As South Korean court takes up president’s impeachment, ruling party leader resigns
Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images
(SEOUL) — As South Korea’s Constitutional Court began the process of reviewing the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, the leader of his party, who had supported his impeachment, announced his resignation.
Han Dong Hoon, the leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, resigned Monday morning. He had wavered in his support for Yoon, the embattled president who declared a short-lived martial law earlier this month, but, in the end, announced that the party would support impeaching Yoon last week ahead of the vote this weekend.
Han faced strong backlash from his own party for openly supporting impeachment without consulting senior members of the party enough ahead of his announcement last week. The impeachment bill passed Saturday.
Han said he does “not regret supporting the impeachment,” because the emergency martial law was the wrong decision to make.
Yoon, impeached Saturday and stripped of his presidential powers and duties, briefly declared martial law on Dec. 3.
“Defending illegal martial law is a betrayal of the country, the people, the conservative spirit, and the achievements of our party that achieved industrialization and democratization,” Han said Monday.
The constitutional court has up to six months to decide whether to reinstate or formally oust Yoon. Until then, Yoon’s main constitutional powers have been transferred to Prime Minister Han Duck Soo.
A forensics doctor described seeing expressions of fear on the faces of many of the recovered political prisoners, but most of the bodies are decomposed; ABC News
(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Family members and friends of thousands of missing Syrians are continuing their search for those disappeared by former President Bashar Assad’s regime across 14 years of civil war, as victorious rebel forces begin building a transitional government.
Crowds gathered outside a hospital in the capital of Damascus to pore over images of mutilated bodies recovered from the infamous Saydnaya prison — once described by Amnesty International as a “human slaughterhouse.”
Among them was Abdullah, who was told that his brother was arrested in 2013 and died in 2016. Abdullah told ABC News he had been given no other information then or since and that he came to the hospital in the hope of identifying his brother among the dead.
Abdullah did not find his brother’s body. He told ABC News he would continue his search at another hospital where released prisoners were being treated.
In a morgue inside the hospital, one man found his son among the bodies. Mohammad, 20, was a political prisoner taken into custody in October, his father said. Security Forces also took the father into custody and held him for 60 days, before releasing him.
Mohammad was killed just two months before the spectacular collapse of Assad’s regime, the man said. Holding his 15-year-old younger son close, the bereaved father told ABC News he feels there are brighter days ahead despite his loss.
Some 157,000 people disappeared into regime prisons and other facilities between 2011 and 2024, per an estimate by the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
A forensics doctor in the hospital morgue told ABC News he identified the bodies of about 37 people, most of whom were being held in the Saydnaya prison.
Many of the bodies had signs of torture and many of them suffered malnutrition; some of the bodies have almost no muscle tissue between the ribs due to extreme malnutrition, Dr. Sarah Melhem, a forensics doctor at the hospital, told ABC News. Many have signs of being shot, including entry and exit wounds, while others have signs of torture, including bruises, wounds and scars.
Some of the recovered bodies have expressions of fear on the faces while others are decomposed, Melhem said.
“These are political prisoners, so these prisoners have maybe spent a long time in the prisons so the torture signs [have] dissolved,” Melhem said.
Many of the bodies showed signs of being shot, bearing entry and exit wounds. Others had signs of torture including bruises, wounds and scars. Some of the recovered bodies have expressions of fear frozen on their faces, while others are decomposed, Melhem said.
“I have a cousin who was a political prisoner, but we don’t know anything about him,” Melhem said. “We don’t see him. He was arrested from about 2013 and we don’t know anything about him,” Melhem said.
Under Assad, people were taken into custody for things as simple as a Facebook post, Melhem said.
“I believe that this is a criminal system and all of the Syrian people refuse the system but nobody [could] talk. We [didn’t] have the right to speak,” Melhem said.
“After this system fell down, all of the Syrian people are speaking a lot about their experience. All of them have an experience of somebody who died, somebody who have a criminal action on them,” Melhem said.
The collapse of Assad’s government last weekend ended 14 years of conflict between Damascus — backed by Russia and Iran — and a patchwork of anti-government forces, some supported by foreign nations including Turkey and the Gulf states.
Who will lead the next government remains unclear. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — an Islamist group which has its roots in al-Qaeda — led the surprise offensive that eventually toppled Assad.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, whose real name is Ahmed al-Sharaa, has vowed to punish those accused of involvement in the torture, killings and disappearances that long characterized Assad family rule in Syria.
“We will not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people,” Jolani said in a statement posted to the rebels’ Military Operations Command Telegram channel.
“We will pursue war criminals and demand them from the countries to which they fled so that they may receive their just punishment,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heat waves are reshaping our way of life.
The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.
That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.
America will need a ‘shocking’ amount of power in the coming years, according to new report
The United States will need a “shocking” amount of power in the coming years, according to a new report from the consulting firm Grid Strategies.
“The era of flat power demand is behind us,” the report found. “Over the past two years, the five-year load growth forecast has increased by almost a factor of five.”
That means the country’s demand for electricity is estimated to increase by nearly 16% by 2029.
The report cites data centers and manufacturing as the primary drivers of the increased demand but also finds that oil and gas production and the electrification of buildings and vehicles are adding to the growth.
“There are real risks to America’s economic, technological and geopolitical leadership if the grid can’t keep up with demand,” the report warns.
America’s increased demand for electricity will significantly impact the country’s efforts to fight climate change. According to the EPA, electricity generation is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. And while more clean energy projects are coming online each year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says 60% of U.S. electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels.
The study’s authors say their findings could be an underestimate or overestimate due to the complexity of the electric system and the rapid growth in demand for electricity.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Politicians and climate activists say Trump’s victory wouldn’t stop their efforts
At a Tuesday night event, politicians and climate activists, including actress Jane Fonda, delivered a strong message to the incoming Trump administration: they will continue fighting for climate progress and Trump’s agenda will not stop them.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. told a crowd gathered at George Washington University, “It is time, after one month, for us to get up and begin to fight,” adding, “The power of this movement is undeniable, and unlike the incoming president, our record of victory is unimpeachable.”
Despite the incoming administration’s “doomsday day one agenda,” activists and advocates from the climate movement would push for change in Congress, in board rooms and in the streets, he said.
“The planet is running a fever,” Markey said. “There are no emergency rooms for planets, so we have to engage in the preventative care which is necessary to save this planet and the people on this planet, and we know we’re going to face an uphill battle with a climate denier in chief.”
Climate activist and actress Jane Fonda called on those who care about climate progress to stand together and welcome new people into the movement’s tent – even those who voted for President-elect Trump.
“Seventy-eight million Americans voted for Trump. They are not all part of the MAGA movement,” Fonda said. “Many of them did so because they’re suffering financially, they’re scared, they’re confused and they’re angry because the neo-liberal leaders of the Democratic Party have ignored them for so many decades, and so they took a chance on the burn-it-all-down option.”
Fonda, a longtime activist, became involved in the climate movement during the first Trump administration by hosting “Fire Drill Fridays” in front of the U.S. Capitol. These weekly protests often led to her arrest.
At Tuesday night’s event, Fonda wore the same bright red coat she wore during her “fire drills,” noting that it was her “blanket and pillow when I turned 82 in jail.”
“Standing here today in my red coat, I hereby declare myself part of the resistance,” Fonda said.
Fonda also encouraged listeners to focus on down-ballot races and initiatives to address climate change.
Since becoming a climate activist, Fonda has started a political action committee dedicated to electing “climate champions.” In 2024, she said the PAC endorsed 154 candidates, telling the audience at the event that her PAC’s candidates won at a ratio of two-to-one.
Local activists, like Roishetta Ozane, spoke about the importance of not forgetting the communities that are feeling the impacts of climate change firsthand, saying, “These are our real lives and we are real people.”
In her home state of Louisiana, Ozane has been advocating against the implementation and use of liquified natural gas pipelines, arguing that her area has suffered adverse health and environmental effects from local LNG production efforts.
One of the projects Ozane has advocated against, Calcasieu Pass 2, which would represent an expansion of one of the existing LNG projects in the area, was just delayed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission earlier this week.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Kelly Livingston
UN plastic treaty talks fail to reach an agreement
The world uses a lot of plastic — 460 million metric tons of it are produced each year, according to the United Nations. And the International Union for Conservation of Nature says an estimated 20 million metric tons of plastic end up as trash in our environment.
So when more than 3,300 delegates from 170 countries and 440 organizations met in South Korea at the end of November to hash out an agreement to reduce the production of plastics, environmentalists hoped that something might finally get done to address the problem. It didn’t.
The fifth U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee failed to reach a binding agreement on plastic production and waste for the fifth time since the group began meeting in November 2022.
Nearly 100 countries came to an agreement that would limit plastic production and establish an accountability method ensuring all parties would meet reduction goalposts. Some oil-rich nations pushed back, however, wanting to focus on plastic pollution instead. U.N. rules require a consensus among all delegates for any plan to be binding. That didn’t happen.
“It is clear there is persisting divergence in critical areas and more time is needed for these areas to be addressed,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program.
Most plastic is not recycled. Instead, it ends up in landfills and pollutes marine bodies like oceans and rivers worldwide. According to an OECD report from 2022, only 9% of plastics worldwide get recycled, and since 1970, 139 metric tons have ended up in our oceans, rivers and lakes. A 2021 study revealed that the plastics industry’s contribution to climate change will exceed coal’s by 2030.
While countries failed to reach an agreement on capping the production of plastic, they did agree to continue talks in 2025.
“As we look ahead to 2025, and navigate what an INC 5.2 could look like, countries must come to the table ready to fight for our future,” said Erin Simon, vice president and head of plastic waste and business at World Wildlife Fund. “The current draft has some of the ingredients for success, but we can’t back down on delivering a legally binding text that finally puts us on a course to eliminate plastic pollution.”
“Let us always remember that our purpose is noble and urgent: to reverse and remedy the severe effects of plastic pollution on ecosystems and human health,” said Luis Vayas Valdivieso, chair of the U.N.’s international plastics negotiating committee.
-ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin
Study identifies heat wave hot spots across the globe
It’s all but certain that 2024 will be Earth’s warmest year on record, surpassing 2023 as the previous record holder. While this troubling milestone measures global average temperatures, a new study from the Columbia Climate School found that unexplained extreme heat wave hot spots are popping up in specific areas worldwide.
Calling it “a striking new phenomenon,” the study’s authors write, “Distinct regions are seeing repeated heat waves that are so extreme, they fall far beyond what any model of global warming can predict or explain.”
According to the study, “The large and unexpected margins by which recent regional-scale extremes have broken earlier records have raised questions about the degree to which climate models can provide adequate estimates of relations between global mean temperature changes and regional climate risks.”
The study identified these hot spots on every continent except Antarctica. Researchers say the heat waves have mostly been a recent phenomenon, occurring primarily over the last five years, although some date back to the early 2000s and before.
Central China, Japan, Korea, the Arabian peninsula, eastern Australia and certain parts of Africa were the hardest-hit areas. The study, however, found that parts of Texas and New Mexico were also impacted, just not as much as the other regions.
“This is about extreme trends that are the outcome of physical interactions we might not completely understand,” said lead author Kai Kornhuber, an adjunct scientist at the Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in a statement. “These regions become temporary hothouses.”
The researchers say it’s unclear what is causing these hot spots. While one study has pointed to wobbles in the jet stream as a possible culprit, the authors say that the hypothesis doesn’t explain all the extremes.
Regardless of the cause, heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the United States. The Journal of the American Medical Association found that heat deaths in the U.S. have nearly doubled since 1999 and account for a 63% increase in health-related death rates between 1999-2023.
“Due to their unprecedented nature, these heat waves are usually linked to very severe health impacts, and can be disastrous for agriculture, vegetation and infrastructure,” said Kornhuber. “We’re not built for them, and we might not be able to adapt fast enough.”
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
How to have a more sustainable Thanksgiving
The amount of food consumed every year at Thanksgiving is actually associated with a large carbon footprint, according to experts.
Although Thanksgiving may be the holiday best known for indulging, there are ways to enjoy your favorite meal of the year while keeping the environment in mind.
“The Thanksgiving meal is more than just the food,” Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, told ABC News. “There’s so much meaning [and] emotions associated with it.”
The average Thanksgiving dinner has a carbon footprint of about 103 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the Climate Trade, an environmental solutions platform.
Maine joins list of states suing fossil fuel companies over climate change
Maine has become the latest in a growing number of states to sue the fossil fuel industry over the impacts of global warming.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey accused major fossil fuel companies of deceiving Mainers for decades about the impact their product has on human-amplified climate change.
“For over half a century, these companies chose to fuel profits instead of following their science to prevent what are now likely irreversible, catastrophic climate effects,” Frey said in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed in state court on Tuesday, alleges the defendants knew as early as the 1960s that an increasing use of fossil fuels could potentially bring devastating consequences to Maine. The state argues the companies not only failed to warn residents about the consequences, but knowingly concealed their knowledge about the long-term negative impacts that Maine’s people, environment and economy could face.
The filing states the companies focused on creating public doubt by launching public relations campaigns targeting the science of climate change and the impacts of burning fossil fuels. It is seeking financial compensation for both past and future climate-related damages and for the companies to cease their ongoing deception in Maine.
“They burdened the state and our citizens with the consequences of their greed and deception,” Frey said.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills applauded the attorney general’s actions, saying in a statement that “for decades, big oil companies have made record profits, taking billions out of the pockets of Maine people while deliberately deceiving them about the harmful impacts of fossil fuels — impacts that Maine people see and feel every day.”
Maine joins a growing list of more than 20 states — including California, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Vermont — that have brought similar types of lawsuits to date. Earlier this year, Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act became law, seeking financial accountability for climate change-related damages brought by fossil fuel companies. However, due to stipulations in the law and likely lawsuits, it’s expected to be several years before any potential first charge to fossil fuel companies would be attempted.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck
Soaking rain eases drought in parts of U.S. but dryness still a problem for much of the country
Widespread drought conditions are still a significant concern across the country, with parts of the Northeast, northern Plains and Southwest currently experiencing some of the worst impacts, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor update released Wednesday.
Overall, more than 40% of the contiguous United States remains in a drought. This is an improvement, however, from the beginning of the month when more than half of the lower 48 faced drought conditions. Recent heavy rain along the West Coast and parts of the Midwest brought significant drought relief to portions of Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and Illinois.
As a result, drought coverage decreased from 45.48% to 41.45% versus last week. While some regions experienced a notable improvement, the recent soaking in the Northeast was only enough to pause the fire danger and trend of intensifying drought conditions — for now.
The current drought situation in the Northeast took months to evolve, and it will take several more rounds of significant rainfall over the span of weeks or even months to completely eliminate the widespread drought in the region.
After a few rounds of beneficial rain, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center says a large part of the country will likely experience below-average precipitation in early December, particularly in the West, Plains and East Coast.
Much of the western Gulf Coast and northern Plains could see above-average rainfall during this period. Drought relief across the country will, at the very least, take a pause through the beginning of next month.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck
Colorado River at a tipping point over drought threat, new study finds
A major water supplier in the West is once again in the spotlight for its unpredictable future.
The Colorado River, the water source for 40 million people across the west, is in a worse state than previously believed, according to a recent study published in Earth’s Future.
Drought and dry conditions, compounded by climate change, put the Colorado River in greater jeopardy, the study’s authors said.
“It doesn’t take a lot of climate change to put the system into a very vulnerable future,” said Dr. Patrick Reed, a civil and environmental engineer at Cornell University and co-author of the study.
Colorado’s West Slope River Basins “are essential water sources for the Colorado River and play a vital role in supporting the state of Colorado’s local economy and natural environment,” according to the study. The West Slope River Basins contribute nearly 70% of the streamflow deliveries to Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir.
But drought has significantly depleted Lake Powell’s water supply, leading to the first-ever water shortage in the Upper Colorado River Basin in 2021 and more dependence on the West Slope Basin supply.
“The Colorado River is extremely stressed and overallocated,” Reed said.
The Colorado River supplies water to seven states and Northern Mexico. Agreements about how the water is divided are up for renegotiation in 2026.
-ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin
US fuel economy hits record high as CO2 emissions hit record low, EPA says
U.S. fuel economy reached a record high in 2023 at the same time that greenhouse emissions reached a record low, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual Automotive Trends Report released Monday.
The report also states that model year 2023 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 11%.
“This report provides a critical data-driven affirmation that strong, technology-neutral standards can underpin environmental progress while saving drivers money at the pump,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.
New vehicle CO2 emissions are now at a record low of 319 grams per mile, which reduces the impact on climate change. Battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles, combined with fuel cell vehicles, are expected to reach 14.8% of overall vehicle production in 2024, a trend that is expected to grow across the industry, according to the report.
Passenger cars and light trucks accounted for 17% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, underscoring the need for further reductions across the industry, experts said.
— ABC News Climate Unit’s Dan Manzo
In surprise turn, world leaders reach $300B climate cash deal at COP29
In a surprising turn of events, world leaders at the United Nations climate conference in Azerbaijan announced they have reached agreement on a new deal that calls for wealthy countries to contribute $300 billion annually to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change.
After fears no deal would be reached as talks broke down, the announcement came around 3 a.m. local time and was met with a standing ovation and a wave of relief.
The deal in question was the “climate cash” agreement, under which developed nations will contribute an annual target of $300 billion to help climate-vulnerable, developing countries deal with the consequences of climate change.
President Joe Biden on Saturday praised the agreement, while touting his administration’s work on climate change, saying “nobody” can undo America’s “clean energy revolution,” in an apparent swipe at President-elect Donald Trump.
“Today at COP29, thanks in part to the tireless efforts of a robust US delegation, the world reached agreement on another historic outcome,” Biden said in a statement, going on to say the “ambitious” deal “will help mobilize the level of finance – from all sources – that developing countries need to accelerate the transition to clean, sustainable economies, while opening up new markets for American-made electric vehicles, batteries, and other products.”
Biden, who is leaving office in less than two months, said states and cities will continue to tackle climate change — notably not mentioning the federal government, while adding that no one can overturn progress on the issue, repeating something he said last week while visiting the Amazon.
In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had “hoped for a more ambitious outcome” on both financing and climate change mitigation efforts from the conference.
“But this agreement provides a base on which to build,” he said in the statement. “It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash. All countries must come together to ensure the top-end of this new goal is met.”
Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s minister of ecology and natural resources who served as the COP29 president, said in a statement the $300 billion goal “represents the best possible deal we could reach.”
The U.N. climate conference, known as COP29, was anticipated to be the “finance COP” — the site of negotiations to determine how much fighting the climate crisis would cost and who would pay for it.
In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, participating countries agreed to set climate financing goals in 2024 that would account for the needs of developing countries.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Fritz Farrow and Jack Moore
UN climate conference delegates struggle to reach agreement on financing the climate fight
The U.N. climate conference in Azerbaijan was supposed to be the “finance COP.” World leaders would determine how much fighting the climate crisis would cost and who would pay for it.
However, as COP29 winds down, many developing countries and nongovernmental organizations are dissatisfied with the current language in the proposed climate finance agreement.
In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, participating countries agreed to set a New Collective Quantified Goal, or NCQG, on climate finance in 2024 that would account for the needs of developing countries. Basically, how much money would each nation spend to support developing countries that are being disproportionately impacted by climate?
While several versions of the new NCQG have been proposed, a final agreement is still out of reach. The latest text calls for a $1.3 trillion climate finance investment annually until 2035 but only requires a $250 billion investment from developed countries.
“With a paltry climate finance offer of $250 billion annually, and a deadline to deliver as late as 2035, richer nations, including EU countries, and the United States are dangerously close to betraying the Paris Agreement,” Dr. Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, said. “This is nowhere near the robust and desperately needed funding lower income nations deserve to combat climate change.”
The latest NCQG language lays out a variety of funding sources that can play a part in reaching global climate finance goals, including multilateral development banks, or MDBs, that can distribute funds through grants and concessional loans for developing countries and adaptation projects.
However, the text does not make clear whether funds from MDBs are part of reaching the $250 billion goal or supplement that goal. It also includes provisions allowing for voluntary contributions from developing countries.
“The central demand coming into COP29 was for a strong, science-aligned climate finance commitment, which this appalling text utterly fails to provide,” Cleetus said. “Wealthier nations seem content to shamefully renege on their responsibility and cave in to fossil fuel interests while unjustly foisting the costs of deadly climate extremes on countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis.”
World Resources Institute Global Climate, Economics and Finance Program Director Melanie Robinson agrees, releasing a statement Friday saying, “Developed countries should aim higher than the $250 billion they’ve put on the table.”
“We should leave Baku with a goal that at least gets to $300 billion a year by 2035,” Robinson said.
Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network International, called the latest draft text “an insult to the people in the Global south.”
“This latest draft text on the New Collective Quantified Goal is not just a joke — it’s an insult to the people in the Global South living on the front line of the climate crisis,” Essop said. “In the meantime, millions of people’s lives are at risk. We are angry, but we will keep fighting until the end.”
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Kelly Livingston and ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin
October was 2nd warmest month on record, NOAA announces
If you thought October was unusually warm, it isn’t your imagination. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that last month was the second warmest October since the U.S. began keeping records in 1895. It was also the second driest, with less than an inch of rainfall. It should be more than double that.
October was also the second warmest on record globally when looking at land and ocean temperatures. And it was the warmest ever for land temperature alone.
According to the NOAA, there is now a 99% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year on record globally.
This new data continues 2024’s streak of having some of the driest and warmest months on record for states across the U.S.
The heat and high levels of dryness across the country have left 87% of the United States in dry or drought conditions. Widespread drought increases the risk of wildfires, as soil with no moisture burns more easily.
Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, calls the combination of heat and dryness a “double whammy.”
New Jersey and Delaware had their driest Octobers on record, and much of the Atlantic Seaboard experienced Octobers with precipitation levels much below average. The region has seen hundreds of wildfires due to these conditions, with New Jersey experiencing a 1,300% increase in fire calls.
In October, much of the United States experienced drought, with dryness expanding and increasing in the Northeast, Great Lakes, Northern Rockies and Plains, Southeast, Deep South, Southwest and the Hawaiian islands.
NOAA says that by February 2025, drought conditions should improve in the Pacific Northwest, Ohio Valley and Western Great Lakes, but are likely to expand and intensify in the Southwest and Atlantic Seaboard.
Despite the destruction they cause, tropical storms can “make or break” drought for the winter, said Svoboda. Without intense rains earlier in the year, there is little or no moisture in the ground come winter.
The dryness impacts wheat crops and livestock forage, potentially increasing food prices. Dryer soil makes wheat crops more vulnerable in colder temperatures because that soil can freeze and kill the plant, decreasing the harvest for the following year.
NOAA also reported that in 2024, 24 different billion-dollar weather and climate disasters impacted the United States through the end of October. This number is only second to last year, with a record 27 individual billion-dollar weather and climate disasters by October.
Russian President Valdimir Putin; Photo credit: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it defeated a Ukrainian ATACMS attack in the western Bryansk region, shortly before the Kremlin updated its nuclear weapons doctrine to allow for nuclear strikes in response to foreign ballistic missile attacks.
Ukrainian forces fired six “ballistic missiles,” the ministry wrote on its official Telegram page, five of which were downed and the sixth damaged. “According to confirmed data, American-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles were used,” it wrote.
“ATACMS fragments fell on the technical territory of a military facility in the Bryansk region, a fire broke out, it was extinguished,” the ministry added.
The ministry alleged the attack shortly after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine — signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday — meant “the use of Western non-nuclear rockets by the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia can prompt a nuclear response.”
Peskov’s remarks came after three U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News that President Joe Biden had approved Ukraine’s use of the long-range American-made MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System — colloquially known as the ATACMS — to hit targets in Russia’s western Kursk region.
Bryansk borders Kursk to its west. The target and location of Tuesday’s alleged Ukrainian strike is unclear. Kyiv is yet to comment on the Russian Defense Ministry’s report.
The Biden administration hasn’t publicly confirmed the policy change. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists at a Monday briefing he would not confirm or deny approval for ATACMS use inside Russia, but said the U.S. response to Russian and North Korean military cooperation in the war “would be firm.”
There are now some 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region intended for deployment to the battlefield, U.S. officials have said.
The changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine were unveiled several weeks ago but only signed by Putin on Tuesday, as officials in Moscow expressed anger at the U.S. decision to allow ATACMS use on Russian territory.
The doctrine now says Russia can launch a nuclear attack against a country assisting a non-nuclear country in aggression against Russia that critically threatens the country’s state integrity.=
Moscow has repeatedly threatened nuclear weapon use against Ukraine and its Western partners throughout its full-scale invasion of the country.
Western leaders including President Joe Biden have said that avoiding a direct clash between Russia and NATO is a top priority given the danger of nuclear war.
