The band is set to compete for Ukraine in Saturday’s

is focusing renewed attention on the role of global warming in glacier collapses around the world and the increasing dangers.How glaciers collapse — from the Alps and Andes to the Himalayas and Antarctica — can differ, scientists say. But in almost every instance, climate change is playing a role.

In Switzerland, the mountainside gave way Wednesday near, in the southern Lötschental valley, because the rock face above the Birch Glacier had become unstable when mountain permafrost melted, causing debris to fall and cover the glacier in recent years, said Martin Truffer, a physics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who studies how glaciers move.While the debris insulated the glacier and slowed melting, its weight caused the ice to begin moving — which accelerated dramatically a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of

, as well as all livestock, from the village in recent days, “when it became clear that there’s a whole mountainside that’s about to collapse,” said Truffer, who is from Switzerland.An aerial view shows the destruction of Blatten, Switzerland, Thursday, May 29, 2025, one day after a massive debris avalanche, triggered by the collapse of the Birch Glacier, swept down to the valley floor and demolished large parts of the village. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

An aerial view shows the destruction of Blatten, Switzerland, Thursday, May 29, 2025, one day after a massive debris avalanche, triggered by the collapse of the Birch Glacier, swept down to the valley floor and demolished large parts of the village. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

Lakes that form at the base of glaciers as they melt and retreat also sometimes burst, often with catastrophic results. Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to drain, said Truffer, adding that Alaska’s capital of Juneau has flooded in recent years because a lake forms every year on a rapidly retreating glacier and eventually bursts.LGBTQ+ rights were severely curtailed by the laws that banned same-sex marriage, adoptions by same-sex couples and public endorsement and depictions of LGBTQ+ relationships and people in the media. The laws also banned gender-affirming care and changing gender designations in official documents.

The bill was introduced by Georgia Dream, the longtime ruling party, which opponents have accused of steering the country toward Russia’s orbit despite popular sentiment for closer ties with Europe.Georgian far right supporters hold a banner reading, “No to LGBT darkness,” in front of parliament during a rally against Pride Week in Tbilisi, Georgia, on July 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov, File)

Georgian far right supporters hold a banner reading, “No to LGBT darkness,” in front of parliament during a rally against Pride Week in Tbilisi, Georgia, on July 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov, File)Georgian Dream was set up by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and served briefly as Georgia’s prime minister in 2012. It promised to restore civil rights and “reset” relations with Moscow, which fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008 over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian province, Abkhazia, and established military bases there.