heavy

Oct. 21 (UPI) — Tropical Storm Melissa was churning in the Caribbean late Tuesday, according to forecasters warning Hispaniola to expect heavy rains and flooding over the next few days.

Melissa was about 325 miles south-southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. EDT update. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving west at 153 mph.

A hurricane watch was in effect for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Jamaica. Those elsewhere in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba should monitor the progress of Melissa, the NHC said.

A decrease in speed and a gradual turn to the northwest and north are expected in the next few days, according to the NHC, which said it expects Melissa to approach Jamaica and the southwestern portion of Haiti later this week.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic can expect 5 to 10 inches of rain through Friday, the NHC said. More heavy rainfall is possible after Friday, but forecasters aren’t confident in predictions because of the uncertainty of Melissa’s speed and direction. Areas of significant flash flooding and mudslides are possible.

Across Aruba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica rainfall of 1 to 3 inches is expected through Friday. Flash and urban flooding will be possible across Puerto Rico through at least Friday.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season, and it’s the first in the Caribbean. This season has seen few storms, which has warmed the Caribbean Sea. Now, the warm water is fuel for stronger, more dangerous storms.

The final public viewing event in the western city of Kisumu has been preceded by deaths and injuries on previous days.

Dozens of people have been injured at a memorial event in Kenya’s western city of Kisumu as huge crowds gathered to view the body of revered former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, local media reported.

The injuries occurred on Saturday at Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium despite authorities deploying military units, police and aerial surveillance to prevent a recurrence of deadly and chaotic incidents that marked earlier memorial proceedings on Thursday and Friday.

Kenya Red Cross teams treated people who fainted from fatigue and distress, evacuating casualties as crowds surged inside the venue. Odinga’s body was being transported to his ancestral home in nearby Bondo for burial on Sunday, drawing tens of thousands throughout the region.

The additional precautions were put in place after violence and chaos killed at least five people during memorial proceedings for the 80-year-old opposition leader and statesman, who collapsed during a morning walk in India’s Kerala state on Wednesday.

Siaya Governor James Orengo urged restraint as arrangements progressed for transporting Odinga’s body to his ancestral home in Bondo, approximately 60km (40 miles) west of Kisumu, where the latest disruptions had occurred.

“I really entreat members of the public and the community in general to maintain the peace during this period,” Orengo told local media.

Thursday’s initial viewing descended into bloodshed when security forces fired weapons and tear gas into crowds surging towards a pavilion where Odinga’s coffin had been placed, killing at least three people at a Nairobi stadium.

A day later, panic swept through mourners exiting Friday’s state funeral service at a separate venue in the capital, triggering a crowd crush that killed two more and sent 163 to medical care.

Huge turnout has characterised every stage of the mourning period since Odinga’s body returned home on Thursday, with supporters walking nearly 30km (20 miles) from Nairobi’s airport to escort his remains.

Friday’s state ceremony drew tens of thousands who sang, danced and waved handkerchiefs as they celebrated a figure many affectionately called “Baba” – the Swahili word for father.

Dignitaries including President William Ruto and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended the service, where Odinga’s relatives pleaded for peaceful proceedings.

His brother Oburu told mourners: “Raila should not be teargassed in death. He has been teargassed enough when he was alive.”

Former United States President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, honoured Odinga as “a true champion of democracy” who “endured decades of struggle and sacrifice for the broader cause of freedom and self-governance in Kenya”, in a post on X.

Obama noted that Odinga “was willing to choose the path of peaceful reconciliation without compromising his core values”.

Odinga never became president despite five attempts spanning three decades, but shaped Kenya’s democratic evolution more profoundly than many who held that office and has led to an outpouring of grief nationally and across Africa.

He spearheaded the country’s return to multiparty politics in the 1990s and drove the passage of a landmark 2010 constitution that distributed authority away from centralised executive power.

Deadly clashes erupted overnight between the Taliban and Pakistani forces across the Afghanistan border, with each side claiming to have captured or destroyed outposts. The fighting follows an alleged Pakistani air strike on Kabul on Thursday, which the Taliban called a violation of their sovereignty.

Flooding set off by heavy rainfall in Mexico has left at least 28 people dead and more missing, and has caused landslides, damaged homes and highways, according to local authorities.

Downpours in the affected areas in the central and southeastern parts of the country led to overflowing rivers and road collapses that cut off power in some municipalities, the national coordinator for civil defence, Laura Velazquez, said on Friday.

Civil defence authorities reported intense rainfall in 31 of 32 states, with the worst-affected areas being Veracruz in the east, Queretaro and Hidalgo in the centre, and the north-central state of San Luis Potosi.

One of the hardest hit areas was the central state of Hidalgo, where 16 deaths have been reported, according to state Interior Secretary Guillermo Olivares Reyna.

At least 1,000 homes, 59 hospitals and clinics, and 308 schools have suffered damage in the state because of landslides and overflooding rivers.

In neighbouring Puebla state, nine people died and 13 were missing. According to the state governor, some 80,000 people were affected by the heavy rains, while a gas pipeline was ruptured by a landslide.

In the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, two people died, including a police officer, according to its state governor. Some 5,000 homes were damaged and the navy evacuated nearly 900 people to shelters.

Earlier, authorities in the central state of Queretaro confirmed that the child had died after being caught in a landslide.

The heavy rainfall also caused power outages affecting more than 320,000 users and damage to almost 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of roads in six states, authorities said.

Tras las fuertes lluvias, la Secretaría de Marina (@SEMAR_mx ) desplegó tres mil 300 elementos en Puebla, Veracruz y San Luis Potosí.

También puso a disposición 18 embarcaciones, seis helicópteros, tres plantas potabilizadoras, tres aviones, tres cocinetas y cuatro mil… pic.twitter.com/O7ES5XBoKC

— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) October 11, 2025

Translation: Following the heavy rains, the Secretariat of the Navy (@SEMAR_mx ) deployed 300 personnel in Puebla, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosí. It also made available 18 vessels, six helicopters, three water purification plants, three aircraft, three mobile kitchens, and 4,000 food baskets ready to be distributed.

“We are working to support the population, open roads and restore electrical services,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said after a meeting with local officials and cabinet members. She shared photos of emergency responders carrying supplies as they waded knee-deep in flooded streets.

The country has deployed more than 8,700 military personnel to help monitor, evacuate and clean up affected areas.

Mexico has been hit by particularly heavy rains throughout 2025, with a rainfall record set in the capital Mexico City.

Tropical Storm Raymond is currently off the country’s Pacific coast, dumping heavy rains as it moves northward. It is projected to make landfall on Mexican territory until Sunday. Raymond was announced midday on Thursday by the United States National Hurricane Center, making it the third system this week off the western coast of Mexico. It joined Tropical Storm Priscilla and post-tropical cyclone Octave, which threatened heavy rain and flooding in their paths.

Powerful waves crashed into Mexico’s Pacific coast as Hurricane Priscilla brought flooding along Puerto Vallarta’s waterfront. pic.twitter.com/P3s5lsiz9r

— AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 10, 2025

Meteorologists have warned that the Pacific Ocean cooling pattern called La Nina, which can warp weather worldwide and turbocharge hurricanes, has returned.

It may be too late in the hurricane season to impact tropical weather in the Atlantic, but this La Nina may have other impacts, from heavy rains to drought across the globe.

Oct. 8 (UPI) — Parents are struggling to manage their children’s heavy use of screens, including television, computers, phones and gaming devices, according to a Pew Research survey.

When asked how they are managing the use of screen time, 42% say they could do a better job with 58% believing they are doing the best they can, according to the survey released Wednesday.

Thirty-nine percent said they believe they are stricter about their children’s screen time than other parents they know.

Parents have more priority over other daily routines. Pew found 42% make sure screen time is reasonable with 76% believing enough sleep is a priority, 77% good manners, 61% staying active and 54% reading.

The survey was conducted May 13-26 among 3,054 eligible parents sampled from the American Trends Panel, Pew Research Center’s nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults.

Separately, four online focus groups were also conducted from March 4 to 6 with a total of 20 U.S. parents or guardians of at least one child 1 to 12.

“I think eventually we will give it to them, but now … she’s not ready,” one parent said. “We spend too much time on phones. … How can we expect a 9-year-old to control and have a balance between their screen time?”

“I also have three other children in the house, and I work full time,” another parent said. “To just keep some of my sanity, the first thing I do is turn the TV on. … Being the wintertime, it’s hard for them to go outside. … I want to work on the screen time for the summertime.”

A vast majority of children 12 or younger have access to devices — 90% for TV, 68% for tablets, 61% for smartphones, 50% for gaming devices, 39% for desktops or laptops, 37% for voice-activated assistants, 11% for smartwatches and 8% for AI chatbots.

In the survey, 82% said they allow a child younger than 2 to watch TV.

Involving smartphones, 76% of parents say their 11- or 12-year-old uses one, 64% of those 8-10, 58% 5-7 and actually higher 59% ages 2 to 4. Thirty-eight percent of their child younger than 2 ever use or interact\ with one.

A total of 23% say their child has their own smartphone. Broken down, it’s 57% those 11-12, 29% for 8-10, 12% for 5-7 and 8% younger than 5.

Among specific content, 85% of parents said their child ever Watches YouTube, including 51% daily. In 2020, it was 80% for children 11 and younger.

And 15% said their children 12 and younger use TikTok, 8% Snapchat, 5% each Facebook and Instagram. They are using these platforms even though companies have put age restrictions in place.

Eighty percent say social media harms outweigh the benefits, though 46% say a smartphone is more harmful and 20% for tablets.

Parents surveyed explained why they let their children use cellphones: 92% to contact them, 85% for entertainment, 69% to help in learning, 43% to calm them down and 30% so they don’t feel left out.

Pew found there are only slight differences in views for Republican and Democratic parents.

Last month, US President Donald Trump had said he would introduce new tariffs to protect the manufacture of medium- and heavy-duty trucks from outside competition.

United States President Donald Trump has said that all medium- and heavy-duty trucks imported into the country will face a 25 percent tariff rate starting November 1, a significant escalation of his effort to protect US companies from foreign competition.

Trump made the announcement on Monday.

Last month, Trump had said heavy truck imports would face new duties on October 1 on national security grounds, saying the new tariffs were to protect manufacturers from “unfair outside competition” and that the move would benefit companies such as Paccar-owned Peterbilt and Kenworth and Daimler Truck-owned Freightliner.

Under trade deals reached with Japan and the European Union, the US has agreed to 15 percent tariffs on light-duty vehicles, but it is not clear if that rate will be set for larger vehicles.

The Trump administration has also allowed producers to deduct the value of US components from tariffs paid on light-duty vehicles assembled in Canada and Mexico.

Larger vehicles include trucks for delivery, garbage pickup, and public utilities; buses for transit, shuttles, and schools; tractor-trailer trucks; semitrucks; and heavy-duty vocational vehicles.

Impact on allies

The US Chamber of Commerce earlier urged the US Commerce Department not to impose new truck tariffs, noting the top five import sources are Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany, and Finland, “all of which are allies or close partners of the United States posing no threat to US national security”.

Mexico is the largest exporter of medium- and heavy-duty trucks to the US. A study released in January said imports of those larger vehicles from Mexico have tripled since 2019 to around 340,000 today, according to government statistics.

Under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal, medium- and heavy-duty trucks move free of tariffs if at least 64 percent of a heavy truck’s value originates in North America, via parts like engines and axles, raw materials such as steel, or assembly labour.

Tariffs could also affect Chrysler’s parent company Stellantis, which produces heavy-duty Ram trucks and commercial vans in Mexico. Stellantis had been lobbying the White House not to impose steep tariffs on its Mexican-made trucks.

Sweden’s Volvo Group is building a $700m heavy-truck factory in Monterrey, Mexico, due to start operations in 2026.

Mexico is home to 14 manufacturers and assemblers of buses, trucks, and tractor trucks, and two manufacturers of engines, according to the US International Trade Administration.

Mexico opposed new tariffs, telling the US Commerce Department in May that all Mexican trucks exported to the US have on average 50 percent US content, including diesel engines.

Last year, the US imported almost $128bn in heavy vehicle parts from Mexico, accounting for approximately 28 percent of total US imports, Mexico said.

Heavy rains continue to disrupt rescue operations in the Himalayan nation as authorities struggle to respond to the crisis.

Landslides and flash floods, triggered by heavy rains, have killed at least 47 people, blocked roads and washed away bridges in Nepal.

Thirty-five people were killed in separate landslides in the Ilam district in the east bordering India, Kalidas Dhauboji, a spokesperson for the Armed Police Force, said on Sunday.

Nine people were missing after being washed away by floods since Friday and three others were killed in lightning strikes elsewhere in Nepal, he added, as relentless downpours pummelled eastern and central regions of the Himalayan nation.

“Rescue efforts for the missing persons are going on,” said Shanti Mahat, a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority spokesperson in Nepal.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has declared Monday and Tuesday as public holidays nationwide, exempting emergency services and disaster response teams, as the government battles the crisis.

Government spokesperson Rameshwar Dangal cited forecasts of heavy rains as justification for the unusual measure.

Meteorological authorities have also placed more than a dozen districts on red alert, with department chief Kamal Ram Joshi warning the residents near waterways to evacuate immediately, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

The alert covers major population centres, including parts of the capital, Kathmandu, with Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini and Madhesh provinces expected to bear the brunt of continued downpours through Monday morning.

Transport infrastructure has suffered extensive damage, with landslides cutting all major routes into Kathmandu.

The Araniko Highway connecting Kathmandu to China’s border is blocked after road collapses at multiple points, while the BP Highway linking the eastern regions is buried under debris.

Aviation authorities suspended domestic flights on Saturday due to poor visibility, though international operations continued with some disruptions.

“Domestic flights are largely disrupted, but international flights are operating normally,” said Rinji Sherpa, a spokesperson for Kathmandu airport.

The crisis has been compounded by its timing, striking as hundreds of thousands of people return from their homes following the Dashain celebrations, Nepal’s most important religious festival. Thursday was the main day of the two-week festival when people travel to their native villages to visit their families.

Of particular concern is the Koshi River in southeastern Nepal, where water levels have surged to more than twice their normal volume.

Local official Dharmendra Kumar Mishra confirmed that all 56 sluice gates at the Koshi Barrage have been opened – compared with the usual 10 to 12 – while authorities consider restricting heavy vehicles from crossing its bridge.

The river regularly causes devastating flooding in India’s Bihar state during the monsoons.

In the eastern Indian hill region of Darjeeling in West Bengal state, at least seven people were killed due to landslides following heavy rainfall, according to local media reports.

“Seven dead bodies have already been recovered from the debris. We have information about two more people. Work is being done to recover their bodies too,” Abhishek Roy, a Darjeeling district police official said on Sunday, the Reuters news agency reported.

Hundreds of people die every year in landslides and flash floods that are common in mostly mountainous Nepal during the monsoon season, which normally starts in mid-June and continues through mid-September.

Russia has launched a heavy attack on Ukraine with hundreds of kamikaze drones hitting residential buildings in Kyiv. At least four people have been killed, including a 12-year-old girl.

YUNGBLUD shared a sweet gesture toward late star Ozzy Osbourne during his MTV VMAs tribute performance.

The singer joined Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith and Nuno Bettencourt to commemorate the rocker’s career with a medley of his greatest hits following Ozzy’s passing in July.

4

4

4

Fans noticed at the start of the performance that Yungblud showed the cameras his gold cross necklace and kissed it before heading onto the stage.

They then recognized the piece as the exact necklace that had been gifted to the young artist by Ozzy himself before his death.

Viewers pointed out the connection on social media.

“Dom playing crazy train with the necklace ozzy gave him still on,” one person wrote on X, while others shared they got emotional over the touching tribute.

During a red carpet interview with E! News before the show, Yungblud flashed the momentum and said Ozzy was “here with me” throughout the night.

A FOREVER BOND

Ozzy acted as a mentor to Yungblud in the final years of his life and presented the cross necklace to him at the heavy metal star’s final concert this past summer.

The Crazy Train singer also received a special message from his son, Jack Osbourne, and grandkids, in a touching video played before the performance.

Ozzy died on July 22 from “acute myocardial infarction” and “out of hospital cardiac arrest,” per the former TV star’s death certificate.

He was laid to rest next to the lake in his Buckinghamshire home days later, with his friends and family in attendance.

The Osbournes alum had been battling numerous health conditions in recent years, including Parkinson’s Disease.

His wife, Sharon Osbourne, stayed close by the Black Sabbath star’s side throughout his health struggles, and was in tears at his funeral service.

Also in attendance were his son, Jack, his daughters, Kelly and Aimee, and a number of celebrity pals, including Marilyn Manson, Elton John, and his Black Sabbath bandmates.

Yungblud was also there to say his final goodbyes to the Dreamer singer.

“I didn’t think you would leave so soon the last time we met you were so full of life and your laugh filled up the room,” Yungblud wrote in a touching Instagram post the day Ozzy died.

WILDEST MOMENTS IN VMAS HISTORY

Madonna’s Like a Virgin performance (1984): The controversial performance at the first-ever VMAs launched her into superstardom and established the awards show as a venue for bold pop culture moments.

Britney Spears, Madonna, and Christina Aguilera kiss (2003): During a medley that showcased Britney and Christina in wedding gowns, Madonna kissed them both. But it was Britney and Madge locking lips that was the kiss seen around the world. The moment was especially shocking when the camera cut to Britney’s then-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, whose stunned reaction seemed disapproving.

Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift (2009): After Taylor, 19, won the award for Best Female Video, Kanye, 32, rushed onto the stage and infamously declared that Beyoncé had the “best video of all time” for Single Ladies and deserved the award instead. This was the beginning of a decades-long feud between Kanye and Taylor, which continues to this day.

Lil Mama crashes the stage (2009): In the middle of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ performance of Empire State of Mind, Lip Gloss rapper Lil Mama inexplicably walked up, despite being held back by Beyonce. She posed alongside Jay-Z and Alicia as she invited herself into the performance. She posed on stage with them at the end, despite Lil Mama not being a part of the song or the performance.

Lady Gaga’s meat dress (2010): The pop star wore a dress, hat, and shoes made entirely out of raw flank steak. She later explained the outfit was a protest against the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, stating it symbolized fighting for your rights or ending up “meat on your bones”.

Beyoncé’s pregnancy reveal (2011): At the end of her performance of Love on Top, Beyoncé unbuttoned her blazer and rubbed her belly, confirming her first pregnancy to the world. Her husband, Jay Z, watched from the crowd and celebrated with the audience.

Nicki Minaj vs. Miley Cyrus (2015): While accepting the award for Best Hip-Hop Video, Nicki called out Miley Cyrus, who was hosting that year, by asking, “Miley, what’s good?” Nicki later claimed she was genuinely upset with Miley due to comments she had recently made in an interview.

“But as it is written with legends, they seem to know the things that we don’t. I will never forget you – you will be in every single note I sing and with me every single time I walk on stage.”

He also mentioned the necklace, calling it “the most precious thing I own,” and that he was “heartbroken” over losing the music legend.

4

In Punjab province, all three major rivers overflowed simultaneously, for the first time in the country’s history.

Nearly half a million people have been displaced by flooding in eastern Pakistan after days of heavy rain swelled rivers, according to rescue officials, who have been carrying out a huge rescue operation as the country struggles with a monsoon season of devastation.

According to a statement released Saturday by the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), 835 people have died in the monsoon since June 26, with 195 in Punjab province alone.

Three transboundary rivers that cut through Punjab, which borders India, have swollen to exceptionally high levels, affecting more than 2,300 villages.

The regional Punjab government has initiated controlled breaches of key flood bunds to divert surging waters from the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers. All three major rivers overflowed simultaneously, for the first time in the country’s history, according to local media.

Nabeel Javed, the head of the Punjab government’s relief services, said on Saturday that 481,000 people stranded by the floods have been evacuated, along with 405,000 livestock.

Overall, more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the flooding.

“This is the biggest rescue operation in Punjab’s history,” Irfan Ali Khan, the head of the province’s disaster management agency, said at a news conference.

He said more than 800 boats and 1,300 rescue personnel were involved in evacuating families from affected regions, mostly in rural areas near the banks of the three rivers.

‘No human life left unattended’

The latest spell of monsoon flooding since the start of the week has killed 30 people, Khan said, with several hundred left dead throughout the heavier-than-usual season that began in June.

“No human life is being left unattended. All kinds of rescue efforts are continuing,” Khan said.

More than 500 relief camps have been set up to provide shelter to families and their livestock.

Farmer Safdar Munir in the city of Kasur said the floods took away his crops and all his belongings.

“So, we are pulling out our cattle as there is no fodder to feed our livestock. We have received no help from the government,” he told Al Jazeera.

Abid, another farmer, said: “The water came and destroyed everything. It is with great difficulty that I could save my livestock. My farm and crops are all underwater.”

In the impoverished town of Shahdara, on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Lahore, dozens of families were gathered in a school after fleeing the rising water in their homes.

Rains continued throughout Saturday, including in Lahore, the country’s second-largest city, where an entire housing development was half submerged by water.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) forecast new rounds of widespread rain, wind and thunderstorms across multiple regions.

In mid-August, more than 400 Pakistanis were killed in a matter of days by landslides caused by torrential rains on the other side of the country, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, close to Afghanistan and the only province held by the opposition to the federal authorities.

In 2022, unprecedented monsoon floods submerged a third of Pakistan, with the southern province of Sindh the worst-affected area.

The arrest of more than 700 people during Palestine Action demonstrations has rekindled the debate. These arguments revolve around how to balance state security and individual freedoms in the UK. Heavy policing, frequent raids and mass arrests have accompanied the protests that centre mainly on the UK based firms importing weapons related to the arms trade in Israel. It has been portrayed by the government that these are done as a part of law and order, but critics claim that such a magnitude of arrests against mostly peaceful protestors is alarming as it moves the state towards authoritarian policing. Civil liberties may be gutted when protest action is coded by the state through a mass punishment process that renders citizens freer to disagree with government policies or with corporate participation in controversial wars overseas.

The main problem with such developments is that there is an eroded distinction between policing and political repression. The actions of protesting arm companies with ties to Israel might be considered disruptive, however they are really acts of political speech which is a pillar of the democratic society. It is this aggressiveness in pursuing protesters that the state risks criminalizing activism. This is a bad precedent, peaceful opposition will be identified with crime, and any rightful protest will be discredited in the name of order. This attitude that the political leanings of a person can dictate the response of the police negatively affects the belief of the people in the police system as well as in encouraging people to practice democracy freely.

It is also a step in the wrong direction to make it public that these arrested suspects are of a particular race and their immigration status. Superficially it can be explained by the need to be transparent. Nevertheless, in practice it might stigmatize minority communities and present the picture protest as an imported issue by immigrants instead of a domestic political problem. These actions may strengthen the racist discourses as migrants or racial minorities appear to participate in the rebellion or crimes in huge proportions. When anti-immigrant rhetoric is already present in segments of political speech, racial and migration issues interact in the form of intensifying scapegoating of vulnerable groups and the continuing division of society. It is unsafe to make these sensitive factors of the anti-immigrant rhetoric and anti-immigration activism components of the public record in protest related cases.

The government has justified its move as a logical trade off: we must compromise our freedoms so that we can enjoy national security and safety. But history teaches us repeatedly that once you have unleashed restrictions of freedoms in the name of security, it seldom returns. The historic legacy of civil liberties in the UK in the form of the right to protest, freedom of speech and the right to assembly has already been undermined over the last few years by legislation like the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act.

Such actions have empowered the police to repress demonstrations and thwart the fundamental meaning of democracy interaction. The recent suppression of Palestine Action is further evidence of this, only exacerbating the trend due to the simplicity with which governments justify making use of security to cover its authoritarianism.

Brute force policing of activists would even backfire as well. Likewise, surveillance, a sense of being silenced and wrong criminalization, are other factors that contribute to alienation among people. Such policies are likely to have the opposite effect to what they intend because they radicalize even more people into believing that peaceful means of protest are exhausted. These communities are already marginalized be it political, racial or immigration background and thus they are highly susceptible to such alienation. This strategy of the state fails to achieve its intended purpose of ensuring that society remains safe, opening even wider rifts in society and creating feelings of vengeance toward the institutions whose purpose is to cater to the needs of every citizen.

The UK will have to change its tune on protest and political dissent should it wish to continue adhering to its democratic ideals. Policing must be equally reasonable and unbiased, not a club of political expediency. Mass arrests and stigmatizing disclosures of race or immigration status are undone by dialogue and accountability instead of the involvement of activists by the authorities. An effective democracy needs to welcome disruptive protest when it reveals unpleasant facts about foreign policy or corporate cooperation in war. Silencing such activism can temporarily cripple vocal opinions but it will also undermine democracy within society in the long term.

The argument that is generated by the crack down on Palestine Action is not a single protest movement. It goes to the very core of what type of a society the UK aspires to be. Will it increase its authoritative policing that defies liberty at the cost of security? Or will it hold fast to its democratic tradition by safeguarding dissent even when that is disruptive or makes things uncomfortable? Publication of race and immigration status of suspects is nothing but a distraction to these underlying questions because it shifts the blame to a certain community instead of looking at the root of the problem which is the right of the citizens to speak and act against their own government. Finally, there is a chance that a society founded on the concepts of security over liberty will end up losing it all. The issue of liberty versus fear has few more clear cut versions in the UK.

Disaster agency says the majority of deaths happened in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan.

The death toll from heavy monsoon rains that have triggered landslides and flash floods across northern Pakistan has risen to at least 164 people, according to the disaster authority.

Most of the deaths, 150, were recorded in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, including 78 people who died in the flood-hit Buner district, the National Disaster Management Authority said on Friday.

Later, a helicopter on a rescue mission in the flood-hit province crashed due to the bad weather, killing the five crew members, the government said.

Reporting from Islamabad, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said the helicopter was a military aircraft.

“This was a Pakistani military helicopter that was involved in a rescue operation. Helicopters are being used to help people in areas that are hard to access,” he said.

Hundreds evacuated

Dozens of people were injured as the deluge destroyed homes in villages in Buner, where authorities declared a state of emergency on Friday.

Rescuers evacuated 1,300 stranded tourists from the mountainous Mansehra district, which was hit by landslides on Thursday. At least 35 people were reported missing in these areas, according to local officials.

Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, authorities said.

The Meteorological Department issued a heavy rain alert for the northwest, urging people to avoid “unnecessary exposure to vulnerable areas”.

Floods in India-administered Kashmir

The annual monsoon season brings South Asia 70 to 80 percent of its annual rainfall, which is vital for agriculture and food security but also brings destruction.

Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September.

In India-administered Kashmir, rescuers continued to search for survivors under boulders and debris on Friday, a day after sudden floods triggered by heavy rains killed at least 60 people and left 200 missing.

Gushing mudslides and floodwaters inundated the village of Chasoti on Thursday, washing away pilgrims who had gathered for lunch before trekking up a hill to a popular religious site in the second such disaster in the Himalayas in a little more than a week.

The Himalayas are prone to floods and landslides, but some scientists said the intensity and frequency of these events are increasing due to climate change.

Escalating attacks in Cabo Delgado are taking place amid major cuts in international aid.

Nearly 60,000 people have fled Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province in two weeks, a United Nations agency has said, amid a years-long rebellion by fighters affiliated with ISIL (ISIS).

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement on Tuesday that escalating attacks that began on July 20 had displaced 57,034 people, or 13,343 families.

Chiúre was the hardest-hit district, with more than 42,000 people uprooted, more than half of them children, the IOM said.

“So far, around 30,000 displaced people have received food, water, shelter, and essential household items,” Paola Emerson, who heads the Mozambique branch of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the AFP news agency.

Emerson said OCHA was preparing to step up its assistance in the coming days. “The response, however, is not yet at the scale required to meet growing needs,” she said, in a context of cuts to international aid by the United States and other countries.

“Funding cuts mean life-saving aid is being scaled back,” she added. The UN’s 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan for Mozambique has so far received only 19 percent of the pledges requested.

The organisation also stressed that the lack of safety and documentation, and involuntary relocations, were compounding protection risks.

The Southern African nation has been fighting a rebellion by a group known locally as al-Shabab,  though with no links to the Somali fighters of a similar name, in the north for at least eight years. Rwandan soldiers have been deployed to help Mozambique fight them.

More than 6,100 people have been killed since the beginning of the insurrection, according to conflict tracker ACLED, including 364 last year, according to data from the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies.

Cabo Delgado has large offshore natural gas reserves, and the fighting caused the suspension of operations by the French company Total Energies in 2021. The French fossil fuel giant has said it hopes to re-ignite the $20bn gas project this summer.

Human Rights Watch last month said the armed group had “ramped up abductions of children”, using them as fighters or for labour or marriage. The group said recruiting or using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities constitutes a war crime.

Beijing is expected to see its heaviest rainfall on Tuesday, with up to 300mm (11.8 inches) forecast for some areas.

At least 30 people have been killed by severe rainfall and flooding in Beijing as heavy rains drench the Chinese capital, state media report.

The deaths occurred in Beijing’s mountainous northern districts, with 28 killed in Miyun and two in Yanqing, the official Xinhua state news agency reported on Tuesday.

“The latest round of heavy rainstorms has left 30 people dead in Beijing as of midnight Monday,” Xinhua said, citing the city’s municipal flood control headquarters.

Torrential rain started over the weekend and intensified around the Chinese capital and surrounding provinces on Monday, with Beijing recording rainfall of up to 543mm (21.3 inches) in its northern districts, Xinhua said.

Authorities in Beijing have relocated more than 80,000 residents from areas worst hit by flooding, which has damaged dozens of roads and cut power to at least 136 villages, the country’s national broadcaster CCTV reported.

The heaviest rain in Beijing is expected early on Tuesday, with rainfall of up to 300mm (11.8 inches) forecast for some areas.

Authorities ordered the release of water from a reservoir in Beijing’s rural Miyun district, which was at its highest level since it was built in 1959, according to reports, with locals being warned to stay away from rivers downstream as their levels rose and as more heavy rain is forecast.

Chinese President Xi Jinping late on Monday night ordered “all-out” search and rescue efforts to minimise casualties, as authorities ordered people to stay indoors, closed schools, suspended construction work and stopped outdoor tourism and other activities until the emergency warning is lifted.

In the town of Taishitun, about 100km (60 miles) northeast of central Beijing, streets were covered in mud and water on Monday, and uprooted trees lay in piles with their bare roots exposed, the Associated Press news agency reports.

“The flood came rushing in, just like that, so fast and suddenly. In no time at all, the place was filling up,” said local resident Zhuang Zhelin, who was clearing mud with his family from their building materials shop.

Earlier reports on Monday said the torrential rains and flooding had killed four people, with eight others missing, following a landslide in the country’s Hebei province, located south of Beijing.

Authorities warn of intensifying conditions and heightened disaster risks in the coming days.

A landslide triggered by unusually heavy rain has killed four people and left eight others missing in northern China’s Hebei province, state media report, as authorities issue flood warnings in capital Beijing and at least 11 provinces.

The landslide in a village near Chengde city was “due to heavy rainfall”, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday.

Authorities relocated more than 4,400 people as relentless rain continued to pound the suburban area of Miyun in Beijing, causing flash floods and landslides, affecting many villages, CCTV said.

Images circulated on China’s WeChat app showed areas of Miyun where cars and trucks were floating on a flooded road, and residential buildings were submerged. Electricity cuts also affected more than 10,000 people in the area, CCTV said.

Northern China has seen record precipitation in recent years, exposing densely populated cities, including Beijing, to flood risks. Some scientists link the increased rainfall in China’s usually arid north to global warming.

The Central Meteorological Observatory said heavy rainfall would continue to drench northern China over the next three days. The Water Resources Ministry has issued targeted flood warnings in 11 provinces and regions.

Beijing issued its highest-level flood alert on Monday, the official Xinhua news agency said. The national emergency management department said it dispatched a team to inspect the “severe” flooding in Hebei, which encircles Beijing.

In Shanxi province, videos from state media showed roads filled with water and submerged vegetation, including crops and trees. The province, home to China’s historic city of Xian, also issued flash flood disaster risk warnings on Monday.

The storms are part of the broader pattern of extreme weather across China due to the East Asian monsoon, which has caused disruptions in the world’s second-largest economy.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission said on Monday it was urgently arranging 50 million yuan ($7m) to support Hebei, Xinhua reported. The funds would be used to repair damaged roads and bridges, water conservancy embankments, schools and hospitals in the disaster area.

Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heatwaves.

Flash floods in eastern China’s Shandong province killed two people and left 10 missing this month. A landslide on a highway in Sichuan province this month also killed five people after it swept several cars down a mountainside.

Areas affected include popular tourist destinations, such as Fairy Meadows, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Pakistan has issued a warning about glacial flooding in the northwest with more rain forecast in the coming week, as the country experiences above-average rainfall this monsoon season and continues to struggle to recover from devastating floods in 2022.

Downpours are heavier in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province than the same period last year, prompting weather advisories and alerts for flooding from glacial lake outbursts, said Anwar Shahzad, a spokesperson for the local disaster management authority, on Saturday.

The weather advisory alert comes after the authority sent out a letter earlier this month saying “persistent high temperatures may accelerate snow and glacier melt and subsequent weather events” in vulnerable parts of the region, underscoring the ongoing heavy impact of climate change on the country.

Spokesperson Faizullah Firaq said on Saturday there was “severe destruction” in some areas and damage to houses, infrastructure, crops, and businesses.

Search operations were under way to find missing people on the Babusar Highway, where flooding struck nine villages. Helicopters rescued tourists stuck in the popular spot, Fairy Meadows, he added.

Abdul Samad, from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Department, said rescue teams evacuated more than 500 holidaymakers from Naran after a cloudburst overnight Friday caused a road closure. Authorities deployed heavy machinery to remove debris and restore access.

In the neighbouring Gilgit-Baltistan region, the government said it had distributed hundreds of tents, thousands of food packets, and medicine to flood-affected communities. Three people died there on Tuesday when a cloudburst caused floods and landslides, stranding more than 200 tourists who were later rescued.

Zakir Hussein, director general of Gilgit-Baltistan’s Disaster Management Authority, said on Tuesday that while warnings help reduce the presence of tourists in these vulnerable areas, they are not always enough.

“Generally, tourists pay attention to our warning notices. Those who still choose to come are either those who did not see the warning or those who have some urgency to visit,” Hussein told Al Jazeera. “At the end of the day, it is weather prediction, but considering the severity of the consequences, people should take it seriously.”

The rains are a routine part of South Asia’s climate and are essential for crop irrigation and replenishing water supplies.

However, their adverse effect has worsened in recent years due to rapid urban expansion, poor drainage systems, and more frequent extreme weather events linked to climate change.

Pakistan’s above-average rainfall this monsoon season has raised concerns of a repeat of the devastating 2022 floods that submerged a third of the country, killed 1,737 people and displaced more than 30 million. Some 260 have died across Pakistan so far this season, which runs through to mid-September.

Pakistan, which has a population of about 250 million, is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change, but one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. It is also home to more than 7,000 glaciers – the largest outside the Earth’s polar regions.

There were three television characters who really mattered to me as a kid: Michael, Leroy and Theo.

In elementary school, “Good Times” was the television show that most closely resembled my family. And seeing reruns of Ralph David Carter’s portrayal of a precocious young boy learning what it means to be poor, gifted and Black is what moved his Michael from fiction to family for me.

By middle school, I was no longer wearing cornrows like Gene Anthony Ray, but I tried everything else to be like his character Leroy from the television show “Fame.” For some of my classmates, the performing arts were a fun way to express themselves, and the show was inspirational. For me, it was my way out of the hood, and Leroy was the blueprint. Through the Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy, I was able to take professional dance lessons for free and ultimately earned a dance scholarship for college.

But it wasn’t a linear journey. Despite being gifted, I struggled academically and required summer classes to graduate from high school. That’s why I connected with Theo, whose challenges in the classroom were one of the running jokes on “The Cosby Show.” The family never gave up on him, and more importantly, he didn’t stop trying.

Through the jokes about his intelligence, the coming-of-age miscues (and the dyslexia diagnosis), the storylines of Theo — like those of Leroy and Michael — often reflected struggles I foolishly thought no one else was experiencing when I was growing up. It is only through distance and time are we able to see moments like those more clearly. In retrospect, the three of them were like knots I held onto on a rope I had no idea I was climbing.

This is why the Black community’s response to the death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner this week isn’t solely rooted in nostalgia but also in gratitude. We recognize the burden he’s been carrying, so that others could climb.

When “The Cosby Show” debuted in 1984, there were no other examples of a successful two-parent Black family on air. We were on television but often trauma and struggle — not love and support — were at the center of the narratives. So even though Black women had been earning law degrees since the 1800s — beginning with Charlotte E. Ray in 1872 — and Black men were becoming doctors before that, the initial response from critics was that the show’s premise of a doctor-and-lawyer Black couple was not authentically Black.

That narrow-minded worldview continued to hang over Hollywood despite the show’s success. In 1992, after nearly 10 years of “The Cosby Show” being No. 1 — and after the success of “Beverly Hills Cop II” and “Coming to America” — the Eddie Murphy-led project “Boomerang” was panned as unrealistic because the main characters were all Black and successful. The great Murphy took on the Los Angeles Times directly in a letter for its critique on what Black excellence should look like.

However, Black characters like Michael, Leroy and Theo had been taking on the media since the racist film “The Birth of a Nation” painted all of us as threats in 1915. It could not have been easy for Warner, being the face of so much for so many at an age when a person is trying to figure out who he is. And because he was able to do so with such grace, Warner’s Theo defined Blackness simply by being what the world said we were not. This sentiment is embodied in his last interview, when he answered the question of his legacy by saying: “I will be able to leave this Earth knowing and people knowing that I was a good person.”

In the end, that is ultimately what made his character, along with Leroy and Michael, so important to the Black community. It wasn’t the economic circumstances or family structure of the sitcoms that they all had in common. It was their refusal to allow the ugliness of this world to tear them down. To change their hearts or turn their light into darkness. They maintained their humanity and in the process gave so many of us a foothold to keep climbing higher.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

Above average rainfall recorded in last five days in Sancheong county, where most deaths took place.

The nationwide death toll from heavy rainfall in South Korea has risen to 14, authorities said, as fears grow of more deaths, with 12 more people missing since the disaster began.

Two people died and four went missing in the resort town of Gapyeong on Sunday after a landslide engulfed houses and flooding swept away vehicles, the AFP news agency reported, citing government officials.

A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in the landslide, while the body of a man in his 40s was found near a bridge after he drowned, South Korea’s official news agency Yonhap reported.

Close to 170mm (6.7 inches) of rainfall was recorded in the area in Gyeonggi province, about 70km (40 miles) east of Seoul, early on Sunday.

But most of the deaths occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800mm (31.5 inches) of rain since Wednesday.

Two bodies were found there early on Sunday during search and rescue operations, raising the number of deaths in the rural county of 33,000 to eight, with six still missing.

The adjacent county of Hapcheon received 699mm (27.5 inches) of rain, while the nearby county of Hadong got 621.5mm (24.5 inches).

Two of the 12 people reported missing were from the southwestern city of Gwangju, Yonhap said.

Yonhap also quoted authorities as saying they have registered 1,920 cases of flooded roads, soil loss and destroyed public facilities, and 2,234 other cases of damage to private property, such as buildings and farmland.

A total of 12,921 people have taken shelter across 14 major cities and provinces, Yonhap said.

South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But this week, the country’s southern regions were hit by especially intense downpours, with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, official weather data showed.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world. In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.