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German Olympic star Laura Dahlmeier has been confirmed dead following a mountaineering accident in Pakistan. Adverse weather conditions had hampered attempts to rescue the former Olympic champion.SportsGermany

German Olympic star Dahlmeier confirmed dead in Pakistan

Matt Ford | Stefan Nestler AFP, AP, dpa, SID

German Olympic star Laura Dahlmeier has been confirmed dead following a mountaineering accident in Pakistan. Adverse weather conditions had hampered attempts to rescue the former Olympic champion.

On top of her Olympic career, Laura Dahlmeier was a seasoned mountaineer

Former German Olympic biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier was confirmed dead on Wednesday, two days after being caught in a rockslide high in the mountains of northern Pakistan.

The 31-year-old was swept away by falling rocks on Monday at an altitude of around 5,700 meters (18,700 feet) while ascending the 6,069-meter-high Laila Peak.

Dahlmeier’s climbing partner, Marina Eva, sent a distress signal and was able to descend to base camp on Tuesday with the help of rescuers. But Dahlmeier remained injured and inaccessible on the mountain.

Rescue attempts made for German climber on Pakistan mountain

Adverse weather conditions hampered rescue attempts, with Pakistani military helicopters remaining grounded due to low visibility, rain, and strong winds.

Finally, on Wednesday morning, two teams comprising four international climbers — three Americans and one German — as well as two local high-altitude porters had set out on the rescue mission.

Speaking to DW, Karar Haideri, the Vice-President of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, estimated that Dahlmeier’s chances of survival were “50-50” but did emphasize that injured climbers have been known to survive for days with oxygen.

But Dahlmeier’s management confirmed to the German DPA and SID news agencies later on Wednesday that the athlete had indeed died.

Dahlimeier unexpectedly retired in 2019 while at the peak of her athletic career
Who was Laura Dahlmeier?

With two Olympic gold medals at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, and a total of seven world championship titles, Dahlmeier was one of the most successful German biathletes of this century.

She was named German Athlete of the Year in 2017 but surprisingly ended her career in May 2019 at the age of just 25 to become a mountain-climbing and ski instructor in her hometown of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian Alps.

Dahlmeier had taken part in several challenging mountaineering expeditions, including up the 7,100-meter Korzhenevskaya Peak in Tajikistan in 2023, plus an ascent of the 6,800-meter Ama Dablam in Nepal in 2024 in a women’s record time.

She had been in northern Pakistan with friends since the end of June and had successfully climbed the 6,200-meter Great Trango Tower on July 8, her management confirmed, describing Dahlmeier as an “experienced and risk-aware climber.”

Donald Trump has launched a new attack on Sir Sadiq Khan – as he claimed his earlier criticism of the London mayor had been well received.
The US president said Sir Sadiq was a “horrible mayor” and a “stupid guy” who had done a “lousy job” as he spoke to reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday evening as he returned to the US following a five-day visit to Scotland.
Earlier in the visit, during a press conference with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire, Mr Trump described Sir Sadiq as a “nasty person”.
The pair have exchanged verbal insults repeatedly since both were running for office in 2015 – Mr Trump in his first bid to become president and Sir Sadiq as he sought the first of his three terms as London mayor.
Answering media questions about the reaction to his visit to Scotland, Mr Trump said onboard the presidential plane: “They also liked what I said that they have one of the worst mayors anywhere in the world in London.
“He’s a horrible mayor – nasty guy. Stupid guy, in my opinion. He’s a nasty man and I want nothing to do with him.
“I didn’t think it was a big statement and I was… so many people said thank you for saying that. He is a bad guy.
“Khan is his name, I guess. He has done a lousy job, I can tell you that. A terrible mayor. Other people liked it so much when I said that.”
Trump pivots from railing about Europe’s “immigration problem” to bashing the mayor of London: “Nasty guy. Stupid guy in my opinion. But he’s a nasty man and I want nothing to do with him. But I didn’t think it was a big statement, and so many people said ‘Thank you for saying… pic.twitter.com/Htm7WDc2ho

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 29, 2025

Mr Trump’s initial comments forced Sir Keir to defend his Labour party colleague, with the Prime Minister telling the president: “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”
Reacting to Mr Trump’s latest remarks, a source close to the mayor told The Standard: “If Donald Trump was praising us, we’d probably be doing something wrong.”
Sir Sadiq was re-elected mayor for an historic third time in May 2024 – with his 275,828 majority the second largest since the London mayoralty was reintroduced in 2000.
Different voting system, but @SadiqKhan’s majority of 275,828 is the second biggest in the seven London mayoral elections to date.

Sir Sadiq was knighted by the King in the 2025 New Year honours list.
Mr Trump, who is due to return to the UK in September for a State visit hosted at Windsor Castle, said he would be prepared to visit London, despite his low regard for the mayor.
Following Mr Trump’s re-election last November, Sir Sadiq invited him to attend the capital’s annual Pride festival and to join him for Friday prayers at a mosque.
Sir Sadiq is a practising Muslim and his comments appeared to seek to contrast his support for the capital’s diverse communities with what he believes are the less tolerant views of Mr Trump.
In 2018 protesters flew a giant inflatable “blimp” caricature of the US president as a baby during his visit to the UK.
A year later, Sir Sadid was described by Mr Trump as a “stone cold loser” during a presidential visit to the UK.
Last September, when Sir Sadiq visited the US, Sir Sadiq said he hoped Kamala Harris, Mr Trump’s Democrat rival, would become US president.
After Mr Trump was re-elected, Sir Sadiq said many Londoners would be “anxious” about his shock return to the White House and “fearful about what it will mean for democracy”.
Read More
Sadiq Khan vs Donald Trump: The ongoing feud after the US president calls the Mayor of London a ‘nasty person’
Donald Trump reignites feud with Sadiq Khan as he calls London Mayor ‘a nasty person’ in awkward exchange
Foreign embassies owe London record £160m in unpaid congestion charge debts – see list of worst countries
Number of Islamophobic social media posts aimed at Sadiq Khan doubles in a year

STAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!’: Trump warns Americans about tsunami threatUS President Donald Trump has updated Americans about the tsunami alerts in place for parts of the US following the earthquake.

It has triggered tsunami fears across the Pacific, with warnings and alerts in place across Japan, parts of the US including Hawaii, California and Alaska, and the Philippines.

The earthquake could be the sixth-largest on record.

In Hawaii, roads became choked with traffic as residents sought to flee to higher ground.

The first waves in Hawaii were expected to hit at 7pm local time (6am UK time).

In Japan, nuclear plants along the Pacific coasts have suspended their work.

In Russia, there have been reports of some injuries and waves of up to four metres in the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Kamchatka governor Vladimir Solodov earlier said: “Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors.”
An 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever recorded, has hit off the far east of Russia, causing a tsunami – with warnings issued for Japan, China, the Philippines and parts of the US, including Hawaii, California and Alaska. Follow the latest

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s disaster management agency has warned the country’s coastal areas could expect “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore”.Tsunami warnings have been issued for Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii and parts of Alaska in the US.

A tsunami “watch” was issued for portions of the West Coast of the US, including California, Oregon, and Washington.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s disaster management agency has warned that the country’s coastal areas could expect “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore”.

In a national advisory alert, Civil Defence New Zealand said there was no immediate need to evacuate but said citizens should stay away from beaches and shore areas.Tsunami warnings have been issued for Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii and parts of Alaska in the US.

A tsunami “watch” was issued for portions of the West Coast of the US, including California, Oregon, and Washington.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s disaster management agency has warned that the country’s coastal areas could expect “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore”.

In a national advisory alert, Civil Defence New Zealand said there was no immediate need to evacuate but said citizens should stay away from beaches and shore areas.service failures.

Several people were injured but are in satisfactory condition, although authorities did not give a precise number.

Oleg Melnikov, head of the regional health department, said a few people hurt themselves while rushing to leave buildings, and a hospital patient received an injury while jumping out of a window.

The earthquake hit during a surgery at the Kamchatka Cancer Dispensary in Russia, where doctors had to work hard to keep the patient still on the operating table.

An 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever recorded, has hit off the far east of Russia, causing a tsunami – with warnings issued for Japan, China, the Philippines and parts of the US, including Hawaii, California and Alaska.

The first waves triggered by a massive 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s coast have reached the shores of US states Hawaii and California – here’s what we know so far

The earthquake, which hit near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula at about 11:25am local time (00:25am BST) on Wednesday, is one of the most powerful ever recorded

Russian authorities have evacuated the town of Severo-Kurilsk, where they say 4m (13ft) waves flooded the port and a fish processing facility

Japan has downgraded the tsunami threat level in some areas after earlier telling 1.9 million people to evacuate, while evacuation orders are still in force in countries as far apart as Colombia and New Zealand

A British cruise passenger touring Hawaii’s Big Island tells the BBC that “everyone was just running” back to the vessel as sirens began sounding

A decision that exempted YouTube from Australia’s ban on teen social media use has been overturned. A youth social media law will go into effect in December.

Australia has reversed a decision that omitted YouTube from its ban on social media platforms for teenagers. A youth social media law will come into effect starting in December.

Last week, Australia’s internet regulator highlighted a survey showing 37% of minors reported harmful content on YouTube

Australia is banning YouTube for children under 16, widening the scope of a landmark social media law that aims to protect teenagers from harmful content online.

“Young people under the age of 16 will not be able to have accounts on YouTube,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Wednesday.

The Alphabet-owned video-sharing platform had been previously granted an exemption due its popularity with teachers.

Last year, Australia was the first country to propose a ban on social media for teenagers. 

Sites covered by the ban, such as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, have protested the proposed ban.

The police commissioner of New York City said on Tuesday that the man who used an assault-style rifle to shoot four people dead inside a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan was carrying a “suicide note” accusing the National Football League of causing the degenerative brain disease he claimed to have.

The gunman has been identified by police as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old former high school football player and security guard at a Las Vegas casino who has a history of mental illness..Tamura killed two security guards, one of them a city policeman on security detail, as well as a real estate executive and a business management associate, before taking his own life on the 33rd floor of the Park Avenue skyscraper.

An employee of the NFL, which has its headquarters in the building alongside offices of major financial firms, was gravely wounded in the attack, which was the deadliest mass shooting in New York City in a quarter century.

The NFL worker was among several people shot in the lobby before Tamura, targeting the football league, used the wrong elevator bank and ended up in the 33rd-floor office suite of Rudin Management, a real estate company that owns the building, city officials said.

“A suicide note found in his possession at the scene spoke to a possible motive in the shooting and may explain why he targeted NFL headquarters,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a video message posted on YouTube on Tuesday. In the note, Tamura “claimed to be suffering from CTE, possibly from playing high school football, and he also blamed the NFL,” Tisch said. CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a degenerative brain disease.
The note, Tisch said, mentions a 2013 Frontline documentary featuring former NFL players who suffered from CTE, which has no known treatment and can be caused by repeated shaking of the brain associated with playing contact sports. Linked to aggression and dementia, the condition can only be diagnosed conclusively after death.

“‘Study my brain. I’m sorry,’” Tisch quoted Tamura as having written in the note. The commissioner noted that Tamura had fatally shot himself in the chest.

The NFL has paid more than one billion dollars to settle concussion-related lawsuits with thousands of retired players after the deaths of several high-profile players. It has made changes to the sport to mitigate the risk of concussions.

Tamura was never an NFL player, but he did play football during high school in California, according to school sports databases.

A former coach of Tamura, Walter Roby, told Fox News that Tamura was a “quiet, hard worker” and one of his “top offensive players” on the Granada Hills Charter School team.

According to police, the first victim slain on Monday was Didarul Islam, 36, a New York Police Department officer who immigrated to the US from Bangladesh and was the father of two young boys. Islam’s wife is pregnant with their third child. Assigned to the building’s security detail, he was hailed by Mayor Eric Adams as a “true blue” hero.

A private security officer, identified by family as Aland Etienne, was fatally shot in the lobby moments after Islam, along with Wesley LePatner, a senior real estate executive for Blackstone, the private equity firm also headquartered in the tower. Several of her colleagues at Blackstone were injured, according to the company.

Fear and shock
The last victim killed was Julia Hyman, a 2020 graduate of the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration, who was working as an associate at Rudin Management, according to her alma mater.

The skyscraper was closed to workers on Tuesday, as were some neighboring buildings, although much of Park Avenue hummed as usual.

The Park Avenue shooting follows last year’s murder of a UnitedHealth executive outside a hotel located just a few blocks away. Prosecutors say the man charged with that murder targeted his victim as a symbol of corporate greed.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a staff memo that New York-based league employees should plan to work remotely through at least the end of next week. An NFL spokesperson did not respond to queries about the shooter’s reported motives.

History of mental illness
Tamura appeared to have driven to Manhattan from Las Vegas over three days and to have acted alone, Tisch told reporters on Monday night.

In her video message on Tuesday, the commissioner said NYPD detectives would be questioning an unnamed “associate” of Tamura who she said had purchased a component of the “AR-15-style assault rifle” that he assembled for the killing spree.

“This is part of a larger effort to trace Mr. Tamura’s steps from Las Vegas to New York City,” Tisch said.

Security video circulated by police showed a man walking from a double-parked car into the Park Avenue tower carrying what police identified as an M4 Carbine, a large semi-automatic rifle popular with civilian US gun enthusiasts that is modeled on a fully automatic rifle used by the US military. In Nevada, unlike New York, no permit is needed to buy a rifle or carry it openly in public.

The security camera system flagged the gunman as a potential threat requiring immediate attention as he walked toward the building and seconds before he burst into the building’s lobby, according to two former federal officials familiar with such systems.

A widely circulated photo showed the Nevada permit issued to Tamura allowing him to legally carry a concealed handgun. He had recently worked as an overnight security guard at the Horseshoe Las Vegas hotel-casino, Tisch said.

On two occasions, in 2022 and 2024, records show law enforcement officials detained Tamura for up to 72 hours under a “mental health crisis hold,” which requires the detainee to be evaluated at a hospital, ABC News reported.

Trump’s second-term net approval rating reaches a new low.”
President Trump’s net job approval rating reached its lowest point of his second term in the latest Economist/YouGov poll.

Trump’s net approval rating is 15 points underwater — with 55 percent of surveyed Americans disapproving of the president’s performance in office and 40 percent approving.

For the last two weeks, 55 percent of Americans have disapproved, and 41 percent have approved of his performance in office; and for the two weeks before that, 53 percent disapproved, and 42 percent approved.

Trump started his second term with 49 percent approval and 43 percent disapproval.

The starkest change in the latest poll comes from Republicans, who’ve shifted away from the president by 12 points over the last two weeks, as the president navigates the country’s fixation on the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump’s latest net approval rating among Republicans is plus 74 points — with 86 percent approving and 12 percent disapproving of his job in office.

That’s down from Trump’s net approval rating of 86 percent two weeks ago, when 92 percent of Republicans approved and 6 percent disapproved of his handling of the presidency.

Among Democrats, meanwhile, Trump’s net approval is negative 85 points; among independents, his net approval rating is negative 33 points.

Compared with Trump’s overall net approval rating, Americans are happier with the president’s handling of immigration and the economy — with net approval ratings of negative 6 points and negative 11 points, respectively.

But the president fares worse on several key issues. Trump is underwater by 25 points on inflation and prices; by 20 points on climate change and the environment; and by 19 points on abortion.

Trump’s handling of foreign trade and education matches his overall net approval rating of negative 15 points.

The latest survey, conducted July 25-28, includes 1,777 adults and has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points-The hill