Egypt Calls for Establishing ‘Global Water Information System’

The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hany Swailem, at the UN Water Conference (Egyptian Government)
The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hany Swailem, at the UN Water Conference (Egyptian Government)
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Egypt Calls for Establishing ‘Global Water Information System’

The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hany Swailem, at the UN Water Conference (Egyptian Government)
The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hany Swailem, at the UN Water Conference (Egyptian Government)

The Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hany Swailem, called for establishing a global water information system contributing to climate action and disaster risk reduction.

Speaking at the UN Water Conference, Swailem asserted the need to build on the outputs of the UN Climate Change Summit (COP 27) hosted by Egypt in Sharm el-Sheikh last year.

Swailem was speaking during the closing session of the Water Conference in New York, reviewing the results of the interactive dialogue on "Water for Climate, Resilience, and Environment: Source to Sea, Biodiversity, Climate, Resilience and DRR," which was held under the Egyptian-Japanese joint presidency.

The Egyptian minister discussed the main challenges and measures facing water and climate issues, warning that interactive dialogue concluded with several recommendations following the global water scarcity due to climate change and the resulting negative multidimensional consequences on human needs.

Swailem outlined several recommendations, including maintaining the frameworks for integrated water resources management policies and linking them to other frameworks related to environmental systems and the socioeconomic dimensions associated with them.

He also called for a global water information system contributing to climate action and limiting water resources.

Egypt fears its share of the Nile water will be affected by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that Ethiopia has been building since 2011 on the river's main tributary.

The session also included other recommendations, including mobilizing funds, facilitating their allocation to the water sector and climate-resilient measures, and ensuring cost-effective implementation.

It also asserted the importance of having a mechanism to follow up the actions and commitments resulting from the UN Water Conference as a significant step to achieve tangible progress in water and climate in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the UN Sec-Gen, Antonio Guterres, called for a change of course in managing this valuable common resource amid the global shortage.

Guterres stressed that "water needs to be at the center of the global political agenda" because of its impact on health, sanitation, hygiene, disease prevention, peace, sustainable development, fighting poverty, supporting food systems, and creating jobs and prosperity.

"All of humanity's hopes for the future depend, in some way, on charting a new science-based course to bring the Water Action Agenda to life. They depend on realizing the game-changing, inclusive, and action-oriented commitments that Member States and others made at this Conference,” he said.

Guterres stressed that now is the time to act after he strongly criticized the "excessive consumption" and the resulting climate crisis.

Non-governmental organizations, governments, and the private sector have made about 700 commitments in this unprecedented conference since 1977, including constructing latrines and reviving 300,000 km of deteriorating rivers.

The three-day conference, which hosted ten thousand attendees, pleaded for Guterres to appoint a UN special envoy for water, which the secretary-general says is under consideration.

In 2020, two billion people were still deprived of safe, fresh water, while 3.6 billion lacked "safely managed sanitation," including 494 million defecating in the open air, according to the latest figures collected by the UN Committee on Water Resources.

Climate experts at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believe that about half of the world's population suffers from "severe" water shortages for at least one period of the year.



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.