Nepal has ended the search and rescue operation for those still missing after the devastating flood in August that killed at least 1,455 people, officials say.

Phanindra Paudel, chief of the National Emergency Operation Centre, said authorities were considering how to legally declare the missing persons dead to allow their families or relatives to complete insurance, banking and other legal formalities.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority chief Dharam Raj Uprety said authorities would no longer actively search for bodies but would recover any remains, property or other valuables found during the rehabilitation process. Nepal will begin a high-stakes effort to drain four glacial lakes perched high in the mountains as it scrambles to reduce flood risks, officials said, with the aim to lower the risk of the lakes breaching their natural dams and reduce the risk of downstream floods.

Canals will drain water into nearby rivers in a regulated way, he said, adding that workers faced health risks as a result of the lengthy periods of high-altitude work required, in addition to the dangers of sudden flooding. There will be design work and detailed studies targeting the central and eastern lakes of Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho and Hongu II, authorities said.

The work of draining “through gated structures” will start after a detailed study, and could take up to six years to complete, said Sanjeeb Baral, the Centre’s executive director.

OpenAI must explain how they will stop their models from inappropriately accessing Australian data, the Labor chair of the parliament’s committee on artificial intelligence has warned, ahead of federal inquiry hearings which will grill the tech company alongside Anthropic, Microsoft and Google.

Independent senator David Pocock is also demanding answers, saying OpenAI “still have a lot they need to answer” about their AI agent accessing Services Australia data on Medicare and the company’s “appalling” tardiness in notifying the federal government about the incident.

OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, Jason Kwon, will front the hearing alongside Adam Cohen, the company’s head of economic policy, and the company’s Asia-Pacific national security lead, Peter Anstee. Labor MP chairing the committee Briskey said her starting point would be to interrogate how to balance the potential risks and rewards of AI, such as economic benefits as well as cyber security and defence applications. She said she would also raise concerns about online safety, scams, and how any benefits would be spread among all Australians.

The Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence will hold four days of hearings this week, hearing from tech companies as well as unions, employer groups, banks and industry experts. Tuesday’s hearing will include representatives from copyright and artists’ groups, to probe issues around access to data to train AI models, as well as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which warned in its submission of a “cannibalisation” of journalism and demanded AI companies be subject to the same copyright, defamation and privacy rules as news outlets.

Australian Prime Minister Albanese arrived in Fiji for a pre-COP31 climate meeting in Nadi, emphasizing the vital necessity of amplifying Pacific voices on the global stage. Organized to draw international attention to low-lying island nations directly threatened by rising sea levels, the summit faced challenges when only 14 national leaders agreed to visit Tuvalu as part of the event.

Among these attendees, only two came from outside the Pacific region: Timor-Leste Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta and Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam. Attendance was impacted by geographic remoteness, diplomatic tensions, and expectations that global representatives would prioritize the upcoming COP31 main summit in Turkey.

The event sparked domestic political controversy in Australia, with opposition figures criticizing the gathering as a high-cost vanity project. Meanwhile, Australian leaders faced ongoing scrutiny over domestic fossil fuel policies, including recent coal project approvals. In response, Australian officials highlighted renewable energy initiatives, while Fijian leaders urged the international community to view the Pacific not merely with sympathy, but as a crucial indicator of looming global climate threats.