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Retreating glaciers threaten the food and water supply of 2 billion people around the world, the UN has warned, as current “unprecedented” rates of melting will have unpredictable consequences.

Two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture in the world is likely to be affected in some way by receding glaciers and dwindling snowfall in mountain regions, driven by the climate crisis, according to a Unesco report.

More than 1 billion people live in mountainous regions and, of those in developing countries, up to half are already experiencing food insecurity. That is likely to worsen, as food production in such regions is dependent on mountain waters, melting snow, and glaciers, according to the World Water Development Report 2025.

Developed countries are also at risk: in the US, for example, the Colorado River basin has been in drought since 2000, and higher temperatures mean more of the precipitation is falling as rain, which runs off more quickly than mountain snow, exacerbating drought conditions.

Audrey Azoulay, the director general of Unesco, said: “Regardless of where we live, we all depend in some way on mountains and glaciers. But these natural water towers are facing imminent peril. This report demonstrates the urgent need for action.”

The rate of change of glaciers is the worst on record, according to separate research from the World Meteorological Organisation, which published its annual State of the Climate report this week. The largest three-year loss of glacier mass on record occurred in the past three years, the study found, with Norway, Sweden, Svalbard and the tropical Andes among the worst-affected areas.

Eastern Africa has lost 80% of its glaciers in places and, in the Andes, between a third and a half of glaciers have melted since 1998. Glaciers in the Alps and the Pyrenees, the worst affected in Europe, have shrunk by about 40% over roughly the same period.

The decline of glaciers has had a further impact, added Abou Amani, director of water sciences at Unesco, in that the loss of ice replaces a reflective surface with dark soil that absorbs heat. “Glaciers melting have an impact on the reflectivity of [solar] radiation and that will impact the whole climate system,” he warned.

More avalanches will also result, as rain falling on snow is a major factor behind avalanche formation. Pooling water from melting glaciers can also be released, causing sudden floods in valleys or to people living further down the slopes. Permafrost is also melting, releasing methane from the mountain soils that melting glaciers are uncovering.

A previous study, published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, found that half of global glacier mass would be lost by the end of the century, if global heating was not halted. Alex Brisbourne, a glacier geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey, said: “Mountain glaciers contain some of the largest freshwater reservoirs on Earth. Meltwater released in the summer provides the water supply to a billion people and sustains an enormous amount of industry and agriculture. The impact [of such melting] will be felt way beyond those immediately downstream of the glaciers.”

These impacts are coming at a time when many food sources are already under strain. Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) and chair of UN-Water, called for more support for people who live in afflicted mountain regions. “Water flows downhill, but food insecurity rises uphill. Mountains provide 60% of our freshwater, but the communities that safeguard these vital resources are among the most food insecure,” he said.

“We must invest in their resilience to protect glaciers, rivers, and a shared future for all of us.”

Dubbed "Endgame," the sprawling international operation had a "global impact on the dropper ecosystem," Europol said, referring to a type of software used to inject other malware into a targeted system.

In addition to the four arrests, which took place in Armenia and Ukraine, eight people linked to these criminal activities will be added to the list of the most wanted people in Europe.

This operation, coordinated between May 27 and 29 from the headquarters of the European police service in The Hague, led to around twenty searches in Armenia, Ukraine, as well as Portugal and the Netherlands.

Over 100 servers were seized in various European countries, the US and Canada.

The investigation, which began in 2022, showed that one of the main suspects earned at least 69 million euros in cryptocurrencies by renting criminal infrastructure to develop a ransom, the European judicial service Eurojust said.

Authorities initially targeted the groups behind six malware families: IcedID, SystemBC, Bumblebee, Smokeloader, Pikabot and Trickbot.

These "droppers" are linked to at least 15 ransomware groups, the German federal police and the Frankfurt public prosecutor's office said in a joint statement. "Main threat" -

Droppers "allow criminals to bypass security measures and deploy malicious programs," Europol explained.

"Themselves generally do not cause direct damage, but are critical to gaining access and running malicious software on affected systems," he added.

"All are now used to develop ransomware and are considered the main threat in the infection chain," he explained.

French investigative authorities identified the administrator of "SystemBC", mapped the infrastructure connected to the "dropper" and coordinated the dismantling of a network of dozens of control servers, Paris prosecutor Laure Bequiot said in a statement.

"SystemBC" facilitated anonymous communication between an affected system and its management and control servers, Europol said.

The operator of “Pikabot”, which enables the deployment of ransomware, remote computer control and data theft, was also identified by French authorities.

They proceeded to arrest him and search his home, in Ukraine, with the assistance of the Ukrainian authorities, explained Bekio.

French investigators have also identified one of the key players behind “Bumblebee”, and are investigating it in Armenia, as well as in investigative operations.

“Bumblebee”, which is mainly distributed through phishing campaigns or compromised websites, is designed to allow the development and execution of other attacks.

“Trickbot”, was used mainly to demand ransom from hospitals and health centers in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We wanted to do this operation before the Olympic Games” in Paris this summer, Nicolas Guidou, head of the cybercrime prosecution of the judicial police (Ofac), which coordinated the operation on the French side, told AFP.

“It is important to weaken the attacking infrastructure, to limit their means,” ahead of this global event, during which authorities fear there will be many cyberattacks, he continued.

Only after examining the servers that were taken offline will the authorities be able to give an estimate of the number of victims, he clarified. They are expected to number in the hundreds of thousands.

Operation “Endgame” is ongoing and more arrests are expected, Europol concluded.

Apple is taking another step towards the future of artificial intelligence by introducing the integration of ChatGPT into Siri through the latest software updates for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Aimed to enhance the user experience, the new feature promises smarter and more targeted responses, strengthening Apple's position as a pioneer in AI technology. ChatGPT, a signature of OpenAI, is becoming an integral part of Apple Intelligence , offering capabilities that are expected to upgrade the way users interact with their devices.

ChatGPT integration is triggered when users ask Siri complex questions . When Siri receives a question that Apple's software recognizes as more appropriate for ChatGPT, it asks the user for permission to access the OpenAI service.

Apple says it has built privacy into the feature and that OpenAI will not store requests . The integration uses OpenAI's GPT-4o model .

According to CNBC, Apple users do not need an OpenAI account to use the ChatGPT integration, but can pay for upgraded versions of ChatGPT through Apple. Users can also access ChatGPT through some text menus.

The release of iOS 18.2 is a critical milestone for Apple, which is relying on Apple Intelligence to lead its iPhone 16 series marketing campaign. Apple Intelligence is the company's suite of artificial intelligence features, the first part of which was released in October . These features included writing tools that can correct or rewrite text, a new design for Siri that makes the entire phone screen glow, and notification summaries .

The company says it will release another Apple Intelligence update next year that will include major improvements to Siri, including the ability to take actions within apps.

Many investors believe that as Apple Intelligence adds features, it will boost iPhone sales, lead to an upgrade cycle and potentially establish Apple as the leader in consumer-oriented artificial intelligence.

This integration is also a major win for OpenAI, as it puts its flagship product in front of millions of iPhone users .

Users need an iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, or any iPhone 16 model to install and use Apple Intelligence, although the ChatGPT integration primarily uses cloud servers.

After updating to the latest Apple software, users who have not yet activated Apple Intelligence can join a waiting list within the Settings app. Users usually get access to the software within the same day. Their phones will have to download large files, including Apple's AI models, that the service needs to work.

The Arctic just experienced its second-hottest year on record. And concerningly, the region’s tundra has transitioned from being a sink for carbon to a source of emissions as permafrost thaws, releasing carbon dioxide and methane.

That will only amplify the amount of heat-trapping gases that enter the atmosphere, paving the way for further warming.

The findings, shared Tuesday in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Arctic report card, show how climate change is scrambling ecosystems and shape-shifting the landscape in the part of the planet where global warming is most intense.

Considered a bellwether region for the effects of climate change, the Arctic is heating up far faster than places at lower altitudes — two to four times as quickly, depending on the baselines scientists use for comparison and which geography they include in assessments. The last nine years in the Arctic have all had the highest average temperatures recorded since 1900.

That dynamic is the result of a phenomenon called Arctic amplification. As the Arctic loses snow cover and sea ice, more dark-colored ocean water and rock emerge. Those dark surfaces reflect less radiation back to space, absorbing heat, instead. In addition, patterns of circulation in the oceans and the atmosphere are increasingly transporting heat toward the Earth’s poles.

Together, that means the Arctic is a fundamentally different place from what it was just 10 years ago, said the lead editor of the new NOAA report, Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist and science communication liaison at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

“The Arctic is in sort of a new regime, not a new normal, of course, but it’s decidedly different than it was even just a couple of decades ago,” she said.

Overall, the Arctic is becoming a greener landscape with more extreme precipitation and less snow and ice, according to the report. The effects of that transformation are increasingly apparent closer to American homes, as fires in the Arctic send smoke to populated areas and as melting ice raises sea levels, scientists said.

“These issues are not not just staying in the Arctic, right — they’re impacting all of us,” said Brendan Rogers, an associate scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, who studies permafrost and contributed to the report.

This year’s report includes a detailed accounting of how the carbon cycle is changing in the Arctic. Scientists have been closely watching what happens when permafrost melts, releasing potent greenhouse gases as it thaws and decomposes.

“The permafrost region contains about twice as much carbon as is in the atmosphere now and about three times as much carbon as in the aboveground biomass of all the world’s forests, so it’s a lot of carbon that’s at stake here,” Rogers said.

He added that permafrost regions have “been carbon sinks for millennia, on average, largely because of cold temperatures and frozen soils.” A carbon sink, by definition, absorbs and captures more carbon dioxide than it releases. But now, Rogers said, such regions have instead become a source of greenhouse gas emissions as they thaw and release that carbon and methane into the atmosphere.

Wildfires are also contributing to Arctic emissions. Last year, wildfires burned more than twice as much area in the region as in any previous year — exceeding the emissions from Canada’s economic activity.

“It’s roughly three times the amount from all other Canadian sectors,” Rogers said of Canada’s total wildfire emissions. “It’s higher than in any other country’s annual emissions except for China, the U.S., India and Russia.”

Wildfire forced the evacuation of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, last year. About 19,000 people had to flee the city, which is in an area with discontinuous permafrost.

Temperature records are organized by Arctic water year, so the most recent one ran from October 2023 through September 2024. Every September, scientists measure the extent of Arctic sea ice at its seasonal minimum.

This year, sea ice was the sixth-lowest in the 45 years since satellites began measuring; sea ice extents have decreased about 50% since the 1980s. Meanwhile, the Arctic tundra was the second-greenest since records began in 2000, indicating that more shrubs had taken root and expanded into new terrain.

Measurements of Arctic permafrost, which are taken from boreholes drilled below the surface, had higher average temperatures than in all but one previous year.

“There are many metrics in which we’re just seeing this consistently extreme and near extreme,” Moon said.

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