'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
A court in Germany cast doubt Friday on claims by a German farmer that automaker Volkswagen is partly responsible for the impact that global warming is having on his family business.
The plaintiff, Ulf Allhoff-Cramer, claims drier soil and heavier rains due to climate change are harming his fields, cattle and commercial forests.
"Farmers are already being hit harder and faster by climate change than expected," he told reporters this week, alleging that VW as the world's second-biggest automaker has contributed to the damage.
But during the first hearing, a regional court in the western town of Detmold asked the plaintiff and his lawyers to provide further details to back up their legal arguments, the German news agency dpa reported.
The presiding judge also asked for clarity on whether the plaintiff has already suffered climate-related damages or is merely expecting them. It set the next court hearing for Sept. 9.
The case is supported by the environmental group Greenpeace, which has backed similar legal efforts in Germany aimed at holding companies and the government accountable for climate change.
Such cases have met with mixed success. Some have been dismissed, while one made it to Germany's top court, which last year ordered the government to step up its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In his complaint, Allhoff-Cramer is calling for VW to end its production of combustion engine vehicles by 2030. German automakers rejected a similar demand from environmental groups last year.
Volkswagen said in a statement that it aims to reduce its emissions "as quickly as the business allows" but has set itself a 2050 deadline to cut carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero.
"Volkswagen stands for climate protection and rapid decarbonization of the transport sector, but cannot meet this challenge alone," the company said, adding that the transformation also depends on government regulation, technological development and buyer behaviour.
The company said lawmakers should decide on climate change measures.
"Disputes in civil courts through lawsuits against individual companies singled out for this purpose, on the other hand, are not the place or the means to do justice to this responsible task," VW said. "We will defend this position and ask for the lawsuit to be dismissed."
In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency caught Volkswagen using software that let diesel cars pass emissions tests and then turned off pollution controls during normal driving. The company apologized and paid tens of billions of dollars in fines, recall costs and compensation to car owners.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.