch Times contacted the accounting firms Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers for comment but did not receive a reply as of publication time.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 17:00