Death toll from unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris now stands at more than 900. Plus, was it a mistake to take away Pluto’s planet status?

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Good morning. Rescue teams are working to reach hundreds of people feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of half a dozen hydropower projects in Nepal as more than 900 workers were reported missing after the devastating flash floods.

The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris that crashed through valleys of Nepal on Wednesday last week has risen to 903 people, with 16 reported dead on the Tibet side of the border. More than 4,000 are missing in Nepal, with another 500 in Tibet. Hundreds of bodies, many unidentified, have been buried in shallow graves.

How large is the rescue operation? Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, said almost 21,000 security personnel were involved in the rescue operations, besides civilian workers and volunteers. China’s state-run CCTV reported that Beijing had mobilised more than 2,100 rescue workers. The Red Cross has ‌estimated that more than 90,000 people are likely to have been affected by the disaster, which China and some experts linked to the effects of the climate crisis.

Why has the disaster sparked a racism row in Australia? A slew of racist social media comments have been made towards missing Australians. Most of them were on pilgrimages, including to Mount Kailash in Tibet. Mainstream media outlets including News Corp, Channel 7, Channel 10 and Nine have been hit with highly offensive and discriminatory comments on Facebook articles identifying the missing Australians.

What has Donald Trump claimed US forces are doing? Hours after the attacks, the US president, Donald Trump, claimed in a social media post that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens” but gave no further details. The White House and ⁠the US defense department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Attacking Kharg, which handled 90% of ⁠Iran’s oil exports before the war, would severely disrupt the Islamic republic’s energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy.

US targets Iran’s Larak Island in first exchange of fire in more than a month as Masoud Pezeshkian says America ‘has not fulfilled its commitments’

• First US military attacks on Iran in a month prompt retaliation

Coinciding with this week’s G20 meeting, the EU has issued a statement saying it will work with the US and other allied countries to maintain economic pressure against Iran.

“The ‌EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good ‌faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through ​the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” it said in reference to the pressure strategy the White House describes as “an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining” the Islamic republic.

Iran responded to an assault on its Larak Island by targeting US bases in Jordan

• Trump threatens further action as US and Iran exchange fire in new flare-up

Coinciding with this week’s G20 meeting, the EU has issued a statement saying it will work with the US and other allied countries to maintain economic pressure against Iran.

“The ‌EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good ‌faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through ​the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” it said in reference to the pressure strategy the White House describes as “an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining” the Islamic republic.

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Every now and then the Thursday quiz gets involved in a flap, as it did last week with “birb”-gate. After a sustained campaign lasting at least two weeks, subeditors finally relented and allowed the quiz to call our feathered friends “birbs” – only for half the comment section to revolt against the indignity of modern internet parlance. Still, that is nothing compared with the time a reader complained that the quiz using the phrase “baby cows” was unbecoming of a broadsheet newspaper. Anyway, 15 questions on news, general knowledge and obscure trivia await, and no “birbs” were harmed in the process. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 262