More than 100 dead and 6 million affected by flooding across South Asia - CNN

More than 100 people have died in India and Nepal since monsoon flooding began over the weekend. The rains have stopped in Nepal on Tuesday, but the disaster is far from over -- with heavy downpours expected to continue in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the coming days.

Nepal appears the worst hit so far, with at least 78 people dead, officials said on Tuesday. A further 29 have died in the northeastern Indian states of Bihar and Assam.

Flash floods have also ripped through Pakistan and Bangladesh, which border India on the east and west, respectively. 28 have died in Pakistan, and 16 in Bangladesh, according to authorities from each country.

More than 6.7 million people in India have been directly affected by the floods, according to official statements -- about 2.5 million in Bihar and 4.2 million in Assam.

Across the border area, over a million hectares of cropland (2,471,054 acres) has been submerged, roads and homes have been damaged, livestock has been swept away and killed, and entire wildlife sanctuaries have been cut off.

Federal and state agencies are working around the clock across all four affected countries to evacuate those in high-risk areas. More than 42,000 security personnel in Nepal have been mobilized for rescue and relief efforts -- including the police, army, and paramilitary forces.

Images from India's National Disaster Response Force show officials helping children and carrying the elderly out of flooded houses into orange inflatable dinghies.

Disaster relief agencies are now scrambling to provide housing and crucial supplies for families who have been displaced. Over 116,000 in Bihar and 83,000 in Assam have been evacuated to temporary shelters, and state agencies are distributing rice, biscuits, baby food, and candles to hundreds of relief centers, according to state officials.

Meanwhile in Bangladesh, many people live in homes made of bamboo, mud, or timber -- which provide little to no protection in floods, said Azmat Ulla, head of the the Bangladesh office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

More than 200,000 Bangladeshis have been displaced and are living in temporary camps, according to the country's state minister for disaster management and relief.

Rohingya refugees in the southeastern corner of Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable. One million Rohingya Muslims who fled persecution in nearby Myanmar are now living in overcrowded camps -- and 400 of these makeshift homes have been destroyed by the floods, leaving 3,000 refugees displaced, said Ulla.

Aid organizations and health workers have other concerns as well -- waterborne diseases like diarrhea are known to spread in the aftermath of floods, and destroyed sewage systems could exacerbate those sanitation issues.

The loss of crops and livestock is another potentially devastating long-term effect.

"There are still communities that depend very much on the crops," Ulla told CNN. "They lose their crops, they lose their livelihoods."

The monsoon rains began on Thursday in Nepal, with tens of thousands evacuated after major rivers swelled to dangerous levels, according to the Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs.

The monsoon rains and the accompanying floods are an annual occurrence -- they bring much-needed water to farmers and drought-hit regions each year, but the sudden downpours also regularly trigger deadly floods and landslides.

Changes in climate has led to increasingly extreme seasons across South Asia. Just last month, swathes of India -- including the major cities of Mumbai and Chennai -- nearly ran out of water, with people lining up for hours for meager daily allocations of government-provided water.

The drought may also have dried up the land, making it harder and less absorbent, said CNN meteorologists -- therefore exacerbating the floods when the monsoon rains arrive.

Residents are forced from one unlivable extreme to the next -- from having no water to drink to escaping rushing floodwater.

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2019-07-16 06:54:07Z
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Japan-South Korea dispute is called 'disturbing and unhelpful' for the global economy - CNBC

South Korean President Moon Jae-in walks past Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019.

Kim Kyung-Hoon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The dispute between Japan and South Korea is "a lose-lose proposition" as it comes amid an ongoing global trade war that the U.S. and its trading partners are embroiled in, an economist said on Tuesday.

Tokyo and Seoul have long had political disagreements stemming from Japan's conduct during the second World War. The dispute between the neighbors spilled into the economic arena when Japan earlier this month restricted exports of materials critical to South Korea's high-tech industry, citing national security concerns.

Japan and South Korea are large exporters of products such as chips and smartphone displays. An escalated trade fight between the two could be bad news for the global technology industry and consumers may end up having to pay more for products.

"This development that we're seeing now is disturbing and unhelpful for the global economic sentiment. To begin with, we already have so much around the trade war between the U.S. and the rest of the world," Taimur Baig, chief economist at DBS Group Research, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday.

He added that Japanese and South Korean companies have spent years building up "intricate" supply chains, and it'll be "so hard to redo" such arrangements when trust among all those involved has been breached.

"It doesn't help anybody," he said. "To me, it's a lose-lose proposition."

Baig is not the only one who has warned about a potential disruption to the technology supply chain. Troy Stangarone, a senior director at think tank Korea Economic Institute of America, said prices of semiconductors could rise if South Korean manufacturers cut production as a result of Japan's trade restrictions.

That higher cost may be passed on to consumers, some experts warned.

Can China benefit?

Other analysts, however, said affected companies will find a way to cope with measures imposed by Japan.

Jesper Koll, senior advisor at WisdomTree Investments, told CNBC last week that the total value of products affected by Japan's curbs is less than $450 million. He predicted that if Tokyo implements further restrictions, "people will scramble but the overall damage is going to be teeny."

And Chinese companies could potentially step in to fill any shortfall in the supply of tech parts, said Stangarone.

"At a time when the United States has raised concerns around China-based technology companies, the Japan-Korea dispute creates space in the market for (Chinese) state-backed firms to establish themselves as potential players," he told CNBC in an email.

"Even though they are not yet as advanced as chipmakers like Samsung or Micron, these firms have the opportunity to substitute supply if there are market disruptions, " he added.

Baig is less optimistic about China's potential to substitute Japan as a major supplier to South Korea. He explained that there are reasons why Japan has the competitive advantage to supply those materials in the first place, and China may find it hard to replicate the same edge.

"Can China be a beneficiary? I have my doubts," he said. "You can't reinvent those supply chains and re-calibrate them so easily, even if you're China."

— Reuters contributed to this report.

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2019-07-16 06:14:42Z
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Japan-South Korea dispute is called 'disturbing and unhelpful' for the global economy - CNBC

South Korean President Moon Jae-in walks past Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019.

Kim Kyung-Hoon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The dispute between Japan and South Korea is "a lose-lose proposition" as it comes amid an ongoing global trade war that the U.S. and its trading partners are embroiled in, an economist said on Tuesday.

Tokyo and Seoul have long had political disagreements stemming from Japan's conduct during the second World War. The dispute between the neighbors spilled into the economic arena when Japan earlier this month restricted exports of materials critical to South Korea's high-tech industry, citing national security concerns.

Japan and South Korea are large exporters of products such as chips and smartphone displays. An escalated trade fight between the two could be bad news for the global technology industry and consumers may end up having to pay more for products.

"This development that we're seeing now is disturbing and unhelpful for the global economic sentiment. To begin with, we already have so much around the trade war between the U.S. and the rest of the world," Taimur Baig, chief economist at DBS Group Research, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday.

He added that Japanese and South Korean companies have spent years building up "intricate" supply chains, and it'll be "so hard to redo" such arrangements when trust among all those involved has been breached.

"It doesn't help anybody," he said. "To me, it's a lose-lose proposition."

Baig is not the only one who has warned about a potential disruption to the technology supply chain. Troy Stangarone, a senior director at think tank Korea Economic Institute of America, said prices of semiconductors could rise if South Korean manufacturers cut production as a result of Japan's trade restrictions.

That higher cost may be passed on to consumers, some experts warned.

Can China benefit?

Other analysts, however, said affected companies will find a way to cope with measures imposed by Japan.

Jesper Koll, senior advisor at WisdomTree Investments, told CNBC last week that the total value of products affected by Japan's curbs is less than $450 million. He predicted that if Tokyo implements further restrictions, "people will scramble but the overall damage is going to be teeny."

And Chinese companies could potentially step in to fill any shortfall in the supply of tech parts, said Stangarone.

"At a time when the United States has raised concerns around China-based technology companies, the Japan-Korea dispute creates space in the market for (Chinese) state-backed firms to establish themselves as potential players," he told CNBC in an email.

"Even though they are not yet as advanced as chipmakers like Samsung or Micron, these firms have the opportunity to substitute supply if there are market disruptions, " he added.

Baig is less optimistic about China's potential to substitute Japan as a major supplier to South Korea. He explained that there are reasons why Japan has the competitive advantage to supply those materials in the first place, and China may find it hard to replicate the same edge.

"Can China be a beneficiary? I have my doubts," he said. "You can't reinvent those supply chains and re-calibrate them so easily, even if you're China."

— Reuters contributed to this report.

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2019-07-16 06:11:32Z
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Japan-South Korea dispute is called 'disturbing and unhelpful' for the global economy - CNBC

South Korean President Moon Jae-in walks past Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019.

Kim Kyung-Hoon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The dispute between Japan and South Korea is "a lose-lose proposition" as it comes amid an ongoing global trade war that the U.S. and its trading partners are embroiled in, an economist said on Tuesday.

Tokyo and Seoul have long had political disagreements stemming from Japan's conduct during the second World War. The dispute between the neighbors spilled into the economic arena when Japan earlier this month restricted exports of materials critical to South Korea's high-tech industry, citing national security concerns.

Japan and South Korea are large exporters of products such as chips and smartphone displays. An escalated trade fight between the two could be bad news for the global technology industry and consumers may end up having to pay more for products.

"This development that we're seeing now is disturbing and unhelpful for the global economic sentiment. To begin with, we already have so much around the trade war between the U.S. and the rest of the world," Taimur Baig, chief economist at DBS Group Research, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday.

He added that Japanese and South Korean companies have spent years building up "intricate" supply chains, and it'll be "so hard to redo" such arrangements when trust among all those involved has been breached.

"It doesn't help anybody," he said. "To me, it's a lose-lose proposition."

Baig is not the only one who has warned about a potential disruption to the technology supply chain. Troy Stangarone, a senior director at think tank Korea Economic Institute of America, said prices of semiconductors could rise if South Korean manufacturers cut production as a result of Japan's trade restrictions.

That higher cost may be passed on to consumers, some experts warned.

Can China benefit?

Other analysts, however, said affected companies will find a way to cope with measures imposed by Japan.

Jesper Koll, senior advisor at WisdomTree Investments, told CNBC last week that the total value of products affected by Japan's curbs is less than $450 million. He predicted that if Tokyo implements further restrictions, "people will scramble but the overall damage is going to be teeny."

And Chinese companies could potentially step in to fill any shortfall in the supply of tech parts, said Stangarone.

"At a time when the United States has raised concerns around China-based technology companies, the Japan-Korea dispute creates space in the market for (Chinese) state-backed firms to establish themselves as potential players," he told CNBC in an email.

"Even though they are not yet as advanced as chipmakers like Samsung or Micron, these firms have the opportunity to substitute supply if there are market disruptions, " he added.

Baig is less optimistic about China's potential to substitute Japan as a major supplier to South Korea. He explained that there are reasons why Japan has the competitive advantage to supply those materials in the first place, and China may find it hard to replicate the same edge.

"Can China be a beneficiary? I have my doubts," he said. "You can't reinvent those supply chains and re-calibrate them so easily, even if you're China."

— Reuters contributed tot his report.

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2019-07-16 06:11:27Z
52780333642729

Japan-South Korea dispute is called 'disturbing and unhelpful' for the global economy - CNBC

South Korean President Moon Jae-in walks past Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28, 2019.

Kim Kyung-Hoon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The dispute between Japan and South Korea is "a lose-lose proposition" as it comes amid an ongoing global trade war that the U.S. and its trading partners are embroiled in, an economist said on Tuesday.

Tokyo and Seoul have long had political disagreements stemming from Japan's conduct during the second World War. The dispute between the neighbors spilled into the economic arena when Japan earlier this month restricted exports of materials critical to South Korea's high-tech industry, citing national security concerns.

Japan and South Korea are large exporters of products such as chips and smartphone displays. An escalated trade fight between the two could be bad news for the global technology industry and consumers may end up having to pay more for products.

"This development that we're seeing now is disturbing and unhelpful for the global economic sentiment. To begin with, we already have so much around the trade war between the U.S. and the rest of the world," Taimur Baig, chief economist at DBS Group Research, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday.

He added that Japanese and South Korean companies have spent years building up "intricate" supply chains, and it'll be "so hard to redo" such arrangements when trust among all those involved has been breached.

"It doesn't help anybody," he said. "To me, it's a lose-lose proposition."

Baig is not the only one who has warned about a potential disruption to the technology supply chain. Troy Stangarone, a senior director at think tank Korea Economic Institute of America, said prices of semiconductors could rise if South Korean manufacturers cut production as a result of Japan's trade restrictions.

That higher cost may be passed on to consumers, some experts warned.

Can China benefit?

Other analysts, however, said affected companies will find a way to cope with measures imposed by Japan.

Jesper Koll, senior advisor at WisdomTree Investments, told CNBC last week that the total value of products affected by Japan's curbs is less than $450 million. He predicted that if Tokyo implements further restrictions, "people will scramble but the overall damage is going to be teeny."

And Chinese companies could potentially step in to fill any shortfall in the supply of tech parts, said Stangarone.

"At a time when the United States has raised concerns around China-based technology companies, the Japan-Korea dispute creates space in the market for (Chinese) state-backed firms to establish themselves as potential players," he told CNBC in an email.

"Even though they are not yet as advanced as chipmakers like Samsung or Micron, these firms have the opportunity to substitute supply if there are market disruptions, " he added.

Baig is less optimistic about China's potential to substitute Japan as a major supplier to South Korea. He explained that there are reasons why Japan has the competitive advantage to supply those materials in the first place, and China may find it hard to replicate the same edge.

"Can China be a beneficiary? I have my doubts," he said. "You can't reinvent those supply chains and re-calibrate them so easily, even if you're China."

— Reuters contributed tot his report.

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2019-07-16 05:27:17Z
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Live updates: Immigration and the US-Mexico border - CNN

Asked if his tweets regarding progressive Democratic congresswomen were racist, President Trump said, "Not at all."

Here's what he said:

"Not at all. Not at all. If somebody has a problem with our country, if somebody doesn’t want to be in our country... let me tell you, if you look at her statements on Al Qaeda, did you see her statements on Al Qaeda? When you look at her statements about people — but what I’m going to do is I���m going to speak from right over here because there’s so many people here and this is really about economic development and how well our country is doing, but I’m going to discuss the issues."

Some background: Trump used racist language on Sunday to attack the Democratic congresswomen, falsely implying they weren't natural-born American citizens.

Trump did not name who he was attacking in Sunday's tirade, but earlier this week he referenced New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when the President was defending House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A group of Democrats, who are women of color and have been outspoken about Trump's immigration policies, last week condemned the conditions of border detention facilities. The group of women joining Ocasio-Cortez were Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Pressley are natural-born US citizens, while Omar was born in Somalia and immigrated to the US when she was young. Omar became a citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old, according to the New York Times.

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2019-07-15 18:03:00Z
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Suspect admits to killing U.S. scientist Suzanne Eaton in Greece, police source says - NBC News

ATHENS, Greece — A suspect apprehended in connection to the death of Suzanne Eaton, a molecular biologist from California, who was found dead last week, admitted killing her, a Greek police source with direct knowledge told NBC News.

A 27-year-old suspect, who has not yet been identified, was brought in for questioning and eventually confessed to the murder, the police source said.

Eaton, 59, was last seen on July 2. She was found July 8, outside the port city of Chania, days after she was reported missing.

Her remains were in an area of caves and abandoned shooting ranges in Platanias on the island of Crete, according to the deputy mayor of the village, Kostas Bebelidakis.

Authorities had launched a major search for her in rural areas near Chania. Eaton's husband and two sons had traveled to Crete aid in the search.

Last week, the coroner said Eaton's death "resulted from a criminal act," but did not provide further details citing the pending investigation.

An autopsy concluded that she died from suffocation, one of the coroners said, adding that several signs show that she suffered a slow death.

Eaton, who worked at the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany, had been attending a conference in Crete. Her body is scheduled to be flown to Frankfurt tomorrow.

Papadopoulos reported from Athens, Griffith from New York.

John Papadopoulos

Janelle Griffith

Janelle Griffith is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. 

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2019-07-15 16:54:00Z
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