The U.N. weather agency plans to cut some posts and is reviewing its priorities as dozens of countries, including the United States, are late with their fees, a spokesperson said on Friday.
The World Meteorological Organization, set up in 1951 to coordinate global data for weather forecasts, created a review task force this week during a meeting in Geneva aimed at improving early-warning systems for deadly climate disasters.
The WMO, whose budget is separate from the United Nations', began restructuring in August to cut costs amid broader U.N. reforms, even as accelerating man-made climate change increases the risk of weather-related deaths, especially in developing countries where early-warning systems are lacking.
The WMO envisages cutting 26 posts and reducing travel, according to a budget document seen by Reuters.
"We do need to make sure we are fit for purpose and that we can face the future," spokesperson Clare Nullis told a press briefing on Friday.
She said a task force would begin in January to "tweak" the WMO's work based on current funding constraints as well as new opportunities such as the use of artificial intelligence in weather predictions.
Outstanding late payments to the WMO amount to around 48 million Swiss francs ($60 million) as of the end of August, a WMO document showed, equivalent to two-thirds of its annual budget.
The U.S. owes over 30 million francs.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said that the administration was focused on ensuring that any U.S. taxpayer dollars at the U.N. advance U.S. interests. U.S. delegates participated in the congress.
Under President Donald Trump, Washington has announced it is quitting some U.N. bodies, as well as the U.N.-backed Paris Climate Accord on slowing climate change, and is late in paying others.
Trump has repeatedly questioned the effectiveness, cost and accountability of international bodies, arguing they often fail to serve U.S. interests.
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The U.S. has banned government employees working in Saudi Arabia from using airports in the country without special authorisation. It comes after a deadly Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed at least 13 people last week.
The Saudi-led coalition said early Thursday that it intercepted and destroyed a drone over Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called it “a disgrace” that Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries. Attacks are continuing from Russia and Ukraine as media reports say Ukraine has almost run out of Patriot interceptor missiles.
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Here’s your AnewZ Daily Brief for 15 October 2026, featuring the top five culture and entertainment stories from around the world.
Türkiye’s COP31 presidency has unveiled an action agenda designed to turn climate commitments into concrete projects and measurable results, focusing on clean energy, waste reduction, resilient cities and industrial decarbonisation.
Greenland and Antarctica have shed a combined 11.3 trillion tonnes of ice since 1979, according to the most comprehensive satellite study of the planet's ice sheets to date, with researchers warning the pace of loss has accelerated sharply in recent decades.
The European Union will continue allowing large-scale plastic waste exports to Türkiye despite concerns over recycling rates, environmental damage and the risk of illegal waste trafficking.
Hundreds of thousands of deep-diving turtles, known as olive ridley sea turtles, have arrived on Mexico’s southern coast for one of nature’s most striking nesting events. But conservation officials warn that climate change is making it increasingly difficult for their eggs to hatch.
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