As the planet heats up, what happens to our water is a matter of life and death

This week we published an extraordinary feature from Spain, where parched villages are forced to buy water in plastic containers from multinational companies that are extracting millions of litres of water from the very same land. “This isn’t just a Spanish issue,” wrote Grace Livingstone. “Across the world, from Uruguay to Mexico, Canada to the UK, many have begun to question whether private corporations should be allowed to siphon off a vital public resource, then sell it back to citizens as bottled water.”

The life-changing damage of living in drought was also brought home in this piece from our This is climate breakdown series by Isabella Visagie, a South African sheep farmer forced to watch in horror as the land on her farm slowly, and fatally for her animals, dried up.

Water, and how we manage it, is a crucial element in global politics. Now that we live on a heating planet, as columnist George Monbiot wrote earlier this year, Earth simply doesn’t have enough water to keep up with the demand for global food production. Meanwhile, the climate crisis, and the increasing frequency of extreme weather, is affecting our access to water in other ways. Jasmin Pittman reported from Asheville in North Carolina, a city left without clean water for 52 days after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in September.

It’s not only the water we consume that needs to be managed in an age of climate disaster. This week in the UK there has been fury, particularly in Wales, at the level of warning and lack of protection ahead of flooding caused by the impact of Storm Bert last weekend. Nimo Omer, in our First Edition daily briefing, looked at why Britain is seemingly so unprepared for the extreme weather events taking place with increasing frequency. This was a similar, if smaller-scale, version of the bitter fallout in Spain after the recent extreme flooding in the Valencia region, which killed at least 224 people.

In addition to the human impact, the role of global heating is absolutely central to how we cover extreme weather. As global environment correspondent Jonathan Watts wrote in the aftermath of the Spanish floods and ahead of the Cop29 climate summit, these kinds of everyday apocalypses should spur governments to take dramatic action. Unfortunately, this year’s Cop finished on Sunday with bitter disappointment and, as Fiona Harvey chronicled in a definitive piece, a $300bn deal that left almost no one happy.

The US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was an important moment for the region. Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem and Oliver Holmes explained what the deal meant as it came into effect on Wednesday morning, while global affairs correspondent Andrew Roth asked the most important question of all: will the ceasefire hold? And could it mean, as Julian Borger wrote, that there’s even less chance of peace in Gaza?

In Washington, Hugo Lowell revealed that Donald Trump’s transition team is planning fast-track security clearances and easier FBI vetting for his new appointees. Hugo also looked into the infighting and rivalries in the Trump team, after one of the president-elect’s top advisers was accused of seeking payments from wannabe administration picks in return for favourable name-dropping at Mar-a-Lago. As Trump announced his plans for tariffs on US imports from Canada, Mexico and China, our US business team produced a package of stories about the proposals, including this explainer from Lauren Aratani.

Yesterday, MPs in the UK took a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their lives. We looked at the state of palliative care, tackled the argument that the law is the start of a “slippery slope” and asked how Muslim communities feel about it. In the Observer, Toby Helm revealed that the UK justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, believed the proposed assisted dying law would lead to a “state death service”, while Shanti Das broke the story that one of the leading opponents of the new law, MP Danny Kruger, was being investigated over donations from the Christian right. Our Today in Focus and Politics Weekly UK podcasts produced thoughtful and nuanced episodes on this fascinating debate.

When a British citizen is imprisoned overseas for arbitrary reasons, the government and the victim’s family make efforts to secure their freedom. Amid criticism of the Foreign Office and a slew of recent foreign ministers, we launched a new series focusing on the plight of Britons detained abroad. Patrick Wintour and Geneva Abdul spoke to families of prominent detained Britons who are urging David Lammy to appoint an envoy despite opposition from diplomats, and chronicled the painful journeys of five jailed men who feel abandoned by Britain. Author Ahdaf Soueif also highlighted the plight of her sister Laila Soueif’s son, the British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who is in prison in Egypt. Laila is now on hunger strike to protest his detainment.

Tess McClure wrote beautifully about the vast swathes of land all over the world that have been abandoned over the past few decades and what happens to the natural world once people leave. The answers are not what you might expect.

After six people died in a mass methanol poisoning in Laos, Adeshola Ore and Kate Lamb reported on how an area beloved by backpackers became the scene of such horror.

A police visit to a Daily Telegraph columnist about an old tweet unleashed a barrage of coverage in the UK, but the story is more complicated than it appears. In First Edition, Archie Bland unpicked the Allison Pearson case and explained exactly what a “non-crime hate incident” is (and why this wasn’t one).

We had a rare interview with novelist Haruki Murakami, who told John Self about why he doesn’t pay much attention to criticisms of his books, even if they come from close friends. The books team also looked at why Japanese fiction in translation is so popular in the UK right now.

Who better to review Jordan Peterson’s new book about using the Bible to meet present-day moral challenges than Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury? Williams wasn’t exactly swayed by Peterson’s arguments.

Finally, in case you missed it, I want to mention Sophie McBain’s moving Long read from a couple of weeks ago on the care of extremely premature babies, considering the devastating ethical dilemmas faced by parents and doctors when medics push the limits of science and human biology.

One more thing …Netflix’s hit documentary Buy Now! is a sickening examination of online shopping and the amount of rubbish it produces. Extremely disturbing.

Cook this | Karam Sethi’s garlic fish tikka with cumin raita

Salmon baked in twin marinades of garlic and red tandoori sauce, with a refreshing, garlicky yoghurt dip on the side. The dish, from Sethi’s new London restaurant, Ambassadors Clubhouse, celebrates the rich culinary traditions of the Punjab.

Listen to this | What’s going on with fluoride?

The conversation about fluoride’s health benefits has exploded recently after a US federal toxicology report, court ruling and independent scientific review all called for updated risk-benefit analysis. In the latest Science Weekly, Ian Sample speaks to experts about how attitudes to fluoridation have evolved and where the science stands today.

Watch this | How Europe closed its borders and betrayed its values

Border walls and fences around Europe have grown by 75% in just 10 years and EU leaders have increasingly been open to making deals with autocrats creating a virtual border across the Mediterranean to stop migrants arriving at their shores. Mark Townsend looks back at a decade in which Europe has become a fortress, militarised its border walls, and moved away from the commitment to human rights on which it was founded.

The Guardian’s crosswords and Wordiply are here to keep you entertained throughout the weekend.