Two days of rain flood Bangkok, and the city declares all 50 of its districts a disaster zone

The rest of the day

13 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Floods kill 19 in India and Nepal

   Heavy rain set off floods and landslides across northern India and Nepal, killing at least 19 people by the weekend, officials said. [12] In India's Uttar Pradesh state, 15 people died in 48 hours, after a day with 19 times the normal rainfall. [12] India's Central Water Commission said 30 river gauges in seven states showed a severe situation. [12] The Ganga, the Kosi and other big rivers were above their danger marks. [12] In Nepal, a landslide buried a house in Baglung district, killing a woman and three children as they slept. [12]

   Why it matters — Nepal warned of flash floods in 49 of its 77 districts, a month after floods there killed more than 1,450 people. [12] Floodwater on the Rahuganga River also damaged a 40-megawatt hydropower plant. [12]

2. 03

   Hurricane Nolo parks off Hawaii

   Hurricane Nolo, a strong Category 2 storm with winds of 105mph, sat still about 145 miles south of Hawaii's Big Island on Saturday morning, The Washington Post reported. [13] The Post said that standing still is what made Nolo a serious flood threat to the island. [13] The Big Island took 20 to 30 inches of rain from Hurricane Lala only last month. [13]

   Why it matters — The Post said a big hurricane was stalling near the island once again. [13] In Bangkok this week the rain also stayed over one place, for 48 hours, and flooded the city. [1]

3. 04

   Russia expects to sell less gas

   Russia's economy ministry now expects the country to produce and export less gas this year than it forecast in May, a draft government paper seen by Reuters shows. [14] Output is put at 683.1 billion cubic metres, 5.3 billion less than in May, but still more than in 2025. [14] Gas cooled into liquid and sent by ship is forecast at 35 million tonnes, 5.3 million less than expected. [14] The European Union plans to stop buying Russian gas from next year. [14]

   Pipeline peak, 2018-19180 bn cubic metres

   202518 bn cubic metres

   Why it matters — Russia sent Europe 18 billion cubic metres of gas in 2025, the least since the mid-1970s, by Reuters' count. [14] Russia's economy ministry expects China to pay about $248 per thousand cubic metres this year, against an average of about $403 from buyers outside the former Soviet Union. [14]

4. 05

   European governments pay toward fuel

   Seven of the ten countries doing most to soften high fuel prices since the Iran war began are in the European Union. [15] That is the finding of a new report by the OECD, a group of mostly rich countries. [15] France added a 450 million euro package, with 100 euro payments for 5.5 million workers who drive far to work. [15] Germany will cut fuel tax by 17 cents a litre from 1 October, at a cost of 2.5 billion euros. [15] Italy put off pulling down its coal power plants. [15]

   Why it matters — The EU imports nearly all its oil and 85% of its gas. [15] Transport & Environment, a campaign group, says Europeans are paying an extra 203 million euros a day for diesel alone. [15]

5. 06

   A flood watch for five countries loses its money

   US foreign aid cuts in 2025 shut down SERVIR, a programme that used satellites to help Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan watch for floods and landslides, AP reports. [16] It was run by USAID, NASA and ICIMOD, a mountain research centre in Kathmandu. [16] Aid from the rich countries in the OECD fell 23% in 2025, the biggest drop on record. [16] ActionAid, a campaign group, says poorer countries pay about 225 times more in debt than they get in climate grants. [16]

   Why it matters — The US State Department says SERVIR's tools still run through ICIMOD. [16] ICIMOD's Neha Rai says the cuts will be felt for years, and have hurt the sharing of flood information between countries. [16]

6. 07

   Russia sends more diesel to Central Asia

   Russia more than doubled its diesel shipments to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Tajikistan in August, to over 370,000 tonnes, traders told Reuters. [17] It did so while banning diesel exports to most other countries until the end of September. [17] Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries have caused fuel shortages and higher prices inside Russia. [17] Diesel delivered to Russia's own market fell to 4.7 million tonnes in August, from 5.0 million in July. [17]

   July124,000 tonnes

   August215,000 tonnes

   Why it matters — Mongolia got about 215,000 tonnes, up from 124,000 in July, and takes about half of the diesel Russia sends to Central Asia and Afghanistan. [17] Deals between governments let that diesel through the ban. [17]

7. 08

   Canada says it could sell gas to France

   Canada could sell France gas cooled into liquid and shipped from its Pacific coast, Canada's foreign minister, Anita Anand, told Reuters at the United Nations on 21 September. [18] She spoke a day after the two countries' leaders met and talked about energy. [18] France's President Emmanuel Macron has been asking for closer energy ties while the war in the Middle East disrupts supplies. [18] Uniper, a German state-controlled energy company, signed a 20-year deal for Canadian gas at the end of July. [18]

   Why it matters — Canada is the world's fifth-largest gas producer, and LNG Canada in British Columbia, led by Shell, is North America's first gas export plant facing the Pacific. [18] Anand called a partnership with France quite conceivable. [18]

8. 09

   Malaysia fixes a cheaper grid fee for company solar

   Malaysia's energy ministry, PETRA, set a fixed fee of 0.14 ringgit a kilowatt-hour for solar farms that send steady power to companies over the national grid, down from 0.20. [19] To count as steady, a farm needs batteries that can supply half its output for four hours. [19] Deals must run at least 10 years, and farms must be working by the end of 2028. [19] Those taking part had asked for fees they could predict, to help them borrow. [19]

   20240.25 ringgit per kWh

   20250.2 ringgit per kWh

   Now, fixed0.14 ringgit per kWh

   Why it matters — PETRA says projects totalling 3,148 megawatts have signed up since 2024, but not how much of that is built. [19] Data centres are part of why Malaysia needs more power. [19]

9. 10

   A Chinese province lets big batteries trade

   The Chinese province of Zhejiang will let big stand-alone batteries on its grid trade in its daily electricity market. [20] The rules came in a notice on 23 September from the local office of China's energy regulator and two provincial bodies. [20] Each day a battery can choose to sell power, or to sell help keeping the grid steady. [20] The notice lists 40 projects, 2.54 gigawatts in all, and 28 are already running. [20] From January 2027 the province plans to have them bid both a price and an amount. [20]

   Why it matters — Batteries on older contracts may leave them to join the market. [20] It follows China's 2025 decision to drop a rule that made new solar and wind farms add batteries. [20]

10. 11

    Portugal delays its battery auction

    Portugal postponed an auction for grid batteries by several weeks, after taking comments on its terms; it had been set for 14 September. [21] The batteries must be able to run for at least four hours, so the grid connections on offer mean at least 3 gigawatt-hours of storage. [21] A second auction is for renewable power plants with batteries attached. [21] Towns hosting stand-alone batteries would get 30% of the auction money, and 70% for plants with batteries attached. [21]

    Why it matters — Portugal plans 6.9 gigawatts of storage by 2030, in a strategy still open for comment. [21] Winners pay their own connection costs, and may be held back for up to 750 hours a year when lines are full. [21]

11. 12

    ACEN gives up two Philippine solar farms

    ACEN, which has about 7.5 gigawatts of renewable power built or under construction, gave up government contracts for two planned solar farms in the Philippines, it told the stock exchange on 18 September. [22] The Pagbilao site in Quezon province hit problems buying land, and the Botolan site in Zambales could not get access. [22] Together they were listed at about 456 megawatts. [22] Neither had reached a final decision to build. [22]

    Why it matters — The Philippines' energy department cancelled 84 renewable energy contracts, about 5,372 megawatts, in 2025 for missing work plans and other rules. [22] Its energy and farm departments plan to mark out land for solar, apart from land for food, in an agreement due in October. [22]

12. 13

    A weak monsoon gives western India more sun

    A weak monsoon brought more sun than usual to north-western and southern India and to Pakistan this summer, an analysis by Solcast, a company that tracks clouds by satellite, found. [23] It says the weak monsoon fits with this year's strong El Nino. [23] Its early estimate puts sunlight there about 5% above normal from June to September, and up to 10% above in August. [23] Jodhpur, near Rajasthan's solar farms, is on track for its second-sunniest monsoon since 2007. [23] August storms cut sunlight by 20-30% in eastern and central India. [23]

    Why it matters — Most of India's big solar farms are in the sunnier regions, so the cloudy east cut national solar output less than those numbers suggest. [23] Solcast sells this kind of data to solar farm owners. [23]

13. 14

    A plan for 150 million more solar roofs

    The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and the Global Solar Council want another 150 million solar installations by 2030. [24] They set out the goal in an opinion piece for Reuters on 22 September. [24] They call it the 300 Million Solar Homes Initiative. [24] They cite the International Energy Agency's estimate that about 150 million buildings will have rooftop solar by the end of this year. [24] Households and businesses in Pakistan fitted 27 gigawatts in two years. [24]

    Why it matters — They argue that city halls decide how fast permits come, so national solar plans stall without them. [24] Close to 40% of Australian households already have solar panels, they write. [24]