GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — A boxer from Tuvalu earned her tiny South Pacific nation's first ever Commonwealth Games medal without winning a fight on Friday.
Tarona Taafaki lost her only bout in the women’s 75-kilogram class to India's Lovlina Borgohain, losing every round on all three of the judges' cards.
Because there were only five entrants, Taafaki received a bye to the last four, meaning she was automatically guaranteed at least a bronze medal.
But her coach and father says the population of Tuvalu — an island southeast of Tonga — will celebrate the medal and use it to highlight a climate change emergency.
Badi Taafaki, whose son Pasoni competed earlier in the Games and lost his only bout at 70 kg, told the British Press Association: "For the people of Tuvalu, this medal means everything.
“We're one of the smallest nations in the world, so a medal like this is hugely significant. We have worked so hard to get here. For me as a coach, it’s a stepping stone.”
Tarona and Pasoni are the two oldest of eight children, all of whom are boxers. They are based in New Zealand in order to take advantage of better facilities.
“My children are very fortunate," Badi said. “They have opportunities and facilities that I never had. Boxing is our whole life. Strength is in our bloodline.”
Athletes on the island famously train on its airport runway, the most stable land mass on an island increasingly threatened by rising sea levels. Climate experts predict half of the nation's capital, Funafuti, could be submerged by 2050.
“Yes, we train on the airport runway,” Badi said. "When a plane comes in, everyone moves aside. As soon as it leaves, we go back on the tarmac, because there is nowhere else to train.
“If we can win medals, more people around the world will recognize Tuvalu and begin to understand the challenges we face because of climate change.
"It is very real for us. The coastal erosion is unbelievable, and the countdown is now measured in years, not decades. Some islands have lost half their land. At high tide the sea comes right through. People living on the coast can’t sleep if there’s a storm, because the waves can come straight through their homes.”
Tarona is not the first boxer to win a Commonwealth Games medal without winning a fight. Australia’s Taylah Robertson picked up a bronze in the women’s flyweight category on the Gold Coast in 2018 despite losing her bout to England’s Lisa Whiteside.
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Members of the Tuvalu teams take part in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
PHOENIX (AP) — Three western U.S. states would take less water from the Colorado River under a federal proposal released Friday to stave off a crisis in the beleaguered waterway.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposal spares four other states from facing mandatory cuts for now. It's meant to be flexible, allowing deeper cuts in drier times while giving the states more time to collectively agree on how to manage the dwindling resource that flows through dams to produce hydropower.
The Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada could together be forced to reduce their use by up to 3 million acre-feet (130 billion cubic feet) annually through 2036 — about the amount that Arizona and Nevada receive and enough to serve more than 25 million people a year. The actual reductions would be determined every two years based on conditions throughout the basin.
“The Department has a responsibility to ensure the Colorado River system remains reliable and resilient for the millions of Americans, communities and industries that depend on it,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.
Under the proposal, California, Nevada and Arizona would divide half the cuts based on a plan they already developed. Beyond that, priority water rights come into play. The priority system generally benefits California users over those in the other states.
Arizona and Nevada have faced mandatory reductions before, but the proposal outlines deeper cuts that could impact agriculture, cities and tribes. It could translate into higher water prices, more reliance on groundwater and leaving fields unplanted, experts say.
The proposal comes after years of deadlocked negotiations among the states and threats of lawsuits if a proposal didn't comply with longstanding laws and guidelines that govern the river, some of which expire at the end of 2026. A record-dry winter also left two key Colorado River reservoirs at a combined record low. Federal officials are expected to finalize the proposal in the coming days.
More than 40 million people in seven U.S. states, several tribal nations and Mexico rely on the flows of the 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river. Decades of overuse, along with rising temperatures, drought and climate change, mean it no longer provides what was promised in 1922.
The river's health often is determined by how much water is in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S. Together, the reservoirs are at their lowest point since they began filling, according to a recent paper by Colorado River experts, and approaching levels where they could no longer produce hydropower.
How the water is allocated and conserved — especially amid a decades-long drought — has led to contentious arguments among the states, including threats of lawsuits. Both basins drew up proposals but didn't decide together on a single plan.
Because the states didn't reach an agreement, the federal government stepped in with its own proposal to buoy the river.
Leaders in Arizona, which has the lowest priority rights in the Lower Basin, called the federal proposal flawed. Those in California said it's an important milestone but not the finish line. Nevada officials called the proposed reductions unrealistic and devastating.
The Lower Basin states have been united in wanting all seven states to share in specific, measurable cuts. The Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, meanwhile, repeatedly pushed back, saying mandatory cuts to their water use would be illegal under the existing compact for the Colorado River. While the federal proposal mandates cuts in the Lower Basin, the Upper Basin states can proceed with voluntary water cuts primarily among agricultural users.
The four Upper Basin state governors gave the document a favorable initial assessment but said they were still reviewing it.
“We are encouraged that new operating guidelines will better reflect existing water supply which must underpin any practicable plan going forward,” the governors said in a joint statement.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources said the proposed cuts devastate its water users and economy. The Central Arizona Project, which manages much of the state's allocation used primarily in metro Phoenix and Tucson, said the proposal doesn't accurately portray Arizona's rights.
The states will have a say in how they shoulder the cuts, though the federal government is expected to offer suggestions in the coming days.
Arizona Department of Water Resources director Tom Buschatzke said it will be painful. Farmers in Southern California and Yuma, Arizona, produce the majority of North America's leafy greens in the winter.
“Those are a lot of potential devastating impacts — and a lot of uncertainties for all of us,” Buschatzke said.
Cities in metro Phoenix don't rely entirely on the Colorado River and likely will keep everyone's taps running, but water rates will increase in some areas, said Rhett Larson, a water law professor at Arizona State University. The city of Gilbert, for example, has increased residential water rates by 50% since April 2025, he said.
“We are not running out of water. We’re running out of cheap water,” Larson said.
This story has been updated to correct the Interior Secretary's first name. He is Doug Burgum, not Dough Burgum.
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
FILE - Water flows down the Colorado River downriver from Hoover Dam in northwest Arizona, on Aug. 14, 2022, near the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
Boats are moored at a marina on Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, near Boulder City, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)
FILE - A formerly floating buoy now sits high and dry above Lake Powell at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, July 15, 2026, near Page, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
