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The frequency of floods in High Mountain Asia (HMA) has increased significantly since 2000 due to climate change, according to a new study. The study, conducted by a team of scientists including environment expert Sonam Wangchuk, analysed 1,015 floods since 1950. Since 1950, the region's average temperature has shown a steady rise, warming at a rate of 0.3 degrees Celsius per decade. Meanwhile, precipitation patterns have changed in complex ways, both in terms of location and timing, the scientists said. They said this rapid warming, combined with shifting rainfall patterns, is affecting the region's water cycle and increasing flood risks. "In terms of temporal trends, the frequency of recorded flood events since 2000 has generally increased compared to the earlier period, with pluvial floods and snowmelt floods exhibiting a more considerable rise," the authors said. "The study confirms that flood frequency has risen, but a key additional finding is a rise in the unpredictability
Vice President Kamala Harris plans to close out her term with an around-the-world trip making stops in Singapore, Bahrain and Germany, her office said. The trip, which is scheduled to last from Jan 13 to Jan 17, will be a final opportunity for Harris to address US foreign policy challenges before Donald Trump takes office. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is expected to join the vice president. Although she has not disclosed her next steps after losing the presidential election, the expansive travel suggests that Harris might want to continue playing a role on the global stage. There's also speculation that Harris could run for governor of her home state of California. Dean Lieberman, Harris' deputy national security adviser, said in a written statement that "the vice president felt it important to spend some of her final days in office thanking and engaging directly with US service members deployed overseas, which as she has said, has been one of her greatest privileges as vice ...
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will embark on what is expected to be his final overseas trip in office this weekend, travelling to South Korea, Japan and France. The State Department announced Friday that Blinken would visit Seoul, Tokyo and Paris beginning Sunday. He will return to Washington early Thursday in time to attend the funeral services for former president Jimmy Carter, officials said. In South Korea, which is in the midst of a political turmoil following the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japan, Blinken intends to highlight the expansion of US cooperation with both nations as part of the Biden administration's Indo-Pacific strategy. That strategy is primarily intended to blunt Chinese ambitions in the region but also to deter the nuclear threat from North Korea. Political developments in South Korea, however, after Yoon declared martial law and was later impeached, have raised questions about the stability of Washington-Seoul relations. The US has tak