More than 160 people remain unaccounted for after devastating floods in Texas, the state governor said Tuesday, marking a dramatic increase in the number of missing from a tragedy that has so far claimed 109 lives.  Four days after flash floods roared through several Texas counties, some in the middle of the night, hopes of finding survivors were fading — and Governor Greg Abbott warned that the list of those unaccounted for could yet rise.”Just in the Kerr County area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing,” he told reporters Tuesday as the grim search continued.”There very likely could be more added to that list,” he said, adding that the figure was based on people reported as unaccounted for by friends, relatives and neighbors.Kerr County, part of a central Texas region known as “Flash Flood Alley,” suffered the most damage, with at least 94 fatalities.That includes at least 27 girls and counselors who were staying at a youth summer camp on the Guadalupe River when it burst its banks as the Fourth of July holiday began in the early hours of Friday.Torrents of water swept through the camp, scouring cabins as hundreds of people slept. Five campers and one counselor were still missing as of Tuesday evening, according to Abbot, as well as another child not associated with the camp.”There’s nothing more important in our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost,” Abbot said.Elsewhere in the state, there have been at least 15 fatalities recorded so far, the governor added.Ben Baker with the Texas Game Wardens said search and rescue efforts involving helicopters, drones and dogs were extremely difficult because of the water and mud.”When we’re trying to make these recoveries, these large piles can be very obstructive, and to get in deep into these piles, it’s very hazardous,” Baker said. “It’s extremely treacherous, time-consuming. It’s dirty work, the water is still there.”The US National Weather Service on Tuesday declared a flash flood emergency in Ruidoso, a small town 184 miles (296 kilometers) south of Albuquerque, in the neighboring state of New Mexico.Officials reported several people were trapped by sudden floodwaters, with multiple homes sustaining damage. The NWS said the Rio Ruidoso may have crested more than 20 feet (six meters).- Rain ‘won’t deter’ search -In the town of Hunt, the epicenter of the disaster, an AFP team saw recovery workers combing through piles of debris with helicopters flying overhead.Javier Torres, 24, was digging through mud as he searched for the body of his grandmother, after having located the remains of his grandfather. He also discovered the bodies of two children, apparently washed up by the river.Officials warned of more heavy rain ahead that could affect the search — though Baker said it “won’t deter” the efforts. President Donald Trump is due to visit Texas with First Lady Melania Trump on Friday.”We brought in a lot of helicopters from all over… They were real pros, and they were responsible for pulling out a lot of people,” Trump said.Meanwhile, questions intensified over whether Trump’s government funding cuts had weakened warning systems, and over the handling of the rescue operation.During an at-times tense news conference, Baker skirted a question on the speed of the emergency response.”Right now, this team up here is focused on bringing people home,” he said.Shel Winkley, a weather expert at the Climate Central research group, blamed the extent of the disaster on geography and exceptional drought, when dry soil absorbs less rainfall.”This part of Texas, at least in the Kerr County flood specifically, was in an extreme to exceptional drought… We know that since May, temperatures have been above average,” Winkley told reporters.The organization’s media director, Tom Di Liberto, said staffing shortages at the National Weather Service had contributed to the disaster.”You can’t necessarily replace that experience,” he said.

An imposter posing as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent AI-generated voice and text messages to high-level officials and foreign ministers, reports said Tuesday, the latest American official to be targeted by impersonators.A cable from the top US diplomat’s office said the unidentified culprit was likely seeking to manipulate powerful officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” the Washington Post and other US media reported.The imposter contacted at least three foreign ministers, a US state governor, and a member of Congress using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal, according to the cable dated July 3.Starting in mid-June, the imposter created a Signal account using the display name “Marco.Rubio@state.gov” to contact the unsuspecting officials, it added. “The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” said the cable.The contents of the messages were unclear.Responding to an AFP request for comment, the State Department said it was aware of the incident and was “currently investigating the matter.””The Department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents,” said a senior State Department official. The impersonation of Rubio was one of “two distinct campaigns” being probed in which threat actors impersonate State Department personnel via email and messaging apps, the cable said.The second campaign began in April and involves a “Russia-linked cyber actor” who conducted a phishing campaign targeting personal Gmail accounts associated with think tank scholars, Eastern Europe-based activists and dissidents, journalists, and former officials, it said.The cyber actor posed as a “fictitious” State Department official and sought to tap into the contents of the users’ Gmail accounts, added the cable.- ‘Malicious actors’ -The hoaxes follow an FBI warning that since April cyber actors have impersonated senior US officials to target their contacts, including current and former federal or state government officials.”The malicious actors have sent text messages and AI-generated voice messages — techniques known as smishing and vishing, respectively — that claim to come from a senior US official in an effort to establish rapport before gaining access to personal accounts,” the FBI said in May.In May, President Donald Trump said an impersonator breached the phone of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. US senators, governors and business executives received text messages and phone calls from someone claiming to be Wiles, the Wall Street Journal reported. The breach prompted a White House and FBI investigation, but Trump played down the threat, saying Wiles “can handle it.”Senior Trump administration officials have courted criticism for using Signal and other unofficial channels for government work.In March, then-national security advisor Mike Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to a Signal chat group discussing US strikes in Yemen. The episode led to Waltz’s ouster.With proliferating AI voice cloning tools — which are cheap, easy to use and hard to trace -– disinformation researchers fret the impact of audio deepfakes to impersonate or smear celebrities and politicians.Last year, a robocall impersonating then-president Joe Biden stoked public alarm about such deepfakes.The robocall urged New Hampshire residents not to cast ballots in a Democratic primary, prompting authorities to launch a probe into possible voter suppression and triggering demands from campaigners for stricter guardrails around generative AI tools.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed for Malaysia on Tuesday for meetings with ASEAN allies, a trip that has been overshadowed by fears of a trade war.The brief trip to Kuala Lumpur is intended to allow Rubio, who is also President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, to focus on US policy in Asia after months of Washington concentrating on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.”In his first trip to Asia as Secretary of State, Secretary Rubio is focused on reaffirming the United States’ commitment to advancing a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific region,” spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement, using Washington’s traditional wording on curbing China’s growing influence in the region.A senior State Department official told reporters that prioritizing and reaffirming Washington’s commitment to East Asia and Southeast Asia “is in America’s interest.” “I think there’s been a lot of outreach, a lot of engagements, and I wouldn’t judge the level of interest and priority based solely on how many physical trips there have been,” the official said on condition of anonymity.As with any trip to Asia by a US official, China will be the elephant in the room amid concerns over its expansionist behavior in the South China Sea, which the United States deems to be provocative.- ‘Rebalance’ trade relationships -But this visit also comes as many countries around the world fear the imposition of punitive tariffs. Sweeping levies Trump announced in April were mostly suspended, as Washington engages in negotiations with friends and foes alike.On Monday, Trump said he would impose 25 percent tariffs on key US allies Japan and South Korea and a handful of others, including Southeast Asian nations Malaysia (25 percent) and Laos (40 percent), as of August 1.Export-dependent Vietnam, which like Malaysia and Laos is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is one of the few countries to already reach a tentative agreement with Washington that spares it the high level of levies that Trump had threatened.At a summit in late May, Southeast Asian leaders expressed their deep concern at Trump’s protectionist offensive.The senior US official said the issue was expected to be raised, and that Rubio would likely tell ASEAN that the United States wants to “rebalance” its trade relationships.Rubio’s visit to Kuala Lumpur Thursday and Friday coincides with that of his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi.While there, Rubio is scheduled to attend a meeting with his counterparts from ASEAN and with a gathering of both ASEAN and East Asian foreign ministers.Last week, Rubio welcomed foreign ministers from Australia, India and Japan to Washington, where they pledged to work together to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals.China’s domination of such resources — essential to new technologies — is causing increasing concern in western Europe and the United States.