GENEVA  — Billions of people are facing a future of water scarcity as global rivers dry up, glaciers melt, and intense heat and other extreme weather events caused by climate change create critical changes in water availability around the world, according to the State of Global Water Resources report issued Monday by the World Meteorological Organization. 

“Water is the canary in the coal mine of climate change,” said Celeste Saulo, WMO secretary-general. “Water is the basis of life on this planet, but it can also be a force of destruction.”  

She told journalists at a briefing in Geneva that “water is becoming increasingly unpredictable, what we call an erratic hydrological cycle, leading to extreme rainfall, sudden floods, and severe droughts.”   

“Climate change is one of the causes of these extreme behaviors,” she said, noting that these extreme events “wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems and economies.” 

“Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people. And yet we are not taking the necessary urgent action,” she warned. 

“To mitigate the impact of such potential catastrophes, we must gather reliable data. After all, we cannot appropriately manage what we do not measure,” she said, adding that scientific data gathered by WMO “indicates the situation will worsen over the coming years.” 

The report finds 2023 was the driest year for global rivers in 33 years, marking the last of five consecutive years of widespread below-normal conditions for river flows, thereby reducing “the amount of water available for communities, agriculture and ecosystems, further stressing global water supplies.” 

It notes that 2023 was also the second consecutive year in which all regions in the world with glaciers reported ice loss, the year in which “glaciers suffered the largest mass loss ever registered in 50 years.” 

“The glaciers are retreating rapidly,” said Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO director of hydrology, water and cryosphere. “The latest data for this year actually shows that in the Swiss Alps, at least, it has been continuing and more glaciers have been reduced. 

“If a glacier is melting more and more, that means more water becomes available downstream,” he said. “However, if the glacier is gone in a few more decades, it will be very dramatic because then the summer high flows from the melting glaciers will disappear because there is no storage anymore. 

“If the glacier disappears, that changes completely the hydrological regime. It changes completely the conditions for ecosystems. It changes completely the availability of water for farmers. So, it has really severe consequences,” he said. 

One manifestation of this was seen last week when Switzerland and Italy redrew part of their shared border in the Alps because melting glaciers due to climate change had moved their long-defined national border. 

The report says 3.6 billion people currently face inadequate access to water at least one month a year, and this is expected to increase to more than 5 billion by 2050.   

While no region is spared from disastrous hydrological extreme events, it says floods and droughts affected Africa most in terms of human casualties. The report says major flooding in Libya due to two collapsed dams, triggered by Storm Daniel, killed more than 11,000 people. Floods also impacted the Greater Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Mozambique and Malawi. 

“Jordan is one of the most water scarce countries because of the high population density and the very arid conditions,” Uhlenbrook observed, adding that many parts of Asia, North and South America, and Russia among other regions are “very vulnerable to the changes we see from climate change.” 

“We see the increasing variability of the hydrological cycle causing tension and stress and providing the source of conflict in many parts of the world,” he said. 

The WMO report is calling for urgent action and international cooperation to address the scarce water issues. It says cooperation through data sharing and building of trust between nations is critical for managing shared water resources. 

“We must fill the gaps in our understanding. We need to expand our hydrological monitoring, especially in regions where data is scarce. We cannot afford blind spots when it comes to our water resources,” WMO chief Saulo said. “I urge nations to invest in hydrological monitoring and commit to sharing this critical data, because without it, we are navigating without a map.” 

She underscored the importance of early warning systems in addressing climate-induced disasters such as floods and extreme weather events. “These global challenges transcend borders and conflicts because water is once again the basis of life on Earth, so we must work together to address the water issues,” she said. 
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MOSCOW — A Russian court on Monday sentenced a 72-year-old American in a closed trial to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. 

Prosecutors said Stephen Hubbard signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and he fought alongside them until being captured two months later. 

He was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a general-security prison. Prosecutors had called for a sentence of seven years in a maximum-security prison. 

Hubbard, from the state of Michigan, is the first American known to have been convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in the Ukrainian conflict. 

The charges carried a potential sentence of 15 years, but prosecutors asked that his age be taken into account along with his admission of guilt, Russian news reports said. 

Arrests of Americans have become increasingly common in Russia in recent years. Concern has risen that Russia could be targeting U.S. nationals for arrest to use later as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the U.S. and Europe. 

Also on Monday, a court in the city of Voronezh sentenced American Robert Gilman to seven years and 1 month for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for another assault. 

According to Russian news reports, Gilman was arrested in 2022 for causing a disturbance while intoxicated on a passenger train and then assaulted a police officer while in custody. He is serving a 3 1/2-year sentence on that charge. 

Last year, he assaulted a prison inspector during a cell check, then hit an official of the Investigative Committee, resulting in the new sentence, state news agency RIA-Novosti said. 

The U.S. and Russia in August completed their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people, many months of negotiations and concessions from other European countries, which released Russians in their custody as part of the exchange. Several U.S. citizens remain behind bars in Russia following the swap. 
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London — A record 973 migrants crossed the Channel on small boats on the same day in which four died while attempting the journey from France to England, U.K. Home Office figures showed Sunday.

The figure for Saturday is the highest single-day number of migrants making the cross-Channel journey this year, surpassing the previous high of 882 set on June 18.  

On the same day, a two-year-old boy and three adults died after overloaded boats got into trouble during the dangerous crossing attempted by several thousand every year.

The tragedies bring the number of migrants who have died attempting Channel crossings this year to 51, according to Jacques Billant, France’s prefect for the Pas-de-Calais region.  

Over 26,600 migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats in 2024 according to U.K. Home Office figures.

Saturday’s deaths were likely caused due to the victims being crushed in overloaded dinghies, according to authorities and prosecutors.

U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Saturday that it was “appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel.”  

“Criminal smuggler gangs continue to organize these dangerous boat crossings,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“The gangs do not care if people live or die — this is a terrible trade in lives.”

Keir Starmer’s new Labour government has been at pains to reduce cross-Channel arrivals in small boats, a key issue in this year’s general election in July.

The government has repeatedly pledged to “smash the gangs” of people smugglers who organize the perilous journeys.
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Kyiv, Ukraine — Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on a surprise visit to Kyiv on Sunday that his country will invest 400 million euros ($440 million) in advanced drone development with Ukraine and deliver more F-16s in the coming months. 

More than 2-1/2 years since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Ukraine is fighting to thwart Russia’s troops as they inch forward in the east and attack critical infrastructure ahead of the winter months. 

“The war, of course, is intensifying every day, and Ukraine is setting up more brigades who all need support, who all need military equipment. We need to have this continuous flow of support,” Brekelmans told Reuters in Kyiv. 

The drone action plan will combine Ukraine’s innovation and Dutch knowledge to improve technology used on the battlefield, he said. 

“We will focus on different types of drones, so both surveillance drones, more defensive drones, but also the attack drones, because we see that Ukraine needs those more offensive drones also to target military facilities,” Brekelmans said. 

Around half of the investment will be spent in the Netherlands, while the rest will be split between Ukraine and other countries, he added. 

If the developed drones are successful, more funding will be available to scale up production, according to the defense minister. 

The Netherlands has pledged 10 billion euros ($11 billion) in military support for Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion and spent around 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) so far. 

Air defense 

After visiting the city of Kharkiv, pummeled by Russian glide bombs Saturday,  

Brekelmans said attacking military targets in Russia was the only way to defend the city. 

Ukraine has asked its partners to give it permission to use their weapons to strike targets deep in Russia and provide it with more air defenses. 

The Netherlands has contributed to its air defense support by driving international partners to supply Ukraine with F-16 jets and pledging 24 of them. 

The first batch of planes from the Netherlands is already operating in Ukrainian airspace, according to the minister, while the others will be delivered “in the upcoming months and maybe beginning of next year.” 

The country is also delivering reserve parts, ammunition and fuel for jets as it seeks to expand pilot training opportunities through meeting with partner countries and private sector players like Lockheed Martin to keep jets operational, he said. 

The Netherlands has also announced a plan to assemble a Patriot air-defense system for Ukraine relying on parts from different countries, but Brekelmans said it had struggled to source some parts. 

He said Ukraine was already using one Dutch-supplied Patriot radar and “three launchers are going to be delivered very soon.” 
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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Rescue teams from Bosnia’s neighbors and European Union countries on Sunday were joining efforts to clear the rubble and find people still missing from floods and landslides that devastated parts of the Balkan country.

Bosnia sought EU help after a heavy rainstorm overnight on Friday left entire areas under water and debris destroyed roads and bridges, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens.

Officials said that at least 10 people are still unaccounted for, many of them in the village of Donja Jablanica, in southern Bosnia, which was almost completely buried in rocks and rubble from a quarry on a hill above.

Residents there have said they heard a thundering rumble and saw houses disappear before their eyes.

Luigi Soreca, who heads the EU mission in Bosnia, said on X that the EU stands with Bosnia and that teams are arriving to help. Bosnia is a candidate country for membership in the 27-nation bloc.

Authorities said Croatian rescuers have already arrived while a team from Serbia is expected to be deployed in the afternoon, followed by a Slovenian team with dogs. Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Czechia and Turkey have also offered help, a government statement said.

Sunday is the date of a local election in Bosnia. Election authorities have postponed voting in the flood-hit regions, but the flooding has overshadowed the vote across the country.

Ismeta Bucalovic, a resident of Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, said, “We are all overwhelmed by these flooding events. We all think only about that.”

Impoverished and ethnically divided, Bosnia has struggled to recover after the brutal war in 1992-95. The country is plagued by political bickering and corruption, stalling its EU bid.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday announced he will appoint 21 new cardinals of the global Catholic Church, in an unexpected push to influence the powerful group of churchmen that will one day choose his successor.

The ceremony to install the new appointees, known as a consistory, will be held on December 8, the 87-year-old pope announced during his weekly noon-time prayer with pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square.

It will be the tenth consistory called by the pope since his election 11 years ago as the first pontiff from Latin America.

Although popes may choose to appoint cardinals at any time, Francis’s decision to make new appointments now comes as something of a surprise.

As of the pope’s announcement there were 122 cardinals under 80 and able to vote in a future conclave. Church law technically limits the number of such cardinals to 120, but recent popes have frequently gone above that number.

Two of the cardinals currently able to vote in a conclave will age out by the end of the year. A further 13 will cross the threshold through the end of 2025.

All cardinals, regardless of their age, are allowed to take part in pre-conclave meetings, known as General Congregations, giving them a say in the type of person they think the younger cardinals should choose.

Cardinals rank second only to the pope in the Church hierarchy and serve as his closest advisers. Due to their historical power and influence, they are still called the princes of the Church, although Francis has told them not to live like royalty and to be close to the poor.
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rome — Blocking a road to protest inaction against climate change could soon be punishable with prison in Italy as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government cracks down on demonstrations, even peaceful ones.

A new security law passed by MPs and facing final scrutiny in the Senate has been dubbed the “anti-Gandhi” law — after pacifist Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi — by critics for taking aim at demonstrations by people ranging from prisoners to climate activists.

It is specifically aimed at protests of two major infrastructure projects — a high-speed, cross-border Turin-Lyon railway to France and a mooted bridge over the Strait of Messina to Sicily — both championed by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

Salvini, who also has responsibility for transport and infrastructure, is a defender of the combustion engine and crusades against “climate terrorism,” particularly the young members of the Last Generation, a climate group known for headline-grabbing protests.

Under the new law, blocking a road outside the authorized route of a demonstration could be punishable by up to two years in prison, up from the current penalty of a fine between 1,000 and 4,000 euros ($1,100 to $4,393).

Critics see it as a deliberate attempt to silence dissent by Italy’s most right-wing government since the end of World War II.

But Salvini, head of the far-right League party, rejected accusations of a “police state,” insisting: “Good people have nothing to fear.”

Ideological madness

Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party took office in October 2022 after an election victory fueled by anti-immigration, nationalist and populist rhetoric, forming a coalition with the League and the right-wing Forza Italia party.

The government has since passed numerous laws and measures designed to please their right-wing base, from legislation limiting the activities of charities that rescue migrants at sea to reinforcing an existing ban on surrogacy and clamping down on juvenile crime.

With the security law, “the government wants to charm the part of society that continues to vote mainly for far-right parties,” many of them older people “who are much less sensitive to issues of civil rights, the labor crisis and climate change,” said Anna Bonalume, a journalist who closely follows Salvini.

Opposition parties are up in arms.

“We have never faced such an attack on democratic civilization such as that brought by the Meloni government,” Giuseppe De Marzo, national coordinator of the Even Numbers Network of civil society groups, told AFP at a recent protest of the bill outside parliament.

The opposition Five Star Movement condemned it as a “deeply oppressive measure that has the explicit intention of intimidating… political and social dissent.”

The bill also plans to lift a ban on jailing pregnant women or those with a child under one year old, and to penalize prisoners who protest their conditions.

Italy is ranked the sixth-worst European country for prison overcrowding, with 109 inmates for every 100 places, according to the Council of Europe.

But the law would make it an offense to demonstrate in a prison, even through “passive resistance,” such as disobeying an order.

On the flip side, the legislation proposes the filming of police interrogations.

“The security bill is a real attack on democracy and the rule of law,” said the Green and Left Alliance.

The secretary-general of the center-left More Europe, MP Riccardo Magi, called it “ideological madness.”
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budapest, hungary — Thousands of protesters gathered outside the headquarters of Hungary’s public media corporation Saturday to demonstrate against what they say is an entrenched propaganda network operated by the nationalist government at taxpayer expense. 

The protest was organized by Hungary’s most prominent opposition figure, Peter Magyar, and his upstart TISZA party, which has emerged in recent months as the most serious political challenge for Prime Minister Viktor Orban since he took power nearly 15 years ago. 

Magyar, whose party received nearly 30% of the vote in European Union elections this summer and is polling within a few points of the governing Fidesz party, has been outspoken about what he sees as the damage Orban’s “propaganda factory” has done to Hungary’s democracy. 

“What is happening here in Hungary in 2024, and calling itself ‘public service’ media, is a global scandal,” Magyar told the crowd in Budapest on Saturday. “Enough of the nastiness, enough of the lies, enough of the propaganda. Our patience has run out. The time for confrontation has come.” 

Observers say press freedom under threat

Both Hungarian and international observers have long warned that press freedom in the Central European country was under threat, and that Orban’s party has used media buyouts by government-connected business tycoons to build a pro-government media empire. 

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders estimates that such buyouts have given Orban’s party control of some 80% of Hungary’s media market resources. In 2021, the group put Orban on its list of media “predators,” the first EU leader to earn the distinction. 

On Saturday, Balazs Tompe, a protester who traveled several hours to attend the demonstration, called the state media headquarters a “factory of lies.” 

“The propaganda goes out at such a level and is so unbalanced that it’s blood boiling, and I think we need to raise our voices,” he said. “It’s nonsense that only government propaganda comes out in the media that is financed by the taxpayers.” 

‘Public only hears from one side’

A retired teacher from southern Hungary, Agnes Gera, said dissenting voices were censored from the public media, limiting Hungarians’ access to information about political alternatives. 

“It’s very burdensome and unfortunate that the system works this way where the public only hears from one side and don’t even know about the other side,” she said. 

Magyar demanded the resignation of the public media director, and echoed complaints from many opposition politicians that they are not provided the opportunity to appear on public television to communicate with voters. 

He called his supporters to another demonstration on October 23, a national holiday commemorating Hungary’s failed revolution against Soviet domination in 1956.  
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paris — Several people, including a child, died while trying to cross the English Channel from France to England, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Saturday. 

Attempts to cross the channel in small, overloaded boats are frequent despite strong currents in what is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. 

“Smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will step up the fight against these mafias that organize these deadly crossings,” Retailleau said on social media platform X. 

Fourteen people were on the boat. One was flown by helicopter to a hospital after a search and rescue operation was conducted Saturday morning, local maritime authorities said. 

The incident was the latest in a series this year, including one last month in which 12 migrants died when their boat capsized in the channel. 
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kyiv, ukraine — Ukrainian forces said they shot down a Russian fighter plane Saturday while Russia claimed it made gains in Ukraine’s east.

The Russian bomber was shot down near the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk province, head of the Kostiantynivka Military Administration Serhiy Horbunov was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne. Photos showed charred remains of an aircraft after it landed on a house that caught fire.

Also in the partially occupied Donetsk province, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that it had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe.

If confirmed, the capture would come three days after Ukrainian forces said they were withdrawing from the front-line town of Vuhledar, some 33 kilometers (21 miles) from Zhelanne Druhe, following a hard-fought two-year defense.

Although unlikely to change the course of the war, the loss of Vuhledar is indicative of Kyiv’s worsening position, in part the result of Washington’s refusal to grant Ukraine permission to strike targets deep inside Russian territory and preventing Kyiv from degrading Moscow’s capabilities.

Zelenskyy to present victory plan to allies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he will present his “victory plan” at the Oct. 12 meeting of the Ramstein group of nations that supplies arms to Ukraine.

“We will present the victory plan — clear, concrete steps towards a just end to the war. The determination of our partners and the strengthening of Ukraine are what can stop Russian aggression,” he wrote on X, adding that the 25th Ramstein meeting would be the first to take place at the leaders’ level.

Zelenskyy presented his plan to U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington last week. Its contents have not been made public but it is known that the plan includes Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the provision of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.

Russia shells southern Ukraine

Meanwhile, two people died in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched three guided missiles and 13 attack drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said the missiles were intercepted, three drones were shot down over the Odesa region and 10 others were lost.

Nine people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger bus in the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the city’s Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones overnight in three border regions, including seven over the Belgorod region, two over the Kursk region, and one over the Voronezh region.
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beijing — The European Commission’s decision to press ahead with tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles threatens to undermine decades of cooperation between China and the EU, and endangers climate-change goals, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

On Friday, the EU said it would push forward with hefty tariffs on China-made EVs, even after the bloc’s largest economy Germany rejected them. The dispute is its biggest trade row with Beijing in a decade.

State-run Xinhua said the move revealed a “deep-seated protectionist impulse.”

“Instead of fostering co-operation, these tariffs risk sparking a trade conflict that could harm not only China-EU relations but also Europe’s own ambition for a green transition,” it said.

“The path forward is clear: Protectionist tariffs must be abandoned in favor of continued negotiations.”

European imports of Chinese-made EVs have soared in recent years, raising concerns among some domestic EV producers that they could suffer significant losses from a wave of cheap Chinese electric vehicles.

The proposed duties on EVs built in China of up to 45% would cost carmakers billions of extra dollars to bring cars into the bloc and are set to be imposed from next month for five years.

The Commission, which oversees the bloc’s trade policy, has said the tariffs would counter what it sees as unfair Chinese subsidies after a yearlong anti-subsidy investigation. It said on Friday, however, that it would continue talks with Beijing.

A possible compromise could be to set minimum sales prices.

China’s Commerce Ministry has expressed strong opposition to the planned tariffs, calling them “unfair, non-compliant and unreasonable.” It has launched a challenge to them at the World Trade Organization.

In what has been seen as retaliatory moves, Beijing this year launched probes into imports of EU brandy, dairy and pork products.

The U.S. imposes a 100% duty on imported Chinese EVs.
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