ISLAMABAD: The Power Division has assured development partners that commercial operations of the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM) are expected to begin by the end of September 2025.
The new system will allow bulk power consumers with a demand of 1 MW or more to purchase electricity through direct contracts with competitive suppliers.
The operationalisation of the Independent System and Market Operator will be a key part of this transition. The framework for open access charges and the allocation of wheeling capacity is in the final stages of preparation.
A phased market opening will follow, supported by the establishment of market rules and wheeling charges.
During a meeting with representatives of nearly a dozen development partners, the Power Division discussed updates on power sector reforms, industrial and agriculture pricing packages, grid capacity strategy, and distribution sector reforms, including private sector participation and investment readiness.
The Power Division said capacity costs, denominated in US dollars, have risen from Rs 11.1 per kWh to Rs 18.8 per kWh due to currency depreciation. However, fuel costs have remained steady with the addition of lower-cost generation.
The government said it aims to de-link capacity costs from currency movements and increase reliance on domestic energy sources for long-term sustainability.
Electricity tariffs remain high due to taxes and duties, adding pressure on consumers. The circular debt continues to grow due to inefficiencies and poor debt pricing. A roadmap to address this debt is under development.
Inefficient pricing has raised debt servicing costs and reduced demand.
The government has introduced the Bijli Sahulat package for the winter, offering power at marginal cost plus a small margin. A similar approach is being considered for industrial users to boost grid usage without adding subsidies.
The mechanism would offer marginal pricing while protecting fixed cost recovery through base tariffs.
To increase consumption, the government has proposed a three-year package from March 2025 to December 2027 for industrial and agricultural users. The plan projects an increase in demand of 3,745 MW in March–June 2025, 10,720 MW in 2026, and 11,018 MW in 2027.
The proposed rate is Rs 22 per unit for both sectors, with industrial users saving Rs 10.50 per unit and agricultural users saving Rs 7.77 per unit compared to current rates.
Nepra has set total fixed charges at Rs 2.505 trillion based on 106 billion units. A 5–10 percent drop in demand does not reduce these costs due to their fixed nature, highlighting the importance of increasing usage for cost recovery.
Development partners raised the need for clear pricing over the next three to five years and urged the government to avoid policies that shield inefficient domestic industries. They also stressed the need to finalize wheeling charges and market rules by September, track and publish marginal generation costs, accelerate grid and metering upgrades, and begin structured talks with industry on long-term energy policy.
The government said it is preparing a 10-year plan for generation and transmission planning. It also highlighted the importance of digital tools such as SCADA and AMI for data use and performance tracking.
The Energy Infrastructure Development and Management Company will take over planning and execution of PSDP-funded transmission projects by FY26/27. Board approvals are in progress and the CEO hiring is expected by year-end.
ISMO has been formed by combining technical teams from NTDC and CPPA-G, and will handle market operations independently of NTDC.
Ongoing transmission projects aim to expand northward evacuation capacity by 2,000 MW over the next three to four years. Development partners noted the urgency of investing in grid upgrades to meet the projected 25 percent rise in industrial demand.
They flagged several projects delayed at the planning or early implementation stage and urged quick resolution of legacy design and execution issues.
The planned rollout of 35 million advanced metering infrastructure units will require improved digital capacity and change management within distribution companies.
Ricci quickly disappeared (probably in search of cat food at my neighbour’s). In the distance, I could hear giant waves crashing against the shore – their pounding seemed to have started the moment my better half, ma moitié, left home. Alone again in a foreign land, I felt a sudden chill. While I enjoy solitude, I’m beginning to realise just how much my husband’s presence comforts me like a warm manteau set over my shoulders on a chilly night. What if I go off the rails while he’s gone? Skip our daily walks, linger in bed, and stay glued to YouTube? Suddenly, Ricci reappeared, bounding back from her brief escapade. Ahhh. I remembered that, in addition to my faithful dog, I have my fearless mom just around the side of our bungalow. And there’s Max, his darling Ana, and Jackie, who’ll soon be back from her périple in California. Returning to the kitchen. I removed the day’s loaf from the oven, the warmth and the scent of yeast inviting me to settle in and embrace this ever-shifting nest of ours. I noticed my belle-sœur‘s pairing knife, left at Christmas when she made that mouthwatering salade aux crevettes, avocats et pamplemousse. I’d call Cécile and see if she wants to return and share a favourite walk to les roches plates. I hear the dolphins are back!
“We are so blessed to have this family, and Jean-Marc is a true leader!” Mom toasted, during our farewell lunch for Chief Grape. My eyes locked with his. Leader indeed! The adventures he’s dragged us through! But, oh, the stories he’s given me to share. And now our chef has gone off again, leaving me solo but not alone, and with a mission: to tie up the loose ends on my manuscript about these last 12 months by the sea en famille. My forthcoming book, A Year in a French Life, is a collection of blog stories with full-page colour photos of La Ciotat. Ask for it at your favourite librairie. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed living it – ups and downs, crashing waves and red tape. May it leave you enveloped in a warm Mediterranean hug on a quiet morning somewhere in the south of France.
When Lena Dunham messaged, Megan Stalter lost it. “Like d’uhh,” Stalter is explaining – delighting, really. “Who wouldn’t? I was at home: this really bad apartment in Laurel Canyon [in the Hollywood Hills]. The area is haunted, and it was actually a really scary building, and nothing ever got fixed because apparently in the lease I signed they didn’t have to repair anything! I don’t actually live there now …” Stalter, 34, has a tendency to wander off on tangents. So Dunham?
“OK yes, so we were just about to start filming Hacks again.” The wildly popular, 48-times-Emmy-nominated HBO comedy in which Stalter plays nepo-baby Kayla, a chaotic and kind-hearted talent agent, her total-commitment-to-the-bit characterisation making her a breakout star. “And there Lena was in my DMs.” Stalter opened the message, which said: “I have a project I want to talk to you about.” “That’s when I lost my mind,” she adds. “Panic set in.”
“I’m not,” Stalter clarifies, “a celebrity person. I don’t fangirl over people – but with Lena I do. She’s a creative genius; I’m such a Girls nut, and always felt so connected to her.” In its six seasons, Dunham’s HBO hit transformed television through its unflinching portrayal of millennial women. Eight years since the final episode broadcast, the Dunham buzz hasn’t abated.
Breathe, Stalter had to remind herself. “OK, calm down, diva – ‘project’ is vague. It might be a commercial, an event, a task, maybe.” Not that Stalter was fussy. “Anything she wanted me to do, I would obviously say yes.” Turns out, Dunham didn’t need errands running. “And thank God, honestly.”
Dunham was in the early stages of developing Too Much, her semi-autobiographical Netflix 10-parter, which is released on 10 July. Following Jessica (Stalter), an American thirtysomething workaholic who relocates from New York to England in the deepest throes of heartbreak, the show plays out as an offbeat romcom, with Will Sharpe (The White Lotus, Flowers) playing the indie-musician love interest.
Stalter’s attempts at regional British accents, and a cocaine-fuelled dance break from Richard E Grant, are some of the show’s unexpected highlights. Loosely, it’s based on Dunham’s own experiences: after splitting from music producer Jack Antonoff, she met her now husband, British musician Luis Felber, in London. They wrote Too Much together.
“Jessica is going through a really horrible breakup,” Stalter says, “and this person she was with previously made her feel she’s ‘too much’, and not in a good way. She falls for someone new pretty quickly who does accept who she is and, when she’s surrounded by people who appreciate her, realises she’s yes, a little bit much, in a great way.”
In the show, Dunham plays Jessica’s older sister. “When Lena and I got on Zoom we just clicked. She said right away that if Girls was about sex and discovering who you are, Too Much is a story of love and discovering acceptance. For Lena, like Jessica, finding someone who accepted her the way she is encourages her to embrace herself.”
‘When Lena and I got on Zoom, we just clicked’ … Stalter with Dunham in a scene from the series. Photograph: Ana Blumenkron/Netflix
Pre-Hacks, Dunham had been introduced to Stalter by Andrew Scott, who drops by for a cameo in this series. “From the moment I conceived the character,” Dunham says, “even before I began collaborating with Luis, it was always Meg. I had a feeling that she could be both intensely funny and do something darker and more vulnerable.”
Pre-Hacks, Stalter built a cult social media following, regularly posting clips of kooky skits and characters (small-town butter shop during Pride month; Woman flirts at a bowling alley) that caught Dunham’s eye. “Meg is never looking down on the characters she plays,” she says, “no matter how delusional or silly they may seem. She truly falls in love with, and goes to bat for, whoever she’s playing – and it’s contagious.”
It’s late March when I first meet Stalter, in the lobby of a central London hotel. Shooting on Too Much has wrapped, but it’s early stages in the months-long slog of a press and promo schedule a Dunham x Netflix collab demands. She’s late, 15 minutes maybe, although she’s staying right upstairs. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!” she gushes, all smiles, dropping her teddy bear phone case on the table. “We were working on the ponytail for the day and got carried away! Almond latte?”
Both Stalter and Dunham found bringing Jessica to life an intimate undertaking. Long before shooting started, they spoke extensively about the material and Dunham’s own experiences. Script by script, they’d dissect. “Lena had a small writers’ room where they’d bounce ideas together,” says Stalter, “then after that, it would come to me, and I would have lots of questions: her previous bad relationship; her family; how she was feeling.”
Bed fellows … Will Sharpe and Megan Stalter in Too Much. Photograph: Ana Blumenkron/Netflix
Dunham remembers these well. “Meg is a very intuitive performer,” she tells me, “not method, but she has her method. She asks specific questions that may seem random or left-of-centre and then it always finds its way into the work.”
Stalter made lists of how she and Jessica were similar, then differed. “So, like, in common: we are both very anxious people. Not in common: she’s lost her dad, I haven’t. Jessica is straight and I’m a mostly lesbian bisexual. But I have dated men. And Jessica might not date women, but sexuality is a spectrum … Me and Lena both agreed that if she’d explored a little, maaaaaybe she would have dated women.”
On set, over four months in London, this proximity continued. “If it felt like an emotional scene,” says Stalter, “I’d want a moment just with her, so I felt more connected.” There’s a post-coital scene where Jessica’s sexual self-confidence falters. “Lena and I talked a lot about how, after a breakup, no matter how hot or beautiful you feel and are, you can be so beaten down that insecurity hits.”
The pair spoke extensively, too, about the show’s title, with its heap of gendered connotations. Is “you’re too much” a phrase she’s had lobbed in her direction? Stalter furrows her brow. “Excuse me, sir, no; people see me as calm, cool and collected.” Three seconds of deadpan, before the laughter erupts. “I am definitely seen as too much. Any loud woman will be told she’s too much at some point. We are made to feel small or too big, sometimes both at the same time, unless we’re neatly in a perfect box. A lot of women experience it: me and Lena were both told we were too much, but then decided we like that about ourselves. I think it’s so sexy to be loud and funny, weird and strange, silly and goofy. It was at school that I realised those traits are often welcomed in boys, but not girls.”
‘I’m a loud woman from a loud family’ … Megan Stalter. Photograph: Nolwen Cifuentes/The Guardian
At the Stalter family home in Cleveland, Ohio, this just wasn’t the case. “I’m a loud woman from a loud family: 20 cousins, mostly women, a few males thrown in, I guess.” Dad’s a tattoo artist, and mum a nurse. “I have two sisters, a brother and lots of aunts. These are funny, opinionated, not-very-quiet women with big personalities – and that was totally normal. So it was, umm, interesting to then be in the real world where women are made to feel they can’t be those things.” She scrunches her face, lugging her voice up an octave: “We’re told to be polite and small and dainty.” Pitch back down. “But that’s not me, girl.”
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She found this first at school. “I was a cheerleader, but like, a nerdy one. Not popular. Teachers made me feel small and not smart. I found myself shrinking into myself, getting quiet and nervous, except in drama and performance. I’d never get good parts; people thought I was bad, but I could be myself at least.”
Through her late teens, Stalter tried all sorts at community college. Teaching wasn’t a good fit. Neither was nursing. “Listen, nurses are incredible,” she says, “but I’m not supposed to be a nurse. I pass out at blood. Emotionally I was into it, but practically, it was not working.” Nothing was sticking. “OK so I also love Jesus,” she continues, no change in pace. “I’m a real God-girlie. If I wasn’t going to do something I loved, I wanted to do something that helped God. I tried some mission work, and stuff with my church.” She attended a Pentecostal church from a young age, and aged 20 spent six months with a Christian youth organisation in South America. She gave Bible school a go, too. “I tried for several years, but I really missed performing. I thought: ‘If this is in me, maybe it’s my service. Maybe God wants me to do what I really want to do, and share it with the world.’”
Stalter joined a local improv class. “I thought I was so good,” she says, “but everyone there for some reason kept telling me I wasn’t? Later on, a friend told me I was a bit like Michael Scott in The Office: walking on and messing things up. But I always felt deluded in my talent and how special I was, which really kept me going until I actually got good.”
Dog days … Too Much. Photograph: Ana Blumenkron/Netflix
Aged 24, she moved to Chicago to pursue standup. “And I performed for years there. It went OK, but not much was happening for me.” Everything changed when she started posting – an art for which Stalter has a knack – launching a spoof self-titled online talkshow. “I was on Instagram live every night with a new theme. I’d set up weird things: ‘Crazy trip to Paris night’; be a travel agent and pretend to book things. That is when it all took off.” In 2019, she moved to New York, and the gigs kept coming: Hacks, indie film Cora Bora, sell-out standup shows and now Too Much.
In June, we speak again over Zoom, Stalter now back at home in Los Angeles in a thankfully ghost-free residence, with her girlfriend. “Oh, and our two kitties, and a terrier who is really attached to me. Too attached, really. The separation anxiety is a problem.”
It’s intense, Los Angeles right now: anti-ICE protests and the general bad Trump vibes percolating. “It’s really upsetting,” Stalter says, “devastating and scary.” She’s been to some marches. “People have to keep coming together to protest and support one another. We’re fighting for each other.” Throwing herself into Too Much has been a much-welcomed escape.
It’s no affront to Stalter’s range to see a through-line from her characters: from those early viral creations all the way to Jessica. Whether self-invented for standup and socials, or brought to life from scripts on screen, they tend to be big, bold, slightly berserk. “What,” she’s grinning, “am I not as crazy as you expected? I like to play people who are nervous-confident: women who have a level of self-love but are falling apart and pretend they’re not. I do a lot of standup with a persona I’ve built, too, where the character – me – pretends to be really talented but the show crumbles.”
Agent of chaos … Stalter and Hannah Einbinder in Hacks. Photograph: HBO
Stalter sees some of herself in these characters. “I’m wild in that way,” she says, “although I’m not horrible, I’m actually very nice. But I feel so confident on stage acting this crazy bitch. Something inside of me is over the top. When I’m at my most relaxed and comfortable, like on stage, it also comes out of me.” Playing characters who often move through the world unconcerned by judgment has made Stalter reflect.
“There’s something really freeing about playing someone like that,” she believes. “In real life, I’m such a people pleaser. I struggle with wanting everyone to be happy all the time, for them to be happy with me, scared of upsetting someone or having someone be mad at me. It’s my greatest fear: like I’m going to die if someone is mad at me. It’s something I’m working on in therapy.”
Might that be a tricky trait in her industry? Dunham told New York magazine in 2024 she refrained from casting herself as the lead in part because she “was just not up for having my body dissected again”. Too Much is Stalter’s first leading TV role, and it’s a big-hitter: there will be reviews, comparisons to Girls, so much more exposure.
Stalter feigns a look of panic at the prospect. “Wouldn’t it be so funny if I passed out?” She smacks her hand on the table, leaving her latte wobbling. Another smile. She shrugs off the pressure. “I’m a woman comedian who puts stuff on the internet, babe,” comes her reply, “and I’m not skinny. So I’ve already had the meanest stuff said about me. Any woman posting – yes, skinny women, too – will get it. So I’m not worried when someone says something unkind, or doesn’t like me in a show, honestly. I literally have a viral clip that’s me reading out the worst, craziest abuse: ‘Fat white comedian does crazy bomb set.’”
She pauses for a moment. “It’s only in my personal life that I’m a massive people pleaser. If strangers say they hate Too Much, or me, whatever: I think I’m hot, I love how I look, and I love my comedy. I am who I am, and can’t be anything but my loud self.”
The death toll from the five-storey building collapse in Karachi has risen to 27, with several people still missing under the rubble, officials said on Sunday.
Rescue teams worked overnight on Friday to pull out more bodies from the rubble of the building situated in Lyari on Fida Husain Shaikha Road in Lea Market.
Till Saturday, 80 per cent of the rescue operation had been completed, according to South Deputy Commissioner (DC) Javed Nabi Khoso.
Speaking to Dawn.com today at around 1:30pm, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb Khan said “it will take five to six more hours to complete the rescue operation”.
Khan added that several people are still missing under the rubble but he could not cite an official figure yet since rescue operations were ongoing.
“Five people, including three women have been injured and so far,” said a statement from Edhi Rescue Service.
A total of 27 bodies have been recovered so far, including nine women, 15 men, a 13-year-old child, a 10-year-old child, and a one-year-old infant. The bodies have been shifted to Civil Hospital Karachi by Edhi Ambulance.
Ten people who were injured have been discharged.
While speaking to the media today after leading the Ashura procession, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah provided details on the building collapse.
“Immediate rescue efforts were launched to save any survivors trapped under the rubble,” he said, adding that the bodies recovered had been handed over to the families.
He echoed Khan’s statement of rescue operations being expected to conclude today.
The chief minister assured that a detailed inquiry into the causes of the collapse would be conducted, with committees already formed to investigate the matter thoroughly.
He revealed that over 480 buildings in old city areas, mostly in District South, have been declared dangerous.
“The government plans to assist affected residents in finding alternative housing,” he said.
CM Murad added that the recently collapsed building was constructed only a few months ago, apparently without proper approval, and those responsible for unauthorised construction would face strict punishment.
He also urged the public to verify that any building they purchase has proper approval from the Building Control Authority.
He acknowledged that several people resist evacuation due to poverty and lack of alternatives, often buying or renting cheaper properties without checking safety approvals and later demanding government protection.
While empathising with these difficulties, he stressed that sometimes strict action is necessary to ensure public safety, as demonstrated by recent enforcement measures.
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK: Global investors are heading into U.S. President Donald Trump’s Wednesday deadline for trade tariffs palpably unexcited and prepared for a range of benign scenarios that they believe are already priced in.
Just days before the end of a 90-day pause he announced on his April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs, Trump said the first batch of letters outlining the tariff levels they would face on exports to the United States would be sent to 12 countries on Monday.
Investors who have been tracking this date for months expect more details to emerge in the coming days and protracted uncertainty too, anticipating Trump will not be able to complete deals with all of America’s trading partners in the coming week.
And they are not overly concerned.
“The market has gotten much more comfortable, more sanguine, when it comes to tariff news,” said Jeff Blazek, co-chief investment officer of multi-asset at Neuberger Berman in New York.
“The markets think that there is enough ‘squishiness’ in the deadlines – absent any major surprise – to not be too unsettled by more tariff news and believe that the worst-case scenarios are off the table now.”
Both the tariff levels and effective dates have become moving targets. Trump said on Friday that tariffs ranging up to 70% could go into effect on August 1, levels far higher than the 10%-50% range he announced in April.
So far, the U.S. administration has a limited deal with Britain and an in-principle agreement with Vietnam.
Deals that had been anticipated with India and Japan have failed to materialize, and there have been setbacks in talks with the European Union.
World stocks are meanwhile at record highs, up 11% since April 2.
They fell 14% in three trading sessions after that announcement but have since rallied 24%.
“If Liberation Day was the earthquake, the tariff letters will be the aftershocks. They won’t quite have the same impact on markets even if they are higher than the earlier 10%,” said Rong Ren Goh, a portfolio manager in the fixed income team at Eastspring Investments in Singapore.
“This financial system is so inundated with liquidity that it is hard to cash up or delever at the risk of lagging the markets, with April serving as a painful reminder for many who derisked and were then forced to chase the relentless recovery in the subsequent weeks.”
Taxes and the FED
Investors have also been distracted by weeks of wrangling in Congress over Trump’s massive tax and spending package, which he signed into law on Friday.
Stock markets have celebrated the passage of the bill, which makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, while bond investors are wary the measures could add more than $3 trillion to the nation’s $36.2 trillion debt.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes closed at record highs on Friday, notching a third week of gains. Europe’s STOXX 600 benchmark is up 9% in three months.
Musk announces forming of ‘America Party’ in further break from Trump
But the risks of tariff-related inflation have weighed on U.S. Treasuries and the dollar, and jostled expectations for Federal Reserve policy.
Rate futures show traders no longer expect a Fed rate cut this month and are pricing in a total of just two quarter-point reductions by year-end.
The dollar has suffered a knock to its haven reputation from the dithering on tariffs.
The dollar index , which reflects the U.S. currency’s performance against a basket of six others, has had its worst first half of the year since 1973, declining some 11%. It has fallen by 6.6% since April 2 alone.
“The markets are discounting a return to tariff levels of 35%, 40% or higher, and anticipating an across-the-board level of 10% or so,” said John Pantekidis, chief investment officer at TwinFocus in Boston.
Pantekidis is cautiously optimistic about the outlook for U.S. stocks this year, but the one variable he is watching closely is interest rate levels.
For now he expects to see interest rates dip in the second half, “but if the bond market worries about the impact of the bill and rates go up, that’s a different scenario.”
Search for missing continues with at least 51 people killed, including 15 children
We are restarting our live coverage of the devastating Texas floods.
Hundreds of rescuers are desperately searching for people missing in central Texas, after torrential rains caused devastating flooding that killed at least 51 people, including 15 children.
The total number of missing people is not yet clear, but officials say that 27 of them are girls who had been attending Camp Mystic, a Christian youth camp located along the River Guadalupe in Kerr County, the area worst affected by the flood.
The river rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours overnight into the July 4 holiday.
Drone footage shows extent of deadly Texas flooding – video
The flooding in Kerr County killed at least 43 people, including 15 children, and at least eight people died in nearby counties, including Travis County and Tom Green County.
Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads.
Authorities said about 850 people had been rescued, with more than 1,700 people involved in the search-and-rescue operation.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.
In a post on X, he wrote that Camp Mystic was“horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster” and vowed that rescuers would find “every girl who was in those cabins”.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates on the floods throughout the day.
Furniture lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding in Kerr County. Photograph: Sergio Flores/Reuters
Key events
The father of Blair, 13, and BrookeHarber, 11, confirmed to CNN yesterday that his daughters had died in the Texas flooding after having gone missing in Kerr County.
RJ Harber told CNN that Blair “was a gifted student and had a generous kind heart” and that Brooke “was like a light in any room, people gravitated to her and she made them laugh and enjoy the moment”.
Neither Blair or Brooke were at Camp Mystic when they went missing.
Questions have arose as to why the severity of the flooding in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July holiday caught many officials by surprise.
Here is an extract from a story by my colleagues Oliver Milman, José OlivaresandRobert Mackey who have looked into the preparations for the flood and examined how federal policy may have impacted local projection capabilities:
Officials defended their preparations for severe weather and their response but said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was, in effect, the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.
One National Weather Service (NWS) forecast this week had called for only 3-6in (76-152mm) of rain, said Kidd, of the Texas division of emergency management.
“It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.
Saturday’s deaths renewed questions about whether it was wise for the Trump administration to implement deep budget and job cuts at the NWS – among other federal government agencies – since his second presidency began in January.
Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp, had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flood, according to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.
Early Friday morning, shortly after the deluge hit, over 100 game wardens and an aviation group tried to access the camp, but they weren’t able to enter to start rescuing children until after midday, CNN reports.
One of the girls attending the camp, Renee Smajstrla, who was nine years old, was confirmed to be among the dead by her uncle.
“Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly,” Shawn Salta wrote on Facebook. “We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life.”
A Sheriff’s deputy pauses while combing through the banks of the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP
Camp Mystic said in an email to parents of the campers that if they had not been contacted directly, their child had been accounted for.
Another girls’ camp in the area, Heart O’ the Hills, said on its website that co-owner Jane Ragsdale had died in the flood but no campers had been present as it was between sessions.
Search for missing continues with at least 51 people killed, including 15 children
We are restarting our live coverage of the devastating Texas floods.
Hundreds of rescuers are desperately searching for people missing in central Texas, after torrential rains caused devastating flooding that killed at least 51 people, including 15 children.
The total number of missing people is not yet clear, but officials say that 27 of them are girls who had been attending Camp Mystic, a Christian youth camp located along the River Guadalupe in Kerr County, the area worst affected by the flood.
The river rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours overnight into the July 4 holiday.
Drone footage shows extent of deadly Texas flooding – video
The flooding in Kerr County killed at least 43 people, including 15 children, and at least eight people died in nearby counties, including Travis County and Tom Green County.
Searchers used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads.
Authorities said about 850 people had been rescued, with more than 1,700 people involved in the search-and-rescue operation.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.
In a post on X, he wrote that Camp Mystic was“horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster” and vowed that rescuers would find “every girl who was in those cabins”.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates on the floods throughout the day.
Furniture lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic after deadly flooding in Kerr County. Photograph: Sergio Flores/Reuters
A devastating flash flood has torn through Texas in the United States, killing dozens, including children, and leaving many others missing.
Search and rescue teams are working around the clock, deploying helicopters, boats, and drones to search for survivors, some stranded on trees and areas isolated by destroyed roads, and to recover victims’ bodies.
Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ summer camp along a river in Kerr County, suffered the most damage, with more than two dozen campers still unaccounted for. The picturesque landscape, with its shallow rivers winding through hills and valleys, creates ideal conditions for deadly flash floods, making it one of the most flood-prone US regions.
In the early hours of July 4, 2025, floodwaters surged through an area about 112km (70 miles) west of San Antonio that houses summer camps and small communities. At least 50 people have been killed so far, while 27 girls from one camp are still missing.
The deluge began when heavy rainfall sent water rushing down hillsides into creeks, which then overwhelmed the Guadalupe River.
By Saturday, rescue personnel searched through a devastated landscape of twisted trees, overturned vehicles, and mud-covered debris in an increasingly urgent effort to find survivors. Authorities have not specified the total number of missing people beyond the children from Camp Mystic.
The powerful floodwaters rose 26 feet (8 metres) on the Guadalupe in just 45 minutes before dawn on Friday, sweeping away homes and vehicles. The rains continued on Saturday, with flash flood warnings and watches remaining in effect.
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Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Get the kiln ready.
Green group hint: Tiny bit.
Blue group hint: Not nurses or lawyers.
Purple group hint: Hoo boy. Let’s say, a portion of these words sound like a body part.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Fired objects.
Green group: Particle.
Blue group: Drs.
Purple group: Ending with homophones of parts of the leg.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The completed NYT Connections puzzle for Sunday, July 6, 2025, #756.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is fired objects. The four answers are ceramics, china, pottery and ware.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is particle. The four answers are crumb, grain, morsel and shred.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Drs. The four answers are Dre, Evil, Pepper and Seuss.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ending with homophones of parts of the leg. The four answers are crypto, decaf, Disney and Prussian.
Crypto = toe
Decaf = calf
Disney = knee
Prussian = shin
Quick tips for Connections
#1: Say the clue words out loud, pausing before and after each. That helps you hear the words in the context of a phrase. The Connections editors love to group words together that are used in similar phrasing, like ____ Up.
#2: Don’t go for the obvious grouping. These editors are smart. Once, they offered SPONGE, BOB, SQUARE and PANTS in the same puzzle. None of those words were in the same category. If you like, hit the “shuffle” button to give yourself a different perspective on the words.
#3: Break down any compound words and look for similarities. “Rushmore” was once in a puzzle where the connection was that each word started with the name of a rock band.
Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one. The category offers some creative answers, and once you understand the theme, the unscrambling comes easily. If you need hints and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: My hero!
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Marvel and DC.
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
SPEED, FLIGHT, HEALING, STRENGTH, INVISIBILITY
Today’s Strands spangram
The completed NYT Strands puzzle for July 6, 2025, #490.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
Today’s Strands spangram is SUPERPOWER. To find it, look for the S that’s four letters to the right on the bottom row, and wind up.
Quick tips for Strands
#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an “S” or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.
#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.
#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.
