At least 13 injured after car rams into bus stop in Israel
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
(LONDON) — At least 13 people have been injured after a car rammed into a bus stop in Israel, at Karkur Junction, according to Israeli police.
The suspect is a 53-year-old Palestinian from the Jenin area who is married to an Israeli citizen and living in Israel without a permit, according to police.
The driver ran over and injured several civilians standing at the bus stop, police said.
The driver took off in his car, but was blocked by police vehicles. He rammed the police vehicle before being “neutralized” after he exited the vehicle and charged at police with a sharp object, police said. There was no word on his condition.
A 17-year-old girl was critically injured, two others seriously wounded, one moderately injured and six others suffered minor injuries, police said.
Among those injured was a police officer, authorities said.
“The determined action of the police brought the incident to an end, thus preventing further harm to innocent people, while saving lives,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.
The critically injured teen suffered head and limb injuries and is now sedated and ventilated, according to Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency services agency. A 60-year-old male with head and limb injuries has also been sedated and ventilated and a 19-year-old female with head injuries is conscious, Magen David Adom said. A 18-year-old female with limb injuries is in moderate condition and is fully conscious.
“It was a severe scene. When we arrived with large forces, we saw the injured, some of them lying on a dirt mound behind the bus stop,” Orly Keinan, an EMT with the group, said. “They told us they were hit by a vehicle that had mounted the sidewalk and fled. We provided them with lifesaving treatment, including stopping bleeding, bandaging, and immobilization, before evacuating them to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center.”
(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.
More than three-quarters of the planet’s land is now permanently drier due to climate change
Humans are dependent on the land for our very survival. If we can’t farm, we don’t eat. However, much of that precious soil is in danger due to human-amplified climate change, according to a new report.
In its new report, the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) found that 77.6% of the Earth’s land has become permanently drier over the last three decades leading up to 2020. During the same period, drylands expanded by more than 1.6 million square miles and now cover more than 40% of the planet (excluding Antarctica).
Drylands are regions characterized by low rainfall and moisture, resulting in scarce water and arid land. Drier land can result in insufficient food production, increased wildfire activity, water scarcity and land degradation, according to the report.
“Unlike droughts—temporary periods of low rainfall—aridity represents a permanent, unrelenting transformation,” UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw said in a press statement. “Droughts end. When an area’s climate becomes drier, however, the ability to return to previous conditions is lost. The drier climates now affecting vast lands across the globe will not return to how they were and this change is redefining life on Earth.”
The report says human-amplified climate change is the primary reason for this transformation. The UNCCD finds that greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation, transportation, industry and land use changes are warming the planet and affecting rainfall, evaporation and plant life. They say those changes create the ideal conditions for increased dryness.
And it’s not just dry areas getting drier. The researchers found that more than 7% of global lands were transformed from non-drylands to drylands or from less arid areas to more arid. They warn that another 3% of the world’s humid areas could become drylands by the end of the century if we don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Without concerted efforts, billions face a future marked by hunger, displacement, and economic decline. Yet, by embracing innovative solutions and fostering global solidarity, humanity can rise to meet this challenge. The question is not whether we have the tools to respond—it is whether we have the will to act,” Nichole Barger, chair of the UNCCD’s science-policy interface, said in a statement.
The report makes several recommendations, including better monitoring, improved land use policies and investing in new water efficiency technologies. But they make it clear that the world must curb global warming if they are to stop the future damage and the threats that come from it.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Report finds that geothermal energy could meet 15% of global energy demand through 2050
The Earth produces a lot of heat. Scientists believe our planet’s inner core is nearly as hot as the sun. Radioactive particles in rocks slowly decay, constantly replenishing the heat. Geothermal energy harnesses that heat to create energy and warm homes and buildings.
However, geothermal energy isn’t widely used despite being clean and renewable. It’s expensive and often location-specific, usually near tectonic plate boundaries.
But according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), geothermal power could become a significant source of electricity for the world. The intergovernmental organization found that “geothermal energy could meet 15% of global electricity demand growth between now and 2050 if project costs continue to decline.”
That would be enough power to meet the current demand of the United States and India combined. Unlike wind and solar, the IEA says geothermal can provide 24/7 energy generation. It also has the added benefit of heat production and storage.
“New technologies are opening new horizons for geothermal energy across the globe, offering the possibility of meeting a significant portion of the world’s rapidly growing demand for electricity securely and cleanly,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a press statement.
The IEA says with more financial investment, the cost of geothermal energy could fall by 80%. And at a time when finding workers with green energy skills can be challenging, the report states “up to 80% of the investment required in geothermal involves capacity and skills that are transferrable from existing oil and gas operations.”
“Geothermal is a major opportunity to draw on the technology and expertise of the oil and gas industry. Our analysis shows that the growth of geothermal could generate investment worth $1 trillion by 2035,” Birol added.
November was the 2nd warmest on record
With less than three weeks to go before 2025, global temperatures in November have made it all but certain that 2024 will be the warmest year ever recorded.
According to NOAA’s monthly climate assessment, last month was the second warmest November globally, with temperatures 2.41 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average. Temperatures were above average across much of the world, with Asia experiencing its warmest November ever recorded. Oceania and South America were second-warmest.
Year-to-date, the world is experiencing its warmest period on record. That means there’s a more than 99% chance that 2024 will break the yearly temperature record currently held by 2023, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
According to NOAA, global tropical cyclone activity matched the long-term record with 12 named storms this year. The Atlantic saw three hurricanes in November, including Rafael, which peaked as a Category 3 storm.
Global sea ice area was the second smallest in 46 years and more than one million square miles less than the 1991-2020 average.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Wildfire smoke: A significant contributor to air pollution in some US communities
In recent years, wildfire smoke has emerged as a significant cause of diminished air quality across many cities in the United States, according to a new recent study presented at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
The findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, suggest that wildfire smoke can contribute to as much as 50% of annual air pollution in certain parts of the U.S. Regions in Oregon, Nevada, California, Washington, North Dakota and Minnesota were identified as some of the most affected by this smoke-related air pollution.
The researchers say the impact of wildfire smoke doesn’t just stop in remote areas; it’s also impacting major urban centers. Some of the country’s largest cities, including New York, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., reported significant smoke exposure in 2023. Los Angeles, Phoenix and Riverside experienced their highest smoke levels in 2020. The researchers say this year-to-year variation between locations underscores the unpredictable nature of wildfire seasons and their far-reaching consequences on air quality.
The researchers analyzed data collected from more than 800 particle monitors in over 350 areas, representing nearly 90% of the U.S. population. The team combined data from the NOAA Hazard Mapping System Fire and Smoke Product with surface PM2.5 readings to explore how these smoky days affect overall pollution levels. PM2.5 is a type of particulate matter pollution smaller than human hair that can cause a number of health problems, such as asthma and heart disease.
The results from the study raise important questions about public health and environmental policy, especially as climate change intensifies wildfire seasons. According to a study from researchers at the University of Tasmania, extreme wildfire events have more than doubled in frequency and magnitude globally over the past two decades. And the Environmental Protection Agency has found that the U.S. wildfire season has grown longer and shifted earlier in recent decades due to warmer springs, longer summer dry seasons and drier vegetation.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser and ABC News Medical Unit’s Vinh-Son Nguyen, MD
The rapidly warming Arctic tundra is now contributing to climate change
For thousands of years, the vast Arctic tundra has acted as a critical carbon sink. That means it absorbed more carbon dioxide than it produced. As a result, it has been removing a heat-trapping greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. However, rapidly warming conditions and increasing wildfire activity have now turned the region into a source of carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Arctic region is warming much faster than the global average, and rapidly warming temperatures are fueling the troubling shift in several ways.
First, increasing temperatures are thawing the permafrost, releasing carbon that’s been stored in the soil into the atmosphere. Second, warmer conditions promote vegetation growth, contributing to more frequent wildfires in the region and additional carbon dioxide emissions.
The Arctic’s warmest years on record have all occurred within the last nine years. The persistent warming trend has contributed to declining snow cover and a shortening snow season. According to the report, last winter brought the shortest snow season in 26 years for portions of Arctic Canada, and overall, Arctic snow melt is occurring one to two weeks earlier than historical averages.
Less snow promotes further warming and increases the wildfire threat in the region. And these compounding factors create an unsettling cycle that feeds on itself, boosting global warming while making it increasingly difficult to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Rick Spinrad, NOAA’s administrator, said the addition of the Arctic tundra as a source of carbon dioxide emissions “will worsen climate change impacts.”
Local ecosystems are already having to adapt. According to the report, food sources for ice seal populations are shifting due to water temperature changes and warmer and wetter weather is devastating inland caribou herds.
If this trend continues, cascading impacts could reach far beyond the Arctic region. “What happens in the Arctic has wide-reaching implications for the entirety of North America and Eurasia,” Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a press statement.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck
The US just experienced its warmest autumn on record
Another season, another climate milestone. According to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), persistent above-average to record-warm conditions across much of the United States made meteorological autumn, which lasts from September to November, the warmest ever recorded.
The record-warm fall season makes it more likely that 2024 will end up as one of the nation’s warmest, if not the warmest, years on record. As of November 2024, the contiguous U.S. year-to-date temperature was 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit above average.
Despite December’s chilly start for much of the country, with widespread below-average temperatures in many regions, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center says that the cold will ease during the second half of the month with above-average temperatures favored from the West to the Northeast.
The stretch of abnormally warm temperatures was accompanied by extremely dry weather across much of the country, fueling dangerous wildfire conditions in regions like the Northeast. A very dry start to the season brought drought conditions to more than half of the lower 48 states by late October.
Fortunately, several significant rainfall events in November brought notable drought relief to large swaths of the country, reducing overall drought coverage by nearly 10.5% and suppressing the wildfire danger.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck
Nearly one-third of the planet’s species risk extinction because of climate change
Nearly one-third of the world’s species could be at risk for extinction because of climate change if the world does nothing to reduce global warming, according to a new analysis from Science.
University of Connecticut researcher and biologist Mark Urban found that while some species are adapting to climate change, 160,000 species are already at risk. Many are now facing declining populations because of changes in our climate.
According to the study, with current global temperatures at 1.3 degrees Celsius above industrial levels, 1.6% of species are projected to become extinct. As the temperatures warm even more, Urban found the extinction rate would also increase, with the most severe scenario included (5.4 degrees Celsius of warming) putting the extinction risk at 29.7%.
“The increased certainty of predicted climate change extinctions compels action,” Urban wrote. “Extinction represents just the final endpoint of a species’ existence; even when extinction is avoided, declining abundances and shrinking ranges can strongly affect many other species, including humans.”
Urban defines the risk of extinction as the probability that any one species will go extinct without mitigation efforts. Urban found that extinction rates could increase dramatically if global temperatures rise over 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to industrial levels.
1.5 degrees Celsius is the warming limit set by the world’s nations under the Paris Agreement after the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that crossing that benchmark would lead to more severe climate change impacts.
Risks varied across geographic areas in the study, with Australia/New Zealand and South America facing the highest risks (15.7% and 12.8%, respectively) and Asia facing lower risks (5.5%).
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Kelly Livingston
Antarctic sea ice hits new low during Earth’s 2nd warmest November on record
Imagine you have a swimming pool with ice cubes filling it. Now, measure the total area of the pool that has ice on the surface, even if the ice cubes don’t cover it completely. Because ice often spreads out unevenly, leaving water between the chunks, scientists count areas where at least 15% of the surface is covered. So, because your pool is loaded with ice cubes, it would be considered ice covered. In the real world, scientists call it sea ice extent.
While you can add ice to your pool, you can’t to the ocean. And according to a new report by Copernicus, the European Union’s Climate Change Service, the sea ice extent in the Antarctic has dipped to its lowest value on record for the month of November. It is 10% below average. This occurred during a stretch of near-record global land and sea surface temperatures.
Last month ranked as the second warmest November on record globally, with an average temperature of 14.10 degrees Celsius, or 57.38 degrees Fahrenheit.
Copernicus noted the new data not only makes it virtually certain that 2024 will surpass 2023 as Earth’s warmest year on record, but it will likely be the first year to be 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) than the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900.
The Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to prevent the worst outcomes of climate change.
As of November 2024, the average global year-to-date temperature was 0.14 degrees Celsius (or 0.25 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than it was in 2023, which is the warmest year ever recorded.
(LONDON) — Many residents of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon are expected to return to their homes in the coming days and weeks, with most of the fighting in both areas paused under Israeli ceasefire agreements with Hamas and Hezbollah.
Under Israel’s multi-phased deal with Hamas, some hostages held in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have started to be released. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to continue amid the first phase of the deal, which was slated to last about six weeks.
Threats to ceasefire will ‘bear the full cost,’ Israeli minister says
Katz Israel, the Israeli defense minister, said on Monday that his country would “firmly” enforce the ceasefires that have paused fighting in Gaza.
“Anyone who violates the rules or threatens IDF forces will bear the full cost,” he said in Hebrew on social media. “We will not allow a return to the reality of Oct. 7.”
Tens of thousands trek into northern Gaza
Tens of thousands of people were marching and driving on Monday back to northern Gaza, after Israel allowed them to cross into the north for the first time in over a year.
Long lines of Palestinians — some singing, others smiling and some kneeling to kiss the soil as they stepped into the northern part of the strip — were seen making their way home.
Those returning home were moving along two main routes.
Many of those who were were walking home were moving along al-Rashid Street, a path expected to be taken by about 300,000 people.
Many of those who were driving north were doing so along Salah al-Din Road.
A line of cars could be seen stretching for about 8 miles on Monday morning, as they waited for permission to cross into the northern part of Gaza.
-ABC News’ Sami Zyara, Diaa Ostaz, Jordana Miller, Nasser Atta and Samayeh Malekian
1 dead, 4 injured after IDF fired at ‘dozens of suspects’ in central Gaza
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its team evacuated one person who was killed, and four people who were injured, after an attack by Israeli snipers near the Wadi Gaza Bridge on Sunday.
Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that troops fired “warning shots” at “several gatherings of dozens of suspects” who the IDF said posed a threat to them.
Additionally, a rocket was destroyed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, according to the IDF’s statement.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had introductory call with Israel’s Netanyahu
Newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had an introductory call on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement from a U.S. senior defense official.
“Both leaders discussed the importance of advancing mutual security interests and priorities, especially in the face of persistent threats,” according to the statement.
Hegseth, who won Senate confirmation after being selected by President Donald Trump for the role, stressed to Netanyahu that the U.S. is “fully committed” to ensuring that Israel “has the capabilities it needs to defend itself,” according to the statement.
Additionally, the defense official said that “both leaders agreed to remain in close contact.”
Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended to Feb. 18
The White House announced Sunday that the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended until Feb.18.
Lebanon, Israel and the U.S. will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after Oct. 7, 2023.
(DAMASCUS, Syria) — The parents of Austin Tice, the American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteran who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria more than a decade ago, spoke out in an interview with ABC News Live Prime on Thursday as the U.S. works to uncover their son’s whereabouts after the collapse of Bashar Al-Assad’s authoritarian regime.
Debra and Marc Tice told ABC News’ Linsey Davis they are “hopeful” that their son will be back home soon.
“We’re feeling very hopeful. You know, we’re making sure that our arms are warmed up to get a big hug,” Debra Tice said in the interview. “We’re waiting, and not exactly on pins and needles, but just very expectantly.”
Marc Tice suggested that this is the best hope they’ve had since their son disappeared in August 2012.
“We’ve always had hope and always been confident that our son’s alive and is going to come home to us,” he said. “But this is different and it feels much more immediate and much more promising than any time in memory.”
Marc Tice said that the family has been urging the U.S. to “move towards a diplomatic resolution” to bring Austin home for over a decade and “that never really took place,” but he added that this moment feels “different.”
“Now that there’s a new authority in Damascus, whom I understand is interested in developing good relationships with the United States, it just feels like a great time for whoever can help Austin get home,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. is “determined to find” Austin Tice and “working to bring home” another American in Syria. Blinken would not confirm the other American’s name, citing “privacy reasons.” His comments came amid reports that the U.S. made contact with Travis Pete Timmerman, an American who went missing from Hungary earlier in the year.
On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters the U.S. has asked rebel groups to search for Tice as they empty Assad regime prisons in Syria.
“We do continue to believe that [Austin Tice] is alive and we continue to make clear in all of our conversations, either with entities on the ground in Syria or with entities that may be in communication with those on the ground in Syria, that we have no higher priority than the safe return of Austin Tice to his family,” Miller said.
Tice, a Houston native, disappeared in Aug. 2012 while reporting in Darayya — a suburb of Syrian capital Damascus.
As Syria descended into chaos, with rebel groups taking over the country last week and eventually toppling the tyrannical Assad regime on Dec. 8, the Tice family visited the White House on Dec. 6, where they met with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Following the meeting, the Tice family announced that they have been in contact with someone who confirmed their son’s status.
“We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government that Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is treated well, and there is no doubt about that,” his mother Debra Tice said during a Dec. 6 press conference.
Asked by reporters about the source of the information, the Tices said they could not share more, claiming that the U.S. government is restricting the family from doing so for reasons that they do not understand.
However, his father Marc Tice said during the press conference that the family is “working toward” making more information public and that the source is “very different” from others who had given the family false hope in the past.”We are confident, in that this information is fresh,” Marc Tice said. “It indicates as late as earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for.”
President Joe Biden addressed U.S. efforts to bring Austin Tice back home while delivering remarks on the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8, telling reporters that the U.S. believes he is still alive.
“We are mindful that there are Americans in Syria, including those who reside there, as well as Austin Tice, who was taken captive more than 12 years ago,” Biden said. “We remain committed to returning him to his family.”
The president noted that the U.S. remains “committed” to bringing Tice home.
“We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet. And Assad should be held accountable,” Biden added.
Asked if the White House has directed an operation to retrieve Tice, Biden said, “we want to get him out,” before noting that “we have to identify where he is.”
Asked how his six siblings are doing, Marc Tice told Davis on Thursday that when Austin first went missing he and his wife urged their kids to “keep doing what you’re doing and pursuing your passions,” but they did not expect that their son would be missing for over 12 years.
“They finished university, got new jobs, got married, had babies … it’s been a very heartbreaking but also uplifting thing to see,” Debra Tice said.
As the family continued to fight for Austin’s release his siblings “made a circle” and have been “taking care of each other,” she noted.
Ahead of Biden’s Dec. 8 speech, Tice’s siblings Naomi and Jacob Tice spoke with ABC News about their agonizing 12-year fight to get their brother home and how they hope that the fall of the Syrian regime could be a turning point.
“We did keep hearing in the meetings that we were having that within chaos there is opportunity. And that is really how we’re viewing this situation,” Naomi Tice said.
Jacob Tice called on the U.S. to “take advantage of this singular moment” to bring Austin back home.
“We’re overwhelmed and our arms are open,” he said. “We are reaching to anyone and everyone asking for their help, asking for help from the people on the ground, from the media, from the White House, from the State Department, to do what they can.”
Tice’s siblings told ABC News that they are not fully satisfied with the Biden administration’s response so far and received vague answers when they met with White House officials two days earlier.
“We wanted to know that they had a plan in place. If they do, that’s definitely not something they shared with us,” Naomi Tice said.
“If they do, we hope Austin is in the forefront of those plans,” Jacob Tice added.
Since Austin Tice disappeared, the U.S. government has continuously operated under the assumption that he is still alive, but this belief is primarily founded on a lack of evidence of his death, rather than direct evidence proving he is alive, multiple sources told ABC News.
The Syrian government has never publicly acknowledged playing any part in Tice’s disappearance. However, during talks under the Trump administration, Syrian officials said they would provide proof of life in exchange for the U.S fulfilling sweeping demands, according to officials familiar with the private negotiations. The Trump administration did not comply, and the Syrian government did not hand over any information about Tice.
The FBI has offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the safe location, recovery and return of Tice.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Christopher Boccia and David Brennan contributed to this report.
