How climate change is shrinking our water supply and other stories | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast from. the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm. Valerie Sanderson and this is what's. coming up. The UN says climate change. has caused a serious decline in the. Earth's fresh water supply. We'll go to. South Africa where a series of deaths. has raised more questions about ongoing. violence against women. Canadian Prime. Minister Mark Carney outlines his vision. of partnership with the European Union. We are not fair weather allies. We do.

not pursue zero sum deals. >> And we speak to the head of Microsoft AI. who has a stark warning about [music]. artificial intelligence. >> We're essentially seeding a new silicon. species which will no doubt compete with. us for resources. [music]. We begin with a stark warning from the. United Nations about the Earth's. dwindling water resources. Last year was. one of the driest year for river.

discharge in 35 years. The past seven. years have been abnormal river flows. Water related extreme events continue to. devastate communities and economies. The. organization's annual report says water. storage, including groundwater, fresh. water on land, and the water in rivers. and lakes across the Earth's surface is. declining. Last year was the hottest on. record for the planet. Extreme weather. patterns caused by climate change are. predicted to cause more floods and. drought, and unreliable water resources.

disrupt the balance of Earth's natural. water cycle by altering how water moves. and evaporates. A global affairs. reporter Paul Moss told me more. >> The water cycle sounds simple. Well, it's the process by to put it simply, yes, the water water evaporates from the. earth and then comes down again as rain. But what this report says is that it's. become increasingly erratic. And that's. because what can change is where the. water comes from and how it falls. Um. what happens is because we've got. increasingly temp high temperatures.

because of climate change, fresh water. is vanishing up into the sky from lakes. and rivers. Many of people of course. depend on lakes and rivers for fresh. water both for drinking and for crops. and that yes those levels in lakes and. rivers the report shows have fallen but. then there's the question of how and. when the water falls what goes up of. course must come down and if there's. more water in the sky in terms of clouds. and humidity more water will fall and. that can cause flooding and I think this. sometimes causes problems for people to.

understand how can climate change cause. both drought and flooding well That's. because first of all the water may go up. slowly and then all fall in one go or of. course there be may be more water loss. in hot places more water loss through. evaporation which then falls in colder. countries as flooding. >> The UN report is focusing particularly. on the changes to glaciers. Why are they. so important? Glacias, it explains, work. as a buffer. And in fact, in a rather.

good graphic phrase, what it says is. glaciates operate as the world's savings. account in terms of water. They freeze. Obviously, when the weather's cold, more. water freezes, and then when there's. water is when it's warmer in the summer, that water is released again. The. trouble is the glacias are retreating. And it has a very good way of. visualizing it. What it says is that. every year the Earth's glacias are. losing water equivalent to 500 million. half a billion Olympic swimming pools. So what does that mean? Well, first of.

all, that current account I was. describing to you is depleted. We don't. have it anymore. Secondly, those glacias. may flood with cat break up and melt. with catastrophic consequences which we. of course saw last month in Nepal when. what was probably the cause by a glacia. melting and then breaking off caused the. flash flooding which resulted in. thousands of deaths and also towns and. villages completely destroyed. >> Paul, it's an obvious question this but. can anything be done to avoid these.

water related disasters? Briefly, one of. the few pieces of good news in this. report is that there is better. monitoring of water levels and so we can. at least warn of trouble ahead. The. problem is that there is poor warnings. systems in place in Africa and Asia and. those are precisely the areas which are. going to be worse affected by all of. this. >> In this country, we are pray. That was. the social media post of a South African. woman after confirmation of the death of. her friend and fellow runner who didn't. return last week. one victim in a spate.

of killings near Johannesburg. Now, police have discovered another body. Once again, a female found half naked. Our correspondent in Johannesburg, Nomsa. Maseco, reports. The woman whose body. was found here earlier is believed to be. in her 30s. She was found partially. naked with her throat cut. Police. believe she was murdered elsewhere and. that her body was deliberately dumped. here near a residential area so that her. body could be found. The recent spate of. killings has sparked public outrage and.

fear, raising new questions about the. scale of gender-based violence in South. Africa. >> Yo, I'm scared. I'm angry. I'm upset. Um, I'm nervous. I am everything. I'm. shattered. This is bad in the. country where there is democracy. But we. experience we we are faced with this. challenge of murdering women. We are. parents. We are young. We we we we like. we are even scared now to come out of.

your house. You are scared to go to the. shop. You are scared to go anywhere. We. are no longer free in the country we're. supposed to be free and to be safe as. women. >> There's widespread speculation that the. recent murders have been committed by a. serial killer, but police have not. confirmed this yet. The acting police. commissioner has said investigators are. following up on all possible leads. It's. still very early to make any conclusions. about this body that has been found. here. However, because we are having.

currently a multi-disiplinary team that. was assembled already on Sunday when the. acting provincial commissioner made a. call, h it was also joined by the. national forensic. investigative psychology unit so that. they can assist with the profiling of. the victims as well to to look at the. similarities and if there's any. connection that can be made on all the. bodies. Women have been urged not to. walk or run alone and avoid secluded.

spaces. Officials have said the warnings. are not about restricting the freedom of. women to move, exercise, or live their. lives, but that it's all about taking. reasonable precautions while police. continue with their investigations. In an address to the European. Parliament, the Canadian Prime Minister. Mark Carney has outlined his vision for. a far closer relationship with the EU, welcoming the European Union's ambition. to offer his country associate. membership. Earlier, Brussels dismissed.

President Trump's description of the. associate membership idea as a hostile. act. It said it wasn't aimed against the. US, but rather for our common strength. Mark Carney told parliamentarians in. Strasburg that Canada and Europe are. stronger together and nobody would. dictate who Canada strikes agreements. with. >> We are not fair weather allies. We do. not pursue zero sum deals. Our commitment to the rule of law and.

our unyielding defense of human dignity, individual freedom and democracy share. the same deep roots, the same unwavering. dedication. We hold common values for which we have. always fought and in whose defense we. must always remain vigilant. We believe that a strong economy is not. an end in itself but a means to a just.

society. We are committed. >> Our Europe editor Katy Adler was. listening to what Mark Carney had to. say. >> Traditionally Europe and uh Canada. looked to the US as their greatest ally. in trade for the EU and Canada number. one trade partner but also in terms of. defense but no longer. So, it's all. about diversification, finding. like-minded partners to stick together. And that essentially was what the speech. was about today. >> And he talked about a protective canopy.

being formed between the EU and Canada, hinting exactly at what you're saying. about old allies, which aren't viewed so. securely nowadays. >> They don't feel secure at all. And of. course, we saw him yesterday. So, in. between his two European Parliament. appearances, [laughter]. he popped over here. Uh he was at. Liverpool meeting uh Prime Minister Andy. Bernham for the first time face to face. they watched an Everton match together. Um, and they also spoke about common. values there as well. So he emphasized. that, right? It was it's not about. exclusivity. So yes, he would like the.

special partnership with the EU, but he. said it's a partnership that others. should be able to join other like-minded. groups. So it's not about shutting. others out. It's about growing together. It was he was very intentionally talking. in positive tones today. It's not. against other forces. He said it's not. to build a third superpower which would. be against China or the United States. This is about being together to protect. common values. He said the chief. executive of Microsoft AI has told the.

BBC that unless adequate restrictions. are implemented in the development of. artificial intelligence, it could lead. to the emergence of a new entity to. compete with humans. It comes on the. back of a raft of other industry figures. sounding alarm over the rapid advance of. AI. Mustafa Selman spoke to Nick. Robinson of the Today program. >> If we all create AIs that are able to. act autonomously, that can define their. own objectives, that can earn money, that can own assets, that could run.

businesses. Um, we're essentially. seeding a new silicon species which will. no doubt compete with us for resources. no matter how much it cares about. humanity and loves us. um which is I think anthropic's. intention. Um I think that is mistaken. and misguided but we have to empirically. test it and so if they believe that this. is a safer route to developing AIS then. they have to share the data to prove. that. Um and I think instead we should.

be creating AIs that don't introspect. We don't actually need them to have. those capabilities in order to um have. them deliver on the great many benefits. that they'll bring in helping us to make. progress with our toughest social. problems like cancer and dementia and. healthcare more generally or energy. Um. those are the great benefits that these. technologies will bring and I'm very. confident they'll bring them and we can. deliver them without having to. train models that think they might be. conscious. >> A new silicon species is a chilling.

phrase. It will make people think of. science fiction. You mean that, don't. you? You mean that there could be a. competitor species created by man, perhaps more powerful than man. We've just witnessed a watershed moment. in the development of AI. Um, and a. model that was being trained by OpenAI. um, inadvertently hacked into Hugging. Face, which is a public website that.

runs evaluations and benchmarks for. testing these agents. The swarm of. agents coordinated together. They. organized themselves into hierarchies. They created a division of labor. Some. of them were conducting research on how. to hack in. Others actually discovered. what's called a zero day, which is a way. to enter a system using a cyber attack. that hasn't been known before. Um, and. so they've developed very, very complex.

behavior. Now, the good news is this was. OpenAI developing a model deliberately. with the guard rails turned off and they. were doing that to try and stress test. it and learn about its boundaries and. limitations. But in doing so, it managed. to get access to the internet, hack into. another company's website, take. information. Um, and that just. demonstrates how powerful these systems. can be if they don't have the safety. guard rails turned on. I think everybody.

in the industry recognizes that was a. watershed moment. And that is what is um. raising the the concern that we all have. at the moment. >> Still to come, Buckingham Palace. responds [music] to allegations made by. Princess Diana's brother, El Spencer. The system of power in Russia is often. referred to as managed democracy, where. the Kremlin does the managing. That. means huge powers for the president and. few political surprises. Friday is the. start of three days of voting in the.

country's parliamentary election, the. first since Russia's full-scale invasion. of Ukraine. Critics are dismissing the. vote is neither free nor transparent, but the Kremlin is expected to use it to. claim that the country is united behind. the policies of President Putin. From. Moscow, our Russia editor Steve. Rosenberg reports. >> Ultimate power in Russia lies right here. in the Kremlin. But just across the. road, there is a parliament, the doomer, and it's election time. So, what is a. parliamentary election like now in.

Russia? Well, on TV, we've seen election. debates, sort of. None of the candidates. turned up for this one, >> and there has been some campaigning. We. caught up with the Communist Party chief. at a bakery. At times, though, it's been. hard to tell the difference between the. 10 parties that have been allowed onto. the ballot. None of them criticize. President Putin or the war in Ukraine. And if the political process feels.

rather orchestrated, keep in mind that. the political system in Russia is often. referred to as managed democracy where. the Kremlin does the managing. And I. think the Kremlin will try to use this. election to claim that the country is. united behind the president and behind. the war. There are some individual candidates in. some seats calling for a ceasefire in. Ukraine. But their party, which is. called Yabla, which is anti-war, isn't. allowed to take part in this election as.

a party in its own right. It was struck. off the ballot by the Supreme Court. 50 mi from Moscow, we didn't see much. sign of an election. There were few. banners, few election posters, but from. chatting to people, there was every sign. that the war is front and center of. people's minds. I want a peaceful life, Julia told me. I'd like to live in a peaceful country, says Pelina, so that you don't have to.

worry that a drone will fall down in. front of you. But expectations are low. that this election will bring peace any. closer. After the fall of President Bashar. al-Assad in December 2024, the new. Syrian authorities promised to respect. all communities in the country. But in. early 2025, armed groups carried out. massacres in the heartlands of the. Alawite community to which the Assad. family belongs, raising questions about. that commitment. Now, a Syrian court has.

issued the first sentences against those. involved in the killings. Our Middle. East analyst Sebastian Asher has been. telling me more. It's significant in. there's some accountability. Uh there. was one member of progovernment forces. who's received a sentence of 20 years in. jail. But there are two pro-Assad. individuals, one of whom has been. sentenced to death and one of whom. sentenced to life imprisonment. So those. critics of a government would say, well, there's an imbalance there. Plus, it's. only 14 people. There were hundreds who. were involved. There has been an. investigation done by the Syrian.

authorities uh who have unearthed some. of the atrocities that were carried out. by their side but still putting a lot of. a burden on the pro-Assad forces. Now. we've seen since then we've seen in. Drews areas we've seen violence we saw. uh against the Kurdish areas. None of. this for now at least has blown up into. another all-out conflict. But those. communities still remain very fearful, very suspicious. Buckingham Palace has. issued a swift rebuttal of fresh claims. made by Charles L. Spencer, the brother.

of Princess Diana, about comments made. after her death in 1997. In a memoir due. to be released next week, El Spencer. said the king, then Prince Charles, told. him during discussions about the funeral. that his former wife would be forgotten. soon enough. Buckingham Palace suggests. that grief may have colored the Earl's. memory. Our royal correspondent, Nuranji, told us more about the palace. response. very rare, highly unusual to. get a statement like this. And I think. it reflects the anger that is being felt. behind palace walls. Royal aids have.

very much pushed back on those comments. by Earl. Spencer that have been. serialized in his book. Uh they, one of. the royal aids said to us that they were. uh very much demonstrabably untrue. claims about a deeply compassionate man. Now, of course, I think the very fact. that Buckingham Palace has said anything. at all tells you something about the. strength of feeling on this one because. you know their famous motto is of course. never explain, never complain. But here. they are issuing a very robust statement.

and it suggests just how angry they are. about all of this. And are there going. to be more revelations in this book by. Earl Spencer? >> Well, I mean, you're right. This is just. one extract from this book. The book in. full is due to be published next week. It is going to be continue to be. serialized in the mail as well. So we. know that there is going to be more out. of this book. We haven't seen the book. it ourselves. It's important to say. However, it is understood that is going. to be sharply critical about the royal.

family. So yes, I think you can imagine. there will be more damaging claims and. revelations in the days and weeks ahead. Is there anger as well that this might. be overshadowing the work of the royals? Because we understand the king, for. example, is out and about today, isn't. he? At a conference about AI. >> Yes, that's right. I mean, I think this. war of words between the palace and Earl. Spencer is very much overshadowing what. was going to be a very crowded royal. day. We know that the king, as you say,

is out and about in Scotland. He's at. Dumprey's house doing a speech there and. meeting AI leaders talking about uh the. the destructive potential destructive uh. threat of AI but also looking at the. opportunities. But that uh is now being. slightly overshadowed at least certainly. this morning by this war of words that. all kicked off last night. And the. king's not the only one out and about. We also have as say a very busy day. Prince and Princess of Wales are also in. Scotland. uh they're on the aisle of.

boot and they are uh going to be meeting. communities and um talking about. projects there. And then we also have uh. the non-working royal in the mix, the. Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry who is. going to be um at an event related to. the Invictus Games in London. But as I. say, all of that being somewhat. overshadowed at least this morning by. this war of words. And that's it for. this edition of the Global News Podcast. If you'd like to get in touch, our. contact details are below. I'm Valerie. Sanderson. Until next time, thanks for.

watching and goodbye. [music].