CATASTOPHIC: An enormous fragment that broke off a glacier yesterday and fell into a river between Nepal and Tibet is being blamed for the flash flood that appears to have killed hundreds of people, including Americans, and left hundreds more missing.

  The hunt is on for survivors and the dead in a long stretch of river.

  The US geological Survey said that what appeared to be a 4.4 magnitude earthquake was actually the shaking caused by the falling ice.

  The enormity of the wave can been seen in videos as the floodwaters took out villages, bridges, and a border crossing building that appeared to have been six or seven stories tall. The black wave went right over it, also wiping out a bus depot with as many as 20 parked buses as people unsuccessfully tried to outrun the fatal wave.

  The wave picked up mud, ice, debris and more water as it raced downstream. It is being described as the most devastating flood in the history of the flood prone area that is popular with tourists and Hindu religious pilgrims from India.

  Parts of the area that were reachable only by hours in a vehicle can now only be reached by helicopter. At least 19 bridges and 40 kilometers of roads have been swept away, according to a statement from Nepal’s prime minister. The disaster is being attributed to the ice melt caused by a warming planet.

ATTENTION SPAN: The tech giant Meta that owns Facebook and Instagram agreed to an $18 billion settlement with states that sued ,claiming that the online platforms were intentionally addictive, damaging the brain and social development of American children. 

  It’s telling that they have $18 to cough up.

  Only New Mexico, and Florida, which rejected the deal, are not covered. The money will be divvied among the states, which will decide what they do with it.

  California Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters that, “Instead of getting tied up in years of trials and appeals, we have secured the changes we were after.”

  Meta agreed to deploy “age assurance” technology to determine which users should be subject to new restrictions  Meta agreed to set stricter limits on use by children. Facebook and Instagram will be blocked from midnight to 6 am. Notifications will be turned off during school hours, and teenagers will be able to use the apps for only two hours a day. 

THE INTEL: CIA Director John Ratcliffe made what was originally a secret trip to Moscow this week to warn Russian officials against attacking NATO allies, in particular Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The theory is that Russia is considering a test of NATO’s resolve that an attack against one is an attack against all.

  The Wall Street Journal revealed the trip that President Trump later dismissed as “routine.” It was anything but that. It was highly unusual.

  Ratcliffe  also is reported to have pressed Russia to reduce military and economic support for Iran. 

INFINITE SCROLL: 

— Immigration arrests hit nearly 50,000 in July, the highest number since Donald Trump returned to the Presidency with a vow to sweep the country of illegal immigrants. That tops June with 43,000. 

— A science teacher fired by the West Point military academy for teaching about human-caused climate change is suing for wrongful dismissal. Dr. Adam Kalkstein, who taught at the academy for 17 years, was suddenly ordered last year to stop teaching about climate change.

  President Trump claims climate change is not real and even mention of it has been eliminated from every branch of government. Kalkstein says he was fired for refusing to defy science.

— A federal judge is holding an emergency hearing today about plans by the Kennedy Center board to add Donald Trump’s name three times.

 The board was ordered to reverse the re-naming of the center as “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial” and now they are attempting a classic Trump end run. Trump can’t stand having the center named for a beloved assassinated president.

  The Trump-appointed board voted to add an inscription that would read “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”

  If a fundraising effort reaches $100 million, below that would be added: “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

  The board also approved renaming the surrounding grounds outside the center to “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” 

THE OBIT PAGE: Actor Tim Curry, who starred in the cult classic movie, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” has died at age 80. Curry played Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania.” 

  Curry had suffered a serious stroke in 2012 and never quite recovered.

  Originally a London play, Rocky Horror was filmed as a movie then shown only at midnight for fans who dressed up as characters in the film. Curry had a long career in stage and film, but he was forever the mad cross-dressing doctor.

THE SPIN RACK: Two unvaccinated people in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania  have died of measles as the outbreak in the state has reached 400 people.— Britain’s defrocked Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle have arrived back in England where they plan to live and send their two kids to school for at least a few years after leaving California. 

BELOW THE FOLD: The exclusive and expensive Devon Yacht Club in the enclave for the rich in outer Long Island had to cancel dinner service because their foreign born cooks had to go home in a visa screwup.

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