GENEVA (AP) — Facing a long-time crisis in winter sports because of climate change, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation teamed up with the United Nations weather agency on Thursday.
The initial five-year partnership between FIS and the World Meteorological Organization aims to help national ski federations, venues and race organizers better understand weather forecasting to manage natural and artificial snow. An online meeting is set for Nov. 7.
The Switzerland-based organizations said in a joint statement “winter sports and tourism face a bleak future because of climate change” and warmer temperatures.
FIS said weather issues forced the cancellation of 26 of its 616 World Cups last season across disciplines including Alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboard park and pipe, freestyle skiing and ski jumping.
“Ruined winter vacations and canceled sports fixtures are — literally — the tip of the iceberg of climate change,” WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in a statement.
Event organizers have long relied on using local water resources to make artificial snow for preparing courses and it is common to see broadcasts of races on a ribbon of white through brown and green forests and fields.
“The climate crisis is obviously far bigger than FIS, or sports, for that matter,” its president Johan Eliasch said. “It is a genuine crossroads for mankind.
“It is true, though, that climate change is, simply put, an existential threat to skiing and snowboarding."
As global temperatures rise, the International Olympic Committee has said by 2040 just 10 countries could have a “climate-reliable” outlook to host snow events at a Winter Games.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Games relied entirely on artificial snow to stage Alpine races about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of the city in mountains that get almost no natural snowfall.
Saudi Arabia is creating a ski resort with a man-made lake near the futuristic city Project Neom and preparing to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.
In Switzerland, the federal weather office has said Alpine glaciers have lost about 60% of their volume since 1850.
“The thawing of frozen ground in mountain, arctic and sub-arctic regions has direct consequences on the stability of infrastructures built on it, as well as contributing to increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere,” the WMO said.
Less snow is falling at lower altitudes up to 800 meters (2,600 feet), with the number of snowfall days halved since 1970, the Geneva-based UN agency said.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
FILE - Celeste Saulo, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General, speaks about the state of Global Climate 2023, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)
FILE - Switzerland's Gino Caviezel competes during an alpine ski, men's World Cup giant slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Shin Tanaka, File)
An Israeli strike overnight in the Lebanese capital Beirut killed seven health and rescue workers, an Islamic health organization said Thursday.
The airstrike in the residential Bashoura district targeted an apartment in a multi-story building that houses an office of the Health Society, a group of civilian first responders affiliated to Hezbollah. It was the closest strike to the central downtown district of Beirut, where the United Nations and government offices are located.
The strike came as Israel was pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah, while also conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. The Israeli military said eight soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Here is the latest:
An Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut killed seven health and rescue workers, an Islamic health organization said.
The airstrike in the residential Bashoura district targeted an apartment in a multi-story building that houses an office of the Health Society, a group of civilian first responders affiliated to Hezbollah.
It was the closest strike to the central downtown district of Beirut, where the United Nations and government offices are located.
It was the second airstrike to hit central Beirut this week and the second to directly target the Health Society in 24 hours. No Israeli warning was issued to the area before it was hit. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike in central Beirut.
Israel has mostly concentrated its airstrikes in south and eastern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has a strong presence, but its attacks have spanned the entire country and killed many civilians.
Beirut’s southern suburbs also saw heavy bombardment overnight in areas where the Israeli army had earlier issued a warning online for residents to evacuate.
TOKYO — Japan on Thursday dispatched two Self Defense Force planes to prepare for a possible airlift of Japanese citizens from Lebanon.
Two C-2 transport aircraft are expected to arrive in Jordan and Greece on Friday, Japan NHK national television reported.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that there has been no report of injury involving the about 50 Japanese nationals in Lebanon.
Japan dispatched SDF aircraft in October and November 2023 to evacuate more than 100 Japanese and South Korean citizens from Israel.
SYDNEY — Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday her government had booked 500 seats on commercial aircraft for Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families to leave Lebanon on Saturday.
The seats are available to 1,700 Australians and their families known to be in Lebanon on two flights from Beirut to Cyprus, Wong said.
“What I would say to Australians who wish to leave, please take whatever option is available to you,” Wong told reporters in Geelong, Australia.
“Please do not wait for your preferred route,” she added.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Ministry raised the death toll to six from an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building near the center of Beirut overnight. It said seven people were injured in the attack.
The airstrike hit near the residential in t district. The previous death toll had been two with 11 people injured.
Residents reported a sulfur-like smell following the attack, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency accused Israel of using internationally banned phosphorous bombs. Human rights groups have in the past accused Israel of using white phosphorus incendiary shells on towns and villages in conflict-hit southern Lebanon.
BEIRUT — At least two people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the Lebanese capital, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says.
A further 11 people were wounded in the attack in Beirut overnight, the ministry says.
The airstrike started a fire in an apartment in a multistory building in the residential Bashoura district, not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Ambulances rushed to the scene.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV station says the strike targeted a center of the group’s health unit.
There was no warning issued ahead of the strike.
UNITED NATIONS — Israel’s U.N. ambassador said Wednesday that the “the time for empty calls for de-escalation is over.”
Danny Danon told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that “Iran’s true face is one of terror, death and chaos.”
“This is no longer a matter of words,” he said. “Iran is a very real and present danger to the world, and if they are not stopped, the next wave of missiles will not be aimed solely at Israel,” he said.
He called Iran’s missile barrage aimed at Israel on Tuesday “a cold-blooded attack against 10 million civilians” and “an unprecedented act of aggression.”
Danon stressed that Israel will not stop until all of the hostages taken by Hamas and other militants are back in Israel.
“Let the world understand: Israel will defend itself, and we will do so with justice and strength,” he said.
UNITED NATIONS – Iran’s U.N. ambassador says Iran had to launch a barrage of missiles at Israel to “restore balance” after escalating Israeli violence in the region.
Amir Saeid Iravani told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that the missile attack Tuesday was “a necessary and proportionate response to Israel’s continued terrorist aggressive acts over the past two months.”
He says Iran has “consistently pursued peace and stability” and that Israel sees Iranian restraint “not as a gesture of goodwill but as a weakness to exploit.”
“Each act of restraint taken by Iran has only emboldened Israel to commit greater crimes and more acts of aggression,” Iravani said. “Consequently, Iran’s response was necessary to restore balance and deterrence.”
He also accused the United States of complicity “in Israel’s crimes” by helping to arm the nation after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel.
This image from United Nations Television, shows Israel Ambassador Danny Danon during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (UNTV via AP)
Soldiers carry the coffin of Israeli Army Capt. Eitan Yitzhak Oster, who was killed in action in Lebanon, during his funeral at Mt. Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
An Israeli Apache helicopter releases flares near the Israeli-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Police stand guard at the site of an apparent Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Workers clean at the site of an apparent Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
People collecting remains of victims after an airstrike that hit an apartment in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter stands in front of an apartment hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
