KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal Police have arrested two men after a viral video appeared to show them stealing gold earrings from the body of a woman swept away in this week’s catastrophic flash floods, an incident that has drawn widespread outrage as the country grapples with a mounting death toll from one of its deadliest disasters in years.

Authorities identified the suspects as Madan Gurung, 25, originally from Nawalparasi district, and Umesh Chaudhary, 38, originally from Sunsari district. Both men were living in Bharatpur Metropolitan City in Chitwan district and were arrested near the Pokhara Bus Park after police received a video showing the alleged theft, according to a press release from the District Police Office in Bharatpur.

The roughly 41-second clip, which spread rapidly across social media, showed the woman’s body being carried downstream by the Narayani River before the two men used wooden planks and, according to multiple accounts, her own hair to pull it toward the riverbank. Bystanders can be seen recording the scene as the men removed earrings from both of the victim’s ears and set them aside, making no apparent effort to retrieve the body from the water.

Nepal Police shared footage of the arrests on social media platform X on Thursday, confirming that the two men had been taken into custody. In a statement, police said any act of looting or inhumane behavior directed at disaster victims would not be tolerated during the ongoing crisis.

The theft has become one of the most widely shared and condemned moments to emerge from this week’s flooding, which was triggered by the collapse of a glacier and a rocky ledge along the Nepal-Tibet border. The disaster sent a wall of ice, rock and water crashing down the Bhotekoshi River on Wednesday, obliterating villages and infrastructure across the border region before continuing downstream into the Trishuli and Narayani rivers.

The death toll in Nepal has continued to climb sharply in the days since. Nepal Police said Friday that at least 579 people have been confirmed dead, with more than 2,400 people still listed as missing across the country. Authorities in China, where the flooding also struck the Tibet Autonomous Region, have confirmed five deaths on their side of the border, though communication challenges and government restrictions on information have made it difficult to assess the full scope of the damage there.

Among those unaccounted for are large numbers of foreign nationals. The U.S. State Department has said roughly 90 Americans remain missing, while Australian officials have said at least 38 of their citizens are unaccounted for, many of whom were part of separate pilgrimage and tour groups traveling through the region at the time of the disaster. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said hundreds of Indian nationals also remain uncontactable.

Rescue operations have continued around the clock, with helicopters ferrying thousands of survivors to safety in Kathmandu and other locations. The Nepal Red Cross Society estimated Friday that roughly 90,000 people have likely been affected by the flooding in some way. Nepali Army units have also been working to free people trapped inside a hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa district, part of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project, according to rescue officials.

Compounding the crisis, Nepal’s Disaster Management Authority has said it is monitoring two lakes that formed upstream of the flood zone after Wednesday’s glacial collapse, warning that further flooding remains a risk until the water is fully drained. Satellite imagery has shown both lakes growing in size, and Nepal Police issued a fresh alert Friday after receiving reports that a separate dam-like formation on the Tibetan side of the border was beginning to overflow. Rescue and security personnel were told to remain on high alert and to move to safer ground if conditions worsened.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported Friday that flood risks from the overflowing lake in Tibet were considered manageable, according to Reuters, though authorities on both sides of the border have continued to urge residents to avoid the banks of the Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers as water levels remain unpredictable.

The disturbing footage of the earring theft has intensified public anger already directed at reports of looting and exploitation following the disaster. Nepali officials have repeatedly stressed that such behavior will be prosecuted, even as the country’s police and military remain stretched thin by the scale of the search-and-rescue effort. Local authorities in Chitwan said the investigation into the earring theft remains ongoing, and it was not immediately clear what charges the two men would face.

As recovery efforts continue, identifying victims has become increasingly difficult. Bodies and debris have been carried far downstream by the floodwaters, and officials have said the identification process could take weeks in some cases. Nepal’s government has activated emergency hotlines, including a toll-free number for families seeking information about missing relatives, as the search for survivors and the dead continues across the affected districts.

EAST HANOVER, NJ. — Mondelez International is launching a high-protein bar under its Clif brand. Each bar features 20 grams of protein and five grams of fiber.

The bar is formulated with rolled oats, nut butters, almonds, soy and whey protein. The product is available in peanut butter chocolate chip and cinnamon French toast flavors.

“Consumers are looking for protein-rich snacks to help fuel their busy lifestyles, and the Clif brand saw the opportunity to build on our energy bar portfolio with an innovation that offers a unique duality: 20 grams of protein with everyday energy,” said Joe Pellingra, senior director, Clif and Luna brands at Mondelēz International.

The bars may be purchased at retailers nationwide in a 4-count box for $7.49. 

The scheme in Maesteg will be delivered by the commercial arim of housing association Valleys to Coast and Tai Derw Developments

Plans for a £41.8m housing scheme at the site of the former cosmetics Revlon factory in Maesteg have been approved.

The development will see more than 192 homes built at the brownfield that has been vacant for more than 12 years. It will be delivered by Sylfaen, the commercially driven development subsidiary of Bridgend-based housing association Valleys to Coast, in partnership with housebuilders Tai Derw Developments, an Edenstone Group company.

The site has become construction ready following £3.5m remediation funding from Bridgend County Borough Council and the Cardiff Capital Region.

Located adjacent to the Oakwood Estate and a short walk from Ewenny Road railway station, the project represents Sylfaen’s first scheme.

It will consist of 35 homes for social rent, 19 affordable rent homes, 54 shared ownership properties and 84 homes for open-market sale.

Work on-site is scheduled to commence in October, with the first homes expected to be ready by April 2027. Phased construction will continue through to target completion in 2031.

James Griffiths, managing director of Sylfaen, said:“For more than a decade, this site has stood empty, but soon it will be a vibrant, thriving neighborhood. By offering a true mix of social rent, affordable ownership, and open market sale properties, we are creating opportunity and meeting a range of local housing needs.

“Our goal is to build communities where people can grow, work and belong and we look forward to working closely with key partners and local residents as we turn this long-awaited vision into reality.”

The scheme will provide a contribution of more than £100,000 to support local initiatives. Revenue generated from the open-market sales will be reinvested to help strengthen Valleys to Coast’s ongoing investment in delivering and maintaining social homes across South Wales.

Sylfaen is also inviting local residents and customers to help shape the identity of the site by submitting naming suggestions for the development, its six new streets, and its eight house types, honoring the rich industrial heritage of the former Revlon factory.

The private equity-backed retailer said it is still in the “foothills of recovery” as it continues to push ahead with a major turnaround plan, with like-for-like sales now rising for the first time in two years

Supermarket giant Asda has acknowledged that the challenging economic climate has put pressure on household budgets, but has revealed sales are poised to return to growth for the first time in two years.

The Leeds-based retailer stressed it remains in the “foothills of recovery” as it presses on with an ambitious turnaround strategy. Chief executive Allan Leighton suggested the business is approximately a third of the way through its transformation programme.

Speaking to reporters, he said the group is broadly where he anticipated it would be following his return to Asda’s top role in late 2024, having previously steered the retailer 25 years ago.

“We have been very consistent with the fact the turnaround will take between three and five years,” Mr Leighton said. “Whenever someone says that they think it is taking a long time, I make it clear that for something of this scale, this is just how long it takes.”

His remarks came as Asda disclosed that sales have moved back into positive territory for the current quarter for the first time in two years.

Like-for-like sales for the opening seven weeks of the current quarter, stripping out fuel, have increased by 0.2%. The retailer said it is consequently closing the gap on its biggest supermarket competitors, having watched its slice of the UK market shrink in recent years.

On Friday, the Leeds-headquartered chain posted revenues of £5.1bn for the second quarter of 2026. It said like-for-like sales fell 2.3% for the quarter, with food sales declining 1.9% over the period.

Mr Leighton added: “We saw momentum build in Q2 with stable market share, and we’re now seeing that translate into more customers choosing Asda. While this progress is encouraging, we are still in the foothills of recovery.

“There’s still more work to do as we focus on building a stronger business for the long term.”

Michael Gleeson, Asda’s chief financial officer, said: “A challenging geopolitical and economic backdrop continued to weigh on consumer confidence and household budgets during Q2. Despite these pressures, our continued investment in price and the overall customer proposition means we continue to make steady progress in our turnaround journey.”

In May, Asda unveiled plans to join forces with retail technology giant Ocado in an effort to enhance its online grocery offering for customers.

FIRST ON FOX: A new policy report warns that the AI data center boom could drive up the cost of laptops, smartphones, cars and other everyday products as chipmakers shift scarce memory-chip capacity toward more profitable AI applications.

The report, published by the Abundance Institute and first viewed by Fox News Digital, says manufacturers are shifting capacity toward high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, for AI data centers, constraining the supply of conventional DRAM used in consumer devices. 

To address the growing affordability concern, the report argues that Washington should avoid new tariffs and other trade restrictions that could further tighten supplies.

“You see consumer goods prices, consumer prices going up for average everyday technology because of this pull into the highest quality, highest capacity chipsets that are available, that are needed for the frontier models in AI,” former Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital, reacting to the new report.

“That has really tightened up the whole set of production from getting sand out of the ground and turning it into chips. Lower value to higher value, the cutting edge versus the second, third generation of chips. And all of this is really complicated, complicates things for consumers in a way that they cannot directly see, but they’re certainly being affected by it,” he said.

TRUMP SAYS ANY GOVERNOR OR MAYOR SHOULD WANT TO WELCOME AN AI DATA CENTER

Patrick McHenry speaks during a Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 20, 2026.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

 The report says the current memory-chip shortage differs from the COVID-era semiconductor crunch because it is driven largely by AI data centers’ growing demand, even as supply bottlenecks persist. But it warns consumers may face similar effects: higher prices, fewer available products and delays in replacing or upgrading phones, computers and other electronics.

“Demand is surging, and supply bottlenecks persist. However, this time, demand is driven by the rapid growth of data centers,” the paper read. “Hyperscale data center companies are buying unprecedented quantities of the world’s most advanced memory chips. American consumers will face the same consequences: higher prices, longer wait times for products, and supply shortages that may persist for years. The memory chip imbalance is quickly becoming yet another affordability concern for households and policymakers alike.”

The Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, on Sept. 24, 2025. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

McHenry noted that tight supplies of memory chips — parts used in many everyday electronics — are helping push up consumer costs. He argued that less-advanced chips used in household products should be treated differently from the most sophisticated chips, which he said raise greater national-security concerns.

He also argued that efforts to de-risk supply chains from China are contributing to higher costs in the short term.

“When you change supply chains, it will have an impact for a period of time. And consumers will pay the price for moving supply chains out of existing production capacity into new production capacity. We’re experiencing that right now. Every large international corporation is de-risking from China,” McHenry said. “And so we can call that ‘reshoring’ here into the United States, ‘friendshoring’ for allies across the globe. You see that connected with the president’s trade agenda as well. But for a period of time during that reallocation of those resources, you’re going to see supply costs go up and supply being constrained as you’re rebuilding these supply chains.”

“But consumers are going to pay the price for that in the short term. And that’s what we’re trying to remedy through better policy to get those supply chains up and running faster so you have less consumer impact and better choices for consumers,” he added.

TRUMP WARNS AI RACE IS ‘BIGGEST THING’ IN HUNDREDS OF YEARS

“Data Center Alley” during high temperatures in Sterling, Virginia, US, on Monday, June 23, 2025. (Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

McHenry argued that the most advanced chips used to develop “frontier models” — AI systems with the most advanced capabilities — should be protected from China and produced through U.S. and allied supply chains. He said the resulting short-term price increases are a worthwhile tradeoff for national security.

“We’re over the hump, I believe, on these costs being borne by the American people,” McHenry said. “I think we’re actually more five to eight years into bearing that burden, and I think the next five years are going to be far better for the American consumer because of the policies that this administration has gotten right on energy, on production of chips here in the United States and having an important distinction between high-value chipsets, low-value chip sets, high-value technology, low-value technology and what that means for the American consumer and for national security. They’ve really balanced that in a very smart way.” 

McHenry explained lawmakers must balance national-security priorities with keeping consumer costs down by distinguishing cutting-edge chips from lower-end technologies used in everyday products.

“We want to make sure we have this full stack of production and capacity here in the United States. The Trump administration has prioritized that. That is a welcome and good thing. And over time, we’re going to see the benefits. The consumer is going to see the benefits, and then you have to have the distinction between those important matters and then all the stuff that should be freely tradeable around the globe,” McHenry said. “And it’s those lower-value things like memory chips that will have a major impact on consumers and the way that the American people live. We wanna be sensitive to that and we wanna be smart as American policymakers on that.”

The Abundance Institute report called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to study how  major chipmakers allocate manufacturing capacity between conventional DRAM chips used in everyday electronics and high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, used in AI data centers. 

“The study could confirm that each firm is independently responding to price signals,” the policy report reads. 

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McHenry argued that policymakers should distinguish between cutting-edge chips with national-security implications and lower-value chips used in consumer products.

Fox News Digital contacted the FTC for comment.